Showing posts with label zydepunks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zydepunks. Show all posts

Thursday, October 22, 2009

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Kermit Ruffins at Vaughan's: Fish in an Aquarium

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My father called me Thursday morning. He was in the Tulsa, Oklahoma airport and bumped into a crew of women headed to New Orleans. They needed tips for live music. I advised them how I would anyone that’s fortunate enough to be here on a Thursday night: They unequivocally needed to trek to Vaughan’s for “the Kermit Ruffins experience”.

I’m so attached to this weekly offering of high notes, endless boogies, and the potential red beans or BBQ, that my wife and I bought a home just seven cottages away. Though we certainly miss being within walking distance of the iconic Maple Leaf.




Download: Galactic feat. Corey Henry @ Brooklyn Bowl



The Radiators played two old-school blues shows at Tipitina's


Some patrons of the arts show their support by mailing in a check. Others might buy a pricey plate at a gala dinner. Bill Bender, a music lover who splits his time between New Orleans and Chicago, likes to be a little more hands-on. The longtime fan and friend of The Radiators is putting on a show -- exactly the show he wants to hear -- and everyone is invited.

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The Radiators plan to play songs they, and likely you, know well during two-night blues set for this weekend at Tipitina's.This weekend, The Radiators will play two nights of straight-up old-school blues at Tipitina's. It's pretty much Bill's thing.


Rotary Downs and Big Rock Candy Mountain at d.b.a.



2009 Bingo! Parlour Profile #11: ZYDEPUNKS

"Everyone jumped for joy to the speed-core melange of klezmer tornadoes, Balkan dances, Celtic reels and bayou-squeezbox war" -Rolling Stone

Innovators, renegades, survivors - within a few years, the Zydepunks have grown from underground heroes into one of New Orleans' most talked about bands. Yiddish riddles, Irish ballads, Cajun punk, and original songs in Spanish and German are a small demonstration of why they astound new audiences. Wild folk dances fronted by accordion and fiddle and backed by relentless drums and bass are a testament to the high-energy folk-punk dance craze that is a Zydepunks show.


New Orleans, Music, Vampires and Me

I come from a family of musicians. My father is a Julliard trained music professor and pianist, and my grandfather was a flautist for the Pittsburgh Symphony. In his spare time, my grandfather repaired instruments for all the Pittsburgh area high school bands. I have a sepia-toned picture on my desk at home that captures him working on kids' instruments. So when I heard about The Tipitina's Foundation in New Orleans -- and especially the Instruments A Comin' Program -- I had an immediate connection. I know firsthand how music can be the connective tissue in a community, and how here in New Orleans, it is a positive force for young people at an impressionable (and risky) point in their lives. There are shining examples of exactly that on stages and street corners all over the city. If a student has the desire to play, The Tipitinas Foundation makes sure that student has the opportunity to play. It's not about making musicians; so much as it is making people. And that's a cause worth supporting.


2009 Bingo! Parlour Profile #8: DAVIS ROGAN

Take the enthusiasm and playfulness of early New Orleans rhythm and blues, add to that the bright yet cynical wit of Ben Folds Five, the rock meets jazz sensibilities of early Steely Dan, and the mocking humor that runs through the works of Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Earl King and Ernie K Doe, and you begin to describe the music of Davis Rogan.

Davis is a fifth generation New Orleanian who was raised in Carrollton and now resides in the Treme. He took piano lessons from Jon Cleary, Ed Frank, and Tom McDermott, began his broadcast career on WTUL at the age of 10, and was a DJ at WWOZ for 13 years.

He first came to prominence in the New Orleans music scene with his eight piece funk group ALL THAT, for which he was lead singer, band leader, principal songwriter, arranger and producer. With three albums to their credit, including one on Rounder Records co-produced with Scott Billington. The band toured extensively in North America and Canada, performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival multiple times and sold over 10,000 records in the US and Japan.



Sissy Bounce






New Orleans music scene is legendary known as the birthplace of jazz, pioneers such as Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino hail from the Louisianan state and music remains the cultural centerpiece of this American city.

Two New Orleans natives are continuing this tradition and are about to take the music industry by storm.

Darrell Flowers and Will Metcalf are music producers and songwriters for their company MF’Ntertaintemnemt specialising in many different genres including Pop, Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop and RNB.

The pair have been making music for more than 10 years and with former Boys II men star Michael McCary on hand to offer advice they are looking forward to making their mark.




Scaling Back: With fewer paying gigs available, New Orleans musicians face tough decisions

Trumpeter Troy Sawyer warms up outside his home in Musician’s Village in the Upper 9th Ward. (Photo by Frank Aymami)

It’s a timeworn truism among observers of the New Orleans music scene that musicians here often have to leave the city to earn a living wage.

