the full issue in PDF format!

“I believe the interview form to be
part of the artifice of rock-n-roll” pg. 24
GONE FISHING
magazine.com
PUBLISHER
Leo McGovern
[email protected]
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Dan Fox
[email protected]
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Erin Hall
[email protected]
COMICS EDITORS
Leo McGovern & Caesar Meadows
[email protected]
[email protected]
ART DIRECTOR
Kevin Barrios
[email protected]
ADVERTISING
Jennifer Attaway
[email protected]
DISTRIBUTION
Tiffiny Wallace
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Leigh Checkman
[email protected]
Graham Greenleaf
[email protected]
Rev. Daniel Jackson
[email protected]
Dominique LeJeune
[email protected]
Emily McWilliams
[email protected]
Dan Mitchell
[email protected]
Sara Pic
[email protected]
Eric Pierson
[email protected]
Mike Rodgers
[email protected]
Jason Songe
[email protected]
Michael Patrick Welch
[email protected]
Derek
[email protected]
We’re fashionably late this month. Sorry
but with that thin slice of Spring almost
gone, I had to get out and enjoy it. I was
fortunate enough to gorge myself on
crawfish and a flat full of Ponchatoula
strawberries-- thanks to Kevin B’s family
out there in Livonia (Point Coupee
Parish!)-- and make it out to the Mississippi
Gulf coast to go fishing with my family. It
was a glorious March and April looks to
be even sweeter.
I don’t know if it’s the crisp breezes or
the bone-drenching thunderstorms, but
lately my ears have felt open and alive and
I’ve been hearing some truly beautiful
things, whether live or through the radio.
I want to take a minute to give a shout
out to WTUL, who had a phenomenal
marathon pledge drive last month. I know
I had a great time listening and anyone
brave enough to put King Louie and the
Lovey Dovies’ James Hayes in the same
studio together deserves our support (and
my check’s in the mail, I swear!). I’d also
like to mention how awesome Hunter
King and his “Storm Surge of Reverb”
show on Mondays (4 to 6 pm) is; his
enthusiasm and manic mic skills-- and
of course his eclectic and unquenchable
music appetite-- show why he is truly a
once-in-a-generation DJ. I wouldn’t be
writing to you now if it weren’t for certain
WTUL DJs back in the day, whose shows
I would tape on extra-long cassettes.
Some of you know what I’m talking about
because you did the same exact thing and
some of you... well, let’s just say that’s how
you ‘streamed’ music back then. Right
now it seems like WTUL has a roster of
outstanding DJs who are harnessing the
power that a university-based FM station
has for maximum effect. It’s the kind of
thing that truly sustains a scene like ours.
I also want to point out that in my drives
around the state and Mississippi, I’ve even
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Adrienne Battistella
[email protected]
Joshua Brasted
[email protected]
Gary LoVerde
[email protected]
LISTINGS
[email protected]
REVIEWS
[email protected]
SNAIL MAIL
4916 Freret Street
New Orleans, LA 70115
Thank You for Reading
Cover Photos: Ian Svenonius by Angel Ceballos, Block Party by Adrienne Battistella and Buzz Osborne by Gary LoVerde
been thrilled by standard FM stations,
whether they were jamming cheesy classic
rock hits or even contemporary country.
It reminds me that there will always be
revolutionary music being made-- all the
time and everywhere.
Hopefully we have something like that
for you within these 40 pages. And can
I say that this might be the best issue
we’ve ever put out? I’m so grateful to our
staff, who somehow managed to send in
some stellar pieces despite having their
own good times in the great outdoors.
Michael Welch’s interview with Ian
Svenonius is an intense conversation
with one of D.C.’s most prolific artists;
I’m pretty sure Nation of Ulysses was on
one of my TUL tapes. I’d also like to
welcome Dominique LeJeune aboard;
we love over-achieving multi-taskers.
With her involvement with Community
Records (whose annual Block Party
Dominique gives us the inside scoop on)
and WTUL, in addition to creating her
own music, she’s going to fit right in. One
thing I’m especially proud of this month
is our wealth of performing contributors,
from Gary Mader, who talked with Buzz
Osborne of the Melvins, to our friends
Musa, J Yuenger, Rusty Lazer, Rory
Callais and Drew Stephan, who broke
down their SXSW experiences. We even
got Theresa Andersson involved as our
guest advice columnist, which just goes
to show that ANTIGRAVITY is not a
bunch of bench warmers! I also want
to give a special shout-out to our distro
team, who better eat their Wheaties this
month: we’re 8 pages longer than last
month (Those
pills
These
dogsreally
have “nowork,
choice” nyuk
nyuk!) Greatbutmusic
and
great times
to worship
me unconditionally!
await, so give this issue a spin and then
get out there. Don’t forget the sunscreen.
--Dan Fox, Editor in Chief
[email protected]
As you may have seen already, we posted our own
April Fool’s cover on the internet, featuring Unc
Imo, the 60 year-old rapper with a bad knee. First
off, apologies to Unc-- he’s an awesome dude and
we’ll have him back for real soon enough. Anyways,
the post spawned quite the furious comment section.
Shocker, right? David H writes:
the way from Minneapolis:
“I wanted to write you and let you know
that I think you are doing a fantastic
job with your publication. I visited
New Orleans for the first time this past
weekend, and picked up the giant puppet
issue. I was really impressed with the
“if ANTIGRAVITY used the same layout, and loved the longer essays. To me,
editorial care and attention to writing you it felt like your monthly was part
seem to use on your facebook posts people of the culture of New Orleans,
might give a damn and actually read it rather than just reflecting it like a
instead of wrapping fish in it.”
lot of alternative weeklies.”
Good one, Dave; guilty as charged. Although I do Aw Miles, we’re all smiles and we’re glad
feel the need to point out that in New Orleans, AG you appreciate our hustle, typos and all. Praise
is actually used to line tables for crawfish boils-- or punishment, we love it all. Let us know how
where are you from, anyway??
we’re doing!
Trolls aside, we also had Miles J write us all
Featured Column
Guidance Counseling
this month: THERESA ANDERSSON
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Photo: Oscar Creech
This month, local soul songstress, multi-instrumentalist and Swedish-born
beauty Theresa Andersson is acting as our wise sage, dispensing advice to
some of our weary readers. After 20 plus years as a professional musician
in New Orleans, it’s probably safe to say she’s seen her share of weirdness
and we expect that perspective to come in handy answering the oftentimes
random questions thrown at us.
April will be a hectic one for Andersson, who plays Monday, April 9th at
the newly renovated Joy Theatre; Sunday, April 15th at French Quarter
Fest; Wednesday, April 18th at Lafayette Square (Wednesday on the Square
concert series); Friday, April 27th at Cafe Istanbul; Friday, May 4th at
Jazzfest and Saturday, May 5th at Tipitina’s Downtown. And all that just a
few weeks before launching a U.S. Tour in support of her new album Street
Parade (dropping April 24th on Basin Street Records). We’re grateful she
took the time to respond to our readers, so without further ado, let’s hear
those grains of wisdom.
I’ve got a buddy who always seems stuck in the
‘good ole days’. You know, the kind of person
who thinks everything was better ‘back when.’
It is a huge bummer to hang with him after a
while, when talk inevitably turns to how great
everything was and how crappy it is now. How
do you get somebody to appreciate the present,
or at least shut up about how awesome things
‘used to be’?
Easy breazy. Whatchu gotta do is this: (I
promise this works every time!) Pretend
to be someone else!!! For instance, you
can be Dorothy from the Wizard of
Oz... you know in the scene in the end
when she discovers she had the power
all along. Your clients will be like the
little green people. Now they might
want some of what you had.
I know, I totally have that same thing with
a friend. Nothing seems to connect with
the present. Even the clothes he wears
are like from the ‘70s or something...
fringe and stuff. And the music he
listens to... I mean, who wants to listen
to Zeppelin and Skynyrd Lynyrd or
whatever when there’s cool new artists
like Madonna and Radiohead? You
know what I’m saying! And did you
see the outfit Madonna had on for the
Superbowl? Really awesome fashion
piece. That’s what I’m talking about.
I’m having one made.
I was recently diagnosed with some heart issues
and long story short: I have to give up coffee
and caffeine in general. I think I’d rather die
actually... but that sounds dramatic I know.
Any tips on kicking the great brown bean of
morning salvation?
I’m giving a presentation to a group of clients
in a couple of weeks and I’m terrified. My boss
assigned it to me and even though I begged to
do something else, she insisted because it’s “my
turn.” I’m not a public speaker AT ALL! I’ve
heard all the tricks (picture everyone naked, etc.)
but all that does is make me more nervous and
unable to focus. Help! What can I do to get
over this?
4
Bummer. I highly recommend a naked
15 minute shake-it-all session with your
favorite record (“Adam and the Ants” is
awesome)... Hold on... that might not
be good for your heart. Okay, I got it,
try this: find a nice bright spot under an
air conditioning vent. Sit cross legged
(with your pants on) facing the sun
and chant ohm 20 times without losing
count! If you lose count, you have to
start over.... It might also help to have
some coffee-scented candles lit all
around you and then you sort of inhale
the air by sipping it in with short bursts.
That might really do the trick. Oh, but
then you might hyperventilate and that
would be bad...
Featured Column
“Slingshots, Anyone?”
by Derek
JUSTICE FOR JUSTIN SIPP AND WENDELL ALLEN
O
n March 1st, around
5:30am, Justin Sipp and
his brother Earl Sipp
were stopped by police in Mid-City
while Justin was on his way to work
at Burger King. Those familiar with
consistent police harassment have a
name for this sort of thing: “driving
while black.” The lone, white police
officer on the scene quickly called for
backup on the pretense that these men
were “acting suspicious”—a congruent
phenomenon which local organizer
Pam Nath refers to as “interpreting
while white.” At around 5:45 Justin
sent a text to his girlfriend telling her
that she should contact his boss to let
him know they were being detained.
The details become hazy, but at some
point in the following seven minutes,
shots were exchanged, leaving Earl
and three officers wounded and Justin
dead. Earl allegedly had a suspended
license and, according to testimony,
was in handcuffs when the gunfire
broke out. It’s unclear who fired first,
but one fact is evident: the “officer
involved” shooting was provoked by
the detainment of these two men by
the NOPD.
Only one week later, officers executed
a dubious drug search warrant on
Prentiss Street in Gentilly. When
Wendell Allen, wearing pajama pants
and no shirt, came out of his room to
see what the commotion was (there
were younger siblings downstairs), an
officer coming up the stairs fired upon
him, killing him instantly. He was
unarmed. Like Justin, he was only 20
years old. After covering the funeral,
the anchor for WDSU thought that
they “should say” that weed, though
failing to substantiate the amount,
was found in the home—as if this fact
warranted either a police raid or a
death sentence.
While watching the mainstream
media coverage on Justin’s death, my
jaw dropped when I recognized the
photograph of one of the cops called
in for backup—a cop who had been in
intensive care for gunshot wounds—as
a former family friend. Not only had I
known his daughter through elementary
school but I had even been over to his
house on several occasions! And this
man—I learned through reports—had
been complicit not only in the slaying of
Justin but in the bloodbath and coverup of the Danziger Bridge shootings
after Katrina as well. I was disgusted.
When you grow up in Chalmette,
racism is absorbed at an early age—
as unquestioned as the existence of
god, as ubiquitous as those tacky
campaign posters for parish sheriffs. It
permeates cultural perception like air
fouled by Murphy Oil: black peoples’
ungratefulness for all that is “given to
them,” their lack of intelligence, drug
addiction, criminal behavior… Bigotry,
I imagine, that is only reinforced and
exacerbated during one’s cop training
in a city where—due to structural
circumstances like poverty, lack of
education and a vicious “criminal
justice” system—high crime exists in
black communities. I could hear this
cop’s rationalizations, in a drawl so
familiar, as if he sat there before me: the
need to prevent chaos from erupting by
any means necessary, putting oneself
in harm’s way to keep the streets
“safe” from those violent you-knowwhat’s. And of course there are benefits
for this kind of selective worldview, for
being a foot-soldier for a monolithic
with the activists holding placards. I
regret this decision. At some point we
lined up in two rows outside the front
doors to await the end of the ceremony.
