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ST D BE V O T EA K F A S T e E R B . M a g a z in -N .O
Breakfast ALL Day
OPEN SUNDAY FOR
come visit one of our
MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH
for Brunch & Libations
MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS EARLY
MIMOSAS & BLOODY MARYS
Before you head to
JAZZ FEST
11AM-3PM
3 LOCATIONS TREAT MOM TO A SPECIAL BRUNCH SUNDAY MAY 12TH Mid-City
LUNCH
TUE-FRI 11AM-2PM DINNER
139 S. CORTEZ ST · 309-5531
Marigny 2001 BURGUNDY ST · 525-9355
Downtown 200 MAGAZINE ST · 525-9355
www.therubyslippercafe.net
MON-THUR 5:30-10PM FRI & SAT 5:30-10:30PM 4501 TCHOUPITOULAS ST. 504-894-9880 WWW.DICKANDJENNYS.COM
Crescent City
McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir
A Legendary Dining Experience in New Orleans
Veronica Downs-Dorsey has taught choir at her alma mater McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School since replacing her own music teacher there 23 years ago. She helped McDonogh 35 start the first high school choir in New Orleans and become the first school choir to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. After Hurricane Katrina, it was the only school choir to perform at the 2006 Jazz Fest. The week before Jazz Fest starts, Downs-Dorsey spends the morning leading choir practice. The singers will be backed by a live band at the festival, but they practice their first song, “He’s Alive,” a capella. Downs-Dorsey prefers traditional gospel but the students’ set includes contemporary stylings as well. Between songs, the kids slouch in their chairs like any group of bored teens, but when Downs-Dorsey starts the next song’s piano intro, her students spring up in resounding recognition. “You gotta be loud because people gonna be screamin’,” Downs-Dorsey says. The students sing louder and louder as their confidence grows, until the school’s security officer is drawn to the door, stomping and clapping. Downs-Dorsey’s daughter Veronique — a former valedictorian at McDonogh 35 and current trumpet player for the Original Pinettes Brass Band — serves as the school’s assistant band direc-
GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLEANS.COM > APRIL 30 > 2013
Steak House
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the spokesman for the New Orleansbased Hip-Hop for Hope organization. Dee-1 also has helped raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness and education. Dee-1 first garnered wider exposure when the song “Jay, 50, and Weezy” from his 2009 debut album David and Goliath won limited airplay on MTV. The song takes the rapper’s idols to task for promoting violence and not doing enough to uplift the neighborhoods and housing project communities that spawned and supported them. Dee-1 has become a ubiquitous presence at hip-hop shows, opening for artists including Ice Cube, OutKast’s Big Boi and Three 6 Mafia. On stage and in the studio, Dee-1 joined forces with live musicians like the New Era Brass Band, the Rebirth Brass Band, and trumpeter Shamarr Allen with whom Dee-1 recorded the rock ’n’ brass football anthem, “Bring ’Em to the Dome.” More recently Dee-1 paired up with New Orleans legendary producer and former Cash Money beatmaker Mannie Fresh for the 2012 mixtape The Focus Tape and its hit single, “The One That Got Away.” And before we even had the chance to fully digest The Focus Tape, Dee-1 dropped a 2013 mix titled, I Hope They Hear Me (Vol. 2). • 2:45 p.m.-3:35 p.m. Congo Square Stage
1934 – 2013
from JAZZ FEST
35
$
tuesday — friday
TUES–FRI 11:30am–9:30pm SAT 4– SUN 12–9pm @
821-3271
2 COURSE DINNER WITH CHOICE OF A GLASS OF WINE
5pm — 10pm
DEE-1 PLAYS ON THE CONGO SQUARE STAGE. PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
tor and teaches drums. Today she is helping her mother’s students practice stage moves. “The fest is real drama, real expression,” her mom says to the kids. “It’s all about getting the crowd involved, that’s how you get invited back.” This will be the fourth festival performance for 12th grader Anissa Montgomery, a student from the 9th Ward whose mother also was a student of Downs-Dorsey. Montgomery sings in three choirs outside of school and says the best part of Jazz Fest is “getting to preach to a big, new audience.” Senior and second-year choir member Oschelle James from Uptown appreciates performing at the Fair Grounds. “You never know what someone in the audience is going through that day or who you are going to touch with this music,” James says. 2:40 p.m.-3:25 p.m. Gospel Tent
Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs New Orleans trumpet player Shamarr Allen made himself a star as the frontman for Rebirth Brass Band and went on to work as a sideman for Willie Nelson and recorded with Lenny Kravitz and Harry Connick Jr. While many of his New Orleans brass peers focus on improvisation, Allen populates his albums and live sets with backing band the Underdawgs, playing original songs that combine hip-hop, rock, pop and funk in a sound he calls “hip-rock.” Allen is just as well-loved in New Orleans for the free music school for children he leads with sponsor SilenceIsViolence. Since 2007,