That dictum rang true for New Orleans trumpeter Troy Sawyer long before Hurricane Katrina, so much so that Sawyer, now 29, was considering heading for New York when the 2005 storm struck.

“I felt as though I needed to get away to broaden my perspective and to reach more people — and get paid more,” he said. “In New Orleans, you don’t really get paid that much. There’s so much talent down here that people just give it away for free.”




The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Buck Jump 1999




Having dropped the "Brass Band" part of their moniker for their disappointing Ears to the Wall in 1996, the Dirty Dozen return to their former, fuller-named persona for Buck Jump. And it's a relief. The band is in full bloom from the opening, funk-fueled track, even if the old snare-bass drum marching format gives way to a more standard drum kit for much of the session. With production from John Medeski (he of the vaunted groove outfit Medeski Martin & Wood), the DDBB steps up to blow on a wild array of songs, from "Run Joe," long an item for Louis Jordan, to a feverish read of Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues." There's a great balance struck throughout the CD between the old school march-rhythm rave-ups and their more complex compositions that began coming to the fore on the excellent Open Up! Medeski has the whole party right in your face, too, from virtually the first seconds, when the horns blow brightly and never back off.


Live Music Dominates New Orleans Nightlife

New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz, an honor the city prides itself in. From dim lit jazz venues lining the city streets to its annual Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans is a excellent American music city. Jazz is not the only music being created in the Big simple though. A lot of music venues and Clubs offer an eclectic mix of blues, gospel, hip hop, rock and more



The Last Great US Music Fest of 2009 – New Orleans’ Voodoo Experience

Saturday, November 1, 2008

NolaFunk Lagniappe

The road goes on forever as Grayson Capps & the Stumpknockers peddle 'Rott-n-Roll' around the world

NOLA Radio: Here selected tracks from Grayson Capps' latest release now

Such a setting is conducive to "rott 'n 'roll, " the roadhouse-worthy blues-rock variation that is the Stumpknockers' speciality. "Rott-n-Roll" is also the title of the band's new CD.

Capps considers his ethnicity to be half Alabamian, half New Orleanian. He grew up in south Alabama, then lit out for New Orleans in the 1980s to attend Tulane University. He stuck around the Big Easy for another 16 years, fronting "thrash-folk" ensemble the House Levelers and blues-rock combo Stavin' Chain.

In 2002, he launched the Stumpknockers, his primary musical outlet ever since. His national profile received a boost when a novel by his father became the 2005 feature film "A Love Song for Bobby Long, " starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson. Capps appeared in the movie and wrote its theme, "Lorraine's Song (My Heart Is a Lonely Hunter), " which was briefly touted as a possible Oscar nominee for Best Original Song. His first-ever limousine ride deposited him at the red carpet for the movie's Hollywood premiere.





Burning Wood's "LET'S FLY DOWN" NOLA WEEKEND PLAYLIST

ZIP FILE IS HERE

TRACK LIST
Couchmal- C.C. Adcock
(at the) Maple Leaf - Stanton Moore
Time For The Sun To Rise- Earl King
Love, Honor and Obey- David Egan
Blue Crescent- Dr. Michael White
Door Poppin'- John Boutte
By The Water- Snooks Eaglin
I Give It All To You- The New Orleans Bingo! Show
Manic Depression- Bonerama
Everyday I Have The Blues- Germaine Bazzle
People Say- Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
True -James Booker



Home of the Groove's "Earl Palmer's Up-To-Date Funky Thing"



He played on an enormous wealth of well-known music - R&B, rock 'n' roll, and pop – both in New Orleans and after he moved out to Los Angeles in 1957 into the big time session scene. There's no way to capture all that Palmer accomplished (although Dave’s WFMU show comes close!). So, I've picked these three songs from the mid-1950s, when he was still active in New Orleans, that never cease to amaze me. I hope they’ll at least give a glimpse of Palmer playing complex, yet highly danceable grooves that have origins deep in the culture of his hometown.


PopMatters: The Zydepunks - Finisterre

On this album, the Zydepunks play big, barnstorming dance songs—massive, stomping, thumping, sweaty things with a piratical accordion played by a woman in a miniskirt and black stockings who is known in the publicity as Eve: no surname. If the musicians were performing this music live, then the floorboards would be shaking under the feet of the dancers, every ant in the room would be shooting out of its crevice or crack and running for safer ground. Beverages would fly.