One of the activists started leading
chants like “Justice for Justin!” And
though I appreciated the sentiment, I
was a little confused. I mean, we were
at his funeral, not police headquarters.
I hate ever feeling too “cool” to do
something, but at this point in my
life I have to say I reserve chanting
exclusively for empowered moments
in the street or those I’m angry with.
After about three minutes of this
very tried ritual some of the family
members came out to ask us to please
have some respect. “We love you, we’re
glad that you’re out here,” they told us,
“but please…” I felt pretty deflated;
here I was trying to honor this person
who’d stood up to the cops and was
subsequently murdered, and I ended
up—by association, at least—upsetting
some of the family members further.
And it just felt like one embarrassment
after another. As the pallbearers led
Justin’s body to the hearse and family
people began exiting, as we awkwardly
scrambled to not be an encumbrance,
the activists decided to seize this
opportunity—this grand moment—to
and kill us: Martin Luther King
Jr.’s peaceful approach would have
lacked much weight without the more
confrontational tactics of militants like
Malcolm X.
New Orleans, entrenched in the
centuries-old bitter legacy of slavery
and religious conservatism, has rarely
been able to harness its indignation
into a collective, volatile social
rupture—only individual, hopeless
acts of rebellion. We had Mark
Essex, a man who assassinated a total
of nine NOPD officers before being
gunned down on the roof of what is
now the Hyatt hotel, but we fell short
of anything on the scale of LA’s Watts
Riots. The standoff between riot
police and hundreds of angry residents
in the Desire Projects one summer
day in 1970 came close, though.
Having one killer cop indicted, or a
police chief replaced, is not what I’m
pining for. But I do want to make the
NOPD think twice before gunning
down anyone else. Violence is inevitable
as long as police and the institutions
they protect exist—and it will, as always,
affect those more marginalized in
society. A week ago there were shootings
throughout my neighborhood. This was
black kids, presumably, shooting at other
“One of the activists started leading chants like
‘Justice for Justin!’ And though I appreciated the
sentiment, I was a little confused. I mean, we were
at his funeral, not police headquarters.”
order, and in my (former) friend’s
dad’s case it wasn’t all that grand: a
modest one-story house in a bluecollar neighborhood, brute authority
over some others, initiation into what
is essentially a fraternal organization
on par with the mob. But there are
consequences for such service as well:
namely, the bullet from the barrel of
one of those despised “criminal’s” guns
tearing through skin and viscera. The
desperate recourse of one man—on
probation and probably seeing prison
as inevitable—attempting to claw his
way out of a grave society had dug for
him, only to clash with that of another
whose life is devoted to upholding by
force the status quo. When the smoke
cleared, my childhood friend’s father
was rushed to the ICU and, according
to reports, is recovering; Justin Sipp
didn’t make out nearly so lucky.
A number of friends and I attended
Justin’s funeral. Dressed in formal
black attire, I stood on the sidewalk
as friends and family members made
their way into the mortuary to say their
last goodbyes. Some of my comrades
ventured in for the service as well, but
I personally didn’t feel right about it. I
had watched one of the victim’s family
members wailing in grief at the press
conference outside the courthouse the
morning before, and I didn’t want to
feel like a voyeur. So I stayed outside,
give grieving family members flyers
calling for such reformist demands as
the firing of police chief Ronal Serpas!
This was just such poor form, in my
opinion. I was under the impression we
had come out in a gesture of support
and solidarity with the Sipp family,
not to proselytize and win them over
to “our” side! And then the planned
second line that was apparently to
take place on Oretha Castle Haley was
called off when it was realized that the
family hadn’t planned to do one.
I feel like anarchists really should
have taken autonomous action. We
failed to strike while the iron was hot,
when the media was actually focusing
on the fact that NOPD had [allegedly
--ed.] murdered two 20-year-old black
men in one week. The city should have
been shut down and the public—if
not totally sympathetic—would have
at least understood the basis for such
disruption. The threat of retaliation
for police murder and brutality is what
provides the leverage for activists to
actually have their demands listened
to by those in power. After all, it took
the threat of mass rioting in Oakland
following the verdict of Oscar Grant’s
murderer for the cop to be indicted. It’s
delusional to believe any “justice” can
ever be served by merely displaying
moral fortitude to those who oppress
black kids. Is it too much to guess that
it is socio-economic conditions—the
struggle to survive within a competitive
and inhuman system—that turns people
against one another like this? And those
who would call upon the cops and the
prisons for protection are essentially
calling on the forces perpetuating this
cycle of violence. Feeling incredibly
impotent about how to respond in any
constructive way, a friend and I walked
around the neighborhood stapling up
and handing out literature on anarchist
responses to black-on-black crime. But
of course, this is not enough.
Similar to the tactics employed in
the wake of Oscar Grant’s murder,
posters calling for justice for those
slain by NOPD and featuring their
photographs have been plastered
all over the city. I hope that the
momentum does not simply peter
out, that the outrage does not fester
within us with no avenues of tangible
expression. The deaths of Wendell
Allen and Justin Sipp, and the
circumstances that lead up to those
deaths, were a tragedy—and we are
going to have to fight if we don’t
want them repeated. If full-scale
“revolution” is beyond our reach,
then I’m praying at least for a hearty
dose of unbridled revolt…
5
Featured Column
I
The Rational Radicant
by E Willy P
BROWN ENERGY
stay in shape by working out using
body weight training and a book
called You Are Your Own Gym. You
should check it out: 14 bucks and you
have a blueprint for life on keeping your
whole body in top form. 20 minutes a
day, a couple times a week and you’re
Special Forces tight. The author, Mark
Lauren, loves New Orleans, did some
of the photo shoots of the book’s first
pressing on New Orleans balconies and
even used a local publisher. “What’s
this got to do with poop and the price
of gas, E?” Funny you should ask. Well,
I’m here to tell you that not only are
you your own gym, you are also your
own power plant. More exactly, your
house is its own power plant.
Almost ten years ago, I read a story
about how homes in rural India were
converting their organic waste (food
clippings, excrement, lawn trimmings,
animal waste, etc.) into a methane gas
to use for heating and cooking. Not
long after that I read about skyscrapers
in China adopting this technique also
to supplement their power needs for
each individual building. Not but a few
days ago I read about how Norway will
be powering their city transit busses
with this same source of fuel. Bio Gas
production through anaerobic digestion
is nothing new; some American landfills
have used this to collect the methane
from covered landfills since the earlier
part of this century.
What I want to propose to you folks
is the very strong potential that there
already exists technologies for each
individual household to be its own power
plant. How many times have you had
someone brow-beating solar power as
not being the end-all technology to end
the age of oil, coal, hydro and nuclear
power? Well, they’re right. Just like we
have the aforementioned various forms
of current power generations, so we will
need multiple new ways to replace the
6
old ways. We have these means now; we
just have to figure out a way to make
them all viable. To combine wind, solar,
even hydro in some special cases and
anaerobic digestion on a house right
now is not 100% there, but it’s 66%
there and possibly 85% there.
The water waste with current
toilet systems are about to undergo a
revolution. Bill Gates currently has a
challenge to designers and engineers to
“reinvent the toilet” and I will bet you
from this dialogue will come anaerobic
digestive systems for the home in the
very near future. We’re up against the
same battle of big corporations against
the individual being free from their
clutches of power, though. Why the
hell would they be excited about each
individual household being free of
their charges? It is inevitable that we
will be able to tell the utilities to take
a hike soon-- sooner if you are willing
to sacrifice. Those that don’t, well,
they can continue to be a slave to the
continuing over-the-barrel, unwanted
rear entry molestations that are sure to
continue as long as there is greed and
power-hungry corporations. We can
side-step them.
Through innovation and sacrifice, we
will be self-sufficient before we know it.
Utopian pipe dream? I don’t think so.
I think we, as peoples in this modern
age, will be raising the middle finger to
the constrictions of not knowing how to
fend for ourselves on multiple levels of
technology and abilities. We can and will
be able to do this as long as we maintain
free and open lines of communication.
You may be pessimistic but just look at
the Pirate Bay (thepiratebay.se): they’re
getting heat for providing a service some
say is illegal, so what are they going to
do? Launch their servers into low orbit
space aboard their own satellites. They
will need to be shot down to be stopped.
DIY or die, folks!
Featured Column
A
Paw Talk
by Emily McWilliams
LOST AND FOUND
rriving home after a tenhour drive from Robbinsville,
North Carolina, my house only
partially feels like home. B and his
band are touring Europe and Henry
Dog is still in Metairie at his favorite
playground, Puppy Love. The cats
add some comfort to the structure,
but there is a manifest absence: the
remarkable and eerie feeling that the
essence of my missing loved onesdog and man- are only embossed
on the air, not altogether there yet
almost tangible.
The majority of pet owners know
the feeling of their homes without
their animals and most have had
the scare, and sometimes terrifying
reality, of a missing pet. Typically,
when people think of a missing pet,
they imagine their dog wiggling
through a hole under the fence in
their backyard, or darting out of the
front door at the sound of thunder,
hoping that if they met their end
it was quick and painless; or more
optimistically, that the escapee
ended with someone taking in the
pet as their own. Pets can certainly
escape: one of my childhood dogs, a
Shetland Sheepdog named Bonnie
Jo, loved to dash out the front door
as my mom was trying to get me
in the car for school. I remember
mornings spent running around
the neighborhood in my school
uniform, chasing a Sheltie who was
clearly enjoying the adventure, my
mom on the other side of the street
running and hoping to block Bonnie
Jo’s tricky changes of course. But
not everyone is so lucky to be able
to find and catch his or her escapee
pet. Most pet parents do not think
of the possibility of their pet being
stolen. Sadly, pets are stolen more
often than one would think. The
American Kennel Club reported
that in 2011, the reports of stolen
dogs went up 49%.
Why would someone steal a pet?
Fighting rings, bait dog use, puppy
mills, resale value and research labs
are only some of the reasons. Certain
breeds of dogs are more likely to be
stolen for twisted entertainment:
pit bulls and pit bull-type dogs for
fighting or bait dogs and pure-bred
dogs for resale value to puppy mills
(breeding purposes) and research
labs (docile breeds for easy control in
scientific research, such as beagles).
Craigslist serves as a perfect fence
for pet thieves looking to sell, so be
careful if you are looking to adopt
an animal from it. And then there is
what may be the most frightening and
upsetting scenario in which your pet
could end up: research institutions.
Technically, this is supposed to be
far less widespread, but not that long
ago, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there were
very few laws regulating where labs
could purchase animals. In 2010,
only ten were considered registered
“class B dealers.” The fact remains,
though, that laboratories do not
always follow these guidelines,
and any paperwork functioning as
“proof ” could easily be fraudulent.
If your pet is missing, regardless
of why, the first thing you should
do is call your local animal shelters.
Whereas Craigslist is the first place
many pet thieves looking for a quick
profit will go, it is also the first place
many pet rescuers will go as well.
Just a few months ago when I arrived
home from the store, a docile,
confident black Border Collie mix
strolled up to me. She was healthy,
shiny and friendly, so I knew she
was no stray. I walked her around
the neighborhood and asked a few
familiar faces if they recognized her;
no one did, so I brought her back
to my house and posted a generic
“found dog” post. Within an hour,
the owner had contacted me with
the dog’s name, a photo and where
she lives, which was right around the
corner from me. To confirm that
the dog belonged to the woman, I
called the dog’s name and her head
snapped around to look at me and
wag her tail. Case closed! Posting
flyers in your area with a photo will
also help people locate your missing
pet.
