OffBeat Magazine March 2019

Leyla McCalla Branford Marsalis Kevin Naquin The Rayo Brothers

Life Beyond Rap Cabaret

BUKU

NEW ORLEANS MUSIC, FOOD, CULTURE—MARCH 2019

Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 3.50

AF The NAYSAYER FREEWATER

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

PHoto: NOE CUGNY

.BLAST FROM THE PAST

Dancing at Her Funeral

Big Freedia: Do Azz I Say

By Michael Patrick Welch July 2011

Boyfriend is exploring life beyond rap cabaret. Page 24

Letters 6 Mojo Mouth

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Fresh 8 My Music with Nancy Gros; Five Questions with Freewater; Longhair Revelation: Per Oldeus’ scrapbook and more.

Obituaries

The Shadow and the Soul

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Branford Marsalis: Melody is at the base of all music.

Man in the Mirror

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Kevin Naquin is staying true.

OffBeat Eats

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Restaurant Review

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Connie Jones Ricky Paulin

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Michael Dominici reviews Meril.

Best of the Beat Award Winners

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The Rayo Brothers, The Asylum Chorus, Louie Ludwig, Ric Robertson, Kris Tokarski, The Dirty Rain Revelers, Cousin Joe, James Booker and Snooks Eaglin, Big Al & the Heavyweights and more.

Who took home an award this year?

Making Beats and Educating Children

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Listings 44

AF The Naysayer is finally telling his story, in three parts.

Cuba’s Havana Jazz Festival Divorced in 1960 but still madly in love.

www.OFFBEAT.com

Reviews 34

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Backtalk with Leyla McCalla

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“People be acting like the Wally-Wally-Walmart video has been putting bounce music on the map, but I am way ahead of them, trust me,” smiles Freedia, pointing out that her recent “album”—a sample-free, five-song disc released by car company Scion—was the first ever national bounce release.

(To read more this issue can be purchased at http:// www.offbeat.com/issues/ july-2011/) MARC H 2019

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Letters

“I need to tell you ‘natives’ just how important New Orleans is to the rest of the world. It gives us a modicum of hope that there is a place still in the world where things really matter.”

—Maximilien Valentino, New Orleans, Louisiana

Opportunities Are Elsewhere The following letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post, “Déjà Vu All Over Again?” [January 2019] discussing the various organizations that have been created to nurture and develop the New Orleans music industry.—Ed. Been there, done that, many times, the system is broken. Between the funds that Tipitina’s swindled and the money that is being thrown at the latest “study” each musician could be given tax credits and/or mini-grants to help them invest in their businesses. Education and commerce are not working together. Men are not working with women and sadly men still control most of the business here. Two music conferences, please! How silly, especially when neither of them are moving the needle.

Neither of them engages women in any significant way, either. There is still a pervasive lack of knowledge about the music biz—allaround—at every level of leadership, event programmers and in-state “booking” agents who are ripping artists off like it was 1950.

Sexism and racism are alive and well and there is no one having this conversation in music here. Cities like Austin and Nashville, or even Memphis, collaborate way better than New Orleans ever has. Stunning really after all these years—we are not even close to having our shit together. So people leave and not enough of the right people are taking their place. No one wants to work in this environment—as long as opportunities are elsewhere.

—Cynthia Simien, Lafayette, Louisiana

Owning Music The following letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post, “Is it Important to Own Music?” [January 2019] featuring music writer Ted Gioia’s video “Does It Matter Whether We Own Music” indicating that music can only be preserved and passed on to future generations in a physical format (not digital).—Ed. I’m with you, I collect music in all formats as well as streaming. I think not only does streaming threaten the music industry’s economic base, as the speaker claims, it can denigrate our depth of understanding. Last night, I performed in a club on Frenchmen Street. Between our sets, the bartender was

playing a playlist called “Dark Country,” some of which I really liked. I suggested she might like some of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s recent garage rock country, which Valerie “The Problem Child” Kacprzak has showcased on WWOZ. She said: “Oh, I don’t know the names of the songs or artists.” That made me picture her consuming music as if you took a meal from a five-star restaurant, and put it in a blender and drank it.

—Spike Perkins, New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans Matters I arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 2018, but the truth is my heart has always been here. The scents and tastes of this city have always possessed me—but nothing more so than the sounds. Here, unlike any city in the world, music hangs like fog in the night air, wafting from window to street corner, seeping into crevices, penetrating cracks in the pavement and making the very streets on which we walk vibrate and dance.

As an outsider just arriving here, I need to tell you “natives” just how important New Orleans is to the rest of the world. It gives us a modicum of hope that there is a place still in the world where things really matter (and those things are not investment portfolios, real estate or cable TV). Like a good meal. Like a good song. As a musician just to join you here, I need to tell you how inspiring and uplifting it is to be in a place where music “lives.”

—Maximilien Valentino, New Orleans, Louisiana

Best of the Beat I just wanted to thank you [Jan Ramsey] and everyone there so much for the nominations.

This means so much to me. It's even more special than any other recognition from anything else, being it’s the community and city I grew up in and that I hold dear to my heart.

I really appreciate all the support for last and this year's records. I can't thank you all enough.

You've made my year(s)!

—Shawn Williams, New Orleans, Louisiana She [Doris Bastiansen of the Kerry Irish Pub] is a class act and to me, she represents what is best about New Orleans!

—Daniel Martone, New Orleans, Louisiana

OffBeat welcomes letters from its readers—both comments and criticisms. To be considered for publication, all letters must be signed and contain the current address and phone number of the writer. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for length or content deemed objectionable to OffBeat readers. Please send letters to Editor, OffBeat Publications, 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116.

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Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

March 2019 Volume 32, Number 3 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson Layout and design Eric Gernhauser, eric@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors Stacey Leigh Bridewell, Michael Dominici, Robert Fontenot, Herman Fuselier, Jeff Hannusch, Tom McDermott, Amanda Mester, Brett Milano, John Radanovich, Christopher Weddle, Dan Willging, John Wirt, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Noe Cugny Web Editor Amanda Mester, amanda@offbeat.com Videographer/Web Specialist Noe Cugny, noecugny@offbeat.com Copy Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, theo@offbeat.com Advertising Sales/Promotions Coordinator Melinda Koslowsky (tutti@offbeat.com) Camille A. Ramsey (camille@offbeat.com) Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Interns Mia Fenice, Lucy Foreman, Catie Sanders Distribution Patti Carrigan, Doug Jackson OffBeat (ISSN# 1090-0810) is published monthly in New Orleans by OffBeat, Inc., 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 944-4300 • fax (504) 944-4306 e-mail: offbeat@offbeat.com, web site: www.offbeat.com

/offbeatmagazine Copyright © 2019, OffBeat, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. OffBeat is a registered trademark of OffBeat, Inc. First class subscriptions to OffBeat in the U.S. are available for $45 per year ($52 Canada, $105 foreign airmail). Back issues are available for $10, except for the May issue for $16 (for foreign delivery add $6, except for the May issue add $4). Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcomed, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

MOJO MOUTH

Party On!

By Jan Ramsey

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appy Mardi Gras, St. Paddy’s Day, Super Sunday and all the other big New Orleans parties. We have a unique way of celebrating here, from parades and debutantes and meetings of “royal courts,” to throwing cabbages, to roasting “Hogs for the Cause.”

New Orleans is certainly the city that care forgot, but in a lot of ways, I think forgetting about our cares with the party is damaging our quality of life.

There’s nowhere else like New Orleans, our joie de vivre is comparable to none, but I can tell you from experience that a lot of the money that is spent

www.OFFBEAT.com

partying comes at a dear price when it comes to education, city infrastructure and actually supporting our culture.

The oft-described “Mardi Gras mentality” means that we party our asses off, and then pay for it later. This may be how it’s perceived outside New Orleans: one day a year to splurge and then we buckle down for Lent.

But in reality, we know that in New Orleans, that’s not the way it is. We live for the party; in fact, our culture is built around the party. And we party all year, not just on Mardi Gras Day—locals and visitors alike.

It’s a live-for-the-day mindset

and a “think about it tomorrow,” Scarlett O’Hara way of life. Look at the problems we have with our sewer and water systems, which must work properly so that citizens (and visitors, our economic lifeblood) can enjoy a basic quality of life. You can also see it in the streets, education, zoning, etc.

We’ll band-aid it today, and think about it tomorrow.

It’s awfully easy to see that no one has given much overall serious planning to preserving and growing our musical and cultural heritage. Musicians make the same amount of money playing club gigs that they did 20 or 30 years ago, sometimes less. We

still don’t have a viable music industry and music education is still woefully inadequate. I myself have been working on this for 35 years.

We have to stop living for today and think about what’s going to happen to our citizens 10, 20, 50 years from today. We owe it to our kids, and yes, we also owe it to anyone who is responsible for creating the music and culture that binds us all so closely to this place. We need goals, vision, strategy and implementation to really thrive and prosper. And that could mean less time living only in the moment and more time planning for the future. O

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photo: Thomas Cole

Soundcheck

Five Questions with FREEWATER photo: Louis Dorsey/Lou Dollaz, courtesy of the artist

At this year’s BUKU Music + Art Project, the multi-faceted platform FREEWATER will make its debut. Offering services in photography, filmography, music and more, the team spearheaded by Frankie Watts and Dominick “Mardi” Byrd bridges technology and creative arts—making it a perfect fit for BUKU. FREEWATER is also responsible for some of the city’s most in-demand parties.

What do you have planned for BUKU? This year we’re focused on a custom activation to help create a new experience for fans of both FREEWATER and BUKU. Be sure to check in with us on social media for updates as we get closer.

And don't miss out on the after-parties.

How has FREEWATER grown since we last spoke, in 2018?

Since the last time we talked, the brand has just continued to evolve. We released our collab with k2o (keep 2 eyes open) featuring a winter jacket and pants. We hosted our first party out of town and are working on some more out-of-town events, including working with some major festivals. And of course, we can't forget the opportunity we had to host our good friend Alvin Kamara's pop-up shop the weekend of the NFC championship. Overall, we're just continuing to cross goals off the list.

How do you foresee FREEWATER extending its vision beyond 2019?

It's all about growth. One party out of town is not enough. One new jacket + pant combo is not enough. New Orleans is always going to be the hub, the headquarters for what we do but we definitely plan on continuing to take the brand and experience on the road.

Who is FREEWATER most excited to check out at BUKU and why?

We're most excited to have Playboi Carti in town. We have been fans of his for quite some time now and have been waiting for his arrival to New Orleans.

It's been a long time coming so yeah... But you know, BUKU does a great job with their talent buying so the whole fest is going to be great.

How can FREEWATER help an up-and-comer execute their vision as an artist?

We've got a team fully dedicated to help any artist propel their vision through unique branding opportunities, video and photography, graphic design, etc... It's all about tapping in. Our goal is to make sure that when these artists or brands are putting themselves out there, that everything is done professionally. When we work with someone, we are making sure that everything is being done to elevate the project to its fullest potential. We're not cutting any corners over here.

—Amanda Mester Find out more at www.drinkfreewater.us.

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My Music

Nancy Gros

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s a child the radio was my favorite toy. I sat in front of it whenever I could, listening to pop music and would sing along on WTIX that played local artists, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, the Meters and all of Allen Toussaint’s material, Ernie K-Doe. I also listened to big pop stars like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and all those other great artists coming up in the ’70s.

When I was six, my older brother started a band and I used to go to their rehearsals and sit in, listen and dream of singing and he took me to my first Jazz Fest in 1976 when I was 12. I was instantly smitten and thought to myself, ‘Wow, I want to be up there one day!’ Also, as a child my older sister often took me to Paul Sanchez’ house. He had a band and they would sit around, playing the guitar and piano and everyone would sing. I loved it! But my father died when I was nine and our mother, as a single parent, always struggled financially so I could never get music or dance lessons and performing remained only a dream.

But in 2000 I met Tom Turner who was looking for someone to sing his songs and thought to myself, ‘I’d love to do that,’ and joined his band. After Katrina, I started Lil Red & Big Bad, with Charlie Hermann (guitar), Sandy Maillho (bass) and Donald Wightkin (drums) and played on the West Bank at Bourres, Big Al’s and Peggy Sue’s. One evening I went to the Deckbar to hear Jeff Ruello’s Juke Joint Jam and sat in with him for an open mike session and really got my feet wet singing the blues.

In 2009, the Voodoo Blues Krewe Challenge was announced and Jeff wanted to do it and we seriously started looking for more material.

Jeff, in addition to writing some great songs, seriously contributed to our repertoire, coming up with a lot of older, little known songs that I could, literally, make into my own as they were unfamiliar to most people (‘Cryin’ For My Baby’ and ‘It’s Your Voodoo Working’). We also chose some Ruth Brown material as I had always loved her. Jeff has more numbers he wants to develop and adapt, but finding the time is sometimes difficult as we both have jobs.

With the blues, you can inject your own soul and style into that music and just go with it! I love being out there, engaging with the people who come to New Orleans to hear good music and have a good time and look forward to singing on the ‘big stage’ and sharing our music.”

—Thomas Cole www.OFFBEAT.com

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Connie Jones

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(1934 – 2019)

he singular trumpet/cornet player Connie Jones passed away in New Orleans on February 14 at age 84.

Jones played with giants of traditional jazz, joining Jack Teagarden’s band at age 29 and working extensively with Pete Fountain, Santo Pecora and Billy Maxted. He also led his own bands during several phases of his career.

Born in New Orleans, he was largely self-taught, learning rudimentary piano from a great-aunt and then bugle at military school.

He applied those skills to learn trumpet and eventually cornet.

Highlights of his early days included Sundays with Tony Almerico’s junior band at the Parisian Room and membership in the “Basin Street Six” with Fountain.

Playing in a later Fountain band led to appearances on The Tonight Show, The Today Show and The Mike Douglas Show.

His first stint as a Pete sideman lasted from 1966–1972.

He was the bandleader at the Blue Angel from 1978–82, and he traveled all over the country from 1988–1994 playing for the Columbia Artists’ Community Concerts. He ended his road career as a bandleader on the Delta Queen Steamboat Company from 1997–2003. After that, his steadiest work was with Fountain, including a weekly gig at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis from 2007–2015.

Connie was also a longtime advisor to the French Quarter www.OFFBEAT.com

Offbeat's April 2008 cover with Connie Jones and Tom McDermott Festival in the early days, and he was honored on its 2011 poster with his amigos, Pete Fountain and Tim Laughlin.

As Tom Piazza put it, “All the serious traditional players of New Orleans show a special respect for Jones: Something shifts in their tone when his name comes up in conversation.” One could compare him to Armstrong or Bobby Hackett (for the rightness and surprise of their note choices) or Lester Young (for their love of landing on those juicy 6ths and 9ths). But really, it seems that he had invented his own system, a virtually lick-free style that left bandmates and listeners in awe.

Connie is survived by his wife of 64 years, Elaine, and many children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. He was underrecorded throughout his career, and his music is hard to find in the digital age. Look for appearances on Tim Laughlin’s and Banu Gibson’s later CDs for starters.

—Tom McDermott MARC H 2019

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photo: Kim Welch

Longhair Revelation

Per Oldaeus’ scrapbook

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er Oldaeus heard Professor Longhair for the first time in 1973.

Longhair’s 1959 Ron Records release, “Cuttin’ Out,” was in a stack of vinyl 45s a friend had brought home to Sweden from New Orleans. “Cuttin’ Out” hit Oldaeus like a punch in the stomach.

“The parade drumming in it is fantastic,” Oldaeus said from Beddingestrand in southern Sweden. “John Boudreaux is a marvelous drummer.”

Boudreaux’s drumming, of course, also drives the definitive recording of Longhair’s “Go to the Mardi Gras,” another Ron release from 1959.

Oldaeus, from his teenage years in the late 1950s on, loved New Orleans jazz and American blues and rock ’n’ roll. He first visited New Orleans in 1966.

Even so, his comparatively late introduction to Longhair was a revelation.

In 1975, Oldaeus attended a Longhair performance in Stockholm. “I just loved the music,” he said. “You just feel good when you hear it. The music uplifts you.”

Inspired by the Stockholm show, Oldaeus began collecting articles about Longhair. Excerpts from the articles appeared nearly 30 years later in Oldaeus’ self-published book, Professor Longhair: A Scrapbook. An expanded second edition of the book, published by Pelican in Gretna, is tentatively scheduled for publication this month.

In 1979, Oldaeus attended the second of the two Longhair performances he’d seen, this one in the Swedish city of Malmö. He didn’t like Longhair’s six-piece band, the venue or the show. In New Orleans a few months later, Oldaeus opted not to see Longhair perform at the 1979 Jazz & Heritage Festival. He regrets that now, but couldn’t have known it would be Longhair’s final performance at Jazz Fest. “I should have gone,” the author and former professional drummer said. “Because Johnny Vidacovich was playing drums with Professor Longhair then, and he is a fantastic drummer.”

In 1999, knowing that a book-length biography about Longhair had yet to be written, Oldaeus began work on Professor Longhair: A Scrapbook. He published the first edition of the book in 2014. Quotes and oral histories, many from Longhair’s peers, fill much of the book. “I’m not a writer,” Oldaeus said. “I can’t write a biography about him, so that [quotes] was my solution.”

Oldaeus paused work on the first edition of Professor Longhair: A Scrapbook when fatigue set in, but returned to his labor of love in 2004.