Home of the Groove's "Percy Mayfield Declines Presidency"



Tongue firmly in cheek, Percy Mayfield teamed up with producer Johnny "Guitar' Watson back in 1974 for this musical declaration of non-service to his country as Commander-In-Chief - something about it limiting his ability to "frolic". The record was made some 20 years before Bill Clinton's unfortunate dalliance with an intern. So, besides being a great songwriter, Mayfield was a quite the political prognosticator. More likely, he just understood human nature. And, were Percy still with us, I am sure he would add a few more good reasons to the list about now. Anyway, I've always enjoyed this song, since hearing it years ago on the compilation LP, Atlantic Blues: Vocalists; and I chanced upon the 45 not too long ago, just in time for the run-up to Election Day.

Feeling nostalgic for those Mister Rodgers days? Want to relax with some felt-covered friends? This Halloween, put on your best outfit and join DJ Quintron and Miss Pussycat for their latest psychedelic installment of outsider art – a collaboration of electronic music, odd outfits, and puppets, of course!



Bingo! pulls out the stops in the Bingo! Parlour

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Somehow, it isn't surprising that The New Orleans Bingo! Show, after only several years of putting on their part-carnival, part-rock cabaret act, have a stage named after them at Voodoo X.




After all, the group's blend of good music, punky spirit, multi-media entertainment and good old-fashioned weirdness is an apt symbol for the festival as a whole.



Review: Bonerama and George Porter Jr.

In a legendary square in the heart of New Orleans where over a century ago countless men fell in duels under the live oaks that still stand, last Thursday night’s show with Bonerama (BNR) and special guest George Porter Jr. was nothing about dueling and everything about two musical forces of today’s New Orleans coming together for an amazing night of musical celebration in a city that appreciates life just a bit more these days.


Keith Spera's picks for most memorable moments from the first nine years of Voodoo





Bingo! Parlour Profile: Snuff Sugar

One year ago Snuff Sugar was formed in New Orleans when guitarist Alex Price and drummer Dustin DiSalvo decided to bring their passion for music together to form a band. Writing songs and getting a feel for each other’s styles they decided to add bass. They didn’t have to go far because Dustin’s brother is a local artist known as DJMC Microphone. Having done a two-year educational stint in Lafayette after Katrina, DJMC Microphone was eager to work with his brother on the promising project.

One Track Mind: Tab Benoit "Fever For The Bayou"


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As audacious as the claim might sound, Baton Rouge, Louisiana's own Tab Benoit is the Bayou State's answer to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a feeling I've had from the time I discovered his well-received debut Nice And Warm from 1992 and haven't wavered on that after about an album a year since then. He's got all the right traits for righteous swamp blues: a gritty, country-boy voice; a lean and funky blues approach; and a stinging, angular, soul-wrenching guitar attack.


Just as Vaughan had come to epitomize Texas blues, Benoit has done the same for Louisiana (even as his guitar licks borrow as much from Texas as it does a little further east). Moreover, Benoit likes to stress his Cajun roots, and often does so in the lyrics of his own songs, whether it be longing for the or reveling in the laissez les bon temps roulez attitude of the South Louisiana region.

That's just what he does for the title track from his superior 2005 release Fever For The Bayou. Benoit is one of the most consistently solid blues guys around and hadn't let success affect his music one iota, but "Fever For The Bayou" is where he goes even further than usual to blend the blues with zydeco. Since zydeco is really a Creole offshoot of the blues, Benoit isn't really inventing anything by doing that, just reminding us of the shared heritage of the two styles. The joyful chords he plays with his three piece band are full and are the kind of chords you'd hear out of an accordion.


Voodoo Podcast: The Funky & Freaky


Andre Williams

One of the most refreshing things about Voodoo is the extent of locally based booking - the Bingo Parlour and the Noomoon Stage both promise eclectic billing straight out of New Orleans, with acts culled from Crescent City cult favorites, local legends, bohemian celebrities and just plain weirdoes. This podcast introduces a few. Thanks to Ben Jaffe and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the New Orleans Bingo! Show, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, Alex McMurray and the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Luke Allen and the Happy Talk Band, Hurray For The Riff Raff, the Zydepunks, the Bad Off, the Morning 40 Federation, and Andre Williams (pictured) and the New Orleans Hellhounds

Monday, September 22, 2008

NolaFunk Lagniappe

The Radiators: Serving Up 30 Years of Tasty Tunes

The Radiators became a vital part of the revival of the New Orleans music scene that saw the development of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the birth of the city’s premier music club Tipitina’s. The band has played with many legends of the New Orleans music scene. They’ve performed with the likes of Professor Longhair, Jessie Hill and Ernie K-Doe, as well as being Earl King’s regular back-up band for many years.