Here are some preventative
measures you can take to avoid a
missing pet: microchip, microchip,
microchip! Microchipping provides
an “identity tag” that is underneath
your pet’s skin- any vet, almost
anywhere, can scan the chip. This is START LOOKING:
also an important step to take if you A few rescue groups and shelters to
put you and your pet back together:
find an animal that appears to be
someone’s. Bring the animal to the Animal Rescue New Orleans
vet to see if they have a microchip. 504-571-1900
Make sure your pet has updated tags animalrescueneworleans.org
on their collar. Do not leave your
pet outside and do not let your pet Dogs of the Ninth Ward
dogsofthe9thward.blogspot.com
wander freely. If you cannot have an
504-222-3686 (email preferred)
inside pet, then consider finding your
pet another home. If you must find Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter
another home for your animal, do (East Bank and West Bank)
not offer the pet for free. Charging 504-736-6111
at least a small adoption fee can [email protected]
help deter those who would use the
animal for profit or abuse them. If LA SPCA
you see any suspicious behavior, do 504-368-5191
not hesitate to call your local animal la-spca.org
shelter or better yet, try contacting a
N.O. Animal Welfare Society
rescue organization.
510-388-0101
Sometimes a shelter can only do
so much, but rescue organizations Pet Adoption Services
run by volunteers and fosters will petadoptionservices.org
sometimes be more willing to do
more if they are able. In short, The Sula Foundation
keep your pet safe, and treat your [email protected]
pet like you would treat your own
human child: if you wouldn’t want Humane Society of Louisiana
your child sitting outside in the New 888-6 HUMANE (486263)
Orleans sun, chained to a fence with humanela.org
no food or water all day, then don’t
do it to your pet.
7
BLUSHING LADY
Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
and Pink Grapefruit
Featuring Sobieski Vodka
Served Up with a Sugared Rim
and a Lemon Wheel
www.slicepizzeria.com
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8
w w w. ju an sf ly in gb
ur ri to .c om
ith all this great music coming
up so soon, it’s hard not to
get excited about the Spring. Mardi
Gras and St. Paddy’s may be over
but as we all know, there’s always
something to do in the Crescent
City. Hell, French Quarter Fest is
right around the corner. Spring
also means rejuvenation, rebirth,
festivals galore and Catholics
eating meat on Fridays. Since we’re
on the subject of Fridays, I recently
sat down with the Social Service
to talk about their new weekly,
HeadSET. Debuting on March
30th at the Hookah (formerly the
Hookah Cafe) on 309 Decatur
Street, the first edition will have
already occurred by the time you
read this, but you can rest assured
that things will only get better from
the jump.
Noticing a lack of certain sounds
in New Orleans, Social Service set
forth to fill the void with an open
forum of local and international
DJs and producers showcasing
a variety of styles including
Electronic/Experimental Hip Hop,
Downtempo, IDM, Dub and other
genres. With local support from
the likes of Rekanize, Shanook,
Able Chis, Beautiful Bells, as
well as special guests, the night
promises to have something for
those that like their beats deep and
ww w. ju an sf ly in gb
ur rit o. co m
different. Taking on a more laid
back lounge approach, HeadSET
is all about vibes, atmosphere and
underground music. Social Service
also plan to post regular blog
entries featuring mixes, upcoming
guests and pertinent information
regarding releases and new music.
Combining these two elements, the
collective hope to bring new sounds
to an audience ready for something
fresh. If you like your beats forwardthinking, this is the night for you.
Even if you do miss the first edition
of HeadSET, you have nothing
to worry about because the list
of upcoming guests is deadly. On
April 6th, AF the Naysayer comes
through to drop some ethereal Hip
Hop flavors combined with airy
synth pads and orchestrated loops.
Jonwayne (Stones Throw/
Alpha Pup) follows up on the
13th. Expect everything from
broken beats weaved with laid
back jazz loops, piano stabs and
MCs to 8-bit Nintendo breaks.
April 20th features Adam Bomb,
whose sound combines tracked-out
glitches with ‘70s synths and filtered
vocal loops sure to twist up even
the most discerning head’s noggin.
You can find out about all things
HeadSET on the mighty interwebs
at headsetnola.com. See you on the
floor.
IT’S
ALIVE!
Celebrating Vinyl’s Resurrection on
Photo: Gary LoVerde
Record Store Day 2012
“Every day is Record Store Day for us,”
Matt Knowles, of Domino Sound
Record Shack, said when asked how his
store would observe this sacred Saturday in
April.
He has a point. A favorite record store
is a treasured place for music lovers: more
than just a source for purchasing albums
by favorite singers and bands, a good
record store nurtures a scene of sorts,
accommodating any and all seekers of
truth in the grooves, any day of the year.
There have been paeans to that atmosphere
in popular culture– think High Fidelity, Trax
in Pretty In Pink and my personal favorite,
the Kids In The Hall’s record store guy, who
weans a patron off Depeche Mode and
into the magnificence that is the Doors
(“Doors fans aren’t made; they’re born!”).
But until five years ago, when a
performance by Metallica at Rasputin
Music in San Francisco kicked off the first
Record Store Day, there was no official
commemoration of record stores and no way
of binding together the many independent
shops across the country beyond similarities
in the music they carry and the bands many
of them book for special events. Throw in
the advent of free internet music sites and
a slow economy and it makes Record Store
Day more important than ever in sustaining
indie stores. One particular Buzzfeed.
com post by Matt Stopera showed off
“40 Sad Portraits of Closed Record Stores”
in honor of the 2011 occasion and Eric
Levin, one of the original founders of the
event, nearly shuttered his shop Criminal
Records in response to crushing debt.
Thankfully, many of New Orleans’
independent record stores are alive and
well and most of them are participating in
Record Store Day 2012. Special EP, LP and
single releases on vinyl and compact disc will
be offered at Euclid Records, Peaches
Records, Skully’z Recordz and the
Mushroom; Euclid’s special offerings
include an exclusive international ‘80s punk
rock mixtape cassette from Andy Rotzz
(pictured) and limited edition Euclid 45
adapters. Store patrons can take advantage
of sales and discounts on merchandise at
Euclid, Peaches, the Mushroom and Jim
Russell’s Rare Records.
Euclid Records’ schedule includes
DJ Matty (of Mod Dance Party),
the Charlie Halloran Experience,
Blind Texas Marlin and the Ramble
Tamble Bramble Bramblers, Jonny
Corndawg, Boom Chick, Die Rotzz
and DJ Yamin.
It will be business as usual for Louisiana
Music Factory, which will have instore Saturday performances by Claude
Bryant, Anais St. John and Lil’ Red
and Big Bad. Performance schedules
have not yet been set for Peaches and the
Mushroom as of press time. The Mushroom
will also be celebrating its 43rd birthday.
-Leigh Checkman
Record Store Day is Saturday, April 21st. For
more information, check out recordstoreday.com
Photo: Melisa Cardona
Kiss Kiss Julie Invades
Your Personal Space
ArtSpot Productions’ Kiss Kiss Julie does
not just tear down the proverbial theatrical
fourth wall-- it never even exists. Blurring
the lines between fiction and reality also
provides a springboard for exploring and
pushing the lines of gender and sexuality.
The primary “instigator” (as she calls
herself) for the play, Ashley Sparks, relays
that she was “obsessed” with the main
character, Julie, from August Strindberg’s
1888 play Miss Julie. “She embodies the
contradiction between sexual freedom and
societal conditions. The consequences for
her craving of intimacy, sensuality and sex
is death. How far have we come in the past
120 years? For a culture that uses sex to sell
all sorts of products, we are surprisingly
prudish. We are still fighting to love and
fuck who we want without intervention by
the state or the church.”
From the moment you step into
Kiss Kiss Julie’s Hotel Utopia, set in
Storyville, there is no audience or stage.
Little booths to explore sensations of touch,
with “peepholes,” are scattered across the
room. As a gender-bending cowboy (played
by Sparks) teaches you how to line dance,
you only realize the show has begun when
the cowboy begins to describe the hotel and
all its delights. There are many moments
of laughter until, suddenly, Hotel Utopia
and its denizens are suddenly shackled by
playwright Strindberg, now a character
himself, played by Nick Slie, into puritanical
Victorian views on sexuality. Ensemble
member Rebecca Mwase remarks that she
“was really interested in coming into the
piece and exploring the dynamics of sex
and power within Storyville. The idea of
‘liberated’ women selling other women’s
bodies is fascinating to me. Storyville was
a freer, more sexually expressive place to
be yet it demanded obedience to men for
sexual pleasure for money.”
Fortunately for the characters
and audience, the character Julie has been
set free in this new vision. The play fastforwards to the present where the audience
is invited to experience Hotel Utopia
themselves. Sparks says, “I wanted to
push the boundaries of intimacy with an
audience. I wanted to undress our needs,
expectations of gender roles and power
dynamics.” This is accomplished via “oneon-one performances, opportunities for
the audience to connect to each other, be
voyeurs, and have their own private solo
experiences.”
Kiss Kiss Julie is as much an
experience as it is a play. Ensemble member
Lisa Shattuck sums it up well, saying
“I may not even know the name of the
audience member that I shared an intimate
exchange with during the show but now
there is understanding and love where there
wasn’t before.” --Sara Pic
Kiss Kiss Julie runs Thursdays through
Sundays at 8 pm through April 15th at
the Joan Mitchell Center, 2275 Bayou
Road. For more information, check out
artspotproductions.org
9
You’ve passed through New Orleans
a few times and it’s clear you have
some fans here, including some of
our most exciting musicians, like
Alynda Lee, Meschiya Lake and
Stix Da Clown (all who opened for
you last time). Can you speak for
a minute about your relationship
with this city and those musicians?
When Meschiya Lake and Hurray for the Riff Raff ’s Alynda Lee (two of this city’s powerhouse
singer-songwriters) both gush on stage about how excited they are to be opening for their favorite
band, it’s hard not to expect something truly spectacular to follow in their wake. But that’s exactly
what happened last February, when on an Ash Wednesday no less, mere hours after Mardi Gras’
last gasp, an eager crowd packed the Hi-Ho Lounge to catch Shovels and Rope. A fiery, wedded duo
from Charleston, South Carolina, Michael Trent and Carey Ann Hearst juggled a junkyard drum
set, banjo, acoustic guitars and a harmonica between the two of them and sang sweetly and loudly
about everything from cocaine to deadbeat dads and of course, traveling. Lots and lots of traveling.
Perpetually on tour it seems, Shovels and Rope have come through New Orleans twice within a year’s
time and are set to pass through once again this month. ANTIGRAVITY was lucky enough to catch
up with Trent and Hearst as they made their way out west to discuss their connection to New Orleans,
how magical their last show here was, tour karma and the health of country music today.
10
Shovels and Rope: The night you saw us
was the third show we had played with
Alynda Lee. She is magic and we love
her band Hurray for the Riff Raff. They
are so good, and we are lucky to count
them among our music friends in New
Orleans. We had heard of Stix (we know
him as Michael James) from our friends
in the Winter Sounds. They had told us
about My Graveyard Jaw [James’ band],
recommending them to play with us, and
we are thrilled that they did. The recent
Hi-Ho show was our first meeting, though
hopefully not our last. That same show
was the first time we had met Meschiya,
and we were stunned at her magnetism
and her voice. That night, they were
having some sound issues, so rather than
wrestle with them, they just went off mic
and the room fell silent under the sway
of their voices. You could hear a pin drop
and more importantly, you could hear the
music and not some jabbermouth talking
over it.
At the end of the night, when it came
time to settle up the money, one by one
these wonderful musicians came and put
their hard-earned money in our pockets.
Word had gotten around that our van had
broken down in Birmingham and that it
had been a pricey fix. We tried to refuse,
but they each insisted. Alynda told us
“this is what we do down here. We look
after our own.” Our hearts exploded.
Their generosity was uncalled for and
overwhelming.
Being Charlestonians, we feel like we
are y’alls Northern cousins, sharing
many aspects of culture and history.
New Orleans is, as a matter of fact, one
of our favorite cities. We spent this last
Mardi Gras in the midst of Saint Ann’s,
watching two of our dear friends marry
by the Mississippi while others bid their
loved ones goodbye, scattering ashes into
the river. It was a total full-circle moment
that completely solidified our passion for
New Orleans, and it was only reinforced
by that magic that happened Ash
Wednesday night.
“WE LOVE HANK, WILLIE
AND WAYLON AS MUCH
AS ANYONE ELSE, BUT
GUESS WHAT: THESE GUYS
WOULD WANT US, AS
ARTISTS, TO FIND OUR
OWN IDENTITIES”
We love touring at AG! What are
some of the better, more original
tips you’ve discovered by being on
the road so much?