“There was still no book about Professor Longhair at that time, so it would have been silly if I didn’t complete my work,” he said. Left to his own devices, Oldaeus might still be expanding the book’s second edition.

“But you have to stop somewhere,” he said. “And my wife, Karina, got tired of me working on the book every night.”

—John Wirt

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Chewbacchus Parade

SWEET TWEETS Skooks @skooks There are some people out on the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground this afternoon sitting at a card table with a sign that says, "You honk, we drink" Alfred Banks @UnderDogCentral New Orleans in a nutshell. They show late to everything C O L E Williams @colewilliamsiam You know one of the things that makes me feel good????? When I’m dj’ing on @wwoz_neworleans and someone calls to ask me the name of a song I just played, or tell or tweet me how much they’re enjoying the . #thatsreal always for your support! #neworleansmusicshow Erica Falls @erica_falls Who says I didn’t win! Look at all of the badasses I know I had such a great time @offbeatawards ..The highlight was singing with walterwolfmanwashington ..it was Amazing…

Richard M. Surrano @Rfido3 I had the pleasure of going to your show @GalacticFunk in Albany, N.Y. @ Jupitor Hall. You guys just blew me away.... The musicianship is off the charts. Such a great feel & vibe. Erica Falls vocals are off the charts. When she hits those high notes, its just mesmerizing.

Thank you all.

Steve Silberman @ stevesilberman This recent image of Joni Mitchell (still recovering from a 2015 aneurysm) and her buddy David Hockney at @ LALouver makes me very happy. www.OFFBEAT.com

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Ricky Paulin

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(1959 – 2019)

icky Paulin, the seventh of 13 children of trumpeter Ernest “Doc” Paulin and his wife Doreen, loved the clarinet, traditional jazz music and people. That was evident in the joy he brought to his beloved instrument and lively vocals as he entertained folks while performing with his late father’s band, with his siblings in the Paulin Brothers Brass Band and on the streets of the French Quarter. Ricky Paulin died on Sunday, February 10 at the age of 59.

As he did with all of his five musical sons, Doc Paulin selected which instrument Ricky would play. He chose the clarinet for Ricky, who began blowing it in elementary school and continued while in the marching and concert bands at Cohn and John McDonogh High Schools.

“We all played multiple instruments,” says his brother, trombonist Dwayne, adding that Ricky was sometimes on snare drum with Doc, blew bass clarinet during his school years and occasionally picked up the saxophone. “He found his niche on the clarinet. He was the bomb on that clarinet,” Dwayne exclaims.

“He really was a helluva musician,” declares saxophonist/ educator Kidd Jordan, who held great esteem for Ricky. “Ricky could do anything he wanted to do which is beautiful. He loved the clarinet like Alvin Batiste did and he was one who stuck with www.OFFBEAT.com

it. Alvin used to talk about him and would say, ‘If that boy Ricky really wanted to play modern music, he wouldn’t have any problem at all.’”

It was traditional New Orleans jazz and its classic songs like “Panama” and “High Society,” however, that held Ricky’s heart. “We have fun doing those old songs because they’re timeless,” Ricky once said. “Those songs aren’t goin’ anywhere.”

Ricky’s jovial personality came out through his horn and vocals, embracing folks in a crowd who he was eager to please. He was an entertainer and damn funny, too, attributes that were advantageous when he performed, often alone, in Jackson Square.

“I like to be on the street,” Ricky once declared. “I do what I can, I make some money and I’m my own boss so that makes it even better. I’m gonna come like I want and not answer to anyone but God.” “He was happy to just play his instrument, especially around quality musicians,” says Dwayne, who describes his brother’s clarinet style as fervent and displaying much dexterity. “When he couldn’t get the right kind of musicians and he’s on a hustle, he’s going to play by himself. He was very independent like our dad. He was an open spirit, animated and a family man.”

“He loved what he what he was doing,” says Jordan, who, as a creative jazz musician, shared that aspect with the traditional clarinetist. “He was sincere.”

—Geraldine Wyckoff MARC H 2 019

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BEST OF THE BEAT

Best of the Beat Awards Photographs by Brandt Vicknair and Willow Haley

Erica Falls and Walter "Wolfman" Washington

Samantha Fish

Artist of the Year Samantha Fish

Best Blues Performer Samantha Fish

Best Rock Artist Revivalists

Best Traditional Jazz Artist Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Album of the Year Walter “Wolfman” Washington: My Future is My Past (Anti)

Best Blues Album Walter “Wolfman” Washington: My Future is My Past (Anti)

Best Rock Album The Revivalists: Take Good Care (Loma Vista)

Best Traditional Jazz Album Tuba Skinny: Nigel’s Dream (Independent)

Best Emerging Artist Bon Bon Vivant

Best R&B/Funk Artist Big Sam’s Funky Nation

Best Rap / Hip-Hop / Bounce Artist Alfred Banks

Best Contemporary Jazz Artist Jason Marsalis

Song of the Year “One More Trip Around the Sun”

by Paul Sanchez and John Rankin

Best R&B/Funk Album Big Sam’s Funky Nation: Songs in the Key of Funk, Volume 1 (Independent)

Cyril Neville with Michael and Katherine Batiste (Jon Batiste's parents) 12

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Best Rap / Hip-Hop / Bounce Artist Album Curren$y & Freddie Gibbs: Fetti (Jet Life Recordings)

Best Contemporary Jazz Album Jon Batiste: Hollywood Africans (Verve)

John Rankin and Paul Sanchez www.OFFBEAT.com

Tuba Skinny Cha Wa Best Brass Band Soul Rebels Best Cajun Artist Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys Best Cajun Album Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys: Man in the Mirror (Flat Town)

Best Zydeco Album Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band: Black Pot (Swampadelic Records) Best Roots Rock Artist Paul Sanchez

Best Country/Folk/SingerSongwriter Artist Gal Holiday Best Country/Folk/SingerSongwriter Album Gal Holiday: Lost and Found (HTRP Music)

Best Gospel Group McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir Best Cover Band Bag Of Donuts

Best Roots Rock Album Paul Sanchez: One More Trip Around the Sun (Independent)

Best Zydeco Artist Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers

Jason Marsalis

LVVRS

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Steve Stapes of The Iceman Special

Shaleyah (foreground) and Berkley (background) of Water Seed Songwriter of the Year Jon Cleary

Best Piano / Keyboardist Jon Cleary

Best Female Vocalist Samantha Fish

Best Accordionist Chubby Carrier

Best Male Vocalist Cyril Neville

Best Violin / Fiddle Player Amanda Shaw

Best DJ DJ Soul Sister Best Other Instrument Johnny Sansone (harmonica)

Best Music Video “All My Friends” The Revivalists, UMG (on behalf of Concord Loma Vista)

Best Bass Player George Porter, Jr. Best Guitarist Samantha Fish Best Drummer Johnny Vidacovich Best Saxophonist Aurora Nealand Best Clarinetist Dr. Michael White Best Trumpter Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown Best Trombonist Troy Andrews Best Tuba/Sousaphonist Matt Perrine

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Bon Bon Vivant

www.OFFBEAT.com

Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue

Business Awards Best Club Tipitina’s Best Radio Station WWOZ Best Large Festival Buku Music & Art Project Best Festival Outside of New Orleans Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival Best Neighborhood Festival Treme Creole Gumbo Festival Best Recording Studio Marigny Studios Record Label of the Year Louisiana Red Hot Records Producer of the Year Ben Ellman Best Record Store Louisiana Music Factory

www.OFFBEAT.com

Best Instrument Store Webb’s Bywater Music Best Studio Sound Engineer Mike Harvey, NOLA Recording Studio

Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Herreast Harrison and Dr. Michael White

Best Booking Agency White Oak Productions Best Manager MidCitizen Enterainment Best Music Attorney Edgar “Dino” Gankendorff Best Club Owner or Manager Wesley Schmidt (Snug Harbor) Best Concert Promoter Winter Circle Productions Musician Resource Award The Sync Up Conference Community Music Award Send Me A Friend

Loyola President Tania Tetlow and OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey

Music Business of the Year Live Nation

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AF the Naysayer

Making Beats and Educating Children

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his month, producer AF The Naysayer will release the first installment of a three-part series of music titled PARTS. Its arrival will mark the culmination of a long waiting period and dovetails with his appearance at BUKU Music + Art Project on Friday, March 22.

“I’ve been sitting on it for a minute but I feel like now is the right time to release it,” he says of PARTS, Act 1. “Before, I was trying to do things the proper way, I guess you could say. I was trying to build a team around me to help me out to push this record, from management, to a booking agent, PR. I’ve been doing it all alone pretty much for the majority of my career. So I wanted to do something different. I had a falling out with my last manager and the booking agency and realized I could do that all by myself.”

AF (short for “abstruse function”) has made a name for himself for his “lo-fi” production, but that label doesn’t tell the whole story. His music is the marriage of harsh textures with beautiful melodies and sounds like optimistic melancholy, if you will.

“I believe music is an art, in general,” he tells me. “It’s an extension of your personality.

So my music is literally just me, myself. It’s all of me. The things I repress, the things I push forward.

A lot of people say I’m pretty optimistic, but sometimes I can be really sad. So I like to think a lot of that comes out in music and in words.”

Citing old-school hip-hop producers like Run-D.M.C. and Whodini producer Larry Smith as inspiration, as well as Hitman Howie Tee, best known for work with Chubb Rock, Special Ed and Color Me Badd, AF’s appreciation for the architects

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of rap’s early sounds is evident.

He’s also informed by the more contemporary work of Madlib and J Dilla, two hip-hop giants whose work with sample-based production raised an entire generation of beatmakers.

And then, there are the video games. AF says he was “raised in arcades,” so the soundtrack to video games influenced his growing producer brain.

Raised partly in Los Angeles and partly in South Louisiana, AF visiting the arcade kept him occupied and away from trouble. “I grew up hearing that soundtrack and being exposed to a lot of music that way,” he says.

Referring to techno innovators Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, AF says, “We joke around and say that it took a Japanese man who appreciated black electronic music from Detroit to teach me about that music. And then you realize that black people who look like me were making that music.”

AF went to college in Lake Charles, at McNeese State. That’s where he really started making beats. During that time, he came to New Orleans a ton and eventually decided to stay put. At least, for a little while.

Now partners with Sinking

by Amanda Mester

City Records, AF is taking a step beyond his usual all-instrumental releases. For the first time, he’s featuring vocalists—in this case, three different rappers (one from Baton Rouge and two from Taiwan). The label will release the four-track Act 1 on a double 45

set. On March 29, he’ll host a release party at Gasa Gasa with Mykia Jovan, Charm Taylor and Cavalier.

At BUKU, AF will appear not only as a solo performer, but also as a member of Upbeat Academy.

He’s a lead instructor there, teaching (mostly) high-school students the art of beatmaking, mixing and more.

As with most mentorship programs, the important work at Upbeat Academy is just as much about life skills as it is technical capabilities. “Sometimes I get a little jaded because of the music industry, but I break through,” he tells me. “Once I’m there and I see that I’ve made a change in someone’s life by just giving them some advice or just talking to them, it changes everything. Pushing arts on people builds confidence, because you’re having an idea. It’s brave to stand there and try to make your idea a reality. And so when I’m able to help someone use their voice and show their voice and express themselves in a musical manner, that’s giving them confidence to just be able to do anything.”

With his work in pursuing so many of his passions (he is also a devoted cyclist), AF The Naysayer is known for a lot of things: making beats and educating children, for starters. “I’ve gone through many different lives and music is just one small thing in my life,” he tells me before mentioning something he definitely should not be known for. “People still come to me and say, ‘Oh you rap right?’

I think, because I’m black, people just assume I rap. I’m not a rapper.

“I want people to know me for my acts of valor.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

photo: Michael Tucker

AF The Naysayer is finally telling his story, in three parts.

Havana Jazz Festival

Cuba’s Havana Jazz Festival Politics divides, but jazz unites.

—Ronell Johnson, Preservation Hall Jazz Band trombonist.

T

he Havana Jazz Festival is probably best-known as the place where Dizzy Gillespie first heard Irakere, whose members Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval would defect to the U.S. not long after. Chucho Valdés remained behind, but eventually found his fame as well. Although he didn’t appear at the festival (the 34th) this year, the piano great Valdés was given the title of festival Artistic Director in the 1990s.

Havana is impossibly and famously atmospheric: the thousands of rattling ’50s-era Chevys and awful Soviet-era Ladas that serve as taxis, the fragrant cigar smoke, men arguing loudly about baseball in the parks, music everywhere and in every aspect of life. The American mafia’s casinos and legendary dance clubs and hotels still remain—the Capri, Hotel Nacional, Deauville, Riviera, Tropicana—and only add to the crumbling city’s charm.

Fans who travel on the pricey tours (one of the few ways for most Americans to visit legally, besides on a cruise ship) are treated with an enormous roster of talent to choose from each January. And dancing to the free street salsa bands scattered throughout city parks is oftentimes just as amazing as seeing the headliner acts in the hotels and theaters. It may come as a surprise that musicians are not paid for appearances, even though ticket prices are very high by Cuban standards.

Despite the haphazard way of life in Havana, the jazz festival concerts start exactly on time and are fairly well run.

There are musicians like Arturo O’Farrill (son of Cuban great Chico)

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who can’t get enough of travel to Cuba, and has gone many times over the decades since his first visit. The pianist/bandleader often returns to draw inspiration from the great well of Afro-Cuban rhythms.

This year O’Farrill realized “my life’s dream, an almost-religious experience” to play in Santiago, on stage with Afro-Cuban folkloric legends Muñequitos de Matanzas and Conga Los Hoyos. Both groups are as close to the ancient sources of African culture in the Americas as it gets; Conga played their hubcaps and other repurposed objects-turned-instruments at the New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2017.

Formed in a Matanzas bar in the 1950s, the Muñequitos are the most famous rumba group from the island. “To play with the two groups, It was among the high points of my life,” O’Farrill says, recalling the intense concert.

He is not at all shy about his disgust for the U.S. embargo, either, which he calls “criminal,” an easy case to make when you learn how much suffering it has caused in Cuba.

O’Farrill once said that Cuba and America got divorced in 1960, but we are still madly in love. To the question “Should we remarry?” he says “Absolutely!” He adds that “to discard a country because their

by John Radanovich

politics don’t align with ours, that’s the crime.”

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Cuba’s greatest singer, Benny Moré, was feted in a festival tribute concert of master musicians on Thursday night. Bobby Carcassés sang, Ernán López-Nussa (an uncle of the great musical López-Nussa family in Havana) played piano, and Barbarito Torres of Buena Vista fame played laud, with other guests. The most exciting popular music band in Cuba, Cimafunk, also performed, one of the few groups to mix American old-school funk with timba. They played a wild outdoor concert the night before, yet another life-altering experience.

At the huge art and performance space, Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Cuban-born drummer Dafnis Prieto was a perfect excuse to take in a memorable show. Another was saxophonist/chekere/composer Yosvany Terry, whose latest record, Ancestral Memories, contains a swinging ode to New Orleans, “The French Quarter.” There also on Saturday was a lecture by the spectacularly gifted pianist Harold López-Nussa, one of the growing number of musicians who are now permitted to tour outside and return to Cuba. One memorable night concert was the López-Nussa Trio featuring harmonica player

Gregoire Maret and percussionist Pedrito Martinez.

The Preservation Hall band visited again this year, with a Thursday appearance at the Hotel Nacional, former residence of Cuban Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky.

It was yet another evening lineup that could hardly have been more filled with artistry: singer Joss Stone, Septeto Santiaguero and Yosvany Terry. Preservation Hall are repeat visitors to the island, as their 2018 documentary A Tuba to Cuba attests. Preservation Hall Jazz Band leader Ben Jaffe, leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band mentioned how “Cuba evokes the full spectrum of emotions, the extremes, complete joy and total sadness. It’s something you have to experience. There’s so much beauty in Cuba and there’s also an air of pain.” Preservation Hall Jazz Band also performed in Santiago “it’s more New Orleans than New Orleans” Jaffe adds. “There’s a conga tradition similar to our social aid and pleasure club tradition.

Each conga club also is a group, and when they strike up, everyone comes out and marches along. It’s just like being in the 7th Ward, and as soon as you hear music you start looking for the parade.”

Roberto Fonseca led the closing night’s open jam with many talented women singers, including a cameo of Buena Vista Social Club singer Omara Portuondo. The largely foreign audience left late, elated, carrying memories of those incredible sights and sounds with them, until the next visit to the island.

Cubans who will be represented at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this year include Septeto Santiaguero, performing on Saturday, April 27; and Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez, performing on Saturday, May 4. O www.OFFBEAT.com

photo: John Radanovich

Divorced in 1960 but still madly in love.

BRANFORD MARSALIS

The Shadow and the Soul

“I

play music, I love playing music.” Tenor and soprano saxophonist Branford Marsalis simply states while talking about his longtime quartet’s latest, impressive release, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul.

Perhaps surprisingly, the album, which opens with bassist Eric Revis’ melodically chaotic “Dance of the Evil Toys,” contains only one Marsalis original. Revis and pianist Joey Calderazzo each provide two selections, with two classic jazz tunes rounding out the party.

The leader contests the idea that generosity had anything to do with the format.

“I’m a player, I’m not a musician/ composer,” Marsalis declares.

