Dead air
The next fest thing
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT VENUES ARE NOT YET ALLOWED TO REOPEN, but Le Petit Theatre (www.lepetittheatre.com) is going live on air with the original radio play version of noir-style thriller “Sorry, Wrong Number” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 22.
WWOZ launched Groovapedia during Festing in Place BY WILL COVIELLO THE CANCELLATION OF THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL
deprived fans of sets by The Who, Lionel Richie, Lizzo and Trombone Shorty among others, but it helped build an appetite for “festing.” WWOZ-FM stepped in to fill the void, becoming the focal point of “Festing in Place.” The station released a set of “cubes” and broadcast an eightday schedule of recordings from past performances at Jazz Fest, some from the 1970s. It also helped link fans to regular festival food vendors and craft booth artisans. The station has been broadcasting continually since coronavirus restrictions were put in place in March, and some radio hosts have stepped into its French Market studio while others have recorded their shows remotely, says station General Manager Beth Utterback. For Festing in Place, the station website (www.wwoz.org) became a hub of information. “We had to set up a virtual festival virtually,” Utterback says. The station originally planned to quadruple its bandwidth, but had to increase it once the festing began. More than 2.3 million people listened to the programming, and 800,000 sessions were logged on its social media accounts. While festing, some website users may have noticed OZ’s new Groovapedia, a portal of recent and archival content including audio, video, photos, links to the walking tours of A Closer Walk and more. “It’s a legacy project,” Utterback says. WWOZ was planning to beta test Groovapedia when the pandemic hit, and it has been live through Festing in Place. Groovapedia has video from many festivals, including Jazz Fast, French Quarter Festival, the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, Danny Barker Banjo & Guitar Festival and others. There also are club performances featuring Tank & the Bangas, Samantha Fish, Ani DiFranco, Lazy Lester with the Lil Buck Sinegal Band and others, from venues in New Orleans and Lafayette.
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Leslie Castay (center) and Curtis Billings (second from right) appeared in Le Petit Theatre’s production of ‘Noises Off!’
Besides the archive of past events, Groovapedia is loaded with features and interviews with Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans baby dolls, skeleton gangs, social aid and pleasure club leaders and other culture bearers. Some content is archived from programming such as ’OZ’s “Takin’ It to the Streets” interviews. There are entries about prominent places for local music history, even stretching to a video about Charity Hospital and the musicians born there. Content created to mark New Orleans’ tricentennial in 2018 and Jazz Fest’s 50th year also are housed on the site. Most of Groovapedia is searchable by artist, festival or other subjects. ‘OZ’s website always has the most recent two weeks’ of its programming available for listeners, as well as other features. It has articles commemorating famous musicians and recently added memoriam pieces for singer Big Al Carson, percussionist Alfred “Uganda” Roberts, Pinstripe Brass Band founder Dwight Miller and longtime on-air host Jesse Hathorne, aka the Midnight Creeper. A Groovapedia photo page has links to galleries from Jazz Fests back to
P H OTO B Y S C OT T T H R E L K E L D/ T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E | T H E N E W O R L E A N S A DVO C AT E
Sean ‘Bongo’ Ryan, left, Nick Karel and Matthew Fischer listen to music from past New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival performances broadcast by WWOZ radio on April 26.
2009, as well as other music festivals and Carnival events. The most recent gallery is from Festing in Place. The station asked listeners to share photos. The Flickr galleries have more than 1,000 images, and staff are uploading more. The pictures show people holding drinks, sitting in collapsible chairs, wearing fest gear and sometimes masks and posing amid flags and homemade signs. People fested in their apartments, on their porches and in their yards. There also are photos of people in snow, on beaches and in Japan. Utterback notes that many of the station’s web listeners are outside the U.S. With ’OZ serving as a beacon to the world for New Orleans music and culture, Groovapedia is set to be an ever-expanding home to anytime festing.
Leslie Castay stars as Elbert Stevenson, a bedridden heiress who’s husband is away, leaving her alone in their Manhattan apartment. Stevenson picks up her phone and is surprised to overhear part of a plot to murder a woman. She calls the operator, played by Tracey Collins, for help. The original radio play inspired a 1948 film version starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster. The production also features Curtis Billings, Helen Jaksch, Steve French, James Wheeler and Alyson King. The show will be broadcast on Facebook Live, and will be available for viewing afterward as well. — WILL COVIELLO
Now showing Movie theaters are allowed to reopen with some physical distancing restrictions. The Prytania Theatre (5339 Prytania St., 504-891-2787; www.theprytania.com) is running “The Wizard of Oz” and “Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone” this week. Zeitgeist Theater & Lounge (6621 St. Claude Ave., Arabi, 504-352-1150; www.zeitgeistnola.org) reopens May 22 with the local music documentary “Up From the Streets” and the paranormal comedy “Extra Ordinary.” Zeitgeist also continues to offer virtual screenings of films it had scheduled to open in recent months. Visit the theater websites for details about movies, tickets and distancing policies. — WILL COVIELLO
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