Never get the hotel next to the strip
club. Trust the locals on where to eat.
In most cases, we decline free lodging
from strangers. Generous, lovely, wellmeaning people offer up their homes
to us almost every night so we don’t
have to pay for a hotel, an amazing
and gracious gesture; and though we
very much appreciate it, and where
I’m sure that most of these people are
perfectly sane, there’s always that teeny
tiny off- chance you might wake up
with a rubber ball in your mouth. Choose
wisely. Say thank you to the sound man-sincerely-- after the sound check, even
if it sucked and after the gig. Manners
go a long way. These guys hear a lot of
shitty bands and haven’t any real reason
to suspect that you are any good, much
less that you are not an asshole. A little
kindness can get you a better mix. Or at
least a little better karma.
You’ve been outspoken before about
commercial country music, which
I think we can all agree is pretty
terrible these days. What do you
think happened? And just how bad
is Toby Keith for country music?
The major commercial music ball game is
a bummer no matter which genre you’re
talking about. It’s driven by money and
test markets and formulas and the science
of manipulating the average Walmart
shopper. Whether it’s gangsta rap or
country music or metal, they all create
these glorified illusions of a lifestyle that
they’re trying to package and sell. It’s
all co-oping and name-dropping. We
love Hank, Willie and Waylon as much
as anyone else, maybe even more, but
guess what: these guys would want us, as
artists, to find our own identities and grow
country music’s idiom. “Ole Hank” would
want us to aim higher than singing about
“Ole Hank” all the time.
We don’t believe there is a lack of quality
artists or songwriters out there, but we
all know that you most likely won’t find
them on the radio, at least on the staticfree stations. We have mixed feelings
about TK. We hate his politics. We
hate confrontational patriotic songs that
promote not knowing the difference
between Iraq and Iran. On the other
hand, we love the song, “I love this Bar.”
It’s a great song. The guy has been around
for twenty-something years, and as far
as commercial country goes, he’s the
quintessential star, so he’s been great for
the bidness of country music, selling a
brazillion records.
Carey Ann, at the Hi-Ho show,
it seemed like you just bumped
Michael right off the drums and
while it was a pretty seamless
transition, I wondered how
choreographed or planned out
that move was. How do the two
of you decide who’s going to play
what, when?
The show is pretty much off-the-cuff. I
guess that’s the part of the freedom that
comes with being a 2 piece. We’ve got
a couple little bits that have evolved out
of trial and error. I’m always waiting for
Michael to get off the drum and let me
settle in. He always makes me wait there,
and it creates a certain awkwardness
that we have just made part of the show.
The transition changes all the time, but
sometimes he makes me stand there
until I have to “encourage” him off the
drum throne.
You’re quickly capturing the
attention of people across the
country, so my last question is:
what’s the last thing you’d like to
say before you hit it big?
Forgive us in advance...
Shovels and Rope will perform
at the Allways Lounge on
Saturday, April 21st, with Jonny
Corndawg, Hurray for the Riff
Raff and the Kid Carsons. For
more information, check out
shovelsandrope.com
11
12
Photo: Musa
Love it, hate it, ignore it or flock to it, Austin’s South By Southwest has
become a yearly spectacle, where vans crammed with starry-eyed rock babies
from across the country congregate in the heart of Texas to grab a piece of
that music dollar pie (and good Tex-Mex). Since the ANTIGRAVITY
staff was too busy to make it this year, we asked some of our friends who
were going to share their thoughts and experiences on an event that’s known
as everything from a “blow job contest” (Vice) to “summer camp for
musicians.” (MTV Hive) From all sides of the stage and both sides of the
line, they dished-- and it is truly vicarious living!
RORY CALLAIS
Rory Callais is the lead guitarist of Vox and the Hound, a band that’s been busting genres and ripping
scene walls down lately. Building from the remains of former bands as different as Silent Cinema and
Fatter than Albert, it’s no wonder their sound is so monstrous. They’ve been leaving huge footprints
everywhere they play, from a crowded Cafe Prytania to Punk Rock Takeovers at the Big Top.
Vox and the Hound performed with a variety of bands at SXSW, most notably the
Migrant, the Tontons, River Whyless, Megafauna and Click Clack Boom.
We were also able to attend a brunch for the publication company SESAC, which
provided us with some much-needed free sunglasses and lunchtime booze.
We were unofficial, playing off the grid in such disparate places as a pizzeria (J.
Black’s), a coffee shop (Dominican Joe) and a saloon (Shiner’s) in the center of
Austin’s club district, which provided us with a dubstep serenade as we loaded in and
out of the venue.
“I TOOK A BUS
THAT ACTUALLY
ARRIVED ON
TIME AND GOT
ME NOMINALLY
CLOSE TO WHERE
I WANTED TO GO.
FIRST SIGN THAT
AUSTIN IS NOT
NEW ORLEANS.”
Our reception varied, with some shows being intimate affairs with small, attentive (if
somber) crowds and others featuring drunken sorority girls grinding on our singer,
Leo [DeJesus] and pestering our keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist D-Ray to play his
trombone for the sole purpose of taking a Facebook-bound picture. However, when we
played at the mostly-empty Molotov, we did have a girl who looked around 14 buy
our EP, “Hermosa”, and ask us to sign it. She said we were the best band she saw
that day, even claiming we were better than Pearl Jam (I have no knowledge of Pearl
Jam playing Austin that week, so I’m pretty sure this wasn’t true). She also promised to
tell all of her friends at school about us.
Stardeath and the White Dwarf ripped through a set that was equal parts
Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath at Friends on 6th street. Fog
machines and strobe lights were abundant although they did like to jam on the same
monotonous riffs for minutes at a time.
I also ended up in Stubb’s one afternoon and got to unexpectedly see Punch
Brothers and Alabama Shakes, both of whom were incredible and bright spots of
my week, along with being some of my few flirtations with official SXSW shows.
The place to visit in Austin is Dominican Joe. It’s a coffee shop with a direct
relationship with the Dominican farms harvesting the coffee beans, eliminating the
middlemen. Half of the sales go to the farm while another half go to a school in the
DR. Dominican Joe rewards your altruism with a damn good cup of coffee-- and I
drink black coffee, which can be a bitter experience if I get it from the wrong place.
Dominican Joe is not the wrong place.
I’ve heard SXSW called “Hipster Mardi Gras,” and I find this to be uncannily
accurate. There are men in tank tops and women with feathers braided into their
hair everywhere. A local clothing store put up a sign stating “WRANGLERS OUT/
SKINNY JEANS IN.” Scores of young men and women roamed around downtown
Austin with half-shaved heads, looking as if they collectively got in a fight with hair
clippers and lost. Still, SXSW is a worthwhile endeavor. It’s essentially speed dating
for indie rock, with a music fan able to sample many more acts than they would by
cruising local bars. And if you don’t concern yourself with seeing the likes of Bruce
Springsteen, there are a lot of discoveries to be made, such as River Whyless and
their beautiful indie folk. It makes you feel as if you’re in on some of the best-kept
secrets in music.
13
RUSTY LAZER
When DJ Rusty Lazer isn’t touring the country with Big Freedia, he’s holding down a weekly
at St. Roch Tavern and throwing crazy parties like Big Dick’s House of Boobs, a bacchanal
that celebrates nekkidness with flesh-colored suits, hot dogs and fish tacos. He’s one of the biggest
promoters of bounce right now, and with the whirlwind it’s kicking up, we’re lucky to catch up with
him!
I came here with Nicky da B primarily; we traveled deep with a crew from New
Orleans, representing a lot of the stuff we love to dance to in our city right now
(sorry we couldn’t bring a whole second line with us... next year?). Among those on
the showcases I had a hand in organizing were Katey Red, Nola Fam, Mannie
Fresh, Luckylou, Jean Eric, Chilldren, JC Styles, Caddywhompus,
Magnolia Rhome, Dee 1 and more.
We kicked the whole thing off with a group of bike riders from L.A. called
Midnight Ridazz, who invited us to do a guerilla dance party on the Pfluger
pedestrian bridge with a three-bike mobile sound system! About 200 kids showed
up to go bananas (presidential candidate Vermin Supreme leading the way!) and
we tore it up for an hour before the cops showed up. A total success and a great
birthday party for Nicky! Oddly enough, it was this “show” that got us on page 2 of
the Arts section of the New York Times, with a photo of Nicky and Ro, one of
our dancers, shaking that bridge!
Wednesday’s official(ly hijacked by) SXSW showcase was incredible! All of the
performers did sets alongside local favorites Nola Fam, Caddywhompus, Prom
Date and of course the headliner Mannie Fresh! People loved it and I have to say
it’s always a nice reminder that so many people who ended up here in Austin postKatrina still love that beat and are hungry for a chance to get a taste of home again!
Our Friday show outside Beerland with Timmy Hefner’s Chaos in Tejas was
probably the most spontaneously ridiculous performance we gave, with our dancers
Lady Business and Ro climbing up in trees and on top of cars to shake it for
the whole block to see. Timmy’s a really wonderful and generous promoter and it
felt great to be a part of his annual punk (as in leather and spikes punk) festival’s
showcase.
I didn’t get a chance to see that many shows, and since Austin is a bit of home for
me, the one day I had off I went to Krause Springs (about 30 miles outside of
Austin), which I think is possibly the most beautiful place in all of Texas. When we
weren’t working I mostly stayed on my new bike (my own having been stolen the first
night in town!) and tooled around with our new friends from the bike crew, dancing
whenever we could and generally making mayhem. The one exception was Gay
Bi Gay Gay, which is a six-year running day-long festival held on a piece of land
out by the airport. Probably the biggest name at that show was John Cameron
Mitchell (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame) who performed a couple of his
songs and did a DJ set at the end of the night that harkened back to my memories
of sneaking into dance clubs in the ‘80s and made me feel nostalgic and a little
ancient all at once.
I’d have to say that I’m officially over the official SXSW. They’ve really become
quite rapacious in their dealings with outside events and even though they worked
with us in the end to help make our shows successful, we really could have done
what we did without them. I think they are feeling the pressure to squash the
overwhelming amount of free awesomeness going on (probably as a nod to their
sponsors more than anything else). But the way they’re going about it is pushy and
intrusive. SXSW corporate dominance at this year’s event was at an all time high
and it seemed that everywhere we went, we heard this same refrain from other
attendees (artists and otherwise).
All in all, I’ll go back again, no doubt, because Austin is so close to family and
friends for me, but I’d just as soon play out at Krause Springs, up in a tree or on the
back of a bike trailer if I could.
DREW STEPHAN
Drew is a Massplant who’s been heckling gutter punks and playing in punk bands like Small Bones
and Adults ever since he landed in New Orleans. He also hosts the weekly trivia night at the Half
Moon. But during the day Drew works a fancypants job at C4 Tech & Design, an IT firm, and
traveled to Austin after he was selected to speak on a panel about cooperative tech businesses at the South
By Southwest Interactive conference (SXSWi).
I had been to Austin a few times for various reasons, but this would be my first festival
there. But my excitement slowly melted into creeping dread as I heard more and more
about the conference: 500,000 out-of-town people (or something like that), over 800
panels at the interactive conference, 2,000 bands as part of the official roster, not to
mention other bands who were just there.
On Saturday my flight got in a little late, so I rushed to the House Of Commons (a
co-op house with about 30 students living in it and about a 100 bathrooms) on West
Campus where I was staying, ditched my stuff, said hi to some people and ran out to
meet some friends on 7th and Red River. I took a bus that actually arrived on time
and got me nominally close to where I wanted to go. First sign that Austin is not New
Orleans.
On Sunday I didn’t get out of bed until 11. When I finally made it down to the
Austin Convention Center (ACC) to check in, the place was a terrifying hellstorm
of publicity stunts, glossy posters, shitty swag and throngs of humanity everywhere.
I caught some sessions, none of which were illuminating or useful in any way. As a
general rule, “experts” of social media don’t know what they’re talking about, ever.
Imagine that.
I went to the Black Star Co-op in North Austin for food, beer, solidarity and pub
trivia, accidentally. We ended up tying for 3rd and would have come in 2nd if I could
have fucking remembered Phillip Michael Thomas’ name. But I did win a free
beer for knowing where the late Leslie Cochran was planning to move (Colorado)
before he passed in early March. Once I got the beer, I had to pour out a little for
Leslie.