“I want to find the best songs I can find. Mathematically, the probability that the best songs would come from one person is dubious. In playing other people’s songs you’re actually stealing parts of what those songs are. It expands how your songs sound. It’s the variety of songs that really makes the record because it allows us to play with a certain kind of sonic variety.”

“Emotional security is more important than generosity,” Marsalis continues, explaining that when [during a live performance] Calderazzo takes a solo, he moves to the back of the stage in order to allow people to focus on the pianist. “In a culture where people hear with their eyes, you have to create an environment for them to notice that he’s playing. Once they do, they realize how great he is.”

“Melody is at the base of all music,” says Marsalis, returning to the topic of Revis’ “Dance of the Evil Toys,” on which the saxophonist goes out on top of the thunder of Justin Faulkner’s drums.

Marsalis reflects: “We were just

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pushing out the edges of the box.”

On Marsalis’ selfpenned, poetically titled and beautifully performed “Life Filtering from the Water Flowers,” his tenor seems to call out much like the blowing of a conch shell on a lonely beach. Calderazzo’s magnificent piano lifts the spirit, as do Faulkner’s cymbal splashes and the tone of Marsalis’ horn. The tune is unique in that it holds a sense of empty spaces while being expansive.

“That’s because there’s not a static drum beat establishing a strict time,” Marsalis explains. “In fact there’s no pulse at all. It’s a rubato where the melody dictates the tempo in a way. In some ways, it’s like how African drum music works. It repeats itself—a complicated rhythm, that’s elastic. The song has a round that establishes the tempo.”

With its lively flavor, Keith Jarrett’s classic “Windup” suits this quartet and the album well.

The familiarity of the tune’s New Orleans accents in the drums and piano makes it all the more accessible.

Marsalis explains that it wasn’t his idea to bring in the New Orleans element, as he had envisioned making it a funk tune.

“When the piano thing started, Justin just went there,” Marsalis says. “He spent two years in New Orleans when he was working on that Buddy Bolden film and he hung out with Herlin [drummer

by Geraldine Wyckoff

Herlin Riley] and a lot of musicians took him under their wings. He has big ears and learned fast. It’s a happy song regardless of how avant-garde the soloists are or the [written] data is, so there should be the emotional underpinning of fun that permeates the whole thing. In order for it to be fun, it has to have a certain kind of rambunctiousness.”

Marsalis, who has performed with a number of symphony orchestras, says that his classical training and experience has informed how he approaches jazz and vice versa.

“Classical influences permeate the whole new record,” Marsalis offers. “My technique is much better in a different way because I haven’t developed it by playing out of a pattern book. It’s been developed from playing

complicated [classical] pieces so it has a different feel to it.

Also, when I play classical there’s a lot of places I can place the beat. Having grown up in New Orleans listening to jazz, funk and R&B, I hear it differently and sometimes I’ll put some of the notes where no one expects.

Some of the orchestra people like it; some of them hate it,” he adds, laughing.

Branford will be performing with the Marsalis “family band” at Jazz Fest along with his father, pianist Ellis Marsalis, and brothers trumpeter Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo and drummer/ vibraphonist Jason Marsalis.

“It’s always fun,” says Marsalis of blowing with his kin. “We tend to gravitate to playing dad’s tunes because it’s a lot easier for us to play his tunes than it is for him to play ours. It’s not supposed to happen the other way around.”

“That’s part of the disconnect that we have in jazz in general.

You have young people who don’t know how to play like old people and you can’t expect old people to play young people’s music. I know how to play old people’s music— I’m good because I learned.” “[Drummer] Bob French threw me off the bandstand once because I couldn’t play the trad shit. And it was the best thing that ever happened because the next time I came back I knew it. He said, ‘Alright, alright, Marsalis, you learned your lesson.’”

O www.OFFBEAT.com

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Branford Marsalis: Melody is at the base of all music.

KEVIN NAQUIN

Man in the Mirror

“M

an in the Mirror” is more than a song title for Cajun musician Kevin Naquin.

When Naquin looks in the mirror, he sees reflections of his father Jessie, who died in December.

Jessie encouraged his son's 24year music career, often dancing and playing on stage. Father and son leaned on each other during Jessie's unusually long fight with pancreatic cancer. The disease is known to claim its victims months or weeks after a diagnosis. But Jessie lasted seven years.

During Jessie's cancer battle, the Naquins hosted golf tournaments that raised more than $125,000 for pancreatic cancer research. Their efforts prompted MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to name an exam room in Jessie Naquin's honor. Kevin Naquin said their accomplishments define “Man in the Mirror.” “You go through life, changes and difficulties, it's important for someone to stay true to their character and morals,” said Naquin, 39, a city councilman in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.

“The higher road is the better chance to peace and happiness in the future.

“We can't live in a world that just because we sit in the first pew in church every Sunday, that makes us right. If we have the nicest clothes and fancy car and house, that's not always living a true life.

It's not about the materialistic things.

“So I think that song had a true meaning.”

Man in the Mirror touched Naquin even more when it claimed the Best Cajun Album honor at OffBeat's Best of the Beat Awards.

The honor is a first for Naquin, a favorite son of the Cajun French Music Association.

With 10 CDs since he was a

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teenager, Naquin has won 28 Le Cajuns (the CFMA's annual, Grammy-style trophies awarded to Cajun musicians). His latest Le Cajun sweep came in 2015, when his No Guarantee album won CD of the Year, Song of the Year and the People's Choice Award. Naquin took Accordionist of the Year with his Ossun Playboys claiming Band of the Year. Band member Beau Thomas won Fiddler of the Year.

Naquin served as a poster child for Cajun traditionalists, a young musician who stayed true to the waltzes and two-steps of the pioneers. Fred's Lounge in Mamou, world-famous for beer drinking and Cajun dancing at 8 a.m. every Saturday, put him on its Wall of Fame in 2014.

But Naquin has loosened his traditional stance in recent years.

Flashes of swamp pop, zydeco, country and rock ’n' roll began to appear in his music. There was even an accordion-flavored cover of Grand Funk Railroad's 1973 hit, “Some Kind of Wonderful.”

Naquin believes Man in the Mirror is his most diverse CD yet.

The songs are Cajun standards, like “J'ai Eté au Bal” and “Lemonade Song.” But Naquin shows his humorous side with “Belle Journée,” a two-step that opens with a fight to start a boat engine.

Naquin tips his hat to zydeco with a medley, Sam Cooke's “Bring It On Home.” Country joins the mix

by Herman Fuselier

with “Crazy Arms,” “Please Say You'll Stay” and “When You Say Nothing At All.” Naquin's daughter Kaleigh sings the latter, a number one hit for Keith Whitley in 1988 and Irish singer Ronan Keating in 1999.

“To have my daughter sing on the album and have her picture on the cover, that's something I can always cherish,” said Naquin.

“It's something she can be proud of, too. I was honored to win the award. I wish my father could have been there. But I know he was there in spirit.”

Naquin will keep his father's

spirit alive by continuing the golf tournament fundraisers. He's looking to partner with the new Rock ‘n’ Bowl in Lafayette for a night of live music, bowling and other family activities, with funds going to cancer research.

“I'm going to keep doing raising money because it was a promise to my dad,” said Naquin. “We always said no matter what happened to him or I, whoever went first, the other one would continue it and fight to find better outcomes, better treatments. The hope is my kids will continue it as well. We feel like we made an impact. The community has stood behind us and said, 'Hey, we want you to continue doing this.'”

Naquin has no plans to stop the music, either. His day job as a medical supplies salesman keeps him traveling throughout the Southeast. He's seeking re-election for his council seat in Lafayette's city-parish government. He eyes the future thinking about the man in the mirror and the father who is no longer physically by his side. But Jessie is always in his heart.

“My kids are doing great. All of them play instruments. Now that Daddy has passed, I think so many people enjoyed my father. He was proud of me and I was proud of him. I think people will help me take it to the next level. I really look forward to doing that.”

O www.OFFBEAT.com

PHOTO: courtesy of THE ARTIST

Kevin Naquin is staying true.

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Boyfriend is exploring life beyond rap cabaret.

by Amanda Mester • PHOToGRAPHS BY NOE CUGNY The rollers in her hair, the vintage wardrobe, the cerebral wit, the feminism—all are hallmarks of Boyfriend, the Tennessee-raised songwriter, singer and performance artist whose aesthetic realm was built primarily in New Orleans.

Forever in pursuit of answers to questions like “Who do you think you are?” “What does this mean?” and “Why the fuck do we follow society’s prescriptions?”

Boyfriend has always used her art as a performative means to an end. It’s nuanced and complex, but often pithy and outrageous. But for all of the in-your-face qualities of the Boyfriend character, there’s an intentional secrecy to the individual behind the retro shellac. “It’s fun,” she says of having successfully hidden her given name from the public for as long as she has.

Years ago, local DJ Rusty Lazer (widely considered instrumental in making Big Freedia a star) took notice of Boyfriend’s DIY videos on YouTube. He put her in touch with glitch-hop production team Sexparty and her first two EPs were born. Love Your Boyfriend, parts one and two, arrived in 2014. For most, song number one on the first EP served as Boyfriend’s formal introduction. It’s called “Attention,” the hook for which

is the demanding “Look at me, I need some fuckin’ attention.”

Also in 2014, she released the loosie “Like My Hand Did,” featuring the lyrics “I need a Facebook slut, a Kappa Kappa cunt” and a lamentation on the disappointing lack of sexual prowess in a man. Getting our attention: check.

While establishing her brand of brash electroclash, Boyfriend was also busy making her live performances memorable—to say the least. In fact, the notoriety she’s earned from her stage shows has eclipsed any shock induced by her lyrics. It’s a burlesque-inspired orgy for the senses, usually accompanied by a set designed with retro furniture, a small army of backup dancers and a wardrobe of pointy bras, silk robes and stockings.

All of that—the spitfire lyrics and nostalgic vêtements—Boyfriend coins “rap cabaret.” Boyfriend was initially drawn to rap out of practicality: It allowed her to be verbose without being long-winded. She has a lot to say, and rap is nothing if not storytelling.

“Rap is an incredible art form that is in no way less than any other art form,” she says. But being thought of as a rapper wasn’t really her intention when using “rap cabaret” to define her style. The woman behind

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“I’m always questioning myself when my intent is ‘I wanna save the world’ because it’s really easy to be, like, ‘I’m going to live my truth unapologetically and loudly’ and then it’s three weeks later and you’re exhausted and you can’t do the thing that you thought you were going to do anymore.”

“Attention” is self-effacing when explaining her opposition to thinking in terms of pre-packaged music labels.

“I really chafe against terms of genre because I forget to think that way. I just think ‘great song, great art, great writing, great musician.’

And then I don’t think it’s necessarily served me to be categorized as a rapper. I never take sonic cues. I think part of that’s because I’m not a real musician. It’s so hard for me to talk about music. I don’t play an instrument. I’m just drawn to the story. And [rapping] was the way that I could tell the story.”

Her penchant for the lyricism of rap could perhaps be ascribed to her childhood, which she spent in a family of songwriters. But she also grew up in the strict, conservative teachings of the Church of Christ in Nashville. It wasn’t long before religious teachings about the human body and decency began to inform her pubescent identity.

“There was an inherent message: Your body has power, dangerous power. And those who were ‘tempting’ were to blame… It was a woman’s job to cover up and make it easy for men to resist,” she told OffBeat’s Robert Fontenot in 2015, the year she embarked on her first tour.

In 2019, identity is still the crux of Boyfriend’s work. Like millions of us,

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she’s a woman whose sense of self is wrapped up in a need to help others.

“I’m always questioning myself when my intent is ‘I wanna save the world,’” she tells me. “Because it’s really easy to be, like, ‘I’m going to live my truth unapologetically and loudly’ and then it’s three weeks later and you’re exhausted and you can’t do the thing that you thought you were going to do anymore. And you realize that it’s not your job to save the world but then you can’t live your life not wanting the world to be a better place. And you can’t not serve others and you can’t not stand up for the truth that you believe in. So it’s that constant boundary line between being a warrior and being a monk. And that’s the struggle I have: when to bite my tongue, when to call somebody out, when to make a post, when to sit this one out. Those are the things that have been on my mind lately.”

It’s hard to imagine that Boyfriend would be concerning herself with biting her tongue, were she a man (Girlfriend?). Her womanhood is inseparable from her ideas, no matter how straightforward or conceptdriven. And even the superficial runs deep.

“The rollers actually came about because I don’t know how to do hair,” she says when I ask about one of the more visible Boyfriend signatures.

“I’d be, like, ‘Oh I have a show at the Hi-Ho and I’ve already got this cool outfit and my makeup looks great but oh shit, what about my hair?’ And so it started out that way. I’m, like, ‘Okay, this would be a cool thing. I’ll go in rollers and then people will take the rollers out throughout the show and that would be like I’m getting ready during the show.’”

Performing with the rollers on allows her to comment on the burden she feels to make herself “presentable” as a woman. As a self-described neophyte at hair, Boyfriend’s putting the literal process of getting dolled up on stage for all to see exposed a great, unintentional irony.

“In order to critique that process, I now have a much more involved version of that process which is to get in full rollers before every show. It takes a lot of time and I’m not doing them to curl my hair, I’m doing them to look amazing on stage so they have to be perfect and hairsprayed. It’s become one of the great ironies; I’m trying to talk about how frustrating it is to be a woman in the world and in order to talk about it, I have to engage with this process.”

For Boyfriend, the subconscious nature of incorporating rollers into her image is but one element of her organic adoption of a retro, feminine past. “No matter how fucked up things are for women, and they are, we can all look at the 1950s image of a woman vacuuming in high heels and pearls and say ‘Ugh what an oppressive time that was.’ There’s something about borrowing from that bygone era that helps me get to the critique faster. Because, when you look at it, you think about that time when women were just expected to be housewives.” www.OFFBEAT.com

She mentions “Mad Men,” the award-winning television series that brought the mores of 1950s and ’60s America into contemporary discourse. Boyfriend’s work does something similar through props and costuming. “Boom, you’re instantly there at the critique and by choosing to interact with those symbols, and own them and make them sexy and use them, it complicates things. That is the critique that I’m interested in, because it’s not so simple as high heels are the tool of the patriarchy, or lipstick is bringing you down, shaving your arms means giving into the man. It’s so much more than that, because you should wear lipstick if you want to. It can be really fun and empowering. And if you feel sexy when you shave your legs, you should shave your legs.”

The intersection of time and gender gives Boyfriend’s work a kind of perennial appeal. “Retro,” by definition, refers to the recent past.

But as time marches forward, what was once retro becomes vintage, or antiquated. It’s not so much the era that matters, but how progress and hindsight converge on our conceptions of gender that gets her excited.

“I know that I’m always trying to look backwards. And it might not even be a specific chunk of time,” she says before mentioning her famous Preservation Hall performances set in the late nineteenth century. Last October, Boyfriend produced her 3rd Annual Hag at Preservation Hall. She writes, directs and stars in the immersive threeact musical all while examining the limitations women have when choosing paths in life. In it, she focuses on three roles which history has foisted upon us: the bride, the whore and the hag.

“I’m just looking backwards because hindsight is 20/20, so we’re able to look backwards on society and be, like, ‘This is what we were doing wrong then.’ But I also don’t believe, as a human race, that we’re necessarily trending towards ‘good.’ I don’t think it’s a perfect equation where you can look backwards to see that it was worse.”

Speaking of looking backwards, Boyfriend says her early music was about asking people to listen to music more actively, whereas the newer stuff is about living more actively.

“Shave your legs if you want to, but know why you’re doing it,” she says. “Do it for you. Or do it because your man loves it, but do it because you decided to instead of just the mindless, passive, ‘Ew it’s gross not to shave my legs’ thing. Like, have you ever engaged with that thought and unpacked it?”

Stepping into the “real” person behind Boyfriend for a moment, she admits that the hyper-analytic, obsessive quandaries she plays with on stage keep her up at night. Her performance art is not so much about trying to provide her audience with answers. She just wants to invite us to have fun and play in the questions like she is, every day.

“I’ll change my mind day-to-day about whether or not I should’ve worn makeup to that meeting or should I shave my underarms when I’m going to this Catholic wedding? Where’s the line between living my truth and just avoiding an annoying conflict? And if I keep my mouth shut at the table when something inappropriate is said because I’m just tired and they’re pouring really nice wine for me that I didn’t buy, am I part of the problem? You know this kind of, like, weight that we all have in this Trump era of trying to make the world better and www.OFFBEAT.com

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“I want to believe that, no, you’re never satiated, but that it isn’t this torturous sort of thing but that you’re just joyful to be playing. That you’re picking up things and you’re playing with the meaning of them in order to find new meanings knowing that it will lead you to think of something else.”

it’s a constant negotiation. I think what I’m trying to put on stage is that constant ‘I’m going to pick up this signifier and put down this signifier.’

You can pick them up and put them down. It doesn’t have to be a constant at-war thing.”

Tasking one’s self with saving the world (or, at least making the world a better place, one audience at a time) comes with an entire set of internal strife. For Boyfriend, there exists always a concern that the audience isn’t getting what she meant from a particular song, or Instagram post, or caption on social media.

“There’s a deification of celebrities that we give to these people because they give us answers and they give us catharsis and they give us insight and life. To be a human being that’s trying to make art, knowing how other people talk about art, knowing how you talk about art and know the deities that you look to, it’s so tempting to fall into this very narcissistic black hole where you’re like ‘This song has to be the thesis statement of who I am and this album has to be the final say of what my time on earth means and my Instagram page has to prove that I deserve love.’”