The Radiators on Conan - Smokin' Hole


Always a favorite party band of college students throughout the eighties, The Rads toured at length all over the U.S., often playing 4 night stands at New York City’s famed The Lone Star Cafe… Signed by Epic Records in 1987, they released 3 studio albums, which received extensive radio play. Their live shows are noted for their soulful and enthused improvisations. Guest musicians such as Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Bob Weir, George Porter, Jr. and Maceo Parker have been known to have sit in on occasion. Volker and Malone split vocal and writing responsibilities, with the bulk of the tunes written by Volker.


The Meters





Musical Stew Daily's: The Meters — Tour Of The Americas (1975)

This show catches The Meters white hot as they are opening up for The Rolling Stones on their 1975 Tour Of The Americas. I don’t have the specific date or location on this show, so any help would be appreciated. Enjoy!



Home of the Groove's "Movers and Shakers With The Big "Q" Factor"

Today's tracks come from sessions produced by the great Wardell Quezergue in the mid-1960s featuring two undeservedly obscure artists, Guitar Ray and Sammy Ridgley. Though neither of these song about dancing is funk-related or has an identifiable New Orleans sound, their strong, move-motivating grooves are undeniable. It's hard to understand why the records didn't get these guys some recognition, at least in New Orleans. Blame it on the vagaries of the music business, and the small, under-funded labels with no clout that put them out. My introduction to both tunes was on the Funky Delicacies/Tuff City 2002 double CD compilation of Quezergue productions, Sixty Smokin' Soul Senders, which was/is a good resource for hearing some very hard to find sides, despite the poor condition of some of the vinyl sources and inadequate mastering on the analog to digital transfers. Having heard them first was a great help when I chanced on auctions for the 45s, as I knew they were well worth pursuing.





Professor Longhair









Second Line Social blogs about New Orleans R&B...



Relix Band on the Verge: Big Sam's Funky Nation

otvsept083BIG BAND FUNK

Big Sam Williams has backed Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, appeared on VH1’s Soul Cities and jammed with everyone from Chris Robinson to actor Anthony Anderson. But hanging with celebrities hasn’t softened the trombonist’s big band, Big Sam’s Funky Nation. “I think Peace Love and Understanding is a little harder-edged,” Williams says of his most recent release. “Our first album was more jazz-oriented and the second album has more of a funk vibe. But with this album, we get down to some funky rock in line with the sound we have been playing live.” Williams, who cut his teeth in The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, originally envisioned the Funky Nation as a side project, but eventually made the difficult decision to pursue his band full-time. “Those guys in the Dozen are my role models, but Funky Nation could never do a gig like ACL if I was still on the road 300 days a year.” His gamble paid off: Not only has Big Sam’s Funky Nation scored spots at festivals like Bonnaroo and Voodoo, but they’ve made a splash on the Hollywood circuit. “Anthony Anderson didn’t want to get off the stage [laughter]. We finished at like two in the morning and he was still up there on the piano.”


Bingo! Parlour Profile #6: ZYDEPUNKS

Innovators, rebels, and survivors. Despite the turbulent times in Louisiana's recent history, the Zydepunks have grown from their New Orleans home to be a regional and international phenomenon. Yiddish riddles, Irish ballads, Cajun punk, and vocals in six languages are a small demonstration of why they astound new audiences. Wild folk dances fronted by accordion and fiddle and backed by relentless drums and bass are a testament to the high-energy folk-punk dance craze that is a Zydepunks show. The Zydepunks' new release FINISTERRE is the culmination of years of musical experience and the honing of their unique folk/punk sound. Massachusetts label Nine Mile Records (NMR) is releasing this highly anticipated album nationally ­on October 21, 2008. With FINISTERRE, the Zydepunks are releasing an album featuring original material that draws from their various folk influences and punk rock roots. Slavic rhythms, French melodies, songs in three languages (Spanish, English, French) and punk rock beats combine with often dark lyrics reflecting their experiences from the last few years, while tracks written by drummer Joseph Lilly break the folk boundaries and push the band into an entirely new sound.


Twilightzone's post on "SATURDAY NIGHT FISH FRY" - New Orleans Funk And Soul

"SATURDAY NIGHT FISH FRY" - New Orleans Funk And Soul VA


In brief:

On his new CD, Lafayette slide guitarist Sonny Landreth gets a little help from Clapton, Knopfler, Buffett and Gill

DJ Soul Sister's positive spin carries over from the Essence Festival to her birthday celebration

'Festival New Orleans' brings sounds of Louisiana to London