The panel I was speaking on was at 9:30 on Monday. There were about 20 people
there. I drank way too much coffee and kept using the phrase “...and things like that.”
After that, the day was a blur of listening to panelists shill their products, sitting on the
floor of the ACC using the internet and chasing down the free food and booze offers
I saw on @SouthByFreeNoms and @SouthByFreeDrinks. I’ve been wary of Twitter
since the very beginning, but since it got me all this free stuff we’ve brokered a tentative
peace deal.
That night I called my friend Jane and met up with her at the French Legation
Museum, where there had been music and free beer. By the time I got there, neither
existed anymore, just some weirdo kids doing bad circus tricks and 2 dollar beers.
Bah. Then we headed to the Shangri-La for a video game release party for God Of
Blades from some company called White Whale. Again, no free beer or food. After
grabbing a bad-ass burger from the Tenderland food truck, we headed over to the
High Ball (part of Alamo Drafthouse) for karaoke with some SXSW Film folks. 2
AM snuck up on us and we got kicked out. Closing time, what the hell?!
On Wednesday I finally got to sleep in and it was glorious. Of course, sleeping in a
room with 2 other people means lots of noise but I was so tired it didn’t matter. I slept
till noon then headed to Barton Springs for some cold swimming and relaxing by
the pool. On the way back to the house, I saw Eugene Mirman just off campus. He
looks like he’s channeling Daniel Johnston. We weren’t far from the “Hi, How Are
You” mural on Guadalupe, so I guess he was drawing power from it?
After some dinner at Ruby’s BBQ (omfg so good) and some chill time back at House
Of Commons, a bunch of us headed to 21st Street Co-op and Eden House for
some music. We caught a band called Magnificent Snails at Eden who were okay-but another shitty band name! At 21st, some generic-sounding indie band was playing
and the bassist was on this beautiful Rickenbacker hollow body that I was coveting
so hard. I drank a ton of beer to try to make the music sound okay and called it a night
relatively early so I could wake up for my flight. Austin: We’ll hang out sometime when
you’re not so busy.
14
MUSA
Musa’s Saturday night party at the Saint, simply called Obsession, has come to be known and feared
throughout New Orleans as a night of dancefloor chaos and pulsing mania. Obsession also keeps
pushing later and later into the night, threatening to take over Sunday too. She didn’t quite know it, but
her trip to SXSW to DJ for Spank Rock turned into an audition to join his crew and guess what? She
landed the gig!
Spank Rock was slated to play the Windish Agency, Iheartcomix, Biz 3
Publicity Agency and the Ninja Tunes showcases. The Windish and Biz 3 shows
were definitely my favorite. The audiences were pumped, the sound was great and we
went fucking nuts, and I stage dove at the Biz 3 show. Iheartcomix was cool because we
played between Dan Deacon and Andrew WK, but the sound guys were too busy
getting wasted and blew our sound, so it kept cutting out. The Ninja Tunes showcase
was silly; the sound person poured a beer on the surge protector I was using and it
blew up, then electrocuted our friend. The crowd was stoked to see us play two songs,
though.
Andrew WK killed it at the Iheartcomix showcase. That dude is a super rad party bro.
We hung with him at the Spin artist’s dinner and made him take an awkward photo
with us. The Spin dinner was really fun because we got wasted and laid in the grass,
ate good food and made jokes on jokes on jokes. I mean that sounds lame but it was
collectively one of our favorite times during the trip. The Drums were amazing; I
saw them twice, the second time at the Mad Decent/Check Yo Ponytail show.
Johnny’s voice is incredible. Also, we had prickly pear margaritas with him. I also saw
Santigold at the Fader Fort. She always kills it. I loved seing Bosco Del Ray at the
Beauty Ballroom for the Mad Decent/C.Y.P. showcase. He has that hot chick
Alix Brown playing with him now. I also caught the bounce showcase and saw Nicky
Da B and Katey Red and Rusty Lazer (Hi Rusty!). They tore it up but my favorite
part of that show was Akrum, wasted and saying mad funny shit.
I ate with @Lilinternet at one of the best restaurants in the universe: Hudson
on the Bend. It’s like 100 years away from downtown but well worth the trip. We
ate rattlesnake, venison, rabbit, buffalo and edible flowers. We also ate at Torchy’s
twice and loved the Democrat and fried avocado tacos. Also got drunk and ate Lucky
Charms in bed with our tour manager, Emily Rabbit, and at the time thought that
was the best meal I ever had.
The first 2 days I was there I was a social leper because I didn’t have my wrist band yet
and didn’t RSVP to anything. I tried meeting Diplo at Speakeasy on Tuesday night
but they told me to go kill myself at the door and his text back to me said “Haha I’m
going to sleep.” I went to the Flavor Pill party and saw Pictureplane but no real
shenanigans ensued with him, just posi vybez. Then we got to witness the “race riot”
at the Vice party between Trash Talk fans and A$AP Rocky’s camp. That was
lame but we did have fun waiting in line to get in, telling the door guy I was Lana Del
Skrillex Fader Fort III.
Sunday night we went to the last night of Beauty Bar (yeah, it’s closing) and saw
Ninja Sonik. It was an all-star cast of fools.
SXSW kinda changed my life, LOLz. I had always wanted to play it and I always
wanted to DJ for Spank Rock, and the two things happened for me at the same time!
Naeem, Johnny Nelson, Rabbit and I just had the most fun ever, like even if something
sucked we made it funny and fun. It was total love magic.
“I TRIED MEETING
DIPLO AT SPEAKEASY
ON TUESDAY NIGHT
BUT THEY TOLD ME
TO GO KILL MYSELF
AT THE DOOR”
J YUENGER
You probably know J as the guitarist from White Zombie and you may be aware of his studio
production credits, which include everything from Rik Slave and the Phantoms to Ballzack-- but did
you know he’s also a master blogger? JYuenger.com is a virtual funhouse of tidbits, photos, essays,
punk rock memorabilia and is generally just an excellent rest stop on the internet highway.
This year I did some mentor sessions, which is basically giving advice to people
about the music industry. I talked to musicians mostly-- solo artists and band
members-- but also a couple of people starting out in management and recording.
It went really well. Basically, it was common sense stuff but people appreciate the
validation. A rapper asked if she should move to Atlanta. I said yes, definitely. A guy
who works for a management company told me that he has an artist who’s starting
to do well but won’t give up control of day-to-day stuff he has no time to deal with.
I asked this guy if he’d simply said to the artist: “You have to let me handle more of
this stuff because you have no time to.” He admitted that no, he hadn’t.
I was at the Scoot Inn a lot, which is where the metal was. I saw High On Fire
twice-- they’re always great. Black Breath, who are probably my favorite superaggressive band right now, was awesome. Off !, the classic hardcore supergroup, was
probably the single funnest gig, also at Scoot Inn. I saw the NOLA-NYC band Star
& Dagger a couple of times: once at the new Emo’s, which is a really big place
and once at Headhunter’s, which is tiny. They had a very good reception for a
brand new band, which leads me to think that they’ll do very well.
One thing I hadn’t done before is go to movies. I saw the U.S. premiere of Iron
Sky (you know, the Nazis on the moon movie), which I’d been looking forward
to for a long time and which I found totally disappointing-- also the Bad Brains
documentary (Bad Brains: a Band in D.C.), which was pretty good.
15
HURRAY FOR JAZZ FEST!
(AND ALL THE RIFF RAFF THAT ATTEND)
In its 42nd year, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is
presenting one of its most diverse lineups ever. Not everyone sees that as something to
celebrate, though. The naysayers get stuck on the word “heritage” it seems, insisting
that the festival should highlight only Blues, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Cajun and Jazz
performers, since that’s the supposed foundation of New Orleans music. And sure,
tourists from all over the country (and the world really) descend on us every April
and May to experience the best musicians of those genres, many of whom call our
city home. But here at ANTIGRAVITY, we see the landscape of New Orleans a
little differently and we’re glad to see the festival organizers embracing that too. As
a constantly evolving organism, every type of music that makes this city tick at the
present moment is actively becoming a part of our heritage. From Sissy Bounce to
Bywater Folk to the most traditional Gospel choir or Zydeco quartet, this is New
Orleans. With that said, below you’ll find some suggestions from our writers about
just a few of the amazing bands you can catch at this year’s festival, so dig in and
enjoy the musical heartbeat of our amazing city!
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
The Beach Boys
Maybe never has there been such a
stab at nostalgia as the Beach Boys’
50th anniversary tour, their first in
more than 20 years. But really, who
cares? We all want this. Like Brian
Wilson’s Jazz Fest appearance in 2005,
the Beach Boys’ set will be less about
the quality of the live music and more
about the power of the music that the
men onstage created. I expect Brian
Wilson to seem disoriented and miss
vocal cues. That won’t matter in the
long run, though. Hearing the music
will be what matters. --Jason Songe
Khris Royal & Dark Matter
A prodigy from his earliest singledigit years, Khris Royal returned to
his native New Orleans after many
years of playing with a host of
contemporary jazz, hip-hop and funk
masters, formed his own ensemble in
Dark Matter and released an album
combining all of those influences and
more into a funky, electric melange, as
though Miles Davis got together with
George Clinton. --Leigh Checkman
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
I know plenty of folks who groan
when they hear “Free Fallin’” ad
nauseum on every classic rock station
known to man, but I really couldn’t
care less. Tom Petty is a genius at
Sara Pic
Photos by Dan Fox
by
16
Photo: Paul Lingerfelt
crafting indelible pop hooks and I
can’t control my urge to flail like one
of those Peanuts kids when I hear the
opening chords of “American Girl.”
After over 35 years in the business,
Petty still performs with the vivacity of
an artist half his age. He has always
been in it for the music and in reality,
he’s just another weird-looking kid
who lucked out by picking up a guitar
one day and saving himself with rock
and roll. --Erin Hall
Feist
A perfect example of Leslie Feist’s
creativity in live performance can be
seen on the internet via a fascinating
site called Black Cab Sessions. With
the assistance of a percussionist and
a few backing singers, she slowly,
dramatically builds a rendition of
“Undiscovered First” from her recent
Metals album into an understated
climax. She has more than enough
material to work from in her own
repertoire, but there may be some
cover surprises just for the Fest-- her
rendition of Nina Simone’s “Cee-Line
Woman” from The Reminder (reworked
as “Sealion Woman”) may only be a
beginning. --Leigh Checkman
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Carolina Chocolate Drops are
as old-timey as can be but somehow
they remain one of the most exciting
live acts on this year’s lineup. Billed
as a “traditional African-American
string band,” the Drops fully embrace
the folk Appalachian music of their
home state (North Carolina) and
inject it with vigor and style. They
also don’t shy away from recognizing
that their sound is wrapped in the
musical tradition of race (their debut
was called Genuine Negro Jig and it won
a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk
Album). The addition of a beatboxer
to the mix really adds an interesting
layer to their work, allowing them
to combine classical and modern
applications for a sound that gets your
toes tapping and your hips swaying.
--Erin Hall
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
Janelle Monae
So the pompadour and James Brownesque cape make it seem like a schtick,
but Janelle Monae is, without a doubt,
the rightful heir to the throne of the
Godfather of Soul. As impressive as
her dance moves are, it’s her hearty,
broad vocal range and wicked pen
that make her unforgettable. She is
100% artist, never satisfied to sit still
or rest; she has her hands in a variety
of mediums and continues to be
heavily involved in nurturing young
artists in her adopted hometown
of Atlanta, Georgia. One part old
soul and one part genre-pushing
innovation, she is capable of whipping
a crowd into a dancing frenzy, then
alternately serenading them with a
soprano lullaby. --Erin Hall
Gary Clark, Jr.
From Austin, Texas, Clark is a blues
guitar player creating a serious
following for himself without the help
of a full-length recording. His chops
are rooted in North Mississippi and
his devotees seem to mainly stem
from a YouTube video from the 2010
Crossroads Festival, where he brings
the house down while waving a red
Gibson 335 guitar in the face of
event sponsor Fender. This set will be
serious and so will his headlining gig
the night before at House of Blues.