The reality is, making art doesn’t alleviate any of those woes. At times,

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it makes things even more complicated. “I thought this song was going to change the way people thought about me—it didn’t,” she says. “The main thing I try to do with my relationship with my own art is just not invest that sort of meaning into it—that, like, this is my calling card at the gates of heaven. To believe that I deserve life and love just because I put on this really good show or because I made this really good song, and not just because... That’s kind of the issue I have with the mythology surrounding artists. Does James Booker deserve more love than your accountant? It’s tricky stuff because it is good to sit around a table and all talk about the song that moved you or the first time that you saw Julie Andrews on Broadway. I do that, of course we all do, but I don’t know how to do it while still engaging with them as humans. And maybe we shouldn’t. Maybe we should allow them to transcend humanity and become these symbols because it’s so much easier to use symbols than it is to use a human being.”

Mid-sentence, she backs up and mentions “Carpool Karaoke,” the hugely popular segment on James Corden’s late-night television show featuring celebrities driving around with Corden and performing their music from the passenger’s seat. In particular, she’s referencing an episode starring Paul McCartney, who, for the beginning of the segment, is performing classic material of his.

“James Corden is singing his heart out because these songs are columns in the temple of life. We all know them and love them and we can remember the first time we heard them,” she tells me. “And then, they of course pivot to the obligatory promotional segment where they put on one of Paul’s new songs and Paul McCartney’s eyes and face light up and he’s so excited and he’s singing along and he’s ramping up to this part and, ah yeah, he loves that part. You can just see the joy that he has about his newest thing that most of us sitting here are thinking, ‘It’s not his best thing…’ But that’s not how he thinks about it.

Because he’s just creating. That’s what he does and the joy of doing that is why he is here. And I want to believe that that is the path, not to sit in a corner and think you peaked already. The gift is the work, not the brilliance.

“I want to believe that, no, you’re never satiated, but that it isn’t this torturous sort of thing but that you’re just joyful to be playing. That you’re picking up things and you’re playing with the meaning of them in order to find new meanings knowing that it will lead you to think of something else.”

She uses a metaphor of the monk to illustrate her point, saying the true zen is having the internal joy whether you write down a note or not. “It’s not like, ‘Oh I got this secret amazing album that would’ve changed the world that I’m keeping secret.’ It’s more of just, like, we’re all just playing with life and some of us choose to do it with www.OFFBEAT.com

a career and then some of us take a vow of silence and sit on a mountain and we just watch the sunset.”

Boyfriend has not taken a vow of silence. She’s kind of just getting started. She’s never released an album, at least not in the traditional sense. With a small handful of EPs and loosies behind her, she’s ambling towards a re-introduction, of sorts. “I am working on a full-length concept album musical. And when I say we’re working on it, we’re just starting it. I haven’t even written anything. I’m going to keep releasing a few singles this year. It probably won’t come out until like 2020. But the new project will be literal because there will be an actual character with a narrative arc instead of this very abstract thing that I’ve been doing.”

Longtime fans will know that Boyfriend’s forthcoming album won’t be her first foray into musical theater. Just last November, her popinfused adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific song “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” was premiered by Broadway juggernaut outlet Playbill. She was even invited by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization to perform her version alongside Tonynominated leading lady of the stage Laura Osnes.

Elsewhere, Boyfriend’s growing confidence as a songwriter is on full display on works with New Orleans royalty. She appears on Galactic’s latest album, Already Ready Already. Most notably, she’s a featured performer on “Dance At My Funeral,” where she beckons listeners to send horns and tubas when she dies, and to “show up with a drink in hand” and “move that ass while you still can.” It’s a song doused in playful morbidity and exemplary of Boyfriend’s ongoing growth.

Founding member and Galactic bassist Robert Mercurio tells me that working with Boyfriend exposed his bandmates and him to Boyfriend’s brilliance, and the broad range of her songwriting abilities. On another track, “Going Straight Crazy” featuring Princess Shaw, Boyfriend flexed her skills in a more behind-the-scenes role.

“We had gotten the song to a good spot, with Princess Shaw, but there were still a couple lyrical spots that could have used help. It became apparent to us, through working with Boyfriend, that she was really good at coming in and doctoring and being an additional writer on a song. She came in and gave the song a good little twist and tightened up some of the vocals.”

Galactic’s collaborations with Boyfriend blossomed outside of the sessions for Already Ready Already, too.

As Mercurio relayed, “Boyfriend came to Ben [Ellman] and me ... because she works on and writes tracks with Big Freedia ... anyway, I guess she enjoyed working with Ben and me so she said, ‘Why don’t we work on some tunes with Big Freedia?’ We ended up co-writing and producing a track for Big Freedia, ‘She Tipsy.’ That went really well, and Freedia’s team really loved the track. So we’re meeting again to talk about doing another one.”

He continues by telling me Boyfriend will likely remain a part of Galactic’s songwriting team. “She’s kind of an ideal writing partner for us because we’re prolific in writing music and she’s prolific in writing lyrics and can do it for a lot of different genres. She comes with a very creative, unique perspective in her writing. There’s people that are good writers but there’s people who can tell a story in a way that you’ve never www.OFFBEAT.com

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“Buy a hot glue gun and make your own costume. When I’m trying to describe New Orleans and Mardi Gras, specifically to people that haven’t been here, the way I explain it is that it’s a city and an event where everyone is in touch with their inner child.”

heard it before, and that’s what makes somebody a really really good writer. People sometimes recycle ideas, but with her it’s always new ground broken. Boyfriend’s just one of her many avenues to get songs out there.”

Boyfriend herself is grappling with what exactly those avenues are.

Ironically, the ingenuity of her “rap cabaret” moniker is presenting a roadblock. “We’re trying to get a new Instagram handle,” she tells me about her @rapcabaret username. She says her agent is having difficulty explaining to people what exactly it is that Boyfriend does. When they hear “rap,” they assume she’s a fit for a hip-hop showcase. When they hear “cabaret,” she can get pigeonholed into burlesque revues. “Really, what it is, is pop,” says Boyfriend. “That’s really the term we need to be using. I was, and still am, so proud to have come up with ‘rap cabaret.’

The internal rhyme, the way it falls off the tongue. It perfectly describes my show. But R.I.P... or, actually, we’ll see—because I’ve got the blue check [Instagram’s verification badge], which makes everything harder to do. I might be stuck with it.”

“Rap cabaret seems like it’s just a small sliver of the spectrum of what she writes and can deliver,” says Mercurio when I ask him what he sees for Boyfriend’s future. “It’s been a very successful image and it’s definitely

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very interesting. But I think she’ll be very successful in any road that she goes down.”

Big Freedia agrees, saying Boyfriend has not only been a remarkable collaborator (Boyfriend wrote songs for her Very Big Freedia Christmazz EP), but one who continuously reaches new heights. “When we work together, we connect, and we get each other. Over time, it has gotten better. Each time that we’ve hooked up, things have just grown and grown. She’s super creative. She can sing, she can rap. She can write. She can do different levels of this shit.”

Putting music aside for a moment, I was dying to ask Boyfriend what her ideal Mardi Gras entails. “I’ve got to talk about Krewe of Broth,” she says as her face lights up. “We paraded right before Endymion last year, with a giant vat of chicken noodle soup. We have bedazzled spoons and bowls and we literally give out soup to people and we all dress up as our favorite soup. It’s truly that simple. There’s no commentary, there’s no irony. We just love soup.”

For those who are visiting New Orleans for the high holiday, Boyfriend urges them to be respectful of certain aspects of culture, like Mardi Gras Indians. “When it’s just people trying to get a little nugget of culture for their Instagram story, it becomes a spectacle instead of an event.” She does, however, fully encourage folks to get their hands dirty for Mardi Gras.

“Buy a hot glue gun and make your own costume.

When I’m trying to describe New Orleans and Mardi Gras, specifically to people that haven’t been here, the way I explain it is that it’s a city and an event where everyone is in touch with their inner child. That’s the real splendor of Mardi Gras. It’s not ‘Go see this and see what this other person is doing for you,’ but for you to play yourself. Like, what are you going to make? What do you want to dress up as? It’s no shame, everyone’s doing it. We’re allowed to color and create until, like, sixth grade and then it’s serious time until forever. Most people don’t get to live creatively. The rest of the country gets it on Halloween but here it’s like a whole season of multiple looks and things to come up with. That, to me, is what Mardi Gras is about. Pull out your inner eight-year-old; they’re still in there and they’re probably neglected.

See what she wants to do.”

Boyfriend’s thoughts on costume-as-storytelling don’t just apply to her performances, or Fat Tuesday. She’s established her very own boutique, XO Boyfriend, which makes vintage pieces vessels for more than bodies.

Whether it’s encouraging costume play for Carnival, tackling patriarchy in panties, dressing up as yesterday’s forgotten stories, or writing songs in the post–rap cabaret world, Boyfriend has a child’s appetite for discovery. “It’s okay. The water’s warm. We’re all in the sandbox here, and that’s just so beautiful.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

MEDITERRANEAN Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115

MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/SPANISH Barú Bistro & Tapas: 3700 Magazine St., 895-2225 El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846; 300 Harrison Ave., 488-0107; 800 S Peters St., 309-8804 Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000

MUSIC ON THE MENU

AMERICAN Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120

BARBECUE The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232

COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Dr., (504) 300-1157

CREOLE/CAJUN Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 Cornet: 700 Bourbon St., 523-1485 Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021 Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486 New Orleans Creole Cookery: 508 Toulouse St., 524-9632

FINE DINING Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221 Josephine Estelle: Ace Hotel, 600 Carondelet St., 930-3070 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078

FRENCH Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670

GERMAN Bratz Y'all: 617-B Piety St., 301-3222

Banks Street Bar & Grill: 4401 Banks St., 486-0258 Buffa’s: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Chickie Wah Wah: 2828 Canal St., 304-4714 Gattuso’s: 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, 368-1114 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068 Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844 Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117 Little Gem Saloon: 445 S. Rampart St., 267-4863 Maison: 508 Frenchmen St., 289-5648 Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 NOLA Cantina: 437 Esplanade Ave Palm Court: 1204 Decatur St., 525-0200 Rivershack Tavern: 3449 River Rd., 834-4938 Siberia Lounge: 2227 St. Claude Ave., 265-8865 Southport Hall: 200 Monticello Ave., 835-2903 Snug Harbor: 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 Three Muses: 536 Frenchmen St., 298-8746

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS Cake Café: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010 Dat Dog: 601 Frenchmen St., 309-3362; 5030 Freret St., 899-6883; 3336 Magazine St., 324-2226 Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant: 701 Tchoupitoulas St., 523-8995 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047 Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361 Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413 Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683

PIZZA

Midway Pizza: 4725 Freret St., 322-2815 Pizza Delicious: 617 Piety St., 676-8482 Breaux Mart: 3233 Magazine St., 262-6017; Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525-7437 2904 Severn Ave. Metarie, 885-5565; Theo’s Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554; 9647 Jefferson Hwy. River Ridge, 737-8146; 4024 Canal St., 302-1133; 1212 S Clearview, 315 E Judge Perez, Chalmette, 262-0750; 733-3803 605 Lapalco Blvd., Gretna, 433-0333 Mardi Gras Zone: 2706 Royal St., 947-8787 SEAFOOD Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380 INDIAN Deanie’s Seafood: 841 Iberville St., 581-1316; Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797 1713 Lake Ave. Metairie, 834-1225

GROCERY STORES

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI Sukho Thai: 4519 Magazine St., 373-6471; 2200 Royal St., 948-9309 Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433

LOUISIANA / SOUTHERN Mondo: 900 Harrison Ave., 224-2633 Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

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SOUL Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

VIETNAMESE Namese: 4077 Tulane Ave., 483-8899

WEE HOURS Buffa’s Restaurant & Lounge: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038

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Fried Rock Shrimp Tacos

Meril Review by Michael Dominici

I

n the ’70s, percussionist Emeril Lagasse was awarded a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music, but a stint he took at a Portuguese bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts lit a spark that led to a different pathway. Instead, he enrolled in the prestigious Johnson & Wales University, became a chef, and eventually caught the attention of John and Ella Brennan, who gave him the opportunity to replace the most influential chef in New Orleans, Paul Prudhomme, at Commander’s Palace in 1982. In 1990, Emeril opened his namesake restaurant in the Warehouse District, offering a five-star culinary experience in a decidedly informal dining room setting, which was a radically modern concept at the time. Within a few years, Lagasse became a celebrity icon with his own television show, created an empire that employs thousands, penned 19 cookbooks, was on the cover of this magazine and formed a philanthropic foundation focused on mentoring youths in New Orleans and beyond. His many accolades include the 2013 James Beard Humanitarian of the Year Award, and the Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Award. His current Emmy Award– winning Eat The World series explores various countries through a culinary and cultural vantage provided by Lagasse and various world-renowned chefs. His latest enterprise, Meril, celebrates this curiosity and passion for international flavors, as well as regional favorites.

Meril, named after Emeril’s youngest daughter, opened a few years back in a sprawling Warehouse District space with a distinctly modernist feel, featuring an open kitchen and a business-casual vibe. Guests are welcomed by a rather large bar www.OFFBEAT.com

area bustling with energy presided over by beverage director Milan “Miki” Nikolic’s ambitious roster of libations. They include some of the tastiest concoctions I’ve ever had, such as the No. 41, made with tequila, house-made rose petal syrup, vanilla syrup and Lindemans Framboise. The international wine list includes many by-theglass options, which are also available in small pours, allowing the diner to experience several options.

Executive Chef Wilfredo Avelar offers a series of small plates that allows the diner a truly dazzling array of delightful options. Some of the standouts of the appetizers we shared were the deviled eggs garnished with shrimp, “Cajun” caviar and remoulade, and the yellowfin tuna wraps spiked with jalapeño, ponzu sauce and crunchy noodles encased in Bibb lettuce.

Fried rock shrimp tacos with Crystal hot sauce mojo had a nice Crescent City–Cuban connection.

The boudin tamale was a wellconceived novelty, as were the fried buttermilk biscuits with miso honey and foie gras butter garnished with berries. Shaved Ibérico ham with homemade cheese bread was a real treat. Some of the more indulgent offerings included crispy chicken livers on baguette crisps garnished with chicken liver pate and pepper jelly and fresh herbs, a decadent flavor bomb, and the lobster cake with a rich eel sauce, Sriracha mayo and a crunch of tobiko caviar. Meril also offers two of the best oyster dishes in New Orleans. The fried oysters are in a tomato-bacon jam over a bed of shredded mirliton dressed with white remoulade sauce. Fire-roasted oysters are

encrusted in bone marrow and hog’s head cheese with a garnish of salsa verde. Both were outstanding.

Of the half-dozen salads, highlights included the roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato with blue cheese and candied walnuts with an irresistible Steen’s cane syrup vinaigrette, and an arugula salad with apples, pecancrusted goat cheese and balsamic dressing.

Almost every table seemed to order one of the flatbreads, which have five different variations: cheese, Cubano, muffaletta, market vegetable and “Wise Guy.” They are all savory, generously portioned and delicious. Pasta selections included a perfectly executed dish of linguine and clams with guanciale and blistered tomatoes, a saffron pappardelle with braised lamb, a classic lasagna and savory crawfish étouffée. One of our favorite dishes was the classic Spanish-style preparation of garlic shrimp with lemon and chili. Some of the more exotic offerings also hit the spot, such as the Korean short ribs with kimchi, the Korean fried chicken with Gochujang sauce made with chili

and fermented rice, as well as the pork belly banh mi, which was one of the lunch specials. A half-dozen side dishes and artisanal cheese plates are also available.

Lagasse has been well-known for having serious dessert selections in all of his restaurants, and the dozen or so offerings at Meril run the gamut from classics such as pecan pie with coffee caramel sauce, to lemon icebox pie, to a kicked up cinnamon toast bread pudding with Fireball whiskey sauce. There’s also a terrific selection of homemade ice creams and sorbets.

Meril is Emeril Lagasse’s most approachable and affordable restaurant in New Orleans. If it had a theme song it would be “My Favorite Things.” As for navigating this culinary mecca, the best approach is to bring friends, trust your instincts, and don’t hesitate to ask the knowledgeable and friendly staff for suggestions. You won’t be disappointed.

Meril, 424 Girod Street, New Orleans, LA, 70130. (504) 5263745. Open 11:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day. O MARC H 2 019

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PHOTO: courtesy of MERIL

DINING OUT

REVIEWS

Reviews

CDs reviewed are available now at 421 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny 504-586-1094 or online at LouisianaMusicFactory.com

When submitting CDs for consideration, please send two copies to OffBeat Reviews, 421 Frenchmen Street, Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116

Whiskeytown Meets the Avett Brothers

The Rayo Brothers Victim & Villain (Nouveau Electric Records) The Rayo Brothers’ third CD, Victim & Villain, released on Louis Michot’s Nouveau Electric Records and recorded at Dockside Studio with engineer Tony Daigle, should do a lot to keep the momentum going and gain new audiences for the Lafayette band. But unlike most folk-oriented acts, in which the songwriter is the vocalist, Jesse Reaux is the group’s primary songwriter while brother Daniel serves as the lead vocalist, interpreting all but two of Jesse’s songs. Given Daniel’s captivating performance, the siblings must be über-tight for one to successfully convey the intended emotions of the other’s confessional-like material.