--Rev. Daniel P. Jackson
Iron & Wine
Before there was Bon Iver, there
was Sam Beam, turning definitions
of “indie” and “alternative” music
inside out and expanding them a little
more with each of his folk-infused
releases over the past ten years. The
most recent Iron & Wine’s album,
Kiss Each Other Clean, stirs some pop
instrumental touches into fascinating
arrangements of songs like “Walking
Far From Home” and “Me and
Lazarus” that hearken back to Jackson
Browne and other ‘70s folk-rock
masters, without forsaking what made
Beam’s earlier work so arresting. It’s
strange to be saying this, but listen for
Iron & Wine to actually bring some
funk into the folk. --Leigh Checkman
Tribute to Alex Chilton
The sextet performing a 14-song
tribute to Box Tops/Big Star member
Alex Chilton at Jazz Fest will include
local songwriter Alex McMurray. The
only time McMurray got to play with
Chilton, who died in 2010, was at
the party of a mutual friend. Chilton
was struggling with the jazz standard
“On the Sunny Side of the Street,”
so McMurray sat down and helped
him with it. “So, you’re the other
Alex,” Chilton said. The tribute will
span Chilton’s career and focus on
his arrangements. McMurray said
of Chilton, “his palette was pretty
interesting: soul to standards to psych
to blues. He was a serious dude.”
--Jason Songe
THURSDAY, MAY 3
Hurray for the Riff Raff
(pictured) Hot on the heels of their
new release Look Out Mama, this local
folk favorite will play their early
Thursday set to a (hopefully huge)
hometown crowd. They’re gaining
ground around the country and
even in Europe, where they have the
support of a label (Loose Music) and
are among a handful of local bands
with the real chance to cross over
to the national scene. Their sound
actually fits in quite well with the
festival’s “heritage” message while
maintaining appeal to those perhaps
less versed in roots music. --Erin Hall
Florence + the Machine
Florence + the Machine’s record
Ceremonials was one of the biggest and
most exciting of last year, and their
stage show verges on performance art.
Florence Welch dances, drums, flails
and screams in front of a huge band
of live musicians, with harps and
strings and horns. The whole thing
is captivating and literally awesome.
And if they play Buddy Holly’s
“Not Fade Away,” it might destroy
everything for miles around. --Rev.
Daniel P. Jackson
Eddie Vedder
Yes, it’s Pearl Jam’s front-man coming
to Jazz Fest as a solo performer,
bringing music from last year’s Ukulele
Songs. Don’t prejudge his appearance
by the reputation of the instrument
he’ll wield, however-- Songs isn’t
completely a set of easy-going tunes.
The lyric intensity Vedder brings to
everything is always evident, even
if he was going for a more intimate
sound. Since he’ll be on the largest
stage at the Fest, it’ll be intriguing
to see how he handles bringing the
crowds together for something like
“Sleeping By Myself ” or “Broken
Heart.” --Leigh Checkman
FRIDAY, MAY 4
Mystikal
During his appearance on Galactic’s
new track “Move Fast,” Mystikal
cautions, “Hold up, look I’m 40 baby,
go slow!” But it seems that neither age
nor a six-year prison sentence have
slowed Mystikal down at all. He’s just
as angry and frantic as he was fifteen
years ago during the heyday of No
Limit Records, but the beats have
gotten funkier. This will definitely be
the highlight of this year’s sparse hiphop lineup, but it should also be just
a ton of fun, even for folks who aren’t
necessarily fans. --Rev. Daniel P. Jackson
Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A.
Well-established as master and
mistress of the classical guitar, this
new project sets Rodrigo y Gabriela
out in front of a full 13-piece Cuban
orchestra. Already breathtaking as
a duo, the addition of these virtuosos
Cubanos will turn this set into an
apocalyptic fireball of Latin glory.
This is not kitschy mariachi music;
it’s actually rock and roll. Everybody
on this stage will be extraordinarily
talented and the music they produce
will grab you by the lapels and throw
you against a wall. --Rev. Daniel P.
Jackson
festival moments. I’m sure they’ll
make an appearance this time, too.
MMJ’s most recent album was one of
2011’s greatest achievements. --Erin
Hall
SUNDAY, MAY 6
Supagroup
In 2004, Supagroup was playing the
Jazz Fest Gentilly stage and all the
band could do was wish away the
rain that was threatening their entire
set. By the end, sensing victory, lead
singer Chris Lee said, “Ha, we tricked
you, God!” The sky promptly opened
up, lightning spread and the fest was
closed down. “We thought that was
why we were never asked back,”
Lee laughed. At their Acura stage
appearance before Galactic and Foo
Fighters, Supagroup will be selling
the Drugfront Records vinyl release
of their 2011 album, Hail! Hail! “Our
music is built for big stages and Jazz
Fest. We live for these shows.” --Jason
Songe
Rotary Downs
Rotary Downs will play Jazz Fest for
the sixth time the same year they’re
recording a sixth album. The local
rock band recently completed a three
day session with producer/engineer
Ivan Klisanin in Lafayette and per
usual, they’re pushing the boundaries
of what their music can be, employing
multi-instrumentalist Alex Smith as a
sixth member and songwriter/musical
compass. Local music blog Barryfest.
com describes Rotary Downs as “the
best band in the universe.” I’m gonna
step back from that and say they’re
the best band on the planet. I can’t
be certain aliens haven’t found a way
to clone the gene that causes musical
talent. --Jason Songe
Foo Fighters
Why did Foo Fighters win five
Grammys this year? Sure, 2011’s
Wasting Light is probably their best
album since The Colour and The Shape
(you’re in my heart, There Is Nothing
Left To Lose). But it was more because
Foo Fighters are exactly where people
who listen to rock radio and could
care less about music trivia and music
snobs who think they’re too cool for
anything mainstream meet. That is a
beautiful thing. Wasted Light said, “Hey,
forget who we are, forget who you are
and just listen. Sounds pretty good,
right?” --Jason Songe
SATURDAY, MAY 5
My Morning Jacket
I make no bones about my obsessive
love of this band. Their massive
southern rock sound and raw power
in a live setting are transformative
like few other bands around today.
And their recent bromance with New
Orleans’ own Preservation Hall Jazz
Band has made for many memorable
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival takes place from April
27th to the 29th and May 3rd to
the 6th. For more information, go to
nojazzfest.com
17
WITH BUZZ OSBORNE AND GARY MADER
There are legendary bands like Nirvana and even New Orleans’ own Eyehategod; and
then there are the Melvins. Like the Pixies or Black Flag, the Melvins helped create a
rabid, raunchy rock movement. And while it didn’t quite make millionaires out of founder
Buzz Osborne and company (have you seen the video where Buzz tries to buy a 20,000
square-foot house with “street cred?” “I’m considered the Godfather of grunge!” He
tells the incredulous agent), the Melvins have continued to tour and release when most
of their musical offspring-- some who did become millionaires-- have died or disbanded.
ANTIGRAVITY thought it a pretty sweet idea to ask Gary Mader, who currently plays
bass for EHG (in addition to his guitar duties in Hawg Jaw and Outlaw Order) to call
Buzz and chat him up, since Gary was there for the Melvins’ ascent into infamy. “The
last time I did an interview was in 1990, for a fanzine (Indecent Exposure) that a friend
and I put together at Kinkos, circulation 25” Gary told us when we asked him to do it.
No worries, G: it’s a great interview and made us misty-eyed for the good old days of
skinheads, indie elitism and pop-punk gang mentality. But what’s it matter when we’re
nearly at the end of civilization as we know it... Or are we?
hair and were wearing Sub Pop t-shirts.
So we were like, okay, you’re fitting in one
mold in 1986; you’re fitting another mold
in 1990... Oh, how the worm has turned.
We had people come up to us and say, “I
was at that show in ‘86” and we were like
“You were the skinhead guy giving us shit
the whole time.”
Freebird!!!
Oh, not even. It was all Agnostic Front
kind of stuff. And I never had any
problems with any of those bands-- I
just had a problem with these total, total
moron audience members; but you can’t
blame the bands for that stuff. So things
really changed after that, say ‘89 to ‘90,
after a solid 6, 7 years of doing nothing,
when things kind of changed for us. We
put out Ozma and had a little bit more of
a receptive stance all over the U.S. It just
got better and better as time went on.
“PEOPLE HAVE THIS FALSE
IMPRESSION THAT WHEN
WE WERE ON ATLANTIC
WE WERE LESS FREE TO DO
WHAT WE WANTED. IT’S
LIKE, DID YOU HEAR THOSE
RECORDS?!”
Around the time Ozma came out,
the band moved to San Francisco.
Most of what I knew about SF at
that time came by way of Lookout!
Records; bands like Crimpshrine,
Corrupted Morals, Operation Ivy
and then Neurosis, who were the
hardest-sounding band on the label.
How were you received there, being
that you were exactly the opposite,
musically?
Neurosis were always nice to us from the
very beginning but the rest of those bands
really had no interest in us. Zero.
Your first show in New Orleans was
1986 with RKL [Rich Kids on Acid].
What was your first impression of
the city?
Buzz Osborne: I had never seen anything
like it because at that time I had never
been to Europe, so now looking back
on it, it has sort of a European vibe to
it more so than anywhere else I’ve ever
been... It’s got kind of like a jungle-y vibe
to it.
What was the audience like back
then? Were they receptive to your
sound?
They were much more receptive to us
than a lot of the places we played in the
South. Actually, it was the most receptive
audience we had than anywhere [else],
other than what we had in NYC. People
seemed ten times more open-minded
than anywhere else. We played there and
in Houston, but Texas was certainly not
18
having any of our long-haired bullshit.
They hadn’t quite loosened up at
that point?
Noooo… Then we went straight into
Florida after that and they were really
not interested in our long-haired bullshit.
We had longer hair than skinhead hair
always. I never thought any of that stuff
made any difference; I never drew the line
at hair length. I thought that stuff went
out with West Side Story in the 1960s, but
apparently that didn’t get through to most
of the U.S. Skinheads were alive and well
in the mid ‘80s; and the interesting thing is
that after our ‘86 tour, we vowed to never
tour again it was so horrible. Skinheads
were pretty much the main reason for
that... Then we toured around ‘89 to ‘90,
right after our Ozma record came out.
We went through the South again where
everyone was very receptive to what we
were doing and all those people had long
Would you go as far as to say that it
was clique-ish?
Oh, very much so. There was a lot of
indie elitism at that point. They weren’t
super interested in what we were doing;
you know, the Lawrence Livermore
[founder of Lookout!] kind of people.
What we were doing was a much stranger
animal.
Thanks, then, to Chris Dodge for
starting Slap-A-Ham Records.
We always liked Chris because he had
a more open mind than most of those
people. When we moved to San Francisco,
people like Tim Yohannan [founder of
Maximum Rocknroll] ruled the roost, so you
had one end with the Tim Yo-type of
people, who felt like they knew everything;
they had the moral high ground. Then
you had heavy metal bands like Exodus
that really didn’t know anything about
the punk underground, so you had
900 different bands that sounded like
Metallica or Exodus, which I didn’t have
any interest in. I mean, it was okay. The
thing about it is that stuff never changed.
I’ve never wanted to be part of that stuff; I
never wanted to be a part of any gang or
group. I always felt like we wanted to do
our own thing. Take a band like Gang of
Four: I never felt like they joined a group;
they were a part of something. Nobody
sounded like them. They weren’t powerpop or anything like that. They were
doing something that was weirder-- that’s
what I wanted to do. Or like Throbbing
Gristle; they never sounded like they were
a part of a gang.
They were their own gang.
That’s the kind of bands that I admire. Or
Black Flag-- who was Black Flag’s peer?
Nobody that I knew. So when we started
out in that area, we wanted to make our
own mark, do our own thing. Then when
the Sub Pop [era] happened, we got
lumped in with all that stuff; but we never
did any records for Sub Pop. We were
on Boner Records to start with; all of
our stuff is still available from them and
Amphetamine Reptile. And then we went
straight from that to Atlantic, then Ipecac
after that. Ipecac is certainly the longest
label we’ve been on. People have this false
impression that when we were on Atlantic
we were less free to do what we wanted.
It’s like, did you hear those records?!
What turn of events lead to the
addition of Jared [Warren] and
Coady [Willis] to the Melvins? All
of the bass players you’ve had in
the past brought something unique
to the table. But with Jared and
Coady-- especially live-- there is an
unmatched energy present.
It became obvious that we couldn’t
work with Kevin [Rutmantis] anymore,
which was after a disastrous show in New
Orleans (believe it or not) because of his
extra-curricular activities. Me and and
Dale [Crover] really didn’t know what we
were gonna do. We had always liked the
way that Jared played (and the fact that he
was a lead singer) and we had played with
Big Business in the past. We thought that
adding both of those guys and not just
one of them was a good idea. We didn’t
think we needed another drummer; we
just thought it would be a cool thing to
do... and not normal. Now with us playing
with Trevor Dunn, we’re not going to do
just that, we’re going to do both. So I’m
really happy that we are settled with those
guys.
What is your take on Mayan endtime prophecy?
The Mayans couldn’t predict the end of
their own culture; what makes me think
they can predict the end of the world?
They couldn’t take care of themselves and
now they are gonna predict the end of the
world? Yeah right!
The Melvins play One Eyed Jacks on
Saturday, April 21st with Unsane. They
will also release their latest album,
Freak Puke on Ipecac in June. For more
information go to melvins.com
19
The Festival
Fanatic Edition
by DOMINIQUE LEJEUNE
photos by ADRIENNE BATTISTELLA
20
As Spring consumes New Orleans,
time becomes divided between
music festivals and trips to the Fly
to indulge in crawfish and Abita
Strawberry. A familiar feeling sets
in as I realize that the 5th annual
Community Records Block Party
festival is upon us. Community,
founded by Greg Rodrigue and
Daniel “D-Ray” Ray, serves more
as a collective of friends who share
not only their music (mostly for
free download!), but a like-minded
focus on positivity and progress.
Overwhelmed with nostalgia of
Block Parties past I find myself
asking, “How can this year top last
year?”
Let me explain. At Block Party
2010, I thought it had peaked;
be more upset over me getting hurt
than I was. I realized that I wasn’t
merely an enthusiastic face in the
crowd at an all ages show—I was a
part of the Com Rec family.
Later that year, I became the first
official Community Records intern
and found myself struggling with
all my might to keep the news
of prospective headliners under
wraps. The 2011 Block Party was
going to pull out all the stops, with
plans in full effect to organize
a multi-camera filming crew to
document the festival for a live
DVD, Block Party 2011.Over a
thousand people crammed onto
Clio Street outside of the Big Top
to spend the day with Community
Records and see the revolutionary
(aka Thrashville), Tennessee
natives, Stuck Lucky, will once
again grace the Block Party stage
with the promise of an infamous
“D-D-D-Devastation” pile-on. A
unique addition to this year’s line
up is Houston’s own, B L A C K
I E, an aggro-noise rapper who
leaves an impression through his
high-energy sets.
As for locals, brace yourself for
New Orleans’ favorite noise
rockers, Caddywhompus, to make
their return to the Block Party
stage. There’s nothing quite like
seeing Chris Rehm and Sean
Hart provoke a crowd into a math
mosh frenzy. At last year’s Block
Party, the one year anniversary
of their debut performance as
“I MADE MY WAY UP THE
CROWDED STEPS OF THE
DRAGON’S DEN AND
HEADED STRAIGHT INTO
THE PIT. NEXT THING I
KNOW, I WAS IN THE
EMERGENCY ROOM”
Hardcore ska-punk heavyweights
the Flaming Tsunamis were set to
play their last ever performance
in New Orleans. I made my
way to the traditional pre-Block
Party showcase the night before
only to discover that TFT was
about to perform a secret set.
Radiating fearlessness and rude
girl pride, I made my way up the
crowded steps of the Dragon’s
Den and headed straight into
the pit. Next thing I know, I was
in the emergency room with a
broken arm. Despite the injuries I
obtained, I made it to Block Party
the next day to be greeted by a
very apologetic Andy Tabar (the
Flaming Tsunamis’ front-man and
vegan teddy bear), who seemed to
California ska act—the RX
Bandits—bring the night to a
proper close.
This year, to celebrate Block
Party’s fifth birthday, Greg and
D-Ray have ensured the best
line-up to date. Headlining is
none other than ska-punk legends
Mustard Plug. Approaching their
21st anniversary as a band, these
Michiganians prove that ska is still
alive and strong. Also performing
is Indiana “posi-pop punk” trio,
Good Luck. A personal favorite,
Good Luck has a cult-like following
which includes Com Rec’s own
Greg and D-Ray, who have
matching tattoos of art from their
album, Into Lake Griffy. Nashville
up and comers in the Com Rec
repertoire, the crowd lingered from
spastic drum fill to distorted riff-a pristine performance proving
that Caddywhompus can woo any
crowd into a dazed submission.
Another highlight to look forward
to is a performance that calls for
sing-a-longs and a circle pit by
punk wrist-breakers, the Lollies.
Greg and D-Ray will be hitting the
stage again, performing for the first
time at the fest since their Fatter
Than Albert days with a new band
called All People, also featuring
A Billion Ernies’ frontman Ryan
Leavelle and Robert Landry of the
Rooks.
Speaking of supergroups,
Chinquapin Records’ own
Habitat-- featuring Jack Donovan
of Country Club and Evan
Cvitanovic and Andrew Landry
of High In One Eye-- has started
making waves and bringing their
unique blend of noisy pop with
math-rock and jazz elements to
festival for the first time. Also fresh
out of Chinquapin Records (Com
Rec sibling label and Block Party
sponsors) comes a ‘90s drenched
performance by the spacey
shoegaze outfit, Glish.
To help spread the positive vibes,
WTUL 91.5 has once again
signed on as Block Party’s main
stage sponsor. They have been
a part of the festival for the past
3 years. You will be able to hear
interviews and mentions about
Block Party 2012 on the station
in the coming weeks. Tune in!
The festival is also sponsored by a
number of independent businesses
and non-profits that provide
everything from tasty vegetarian
food, delicious coffee, skateboard
supplies and handmade apparel to
vinyl record distro and Gulf Coast
outreach.
With four years of the festival
under their belts, Greg and D-Ray
have learned how to keep moving
forward. Having been fortunate
enough to watch their progress
unfold, I anxiously await the
untold tales of Block Party 2012.
Community Records Block
Party will be held Saturday,
April 21st at the Big Top,
1638 Clio Street and features
two stages and 26 touring
and local acts: Stuck Lucky,
Mustard Plug, Good Luck,
B L A C K I E, A Billion
Ernies, Brunt Of It, Safety,
Matt Wixson’s Flying Circus,
Left Alone, Murphy’s Kids,
The Forthrights w/ Maddie
Ruthless, Caddywhompus,
the Lollies, All People,
Habitat, Choi Wolf, The
Rooks, Dominique LeJeune,
Mad Conductor, Squirt Gun
Warriors, Controller, The
Riffs, Glish, Joystick, VapoRats and Big, Fat & Delicious.
For more information, go to
communityrecords.org
21
by MICHAEL PATRICK WELCH
Photo: Angel Ceballos
Ian Svenonius was the last musical character of the pre-internet, Washington D.C-Dischord
Records era to sneak a seat at the table of legendary front-men, beside Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye
and H.R. of Bad Brains. Svenonius’ first band, the Nation of Ulysses, combined the noise
and politics of MC5 and Public Enemy in a screaming attack that threatened, outright, to
“destroy America.” The vague but powerful manifestos of their album inserts, penned by a
young, scrappy Svenonius, certainly make one sentimental for the days before digital music.
When you have this critical establishment
now that is young and into this really
pretentious music that the critical
establishment is lauding all the time,
all this “important” stuff, Pink Floyd or
Kanye West… I just don’t like anything
that’s important.
Svenonius’ nation was dissolved because they believed– as Ian still claims to believe-- that a
band’s soil must be radically tilled every five years. Nation members switched instruments and
became the MakeUp, the best garage funk the world has ever known. At first, NOU acolytes
wondered sadly where all their beloved noise had gone. But it had been cleared away for
Svenonius’ expansive and boldly inclusive preacher-man sermons and incessant calls to “Let
me hear you say yeah!” Like a cross between Prince and Iggy Pop, Ian crawled out over the
crowd, all the while spinning funky, funny, intelligent diatribes or else screaming like a woman
being murdered.
Wasn’t the Nation of Ulysses
supposed to be “important”?
When I was a younger and more
serious, we took the Nation of
Ulysses very seriously. Wasn’t
there a time in your musical life
when you felt the exact opposite?
When the MakeUp’s five years was up, Ian published a small but great book, The Psychic
Soviet (Drag City), with his name engraved in its thick, pink plastic cover. Tracing selected
musical and cultural phenomena to various world-wide socio-economic deceptions, Psychic
Soviet is second only to David Lee Roth’s Crazy From the Heat in terms of rock-n-roll
literature. During this same time, Svenonius fronted a sometimes-band with Royal Trux’s Neil
Hagarty and MakeUp bassist Michelle May called Weird War and/or Scene Creamers. The
hipper among us also know Svenonius as the host of the Vice web TV talk show Soft Focus,
which scores live interviews with straight up legends (Adam Horovitz, Chan Marshall, Kim
Gordon and Thurston Moore), many of whom rarely give interviews (Throbbing Gristle’s
Genesis P. Orridge and My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields).
Now Ian is in a five-year mating ritual with Chain and the Gang. Longtime fans may once
again be miffed that Svenonius has turned the volume yet another notch down, quit screaming
entirely and begun dabbling in the dark art of “camp.” But whether you find Svenonius’
sarcastic new perversion of retro trash pop hard to wrap your love around, Chain and the
Gang’s anti-liberty concept– as expounded upon the albums Down With Liberty… Up With
Chains! and Music’s Not For Everyone-- is immediately compelling. We’ll let Ian decode it in
his own words.
ANTIGRAVITY also spoke to Svenonius about the channeling of his new book, the upcoming
MakeUp reunion, the importance of trash and his decades-long friendship with fellow musical
legend, Mr. Quintron.
Uh, no. Sadly enough, I kind of haven’t
changed very much. I have all the same
reference points. [laughs]
I just don’t see that they should be
separated, humor and seriousness. I
think in most good things there’s some
self-awareness or humor. I don’t think
that any good music’s been made that is
I just don’t perform in that way anymore.
You mean like trying to hurt
yourself ?
As a true fan, I can’t help but
notice that you don’t scream
anymore. For the reunion, are you
going to re-inhabit that screaming
preacher-man role, or is it going
to be more mellow and natural to
who you are now?
“WE GREW UP WITH
NUCLEAR THREAT AS A
DAILY THING, THEN ACID
RAIN, THEN KILLER BEES,
THEN Y2K. THERE’S BEEN
SO MANY THINGS AT SOME
POINT THAT YOU CAN NO
LONGER REACT TO AN
ACTUAL THREAT.”
job keeping me high, too– I drink a lot
of coffee. And at the club, we’re all kind
of employed by the alcohol industry.
Ian Svenonius: Yeah, if a word is used
too much, like “liberty,” it ceases to have
its meaning. It’s a linguistic thing; words
change their meaning. So yeah, if liberty
means drone assassin planes and internet
tracking, then yeah…
So from what I’ve read, you
stopped Nation of Ulysses in order
to turn off the noise and clarify the
message by starting the MakeUp.
Why has Chain and the Gang taken
the volume even lower?
A lot of the concepts in this new
group rely on inversion of ideas.
Is the song “It’s a Hard Hard
Job (Keeping Everybody High),”
sung from the point of view of the
government?
It’s definitely about communicating. In
a way it’s more of a realization of the
idea of call and response, and talking. It’s
a further effort to consolidate. My first
group was manifesto-driven and had a
lot to do with inertia. MakeUp was about
direct communication, and so is Chain
and the Gang, really. But we want it to
be fun: actually fun, not just pouring
beer on your head, but a different idea of
performance.