While sonically the songs fall between impassioned folk-rock and modern alt-country, with majestic, sweeping arrangements (think Whiskeytown meets the Avett Brothers), thematically they often deal with protagonists admitting their shortcomings in irreconcilable situations and

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moving forward with maturity.

It’s not necessarily morose, but honest and insightful, knowing problems can be dealt with, even if it means closing the door.

The studio production is superb—lyrics are clear and unencumbered. Meanwhile, the instrumental musicianship showcasing big guitars, dancing steel and soft, tinkling banjo is all done with good dynamics, allowing each song to breathe naturally. Two songs hint at a harbinger of things to come beyond the folk/alt-country baseline. “Goodbye Jane” marches with a ’60s pop feel led by trumpets, trombone and flugelhorn, while “Victim & Villain” swells with a microchamber orchestra of violin and viola. This evolution will surely continue.

—Dan Willging

The Asylum Chorus Blue Sunshine (Independent) The Asylum Chorus are back with their second

EP, Blue Sunshine. Over the years they have been crafting their sound, layer by layer, developing from an a capella group singing spirituals into a band with a definitive identity.

With each subsequent release they have introduced new musical influences into the mix, culminating in a blend of spiritual neo-soul roots-rock interlaced with intricate vocal harmonies. They hit their stride with their previous EP, Take a Piece, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped experimenting on this release.

Blue Sunshine follows the formula of their previous EP in that its seven songs serve as platforms for each vocalist.

“Leave That Phone Alone”, “Something to Burn,” and “Sunshine” adhere most closely to the feel of their previous album. “Calling” comes from the same place, but stands out from the rest with its Indian tabla rhythm and genuine vocal from Sybil Shanell. “Get That Get Back” and “Spot Removal” are the most adventurous tracks in that they’re more highly produced and pop-influenced than anything the group has done before. “Changing Time” features the ear-catching baritone of Lucas Davenport and has a hip-hop funk kind of feel that could be an interesting new direction for the group.

Always evolving and pushing the limits, the Asylum Chorus continues to be a unique band.

Where will they take us next?

—Stacey Leigh Bridewell

Louie Ludwig The Things You Done on a Mardi Gras Day (ZZI Music) The great Mardi Gras anthems all physically sound like a parade is underway— it’s not just about the beat, but the atmosphere, which is not as easy to create in the studio as you might think.

New Orleans poet laureate of sorts Louie Ludwig found a great way around that problem, programming (!!!) very authentic-sounding parade drums (tracks of them) and then mixing that with actual field recordings of Carnival celebration. It all helps to deliver the joke, which is about how showing your ass on Mardi Gras, literally and otherwise, can come back to bite you the rest of the year. Louie always keeps one slightly jaundiced eye on the human condition, but he’s never mean; the overall thesis is “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die of embarrassment.”

—Robert Fontenot www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

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Borealis Rex

Ric Robertson

Cut Your Teeth (Independent)

The Fool, The Friend (Independent)

Why wait for the Stones to come around when you can get some hellraising rock ’n’ roll from these guys right now? Whatever it takes to make red-blooded Southern rock sound fresh again, Borealis Rex got it: The songs have big riffs and hooks, the energy would fire off the grooves if CDs had ’em, and in the best Skynyrd tradition, they’ve snuck a few serious thoughts into the lyrics.

The two-guitar, two-singer lineup includes Dash Rip Rock main man Bill Davis, but this is definitely not a Dash record as Chance Casteel does most of the singing, with Davis doing the harmonies (though we’ll grant that Davis’ one featured track, “Passenger” does fit well with the amped-up, more serious direction of the last couple Dash albums). The band’s X factor is Parker Freeman, who plays mainly acoustic instruments, throwing a few surprises into otherwise guitar-slinging tunes.

The slide guitar–driven “Flood” takes on a familiar topic—it’s about a storm that creates havoc in Louisiana—but treats it as a wailing blues, until the guitars make way for a banjo solo. Likewise, the Stones/Faces–sounding “Take It Out on Me” includes a fiddle solo, and is no less rocking for it. “She’s So Cool” and “Cocaine Caroline” both play it more down the middle—these are rockers for the eternal adolescent in you—and the five-song EP leaves you hungry for an album’s worth.

—Brett Milano

Throughout his debut release, Ric Robertson pairs well-crafted songs with an easy going vocal performance reminiscent of Paul Simon. The fact that The Fool, The Friend is Robertson’s debut surely portends great things to come.

“The Fool” kicks off the recording in a spirited fashion, but from a lyrical standpoint, you cannot help but feel like there is trouble waiting ahead. Sure enough, from the moment John Graboff’s plaintive pedal steel graces the opening of “Bullet” we’re headlong down the rabbit hole of despair. “The Dreamer” enters with a mellow swaggering funk as Robertson tackles the David Eagan number to great effect. The propulsive piano rhythm pushes things along until Eddie Barbash gets a chance to shine on saxophone.

On “Rachel” Robertson shows another side of his musical abilities as he delivers a rock solid pop song. “Windex Pete” which sits in sharp contrast with much of The Fool, The Friend is up next and, despite the theme of loss throughout the record, Pete appears just when we “need reminding of how simple life can be”—and Robertson makes clear that in times of loss the uplifting power of music is sometimes all that we really need.

Robertson’s reading of Jerry Reed’s “A Thing Called Love” gives Daniel Clarke an opportunity to work out the www.OFFBEAT.com

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organ; and as such, it has more heft to it than Reed’s original. On “The Friend,” which would sit nicely along-side any number of Gram Parsons recordings, Graboff’s pedal steel is augmented nicely by Duncan Wickel’s string workout.

Robertson closes out the recording with “One Fan” which features understated piano and strings while Robertson laments that “her memory is as relentless as New Orleans in the middle of June.”

Coming to grips with breakups, and loss in general, is never easy; but when the result is an album as fine as this, it is clear that Ric Robertson’s loss is our gain.

—Christopher Weddle

Jacye That Was Then (Crazy Chester Records) Jacye Guerin, a skilled songwriter and passionate singer from Plaquemine in Iberville Parish, goes all out for her album debut. That Was Then presents 13 mostly Southern soul–style original songs co-written by Guerin and Andreas Werner, the Swiss-born Nashville and Muscle Shoals–based producer who’s worked with Bettye LaVette, Clarence Carter, Patterson Hood, Tony Joe White and many more.

Werner surrounds Guerin’s usually gritty vocals with tastefully full arrangements featuring the Muscle Shoals Horns, Muscle Shoals All-Stars and Nashville String Machine. David Hood, bass, and Clayton Ivey, Wurlitzer electric piano, are among the stellar www.OFFBEAT.com

session musicians who played for this made-in-Muscle Shoals-andNashville project.

Guerin’s music hits a spot between Melissa Etheridge, Janis Joplin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the soul music that emanated from Muscle Shoals and Memphis in the 1960s and ’70s. Louisiana and New Orleans influences show up, too.

Album opener “Who’s Gonna Save Me” digs into such rootsy influences as New Orleans’ subdudes and the R&B-inspired Leon Russell and Joe Cocker.

Accompanied by background vocalists the Shoals Sisters, Guerin sings “Who’s Gonna Save Me” with her usual fearlessness.

Another heartfelt ballad, “Fire and Gasoline,” receives a classy treatment featuring a string quartet and Clayton Ivey’s worldclass electric piano work.

Guerin’s sincerity also sells “Love You.” This ballad boasts Will McFarlane’s gently cascading electric guitar and nearly religious solemnity from the Muscle Shoals Horns. Turning to funky soul, “Mystic Woman” finds Guerin at her grittiest. Although heartache makes itself known on the album, the horns-filled “Baby Come Close” is a happy love song accented by that repeating, onenote dot-dot-dot, dot-dot, dot-dot staccato figure so common in vintage R&B from New Orleans.

The missing-someone-bad sentiment and saxophone solo in “London” make it the ideal song for slow-dancing couples on a Louisiana dancefloor. Nonetheless, “Into the Midnight Hour” is the album’s most intimate selection.

It’s also Guerin’s sweetest, most tender performance, a direction she may do well to further explore. The school of edgy Southern woman vocalist is already well spoken for.

Guerin ends That Was Then with the extroverted “Little Bird,” a song seasoned by New Orleans traditional jazz and featuring collective trumpet, trombone and clarinet soloing. She has released an impressive debut.

—John Wirt MARC H 2 019

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Big Al and the Heavyweights World Full of Trouble (EllerSoul Records) Despite its title, Big Al and the Heavyweights’ latest is the

CD that care forgot (sorry), a collection of exactly the sane kind of goodtime blues you’ve come to expect from this shifting quartet. To the Heavyweights, the blues is a social construct, not a personal lament but a

Pure New Orleans Genius Cousin Joe, James Booker and Snooks Eaglin Rhapsody in Bronze (504 Records) This gem of an album represents three previously unreleased “short sessions” by a trio of this city’s legendary artists: vocalist Cousin Joe (Pleasant Joseph), pianist/ vocalist James Booker and guitarist/vocalist Snooks Eaglin. That statement itself should be enough to excite fans of these great musicians, who were captured at various venues spanning three decades. The sessions are topped off by all-star bands that back Cousin Joe and Eaglin—Booker plays and sings solo.

Cousin Joe, who is perhaps the least recognized of the three, offers some of his signature stylin’ and often displays his hilarious sense of humor on four cuts recorded in New Orleans in 1988.

Check out the band with pianist Ed Frank, guitarist Justin Adams, bassist Frank Fields, drummer Frank Parker, tenor saxophonists Clarence Ford and Tim Green and alto saxist Andy Ridley. Wow. (More information on this singular artist can be found in his autobiography Cousin Joe: Blues from New Orleans.)

One of the aspects that makes James Booker’s segment, which was recorded in 1976 at a hotel in Amsterdam, special is that it feels and sounds so personal, so intimate. In just seven cuts, he musically tells the listener so much about himself and his virtuosity. He immediately moves from the straight-up “Booker’s Boogie” to Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” which transitions into “One Helluva Nerve,” complete with lyrics that have Beethoven—in Booker’s voice—finding fault with James’ version before offering him some advice. The title cut, “Blues Minuet (Rhapsody in Bronze)” has the free-flowing pianist transitioning genres again. As he does, Booker asks, “Hear New Orleans?” Yes we do.

Snooks Eaglin is up to his usual, wonderful trickery on his first selection, amazingly making his guitar picks sound like single notes on a piano. This session was recorded live in 1967 at Gloria’s Living Room on Spain Street in New Orleans with Bob French at the drums and Frank Fields on bass. Producer Tom Stagg, always a reliable source for solid music and information, writes extensively about the club in his liner notes. Snooks is in excellent voice on “Yesterday,” singing the familiar song with gentle tenderness. “I hope everybody feels like I feel,” he expresses at the tune’s conclusion. That’s followed by laughter from the lucky audience.

19 cuts of pure New Orleans genius—who could ask for anything more?

—Geraldine Wyckoff

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declaration of party solidarity, and their seventh album is another readymade wang dang doodle.

All you have to do is uncrate it.

The MVP on their seventh album—besides Big Al and his drums, of course—is Lance Younger, a dual threat on vocals and guitar. His booming voice and stinging axe are equally at home whether the Heavies are laying into jump blues on the title track, country on “Mother Trucker,” the heavy, churchy soul of “Testify,” the zydecotinged “Bayou Life,” or straight Chicago blues, like the closing “Something Got to Change.”

The other big news this time out is the guest stars sittin’ in, in this case John Lisi on about half the album, the guitar of Muddy vet Bob Margolin on a few key tracks, and ex-member and harp master Jason Ricci doing the prodigal son thing. (And that’s Greg “Schatzy” Schatz on accordion in “Bayou Life,” because where is he not these days?) The rest is business as usual—a few broken hearts, some head-shaking over society, a little local color. But it always translates into one hell of a good time.

—Robert Fontenot

Kris Tokarski Ragtime - New Orleans Style, Vol. 2 (Big Al Records) Most of the traditional jazz players in New Orleans try and reproduce the music from the ’10s through ’40s by emulating that music as closely as possible, rhythmically, harmonically and in the spirit of the earlier improvisations.

Others go quite a ways out from

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this approach in their desire to update the music to take into account later music trends.

Pianist Kris Tokarski has taken a sensible approach of taking the music that predates jazz— ragtime—and playing it in the style of how the early New Orleans jazzmen might have taken it.

Pianistically, this means, for the most part, Jelly Roll Morton, who recorded at least three rags in his early jazz style. This disc presents 15 rags from 1903–16, seven with the simpatico accompaniment of drummer Hal Smith and Joshua Gouzy on bass, the others on solo piano.

Some tracks, especially the brisker ones, work better than others: James Scott’s “Frog Legs Rag,” Joseph Lamb’s “Patricia Rag” and Theron C. Bennett’s “St. Louis Tickle,” to name three. But every track will evoke smiles from those who are familiar with the ragtime/ Jelly Roll canon. With dozens of albums out there repeating the scores verbatim, these variations are most welcome.

—Tom McDermott

Dale Watson Call Me Lucky (Compass Records) You can’t fault Dale Watson’s credibility as a rock-ribbed country traditionalist. Born into poverty, on the road at 14, owner of not one but two honky-tonks, he even drives a truck every once in a while—not some suburban Ford F-150, either, but an actual commercial rig. So if he seems like he’s just stepped out of the mist from six decades ago, it’s genuine.

Some folks just speak honky-tonk www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

The Perfect Weekend Read Bruce Iglauer and Patrick A. Roberts Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story (The University of Chicago Press)

bookmark

If you’ve subscribed to, or even randomly leafed through, a couple of issues of Living Blues in the last few decades, undoubtedly you’ve perused the Alligator Records ads contained inside. In addition to touting the label’s latest releases, they also contain label founder Bruce Iglauer’s full-page poetic waxings citing various points in Alligator’s history. Bitten by the Blues is in many ways a compilation of these regular testimonials. A stone-cold Chicago blues fanatic, Iglauer started the label on a shoestring budget in 1970, selling and promoting his initial Hound Dog Taylor LP out of the trunk of his secondhand Plymouth. Fast-forward. Today, Alligator Records has been referred to as “the largest contemporary blues label in the world.” Bitten by the Blues documents much of Alligator’s colorful and unlikely journey. Early on, Iglauer concentrated on Windy City artists. In addition to the once-in-a-millennium Taylor, his Chicago roster grew to include Son Seals, Koko Taylor and Lonnie Brooks. Shrewdly, Iglauer realized that for Alligator to grow and prosper, he would need to expand beyond the 312 area code. In 1979 he would travel to the 504 area code, specifically to Clematis Street, where he recorded Professor Longhair’s acclaimed Crawfish Fiesta LP. However, a 1997 foray to New Orleans would prove disastrous after Alligator forged an alliance with Camp Street’s Black Top Records—a deal which backfired for both labels exponentially.

While the book is filled with interesting antidotes about Alligator artists, incidents and specific releases, the authors don’t ignore the colossal challenges the ever-metamorphosing record business imposes. Formats change, there are manufacturing errors, record chains go bankrupt, distributors pay their bills with returns, your best-selling artist needs a down payment on a bus, your last batch of releases tanks. It’s a damn tough business to survive in. But to Alligator’s credit, they have survived while many contemporaries have struggled and gone belly up. Bitten by the Blues in many ways is a tale of that survival and a celebration of the music many folks grew up with.

—Jeff Hannusch

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naturally, like a language. Or maybe it just spoke to him.

An Austin guitar slinger with a rich, deep voice—he wields Johnny Cash’s stark honesty with a growl that sounds like it crawled out from under Sam Elliott’s mustache—Dale sure sounds like a country outlaw.

But when he keeps protesting that he’s a bad man who’ll only bring you down with him, he just seems like an old romantic protecting his battered heart, like in the literal and figurative ambivalence of “You Weren’t Supposed to Feel This Good.” He plays guitar like a Texan but can groove like a Memphian; most of the arrangements here are right out of the Tennessee Two playbook (drummer W.S. Holland is even on a few tracks), and he recorded all these songs at the legendary Sun Studios to get that patented slapback echo.

But he’s equally fluent in Country Swing (“Tupelo Mississippi & a ‘57 Fairlane”), Texas shuffles (“Inside View”) and near-rockabilly (“David Buxkemper,” about a farmer fan).

He calls his style “Ameripolitan,” which is ironic because “Countrypolitan” is the movement that started to put pop into country way back in the ’60s. Dale Watson, once again, is busy taking it back out.

—Robert Fontenot

Roderick Harper Perfect Imperfections (Independent) A vocalist since early childhood, Roderick Harper sings with elegance and ease. The Washington, D.C., native studied jazz with the late Alvin Batiste at Southern University in Baton Rouge

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as well as technique-enhancing classical voice.

In New Orleans, Harper and the Nola Dukes gig at venues including Snug Harbor, the Royal Sonesta Hotel and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. They perform out of town, too, in many other Louisiana locales and as far away as Biloxi, Detroit and Chicago.

Harper recorded his new album, Perfect Imperfections, at Neutral Sound Studio in New Orleans.

It’s a warm and cozy set of seven standards plus two compositions each by contemporary trumpetercomposers Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton. Collectively, the songs demonstrate Harper’s vocal finesse and interpretive gifts.

Most of Perfect Imperfections’ selections feature the album’s resident jazz trio, pianist Oscar Rossignoli, bassist Robin Sherman and drummer Chris Guccione. The project’s palette, however, shifts unexpectedly when Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes keyboards replace the acoustic piano in the two Marsalis pieces, “In the Court of King Oliver” and “Rosewood,” as well as Payton’s “Shades of Hue.” There’s also a string trio in Harper’s blissful take on Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “My Romance” and a gospel blues–sounding Hammond organ in Louis Jordan’s 1946 hit, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’.”

While the varied instrumentation and instrumental solos work, Harper remains the captain of his ship. He smoothly weaves the Marsalis and Payton songs alongside such familiar classics as “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “Green Dolphin Street” and George and Ira Gershwin’s www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

“Our Love Is Here to Stay.” That seamlessness also holds true for the soul singing Harper does for Payton’s “Give Light, Live Light, Love.”

Marsalis’ “In the Court of King Oliver,” an homage to New Orleans jazz greats, is especially fun. While the trio bounces and swings, Harper sings the story: “In the court of New Orleans they came, swinging songs they made.

Form the heart of New Orleans to Chicago’s swinging scene. Pops played for a while, but then he went on his way. He never will forget the memories they made.”

Harper, in touch with tradition though he is, is making new jazz memories.

—John Wirt

The Dirty Rain Revelers Spark (Independent) Gently floating, half-asleep, somewhere between Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See, the Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand is this album, not coincidentally the product of a duo: Melissa DeOrazio’s languid voice hovering against a spare backdrop of husband Matthew’s guitar arabesques, lots of echo, and an acoustic anchor. It’s the work of two gloomy but only somewhat jaded romantics taking a very slow, very deliberate honeymoon.

As you also might expect, there’s a brace of covers backing up the originals, and they’re all similarly bleak: Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat,” an eloquent “St. James Infirmary,” www.OFFBEAT.com

Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil.”

(Even their version of Gershwin’s “Summertime” seems stranded in the desert at dusk.) The closest they get to anything upbeat, literally or figuratively, are the trilogy of songs that close out Spark, but between his slide and six-string excursions, which are jazzier than most country pickers’, and her unique vocal take on the genre (imagine Stevie Nicks as Natalie Merchant), the atmosphere is plenty intoxicating at any speed.

Going on that third date with someone who claims they don’t believe in love anymore? Here’s your mood music.

—Robert Fontenot

The Amazing Nuns Chicken Little Was Right (Independent) Lafayette cult band the Amazing Nuns are practically a Hub City institution given their 17-year existence and 6-album discography. Ironically it wasn’t until 2014’s In Paradise that the Amazing Nuns admittedly hit their stride with the first of their color-themed covers depicting Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch’s highly interpretive macabre art.

The Chicken Little title and the cover art implying mankind’s descent into the abyss aren’t part of any overarching theme but these 10 tracks do fit together like a glove. Justin Robinson’s intriguing compositions range from punk (“Keep an Eye Out”) to jangly sax-fueled rock (“Come Back (For Love)”) to melodious though lyrically cynical swamp pop (“Go Away”) with several tunes MARC H 2 019

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feeling like they just stepped out of an art flick soundtrack. Midway through, the Amazing Nuns ride a spooky groove that ultimately crests with “Chopper,” an intense track dealing with the chilling reality of dementia. “The Ghost” is probably the most surreal of this crafty lot, with xylophonesounding riffs playing off of each other.

But don’t fret if the disc starts skipping three minutes into “Raindrops.” That was actually intentional, along with the slowed down, mushy vocals, as a nod to the cult genre vaporwave where invariably something is butchered in the mix as part of its art. It’s also an ingenious segue into a four-minute quasiabstract sax solo that feels like an untethered astronaut drifting further and further into space.

An adventurous listen that’s easily accessible.

—Dan Willging

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Watermelon Slim Church of the Blues (Independent) His given name is William P. Homans III. He calls himself Watermelon Slim. Born into a Boston blueblood family, Homans left the privileged life he seemed destined to enjoy. He worked a series of unglamorous jobs, including forklift operator, funeral officiator, truck driver and newspaper reporter. Now 69, he’s a blues and roots singer, slide guitarist and songwriter—and a

watermelon farmer in Oklahoma.

Nearly 30 years after Homans released his 1973 album debut, Merry Airbrakes, he resumed his recording career with Big Shoes to Fill. Since then, he’s received 20 Blues Awards nominations and 2 Blues Awards wins.

Homans’ guest star–aided latest album, Church of the Blues, covers much musical and topical ground.

“Charlottesville (Blues for My Nation)” addresses the Nazi rallies that rocked Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Homans strikes a humanist stance in this blues anthem. It’s not so much a blues protest song as a call to brotherhood and reminder of past evils. “Try, try to remember, America, the deepest, darkest things they represent,” he sings. “Love and forgive, live and let live, no matter who may be our president.”

Blues artists rarely get overtly topical, but Homans does so again with the highly relevant “Mni

Wiconi The Water Song.” Featuring a three-piece horn section and guest guitarist Joe Louis Walker, the song mentions the oil-stained Gulf of Mexico. “If we don’t care about our water, we don’t care who we kill,” Homans admonishes.

Most of Church of the Blues sticks to tried-and-true blues themes. Homans bemoans financial stress in “Tax Man Blues.” He sings humorously about technological challenges in the funk-accented “Post-Modern Blues.” The mournful “Gypsy Woman” prominently features his harmonica playing.

Homans complements the album’s seven original compositions with four classics by Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Fred McDowell and New Orleans’ Allen Toussaint (“Get Out My Life Woman”). Despite his many years in music, Church of the Blues, his thirteenth album, is a convincing introduction to this distinctive artist.

—John Wirt

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LIVEon LOCAL MUSIC Find complete listings at offbeat.com—when you’re out, use offbeat.com/mobile for full listings any cell phone.

Listings

EXPRESS

These listings are abbreviated. For complete daily listings, go to offbeat.com. These listings were verified at the time of publication, but are of course subject to change. To get your event listed, go to offbeat.com/add-new-listings or send an email to listings@offbeat.com.

AF African AM Americana BL Blues BU Bluegrass BO Bounce BB Brass Band BQ Burlesque KJ Cajun CL Classical CR Classic Rock CO Comedy CW Country CB Cover Band DN Dance DX Dixieland DB Dubstep EL Electro FO Folk FK Funk GS Gospel GY Gypsy HH Hip-Hop HS House IN Indian Classical ID Indie Rock IL Industrial IR Irish JB Jam Band

MJ Jazz Contemporary TJ Jazz Traditional JV Jazz Variety KR Karaoke KZ Klezmer LT Latin MG Mardi Gras Indian ME Metal RB Modern R&B PO Pop PK Punk RE Reggae RC Rockabilly RK Rock RR Roots Rock SS Singer/ Songwriter SK Ska PI Solo Piano SO Soul SW Spoken Word SP Swamp Pop SI Swing VR Variety ZY Zydeco

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 28

Buffa’s: Harry Mayronne and friends (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 9p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Claude Bryant and the All-Stars (VR) 6p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 10p Fillmore: Dan and Shay (CW) 6:30p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: John Paul Carmody: Unpluggery (VR) 6p, Valerie Sassyfras (PO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p, the Grass Is Dead (CR) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell Quartet (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Republic: Mannie Fresh, DJ Kemistry, DJ RBD (HH) 9p Saenger Theatre: Needtobreathe (RK) 7p Siberia: Eastern Bloc Party feat. New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars and Zhenya of Red Elvises (KZ) 9p Snug Harbor: Mitch Woods and the Rocket 88s (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 6p, Jumbo

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Shrimp (JV) 10p Starlight: Oscar Rossignoli (PI) 5p, Jonathan Freilich Trio (JV) 8p, Second Hand Street Band (VR) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Faubourg Ramblers (KJ) 9p Vaughan’s: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY MARCH 1

Buffa’s: Fr. Ron and Friends CD-release show (VR) 6p, Larry Scala, Leslie Martin and Benny Amon (JV) 9p Café Negril: Shawn Williams (VR) 4p, Dana Abbott (VR) 7p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p Circle Bar: Helen Gillet (MG) 10p d.b.a.: Swinging Gypsies (JV) 6p, Bo Dollis Jr. and the Wild Magnolias (MG) 10p, Lightnin’ Malcolm (BL) 2a Dutch Alley: Treme Brass Band (BB) 11a, Carolyn Broussard’s Revival (SO) 12:45p, Queen Mary Kay and the Original Wild Tchoupitoulas Indians (FK) 2:30p Fillmore: Dropkick Murphys, Amigo the Devil (PK) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (BL) 7p House of Blues: Biz Markie Gras feat. DJ Soul Sister (HH) 11p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (JV) 8:30p Joy Theater: Noname, Elton (HH) 10p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 5p, Lynn Drury (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PI) 7p NOLA Brewing: Lynn Drury (SS) 3p Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, the Peacock Ball feat. Bird-Dog Little-Band (RK) 6p One Eyed Jacks: Where Yacht: Carnival Cruise (RK) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Bayou International Presents Zoom Zoom (AF) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation AllStars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Republic: 3rd Annual Fleur De Lit feat. HeRobust, Zeke Beats, Tvboo (EL) 10p Siberia: Matron, Julie Odell, People Museum (ID) 9p SideBar NOLA: Aurora Nealand and James Singleton (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Dr. Michael White and Original Liberty Jazz Band (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Intrepid Bastards (ME) 7:30p Spotted Cat: Andy Forest Treaux (JV) 2p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 6p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 10p Starlight: Orphaned in Storyville (JV) 4p, Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 7p, Derrick Freeman Band (VR) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Ricio and Reece’s Pieces

(VR) 9:30p, SocialMix with Ali BEA (HH) 11p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Esther Rose (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Galactic feat. Erica Falls, Miss Mojo (FK) 11p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY MARCH 2

Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (JV) 11a, Dapper Dandies (JV) 6p, Greg Schatz (VR) 9p d.b.a.: New Orleans Swing Consensus (JV) 7p, Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dmac’s: Pucusana (VR) 6p Dutch Alley: Arrowhead Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Faith Becnel and the Music Krewe (JV) 12:45p, MoJeaux (VR) 2:30p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Brother Dege and the Brethren, Quiet Hollers (FO) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): LouMuzik Live (HH) 9p House of Blues: Run for the Shadows: A Bowie Theatrical Production (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell Quartet (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Styk (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, MainLine, Next Level Nightclub Experience, Fat Ballerina (VR) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Freedia Gras feat. Big Freedia, Pell (BO) 10p Portside Lounge: Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, the B Sides, Lil Buck Sinegal, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson (RB) 10p Republic: 3rd Annual Fleur De Lit feat. Ghastly, Lick, Klutch (EL) 10p Snug Harbor: Astral Project (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Lynn Drury (JV) 2p, Russell Welch’s Band (JV) 6p, the Catahoulas (JV) 10p Starlight: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Heidijo (VR) 8p, Caitlin Jemma and the Goodness (VR) 10p, Duke Aeropane and the Ampersand Band (VR) 11p, Handmade Moments (VR) 11:59p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 9:30p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister and guest DJ Kon (FK) 11:30p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Galactic feat. Erica Falls, Flow Tribe (FK) 11p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY MARCH 3

Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 11a, Pfister Sisters (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 9p Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, Vegas Cola (JV) 10p Civic Theatre: Kurt Vile and the Violators, the Sadies (ID) 8p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (JV) 6p, Funk and Chant with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and

John Gros (MG) 10p Dutch Alley: Smoky Greenwell (BL) 11a, BRW (SO) 12:45p, Soul Brass Band (BB) 2:30p Gasa Gasa: the Quickening, Neurotic Diction (FK) 10p Generations Hall: Bacchus Bash feat. Mannie Fresh, DJ Scene, Bag of Donuts, the Topcats, Category 6, Paris Ave, DJ Wixx (VR) 12p House of Blues: Anders Osborne and Friends: Mardi Gras Mayhem (RR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Dumpstaphunk and RumpelSTEELskin (FK) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Amanda Ducorbier Band (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p, TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox with Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Styk (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (VR) 9p Maison: NOLA Jitterbugs, Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 10a, the Function, Opulence Hour Burlesque, Higher Heights, DJ G (VR) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Freedia Gras feat. Big Freedia, Sweet Crude (BO) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Gerald French and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Indian Rhythm Section feat. the Wild Red Flames (MG) 10p Republic: 5th Annual Super DUBday feat.

Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Downlink, Bawldy, Wayvz (EL) 9p Saturn Bar: Valparaiso Men’s Chorus (FO) 10p Siberia: Yes Ma’am, Holy Locust (CW) 9p Snug Harbor: Alexey Marti (JV) 9 & 11p Spotted Cat: Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight: Gypsy Stew (VR) 5p, Dile Que Nola (VR) 8p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY MARCH 4

Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p, Bywater Skanks (JV) 11p Café Negril: Shawn Williams Band (VR) 2p, Noggin (VR) 6p, Soul Project NOLA (VR) 10p d.b.a.: Cyril Neville and Swamp Funk (FK) 10p Dutch Alley: Charles Brewer Trio (JV) 11a, Marc Stone 3 (BL) 12:45p, Young Pin Stripe Brass Band (BB) 2:30p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Lundi Gras Spectacular feat. Dave Catching’s Rancho de la Lunatics, Hickoids, Gools (RK) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Americana Music Series feat. Jimbo Mathus (FO) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): the Interrupters (ID) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Van Hudson and Will Dickerson (FO) 9p Maison: Frog and Henry, Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (VR) MARC H 2 019

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1p, Big E Brass Band, Brass-A-Holics, Mannie Fresh (VR) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Quintron (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Valerie Sassafras (VR) 9p Republic: 11th Annual Lundifest feat. Juvenile, Choppa, DJ Keith Scott, DJ BZRK (HH) 9p, 2009 Tour After-Party hosted by Curren$y and Wiz Khalifa (HH) 11p Siberia: Jackson and the Janks, Esther Rose, Tumbling Wheels, Leo Rondeau (FO) 10p SideBar NOLA: Brian Haas, Mike Sopko, Dan Oestreicher and Ryan-Scott Long (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 9 & 11p Spanish Plaza: Lundi Gras at Riverwalk’s Spanish Plaza feat. Cowboy Mouth, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters, Darcy Malone and the Tangle (VR) 12p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 10p Starlight: Lulu and the Broadsides feat. Dayna Kurtz and Josh Paxton (VR) 6p, Orphaned in Storyville (VR) 9p, Burris (VR) 11:30p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ Josh Lee Hooker (VR) 7p Tipitina’s: Galactic feat. Erica Falls, Con Brio, Quickie Mart (FK) 11p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robinson Band (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY MARCH 5

Buffa’s: Davis Rogan (VR) 2p, Sherman Bernard and the Old Man River Band (VR) 5p, Jeremy Joyce (JV) 8p, Spogga: Brother Hash (VR) 11p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: 4 Sidemen of the Apocalypse (VR) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (FK) 10p d.b.a.: New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars (KZ) 3p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p House of Blues: Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y (HH) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Cyril Neville Jam Session (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Street Party with DJ Dizzi (VR) 12p, RnR Music Group, B Miller Zone, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 4p Portside Lounge: thering of the Wild Red Flames Mardi Gras Indian Tribe (MG) 10a Siberia: Mars, Holy Spirit, Haint (ME) 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 10a, Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Ecirb Muller’s Twister Dixie (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Starlight: DJ Nene (VR) 10a, Mardi Gras Dance Party (VR) 2p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ Shane Love (VR) 11a Three Muses: Tuba Skinny (JV) 1p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, F.A.S.T. (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 6

Bombay Club: John Royen (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RR) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell Quartet (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Naydja Cojoe (JV) 7:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Parsons (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Jazmarae Beebe, Jazz Vipers, Big E Brass Band (VR) 4p Preservation Hall: Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p

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SideBar NOLA: Mahmoud Chouki, Martin Masakowski and Oscar Rossignoli (VR) 7p, Mike Dillon, Brian Haas and Alex Massa (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 9 & 11p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Starlight: Tuba Skinny (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY MARCH 7

Bombay Club: Banu Gibson and David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 9p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (JV) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Claude Bryant and the All-Stars (VR) 6p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 10p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Ari Teitel (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (the Parish): Le Butcherettes (RK) 7p House of Blues: Between the Buried and Me (RK) 6:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: Brass-A-Holics (BB) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Ogden After Hours feat. KatieCat and Cain (VR) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Duke Heitger and Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: James Singleton Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Starlight: Keith Burnstein (PI) 5p, John Zarsky Trio (JV) 8p, Elephant’s Gerald (VR) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Roland Guerin Band (VR) 9p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, St. Louis Slim (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY MARCH 8

Blue Nile: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 11p Buffa’s: Catie Rodgers and the Gentilly Stompers (JV) 6p, Joe Krown and Jason Ricci (JV) 9p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Shawn Williams (VR) 4p, Dana Abbott (VR) 7p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p d.b.a.: Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 6p, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers (ZY) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: the River Dragon (RK) 6p, Cole Williams (SO) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (BL) 7p Jazz Playhouse: Crescent By Choice (JV) 7:30p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC

(VR) 4:20p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 5p, Patrick Cooper and Shawn Williams (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Germaine Bazzle and the Peter Harris Trio (JV) 7:30p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Styk (RK) 9p Maison: Rhythm Stompers, Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Gene’s Music Machine, Buena Vista Social Latin Night (VR) 10p Marigny Opera House: Louis Moreau Institute presents Amiable Neighbors (CL) 7:30p Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Maid of Orleans (RK) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Mike Dillion Band, Bubastis (VR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Alex McMurray and Glenn Hartman (VR) 7p, Martin Krusche and Anthony Cuccia (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy Forest Treaux (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 6p, Dr. Brice Miller’s BukuNOLA (JV) 10p Starlight: Shaye Cohn with Coleman Akin (VR) 5p, Ingrid Lucia Trio (VR) 8p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ Rozay Rell (VR) 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

SATURDAY MARCH 9

Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (JV) 11a, Freddie Blue and the Friendship Circle (JV) 6p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Steve DeTroy (VR) 9p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Joy Clark (VR) 4p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (VR) 7p, Another Day in Paradise (VR) 10p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 7p, Soul Brass Band (BB) 11p Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Hall: Steve Pistorius and the Southern Syncopators present the music of Bunk Johnson (TJ) 6:30p Fillmore: Franco Escamilla (VR) 7p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Juan Tigre (JV) 7p House of Blues: Jacob Collier (EL) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Mobile Steam Unit, VUZZ, the Dommes (ID) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: My Best Friend: The Game Show (CO) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Styk (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Eight Dice Cloth, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Big Easy Brawlers, Next Level Nightclub Experience, Soul Project (BB) 10p One Eyed Jacks: Luna, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, DJ Riviera Slim (VR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Will Smith and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Stone Cold Hippies, Something From Nothing (RR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Brass feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Rickie Monie (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Lynn Drury (VR) 7p, New Orleans

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Klezmer All-Stars Trio (VR) 9p Smoothie King Center: Zac Brown Band (CW) 7p Snug Harbor: Quiana Lynell (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and Arsene DeLay (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, James Martin Band (JV) 10p Starlight: Gypsy Stew (VR) 4p, Shawan Rice (JV) 8p, Siren Series with Kathryn Rose Wood (SS) 10p, Kristen Palmer and Kadi Helms (VR) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): NOJO 7 (JV) 9:30p, DJ Chris Stylez (VR) 11:45p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

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SUNDAY MARCH 10

Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 11a, Taft Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Aaron Wilkinson Band (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, the Painted Hands (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p, TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Little Freddie King (BL) 10:30a Little Tropical Isle: Styk (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (VR) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Marina Orchestra (VR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Mark Braud and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Trio Griot with Torkanowsky, Ross and Bloom (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Aurora Nealand and the Reed Minders (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight: Gypsy Stew (VR) 3p, Gabriella Cavassa Trio (JV) 8p, Gabriella Cavassa Jazz Jam (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY MARCH 11

Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Café Negril: Maid of Orleans (VR) 6p, Soul Project NOLA (VR) 10p Circle Bar: Dem Roach Boyz (RB) 7p, Big Bliss, Parrot Dream, Cicada, Jack and the Jackrabbits (ID) 9:30p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Dixon Hall (Tulane University): Louis Moreau Institute presents An Ode for Troubled Times (CL) 7:30p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p House of Blues: Buckethead (RK) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Paint Nite NOLA (VR) 7p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Jazz Masters with Leroy Jones (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robinson Band (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p MARC H 2 019

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC TUESDAY MARCH 12

Buffa’s: Charlie Wooton (VR) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: 4 Sidemen of the Apocalypse (VR) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (FK) 10p Circle Bar: the Geraniums (RK) 7p, Forest Ray, Leafdrinker, Jurassic Shark, Pucusana (RK) 9:30p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Fillmore: Ice Cube (HH) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Cyril Neville Jam Session (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Maison: Jazmarae Beebe, Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 4p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Republic: STRFKR, Shy Boy (EL) 8p Siberia: the Retinas, Environmantix, Jonathan (IR) 10p SideBar NOLA: Eric Benny Bloom (VR) 7p, Johnny Vidacovich and Mike Dillon (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Little Big Horns with Jimbo Mathus (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Starlight: Hannah Mignano Trio (VR) 6p, Adam Keil Project (VR) 9p, Asher Danziger (VR) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Think Less, Hear More: Jurassic Park (VR) 8p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (JV) 5p, Mia Borders (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13

Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Café Negril: Maid of Orleans (VR) 6p, Another Day in Paradise (VR) 10p Cove at UNO: Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Shannon Powell (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RR) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Michael Liuzza (JV) 6p Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Naydja Cojoe (JV) 7:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Parsons (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Sidewalk Swing, Jazz Vipers, B Miller Zone (VR) 4p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat.

Mark Braud (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Helen Gillet and James Singleton (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Starlight: Davis Rogan (VR) 5p, Tuba Skinny (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 7p

THURSDAY MARCH 14

Buffa’s: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 9p Café Negril: Claude Bryant and the All-Stars

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MARCH 2019

(VR) 6p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 10p d.b.a.: DiNola, Malevitus (VR) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Todd Adams and Damon Kirin (SS) 6p House of Blues: Zoso: the Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience (CR) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: the Great Love Debate with Brian Howie (CO) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Mahalia Jackson Theater: Kodak Black (HH) 8p Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Tuba Skinny, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p NOLA Brewing: Dave Jordan and the NIA (RR) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Ogden After Hours feat. Kim Carson (CW) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Shannon Powell Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Starlight: Neal Todten (PI) 4p, Matt “Baby Boy” Bartels (BL) 8p, Shawan Rice (VR) 10p, Amani Black Pearl and Tarrah Reynolds (VR) 11p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Arsene DeLay (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaughan’s: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY MARCH 15

Buffa’s: Calvin Johnson and Native Son (JV) 6p, Bluebird String Band with Albanie Falletta (JV) 9p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Shawn Williams (VR) 4p, Dana Abbott (VR) 7p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p d.b.a.: Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 6p, Honey Island Swamp Band (RR) 10p Fillmore: Avett Brothers (FO) 8p House of Blues: Blues Traveler (BL) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Baby Boy Bartels and the Boys, Frankie Boots and the Country Line (FO) 10p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p Kerry Irish Pub: Vali Talbot (FO) 5p, Will Dickerson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Quiana Lynell (JV) 7 & 9p NOLA Brewing: Paul Sanchez (RR) 3p One Eyed Jacks: Zenith Sunn feat. Anson Funderburgh and Eric Lindell (VR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 6p, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band (JV) 10p Starlight: Shaye Cohn with Coleman Akin (VR) 5p, Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 8p, Derrick Freeman Band (VR) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Ezra Collective (VR) 9p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Water Seed, Sexual Thunder, Raj Smoove (FK) 10p

Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY MARCH 16

Abita Springs Town Hall: Abita Springs Opry feat.

Steve Anderson Group, Big Easy Playboys, Fair River Station, Riverside Ramblers (VR) 7p Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (JV) 11a, Royal Rounders (VR) 6p, Asylum Chorus (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 7p, Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Fillmore: Avett Brothers (FO) 8p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Rahim Glaspy (SO) 7p House of Blues: Marsha Ambrosius (RB) 8p Jazz Playhouse: Cyril Neville and Swamp Funk Band (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p, Van Hudson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher (JV) 7p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Eight Dice Cloth, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine, Next Level Nightclub Experience, Big Easy Brawlers (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Will Smith and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Old Riley and the Water (BL) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Brass feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat.

Rickie Monie (TJ) 8p Siberia: Leafdrinker, Biscuithound, Tranche (ID) 10p SideBar NOLA: Klezervation Hall (VR) 7p, Soul O’Sam with Sam Price, Chris Alford and Marcello Benetti (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Amina Figerova Sextet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: New Bourbon Street Jazz Band (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): La Noche Caliente with Muevelo and Mambo Orleans (LT) 9p, Late Night Snacks with G-Cue (VR) 11:45p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Fortunate Sons: A Creedence Clearwater Revival Tribute (CR) 10p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY MARCH 17

Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 11a, St. Roch Syncopators (VR) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (JV) 6p, Funk Monkey (FK) 10p Fillmore: Ben Rector, Josie Dunn (SS) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p, TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: St. Patrick’s Day feat. Beth Patterson (FO) 11:30a, Speed the Mule (FO) 2:30p, Roux the Day (FO) 7p Maison: NOLA Jitterbugs, Second Hand Street Band (JV) 10a, Nickel-A-Dance feat. Tuba Skinny (JV) 4p, Royal Street Winding Boys, Opulence Hour Burlesque, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Mark Braud and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 7p Portside Lounge: Sunday Crawfish Boil with Lynn Drury and friends (RR) 9p Preservation Hall: Mountain Man (FO) 2p, Preservation Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Smoothie King Center: Pink (PO) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Nat King Cole Centennial Tribute feat. Phillip Manuel (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Giselle Anguizola and the New Orleans Swinging Gypsies (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey

and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight: Gypsy Stew (VR) 5p, Another Michael with Pope (VR) 9p, Bellows and Julie Odell (VR) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Eric Gales Band (VR) 9p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY MARCH 18

Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Americana Music Series feat. Ron Hotstream and Tina Jamieson and the Bad Sandys (FO) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Jazz Masters with Leroy Jones (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p, Mountain Man (FO) 10p SideBar NOLA: Instant Opus Series (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. AllStars (JV) 6p, New Orleans Swing Consensus (JV) 10p Starlight: Lulu and the Broadsides feat. Dayna Kurtz and Carlo Nuccio (JV) 6p, Beth Patterson and Seth Hitsky (VR) 9p, Amanda Walker and Keith Burnstein (SS) 10p Three Muses: Washboard Rodeo (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY MARCH 19

Buffa’s: Vanessa Carr (VR) 7p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Fillmore: Nothing More, Of Mice and Men, Badflower and Palisades (VR) 5:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Cyril Neville Jam Session (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Novos Sapatos, Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 4p Orpheum Theater: Amos Lee, Ethan Gruska (SS) 7:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation AllStars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Doug Stone, Brad Webb, Quinn Sternberg and Jeff Albert (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Chuck Redd Vibes Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Little Big Horns with Jimbo Mathus (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Starlight: Dayna Kurtz with special guest (VR) 6p, Mikayla Braun, Violet and the Undercurrents (VR) 9p, Asher Danziger (VR) 10p Three Muses: Josh Gouzy (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, F.A.S.T. (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 20

Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Cove at UNO: Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Chuck

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Redd (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RR) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Nikia Yung and Burris (VR) 6p House of Blues: Black Violin (CL) 7p Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (JV) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat.

Big Sam’s Funky Nation, RumpleSTEELskin (VR) 5p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p St. Louis Cathedral: Direct from New Orleans presented by the HNOC and the LPO (CL) 7:30p Starlight: Davis Rogan (VR) 5p, Tuba Skinny (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): the Shape of Jazz to Come (JV) 9:30p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Schatzy (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 7p

THURSDAY MARCH 21

Buffa’s: Yvette Voelker and Harry Mayronne (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 9p Café Negril: Claude Bryant and the All-Stars (VR) 6p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 10p d.b.a.: Alexis & the Samurai (ID) 7p, Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Fillmore: Brothers Osborne, Devon Gilfillian (CW) 7p House of Blues: Lords of Acid, Orgy, Genitortueres, Little Miss Nasty (IL) 6p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: Brass-A-Holics (BB) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Creole Stringbeans (RK) 7:30p NOLA Brewing: Marc Stone Band (BL) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Ogden After Hours feat. Cha Wa (MG) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin and Ben Polcer with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Siberia: Eastern Bloc Party feat. Sages of Khelm (KZ) 9p SideBar NOLA: Dayna Kurtz and Robert Mache (VR) 7p, Justin Peake and Ira Echo Pickles (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Khari Allen Lee and New Creative Collective (PI) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Starlight: Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 5p, Trevarri Trio (JV) 8p, Pony Hunt (SS) 10p, Andrea and Mudd (VR) 11p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Mia Borders (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Dirty Bourbon River Show 10th Anniversary Show, Bon Bon Vivant and friends (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

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FRIDAY MARCH 22

Buffa’s: Dayna Kurtz (VR) 6p, Candace and Robert Mache (VR) 9p Café Negril: Shawn Williams (VR) 4p, Dana Abbott (VR) 7p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Brass-AHolics (BB) 10p Fillmore: French Quarter Fest Gala Fundraiser feat. Nicholas Payton, A Tribe Called Gumbolia (VR) 8p Gasa Gasa: Standards, Static Masks, Shambles, Guns of the Seneca (RK) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the River Dragon (RK) 6p, Jay and the Causeways, Roadside Glorious (RK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Shaggadelic and Raw Revolution feat. the Rahim Glaspy Experience (HH) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Porch): Delish Da Goddess (HH) 11:59p Jazz Playhouse: Chucky C and Clearly Blue (JV) 7:30p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat.

Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Joy Theater: BUKU Late presents Gud Vibrations feat. NGHTMRE, Slander, Ekali, Medasin, Wavedash, Klutch (EL) 11:59p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Vincent Marini and Kennedy Kuntz (FO) 9p Mahalia Jackson Theater: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (DN) 8p Maison: Rhythm Stompers, Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Big Easy Brawlers, Buena Vista Social Latin Night, DJ FTK (VR) 10p Mardi Gras World: BUKU Music and Art Project (VR) 2p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation AllStars feat. Will Smith (TJ) 8p Republic: BUKU Late x Emo Nite LA present: From First to Last (EL) 11:59p Siberia: Sabine and the Dewdrops, Okay Crawdad, Casey Jane (FO) 9p SideBar NOLA: Cyrille Aimee and Ryan Hansler (VR) 7p, Daniel Meinecke Ensemble (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 6p, Soul Brass Band (JV) 10p Starlight: Shaye Cohn with Coleman Akin (VR) 5p, Anais St. John (JV) 8p, DJ Nene (VR) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Kings of Brass (VR) 9:30p, DJ Raj Smoove (VR) 11:45p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY MARCH 23

Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (JV) 11a, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Marina Orchestra (VR) 9p Central City BBQ: Where Y’acht (RK) 8p d.b.a.: Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 7p, Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 11p Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Hall: Helen Gillet and Wazozo (MJ) 6:30p Fillmore: Haters Roast (VR) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Brent Cobb and Them, Adam Hood (ID) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Jake Landry and the Right Lane Bandits (BL) 7p Howlin’ Wolf: Pentagram, Brother Dege, Dirty Streets, Raise the Death Toll (ME) 8:30p Joy Theater: BUKU Late presents Wakaan Takeover feat. Liquid Stranger, LUZCID, Esseks, LSDREAM, Shlump, G-REX, Eazybaked, SFAM (EL) 11:59p Joy Theater: Tab Benoit and Whiskey Bayou Revue feat. Jeff McCarty and Eric Johanson (BL) 8p MARC H 2 019

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC LIVE LOCAL MUSIC

Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Dave Hickey (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Herlin Riley (JV) 7 & 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Red Beans ‘n’ Rice Tasting feat. Ever More Nest (VR) 2p, Old Riley and the Water (VR) 3p Mahalia Jackson Theater: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (DN) 8p Mardi Gras World: BUKU Music and Art Project (VR) 2p One Eyed Jacks: Mipso, River Whyless (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Will Smith and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat. Rickie Monie (TJ) 8p Siberia: Valerie Sassyfras CD-release party (PO) 10p SideBar NOLA: the Geraniums (VR) 7p, Emily Kate Boyd with Jimmy Robinson and Michael Skinkus (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 6p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): DJ RQAway (HH) 10:30p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

SUNDAY MARCH 24

Abita Springs Trailhead Park: Abita Springs Busker Festival feat. Zach Maris and the Meat Rack, Bad Penny Pleasure Makers, Crazy Arms, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band, Dr. Bird and the Beak Division, Tuba Skinny (VR) 11:30a Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 11a, Portage Collegiate Institute (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p Bullet’s: John Pierre and the Expressions (RB) 6p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, Vegas Cola (JV) 10p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: Open Jam Session with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p, Beats Per Minute with DJ Kidd Love (VR) 10p Fillmore: Bob Weir and Wolf Bros (VR) 5:30p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Guitar is Dead, Cosma Dog, Cave Light, Dana Ives (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p, TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: NOLA Jitterbugs, Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 10a, Nickel-A-Dance feat. New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra (JV) 4p, Royal Street Winding Boys, Opulence Hour Burlesque, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Mark Braud and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Davy Mooney Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: John Lisi and Delta Funk (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight: Martin Moretto (VR) 4:30p, Gabriella Cavassa Trio (JV) 8p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

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MONDAY MARCH 25

Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Colin Davis and the Night People (VR) 6p, Soul Project NOLA (VR) 10p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: call club (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Parsons (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 4p Preservation Hall: Preservation Jazz Masters with Leroy Jones (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. AllStars (JV) 6p, the Rhythm Stompers (JV) 10p Starlight: Dayna Kurtz with special guest (VR) 6p, George Elizondo and Sam Price (VR) 9p, Amanda Walker and Keith Burnstein (SS) 10p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY MARCH 26

Buffa’s: Loose Cattle with Michael Ceveris and Kimberly Kaye (VR) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: 4 Sidemen of the Apocalypse (VR) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (FK) 10p Columns Hotel: New Orleans String Kings with Don Vappie, Matt Rhody and John Rankin (JV) 8p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Andrea Gibson (SW) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Cyril Neville Jam Session (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Alicia Renee aka Blue eyes and the Shannon Powell Trio (JV) 7:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Baby Giants Jazz Band, Gregory Agid Quartet, Gene’s Music Machine (VR) 4p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation AllStars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Ricky Sebastian Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Little Big Horns with Jimbo Mathus (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Starlight: Cody Joe Hodges (VR) 7p, Anna Pardenik and Erich Sharkey (VR) 9p, Asher Danziger (VR) 10p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (JV) 5p, Josh Gouzy (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Patty Griffin, Scott Miller (FO) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, F.A.S.T. (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY MARCH 27

Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Cove at UNO: Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Alexey Marti (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RR) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Fillmore: Hozier (VR) 7p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p

Gasa Gasa: Small Change: Tom Waits Tribute (RK) 9p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Michael Liuzza (JV) 6p Jazz Playhouse: Big Sam’s Crescent City Connection (BB) 8:30p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Karaoke (VR) 6p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Lafayette Square: Wednesday at the Square feat.

Flow Tribe, Robin Barnes (VR) 5p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Joe Lastie’s New Orleans Sound (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat.

Mark Braud (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Matt Booth, Byron Asher, Cyrus Nabipoor and Justin Peake (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Starlight: Davis Rogan (VR) 5p, Tuba Skinny (JV) 8p, Nahum Zdybel’s Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Matt Bell and Joy Patterson (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY MARCH 28

Buffa’s: Molly Reeves and Nahum Zdybel (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 9p Bullet’s: Shamar Allen and the Underdawgs (JV) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Negril: Claude Bryant and the All-Stars (VR) 6p, Sierra Green and the Soul Machine (VR) 10p d.b.a.: Grand Marquis (VR) 7p, Brasinola (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Vivaz (JV) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Joy Theater: the Moth presents the New Orleans GrandSLAM Championship (SW) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8:30p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Ogden After Hours feat. Marc Stone 3 with Sam Price and Michael Burkart (BL) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola with Crescent City Joymakers (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Saturn Bar: Alex McMurray and His Band (RK) 8p SideBar NOLA: Joey van Leeuwen, Mahmoud Chouki and Martin Masakowski (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Christian Winther Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Michael Watson and the Alchemy (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Starlight: Hannah Mignano Trio (VR) 5p, Josh Paxton (JV) 8p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Arsene DeLay (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Yonder Mountain String Band, Dangermuffin (BU) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s: DJ Black Pearl (VR) 9p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10:30p

FRIDAY MARCH 29

Buffa’s: Camile Baudoin with Papa Mali (VR) 6p, Cole Williams (VR) 9p

Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p Contemporary Arts Center: Aurora Nealand and Goat in the Road Productions presents KindHumanKind (VR) 7:30p d.b.a.: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p Fillmore: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Aaron Lee Tasjan (VR) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: AF the Naysayer, Cavalier, Charm Taylor, Mykia Jovan (HH) 10:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the River Dragon (RK) 6p, Jimbo Mathus and Durty Krooks, This Way to the Ingress (ID) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Reverend Horton Heat and Kinky Friedman (RC) 8p House of Blues: Who’s Bad: the Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience (PO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): the Moth Ball feat. KK and the MOTH, Simple Sound Retreat, Spogga Hash, Big Werm (VR) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell Quartet (JV) 7:30p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat.

Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p Kerry Irish Pub: Hugh Morrison (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Maison: Jason Neville Funky Soul Band, Buena Vista Social Latin Night, DJ FTK (VR) 10p, Rhythm Stompers, Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p New Orleans Creole Cookery: the Cookery Three (JV) 6p NOLA Brewing: Vic Shepherd and More Reverb (VR) 3p One Eyed Jacks: DJ Soul Sister presents Soulful Takeover (FK) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation AllStars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Billie Davies, Steve Masakowski, Evan Oberla and Oliver Watkinson (VR) 9p Smoothie King Center: Jeff Dunham (CO) 7p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (BL) 6p, the Rhythm Stompers (JV) 10p Starlight: Shaye Cohn with Coleman Akin (VR) 5p, Ingrid Lucia Trio (JV) 8p, Jan Marie and the Mean Reds (VR) 11p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 9:30p Three Muses: Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Wild Card (CW) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY MARCH 30

Buffa’s: Warren Battiste (JV) 11a, Marla Dixon Blues Project (JV) 6p, Mike Doussan (VR) 9p Café Negril: Joy Clark (VR) 4p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (SO) 7p, Dana Abbott Band (VR) 10p Circle Bar: Mod Dance Party presents Coyah et les Provocateurs feat. DJs Matty and Kristen (VR) 9:30p Contemporary Arts Center: Aurora Nealand and Goat in the Road Productions presents KindHumanKind (VR) 7:30p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 7p, Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p House of Blues (Foundation Room): Biglemoi (RK) 7p House of Blues: Guster (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): the Introduction feat. Tony Skatcherie, Skywalka Harp, SKYY, Techno Tim,

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC the Get Down Girls (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Lotus in Stereo, the Fixers, Burnhouse, the Absence Project (RK) 8p Jazz Playhouse: Cyril Neville and Swamp Funk Band (JV) 8:30p Joy Theater: Puddles Pity Party (VR) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neshia Ruffins (RB) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Kerwin and Geoff Coats (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Dr. Michael White (JV) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Will Smith and Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Brass feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Rickie Monie (TJ) 8p SideBar NOLA: Ira Echo Pickles and friends (VR) 7p, Mia Borders (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis and BGQ Exploration (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, James Martin Band (JV) 10p Three Muses: Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: A Taste of New Orleans feat. Leo Nocentelli, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr., Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Cheeky Blakk (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Faubourg Ramblers (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p

SUNDAY MARCH 31

Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 11a, Nattie Sanchez Songwriters Circle (SS) 4p, Steve Pistorius Jazz Quartet (JV) 7p Contemporary Arts Center: Aurora Nealand and Goat in the Road Productions present KindHumanKind (VR) 3p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Molly Nilsson (PO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kajun’s Pub: Karaoke (KR) 5p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: DJ Sugar Ray (VR) 4:20p, TBC Brass Band (BB) 6p Maison: NOLA Jitterbugs, Reid Poole’s Boppin’ 5 (JV) 10a, Nickel-A-Dance feat. Roger Lewis and the Bari Out There Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Tuba Skinny, Opulence Hour Burlesque, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: 7th Annual Jamie Galloway Crawfish Boil and Block Party (VR) 3p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tennessee Williams Festival feat. the Tin Men (JV) 11:30a, Banu Gibson: the Poets of Tin Pan Alley (JV) 1p, New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra (TJ) 2:30p, Mark Braud and Sunday Night Swingsters (JV) 7:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Oscar Rossignoli Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (JV) 2p, Robin Barnes and the FiyaBirds (JV) 7p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Starlight: Gypsy Stew (VR) 4p, Gabriella Cavassa Trio (JV) 8p, Gabriella Cavassa Jazz Jam (JV) 10p; Upstairs: Tango with Host Valorie Hart (LT) 7p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal (VR) 9:30p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, the Clementines (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

March 22-23 The BUKU Music + Art Project takes places at Mardi Gras World and features live music and art installations. TheBukuProject.com March 27-31 The annual Tennessee Williams Festival takes place at various venues and features author panels, workshops, performances and parties. TennesseeWilliams.net

MARDI GRAS PARADE SCHEDULE FEBRUARY 27 Druids (Uptown) 6:30p, Nyx (Uptown) 7p FEBRUARY 28 Knights of Babylon (Uptown) 5:30p, Chaos (Uptown) 6:15p, Muses (Uptown) 6:30p MARCH 1 Bosom Buddies (French Quarter) 11:30a; Hermes (Uptown) 6p, Krewe d’Etat (Uptown) 6:30p, Morpheus (Uptown) 7p; Centurions (Metairie) 6:30p MARCH 2 NOMTOC (Westbank) 10:45a; Iris (Uptown) 11a, Tucks (Uptown) follows; Endymion (Mid-City) 4:15p; Krewe of Isis (Metairie) 6:30p MARCH 3 Okeanos (Uptown) 11a, Mid-City (Uptown) 11:45a, Thoth (Uptown) 12p; Bacchus (Uptown) 5:15p; Athena (Metairie) 5:30p; Pandora (Metairie) 6:30p MARCH 4 Reds Beans (Marigny) 2p; Dead Beans Parade (Mid-City) 2p; Proteus (Uptown) 5:15p, Orpheus (Uptown) 6p MARCH 5 Zulu (Uptown) 8a, Rex (Uptown) 10a, Elks Orleans follows Rex, Cresent City follows Orleans; Argus (Metairie) 10a, Krewe of Elks Jefferson follows Argus, Jefferson follows Elks

SPECIAL EVENTS Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 20, 27 The Crescent City Farmers Market holds a weekly produce market with live music every Wednesday at Piety and Chartres streets (foot of Rusty Rainbow bridge) from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. FrenchMarket.org March 1-4 The French Market holds its annual Mardi Gras Mask Market in Dutch Alley. FrenchMarket.org March 10-14 Agave Week at Ace Hotel includes tastings, parties and seminars and ends with the Top Taco event in Woldenberg Park.

NolaAgaveWeek.com March 16 The annual Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at 1 p.m. IrishChannelNO.org

FESTIVALS

March 29-30 The Hogs for the Cause fundraiser at UNO features a barbecue cook-off and live music.

HogsForTheCause.org

March 9-10 The Audubon Zoo presents Soul Fest featuring live music, kids activities and food vendors.

AudubonNatureInstitute.org/Soul-Fest

Ongoing The “Drumsville!: Evolution of the New Orleans Beat” exhibit is on display at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. NolaJazzMuseum.org

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BACKTALK

Sarah Danzinger PHOTO: courtesy of the artist

Leyla McCalla talks back

“You keep telling me to climb this ladder.

I’ve got to pay my dues. But as I rise the stakes get higher. I’ve got the capitalist blues. When I give everything, I won’t have much more to lose.”

—Leyla McCalla, “The Capitalist Blues”

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eyla McCalla ponders the discordant state of the United States in her third album, The Capitalist Blues. It’s a vast and thorny topic, but McCalla’s world-weary humor lightens the burden. Released January 25, The Capitalist Blues debuted at number 14 on the Billboard jazz albums chart and number 5 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz albums chart.

Despite the album’s jazz-chart placements, it’s another of McCalla’s diverse projects. A singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, www.OFFBEAT.com

she aligns her thoughtful lyrics with traditional New Orleans–style jazz, zydeco, calypso, vintage New Orleans rhythm and blues and the music of her parents’ homeland, Haiti.

Jimmy Horn, leader of the New Orleans rhythm and blues torchbearers King James and the Special Men, produced The Capitalist Blues. Veteran engineer Andrew “Goat” Gilchrist (Maceo Parker, the Meters, the Neville Brothers) recorded the project, which took flight after Horn invited McCalla to record a new version of the local standard “Eh La Bas” with the Special Men. Horn’s Special Man Industries label will release “Eh La Bas” March 1 as a digital single and a limitededition vinyl 45.

“I’m grateful to Leyla for trusting me with her songs,” Horn said of his production work for The Capitalist Blues. “It’s an album

By John Wirt

only she could create and only here in New Orleans could it happen. Leyla is a singular artist with a remarkable vision. I feel blessed to have witnessed the magic up close.”

A classically trained cellist from New York City, McCalla moved to New Orleans in 2010.

After Tim Duffy, a manager of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, spotted her playing Bach’s cello suites on Royal Street, she joined the Grammy-winning African-American string band co-founded by Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons. McCalla’s solo album debut, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, appeared in 2013. A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey followed in 2016.

In addition to her solo career, McCalla is a member of Native Daughters. In February, the group—featuring former Carolina Chocolate Drop Giddens, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell—released its album debut, Songs of Our Native Daughters.

Though McCalla composes songs about heavy subjects she punctuated a recent conversation at St. Coffee on St. Claude with chuckles.

What inspired your Capitalist Blues songs?

The inspiration came from this feeling of swimming upstream. And we’re all swimming upstream together. The system isn’t working for everyone in the same way. For a small number of people, it’s working great. For the vast majority, it’s not.

So, you get a lot of ideas from current events?

I listen to NPR. I follow the news. And now you can share information so quickly through social media. It’s hard to not know what’s going on if you’re on those platforms.

Reading is big for me, too. I’m equally inspired by really old folk songs. Those old songs carry the themes that we’re still grappling with in our society today. There’s still conflict around poverty and inequality.

That’s what this collection of songs [The Capitalist Blues] is about. It questions why we have rampant inequality in our society and why we don’t recognize that collectively.

Do you think the struggle you’re speaking of applies especially to your generation?

You’re told to go to college and get an education. But I know so many people with master’s degrees and PhDs who are still teaching violin at a nonprofit. They can’t find a ‘real job.’ They’re just doing their best to navigate society and try to make something out of their lives.

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I hated winter. I don’t even like winter here. And there’s something so special about being here in New Orleans. I’m so inspired by the city. I have an amazing community of friends and support. My aunt lives here now. My sister moved here. My mom lives here parttime and in Haiti part-time. I grew some strong roots. I got married here. My children are New Orleanians.

Were your parents, who’re from Haiti, socially conscious and political in their thinking?

Compared to a lot of families, definitely.

But my parents were never pushy about getting me to think in a certain way. They just wanted me to be a critical thinker. That’s worked a little too well.

And your parents had good taste in music?

They had folk-pop taste. Names like Paul Simon, James Taylor, Rod Stewart. My parents also listened to Buena Vista Social Club and Haitian music. My dad turned me on to Tropicália music from Brazil. And when I was 15, I turned my dad onto Ani DiFranco. Now he’s a bigger fan than I am.

Of course, Ani DiFranco lives in New Orleans, too. Are you friends?

No. But I worked with her for Zoë Boekbinder’s prison music project. Ani DiFranco is producing it. So, I got to meet her that way and that was really cool. Sometimes I see her Uptown at the school where our children go, but I’m a little too shy to say, ‘Hey, remember me? I was at your house.’

The Capitalist Blues is being tagged as a protest album.

I’m fine with that. But my other albums also have protest songs. Langston Hughes’ poetry became protest music on my first album. Even some of the traditional Haitian folk songs became protest songs because of the concept behind the album. But, yeah, I’ll be a protest singer.

How did Jimmy Horn become your new album’s producer?

He invited me to record ‘Eh La Bas.’ It was a fun project. I researched all these different versions of ‘Eh La Bas.’ There are so many verses that nobody sings. I found a version that had Creole verses. I wrote down the words and sang them in the studio.

And later you thought you’d like Horn to produce your album?

I produced my first two records myself, but I wanted to move in other directions— sonically, creatively, spiritually. I’d been

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shopping for a producer, but nothing was working. So, I played my song, ‘Heavy As Lead,’ for Jimmy and Goat in the studio.

Jimmy was like, ‘I want to do this! This would be so great.’ The studio is a five-minute bike ride from my house. And I could get a bunch of New Orleans musicians to be guests on the record. What we have here is so special and so strong. So that became a part of the record.

What was working with Horn as your producer like?

People know Jimmy for doing Monday nights at the Saturn Bar with the Special Men. But he has such a deep spiritual and musical understanding of pan-African music. That’s where we connected, because so much of my music addresses that. We loved working together. We had so much fun. And it was so great to be like, ‘Yes, New Orleans is enough.’

New Orleans is where this music should happen. It’s where the message in this album should come from.

In addition to members of the Special Men, your guests for the album include Louis Michot from the Lost Bayou Ramblers; zydeco musician Corey Ledet; Preservation Hall and Palm Court Café drummer Shannon Powell; Sun Ra and Preservation Hall guitarist and banjo player Carl LeBlanc; and vocalist Topsy Chapman and her daughters, Jolynda and Yolanda.

They’re not as well-known to people outside of New Orleans, but here they’re legendary. For me, the story of this record is not just the political and social messages. It’s also an entirely different soundscape. That’s one of my proudest achievements, expanding what my artistry signifies. My artistry was very connected to my cello playing and being with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. But this album asserts that I’ve got a lot more to say and it’s not tied to one instrument or one facet of me as an artist.

Why isn’t cello, your principal instrument, the instrument you formally studied, on the album?

That was not intentional. It was about what’s best for the song. We wanted to be true to each song and subgenre. But I am by no means not a cellist. Cello playing is how I think, it’s how I relate to music.

Why did you move to New Orleans in 2010?

I was looking for my creative voice. And I was trying to find out if I could make a living as a musician, if I should even be a musician. I knew that I could make money playing music on the street—I rode my bike with my cello on my back to Royal Street and played every day. I’d be out there five out of seven days. I did great. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Man, I should get back on the street.’ A lot of people—Tuba Skinny and Doreen Ketchens—are still out there.

You have lived in New Orleans for nearly a decade. Is it home now?

My husband is from Quebec. I sometimes think about moving to Montreal. Other times I’m like, ‘There’s no way. I would freeze. I’d be miserable.’

But you lived in New York City during the winter.

I hated winter. I don’t even like winter here. And there’s something so special about being here in New Orleans. I’m so inspired by the city. I have an amazing community of friends and support. My aunt lives here now.

My sister moved here. My mom lives here part-time and in Haiti part-time. I grew some strong roots. I got married here. My children are New Orleanians.

You visited Haiti many times during your childhood. When you first visited New Orleans, did the city remind you of Haiti?

Yes. From the first time I ever walked around, especially in the French Quarter and the Bywater. The architecture is so similar.

And when I went to Cap-Haïtien in northern Haiti, I thought, ‘This New Orleans.’ And since I’ve gotten here, especially the past couple of years, there’s been more and more conversation about the connections between Haiti and New Orleans. It’s so special to be a part of that. O www.OFFBEAT.com