I once spoke with Weird Al and he
was the least funny person I’ve
ever interviewed.
I don’t really agree with your ideas
on “important” music versus
“trash,” but I like hearing your
theories on it. Why would people
enjoy trash?
So the MakeUp is playing All
Tomorrow’s Parties festival.
It’s more about music as a disposable
thing. When rock-n-roll started it was
novelty music, it was trash; it was sold to
kids. It was garbage, meaning it wouldn’t
have a long life and because of that it
was immediate. It had humor; it was fun.
In a recent Washington Post
interview you said that a Nation
of Ulysses reunion, on the other
hand, would be absurd. Why?
[laughs] Exactly.
But you let humor into your work
more now.
So, Chain and the Gang. It’s not so
much an anti-liberty stance, as an
anti putrid liberty stance?
It’s about when you’re walking down
the street and someone asks for a dollar
and you give them a dollar, and then you
walk along and another person asks you
for a dollar and then by the third person,
you can’t give them a dollar– it’s a hard
job keeping everybody high. You could
say the same of the pharmaceutical
companies trying to keep everybody
sedated, and the government trying to
control the heroin and cocaine supply
and the CIA selling drugs to everyone–
it’s a hard job keeping everybody high,
placating the population, staving off
resentment. Some people think that’s a
mean thing to say or fucked up, but if I
didn’t have any money it would be a hard
a re-release of I Want Some, our singles
compilation, which in some ways is our
definitive record. But [the reunion’s] not
really about that. It only has to do with
us feeling it’s a relevant thing to do. The
band feels like there’s a place for us, still.
It doesn’t feel like something that’s been
rendered obsolete.
serious. Prince is funny; the Beatles are
funny; Dylan is funny. “Funny” is the
wrong word, because no good music is
outright funny either, like Frank Zappa
or Weird “Al” Yankovich.
Yeah, and his music’s just as funny. When
you say something’s going to be exciting
it’s rarely exciting. Music that announces
itself as funny isn’t funny. Some wit and
humor, definitely. There’s no great New
Orleans music that doesn’t have some
humor in it.
Yeah, we were invited by the festival to
reunite. Michelle Mae is my neighbor
and I was playing with her in Weird War,
and I’ve been playing with James Canty
again recently in Chain and the Gang.
The MakeUp doesn’t feel that different
from the things we like now; it’s not like
we’ll be adults playing hardcore music or
adult men skateboarding. There will be
Not screaming is just about dynamics.
You can’t just be yelling at people all
the time or else the yelling doesn’t have
any power. It’s like how everything is
now the cataclysm of the Apocalypse;
the reason people can’t react to global
warming is because we’ve been inured
to the idea of the Apocalypse; we
grew up with nuclear threat as a daily
thing, then acid rain, then killer bees,
then Y2K. There’s been so many
things at some point that you can no
longer react to an actual threat. We
can’t overthrow the government and
institute a benevolent system because
they very intelligently created this
nihilistic hyper-capitalist environment,
inundating us with this fear of death
at every minute, at every turn, fear
of extinction. So it’s kind of the same
thing with performance; you don’t
want to scream all the time or you’re
just undermining the scream. James
Brown didn’t really fall to his knees
every twelve seconds, he fell to his
knees right at the break of “It’s a
Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” Or like
H.R., he did the backflip at the end of
“At the Movies.” If he did backflips the
whole time it would be boring.
23
Let’s just say, when you see a performer
who is doing classic material, if they’re
any good and they’re still in the game
then they can make it work according to
their current physical circumstances. In
New Orleans you have all these living
legends strutting down the street and
they’re probably still performing. Like,
Ernie K-Doe probably played differently
in the year 2000 than he did in 1955, but
it was kind of always still good.
Tell me about the new book you’re
about to publish?
It’s called The Supernatural Strategies
for Making A Rock-n-Roll Group,
published by Akashic Books, a D.C.
friend of mine’s book label in New York.
It’s a how-to guide to starting a group,
inspired by cooking shows that are trying
to demystify cooking. I’m demystifying
the creation of a rock-n-roll band.
transcribing an interview they’ve
conducted.
But it’s okay if you can edit it out;
we’re having a conversation. I do not
watch most of the episodes of the show,
though. I don’t like to do that. That’s a
whole other kind of thing to wrap your
head around in terms of self-image. I’ve
heard that for Scientologists, to be clear
means you’re in a state of seeing yourself
all the time. But to actually see yourself
all the time would make you really selfconscious and cynical.
I thought maybe the title, Soft
Focus, is a joke about how you’re
“THE MAKEUP DOESN’T FEEL
THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE
THINGS WE LIKE NOW; IT’S
NOT LIKE WE’LL BE ADULTS
PLAYING HARDCORE
MUSIC OR ADULT MEN
SKATEBOARDING.”
How close in style will it be to the
borderline satiric socio-political
essays from Psychic Soviet?
It’s actually the product of a seance, so
it’s actually guided by spirits. They were
the ones who imparted information, so
the content is all theirs. A lot of writers
like to talk about how they’re just a
conduit for otherworldly forces, but this
is exactly that. It’s pretty similar though,
it’s weird; the spirits, the way they speak
is very similar to the way I write.
Did you design the Psychic Soviet?
It’s a beautiful little object.
Reminds me of some of the
McSweeney’s stuff.
Photo: Erica Stavis
That accounts for a lot of its success as a
book; the way it felt, smelled and looked.
Drag City put it out, my record label at
the time. They are very much an artists’
organization. They go the extra mile to
make things feel more special.
Since you’ve been interviewing
people for a while on your Vice
show Soft Focus, what have you
learned about the interview
process?
Interviewing in front of an audience is
very different than a phone interview in
print. In a print interview, the subject can
be very verbose and expound on ideas
in paragraph form. But if it’s live, in
person, in front of people, it’s all about
brevity, humor and we communicate
with our bodies and our expressions and
our eyebrows. In front of an audience, I
just had to learn not to talk.
just interviewing your friends.
You also have the luxury of the
audience tuning in specifically to
hear you talk.
You once called Washington D.C.
“the place where all the evil in the
world happens.” What is D.C. like
nowadays? Politically? Musically?
Yeah, but I’ve done a few phone
interviews and listening to the tapes, I
was always horrified by how much I had
to say.
There should be a word for the
self-loathing one feels when
24
It is like a glamour shot. In Hollywood,
“soft focus” meant getting really close
and making people look good. Soft Focus
is the opposite of gotcha journalism.
It’s helping construct a myth, helping
to perpetuate the myth. I believe the
interview form to be part of the artifice
of rock-n-roll.
made D.C. cool is that it was a little like
New Orleans in that it lived in its own
little world, really out of it; people here
didn’t know what was happening. There
was no college radio. It was kind of a
cultural backwater and because of that
it had its own identity. And with the
internet and all these transplants coming
here now-- since 9/11 there’s been all of
these people with money coming to D.C.
and it’s really made everybody more
slavishly attentive to national trends.
There’s a lot less confidence about
making something unique.
Do you vote?
It’s gone through terrifying change, but
what can you do? It’s very difficult for
people to do anything right now because
it’s so expensive, while at the same time
there’s so much money running around.
The really terrible thing is that what
been peers, doing the same things,
playing the same clubs for a long
time, no?
When he was a Michigan, Chicagotype person, we would end up playing
together all the time. Quintron and I also
have similar ideas about performance
and events. I’ve been seeing him play
back since his music was pretty different.
I’ve seen him evolve to where he’s
now pretty much my favorite living
American artist. He and Miss Pussycat
are just incredibly inspiring. He’s always
made really cool music, but at a certain
point it was just whoa… so unique and
undeniably great.
No, not really. No.
Lastly, you mentioned Ernie K-Doe
and I saw you play last year at the
Spellcaster. You and Quintron have
Chain and the Gang plays Siberia
on April 8th with Coasting and Noir
Fonce. For more information go to
krecs.com/artists/chain-and-the-gang.
Bones at Siberia (Gary LoVerde)
ANDRE WILLIAMS
HOODS AND SHADES
(BLOODSHOT)
BOWERBIRDS
THE CLEARING
(DEAD OCEANS)
Hoods and Shades, the latest
offering from Detroit groovemonster Andre Williams,
could be the greatest
blaxploitation
soundtrack
album ever recorded, if
only there was a movie to go
along with it. At 75 years of
age, Williams’ output over
the last decade has been prolific to say the least. While
age hasn’t stomped on Williams’ work ethic much,
time might be taking its toll on the singer’s growling
vocal chords. All 9 tracks here are talking-blues and
story songs with hardly any actual singing. This isn’t
necessarily a bad thing, but it is a far cry from the
raucous, booty-shaking, thrash-soul of Williams’ 2008
effort, Can You Deal With It? Still, though, the band
here is tight, featuring Motown session veterans and
seasoned road warriors. Spare but screeching guitars
and a steady groove accent the title track and “Swamp
Dogg’s Hot Spot” is equal parts “Theme from Shaft”
and Bob Dylan’s “Highlands,” with Williams’ greatgrand-pimp persona telling stories of prison and street
life. “Jaw Dropper” is the most “song-like” track on the
album and it recalls Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”
in arrangement and melody. This is not a milestone
record, but it is a whole lot of fun to listen to this
old man spin yarns and b.s. over a big pile of sticky
grooves. Hoods and Shades is just in time for front porch
season.
--The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Jackson
The Clearing begins so well:
“Tuck The Darkness In” is
an epic statement of trickling
keyboards, soothing strings
and perfect vocals by Philip
Moore that builds to a spinechilling climax, followed
by Beth Tacular’s playful
elegance skipping through
“In The Yard” Yet following its ups and downs can
be difficult at first listen. In a video made about
what inspired The Clearing, Moore and Tacular speak
vaguely of a car accident, then more specifically of
their breakup and reunion (all of it happening while
they were bandmates) and of “trying to make the
wonder win” in expressing the tumult through song.
Bowerbirds are not incapable of shaping sounds in
an expert manner– “Stitch The Hem” is a fantastic
deconstruction and reconstitution of a folk waltz–
it’s simply that much of The Clearing threatens to
tumble into artless confusion unless one is committed
to carefully hearing it a few times over. Perhaps it’s
too easy to gloss over the instrumental harmonies
reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, or to recoil
a little at some of the more histrionic moments in
nearly every song– but what Bowerbirds seem to
be banking on is an alignment of a certain mood
listeners must be in to fully appreciate the wonder
the band is fumbling towards. I finally managed to
get to that point on my third listen and found it was
worth it. Not sure how many other listeners will feel
the same, though: The Clearing is easier to appreciate
than it is to love. –Leigh Checkman
BLACK BANANAS
RAD TIMES EXPRESS IV
(DRAG CITY)
Black Bananas is everything
that is rad rolled up in a joint
and burned at maximum
volume. If that metaphor
is a little mixed, then blame
Rad Times Express IV; the
record is all over the place,
like
a
scatter-brained
snapshot of FM classic
rock and the nastiest home-brewed noise. The basic
structure of the record is easy enough to explain:
take a retro, heavy rock riff (whether it’s the laid back
chill licks in “Acid Song” or the Hollywood thrash of
“Killer Weed”) and deep fry it in gritty, lo-fi effects
and clutter until only the outline of the radio rock is
visible through the weed fog. “TV Trouble” and its
staggeringly batshit video is like a sucker punch to the
gut; it’s like DEVO grew up in a dumpster listening to
too much BTO. In perhaps the record’s most overtly
electronic moment, the hip-shaking “Do It” chops up
a buzzing hook and drowns it in sirens, slithery synth
horns, a deliriously trippy guitar wah-wah wash,
multi-tracked vocals and the kitchen sink until its two
minutes are up. You better believe RTX IV is a stoned
blast. --Mike Rodgers
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
WRECKING BALL
(COLUMBIA)
For a man who is nearly twenty
albums and four decades into
his very successful career and
is, therefore, quite wealthy,
Bruce Springsteen still plays
the part of the pissed off
Average Joe from New Jersey
remarkably well. Wrecking
Ball is the essence of what
most people love (or alternately hate) about The
Boss: righteous anger over unfair politics and general
inequality, delivered on the back of a snarling guitar
riff. “We Take Care of Our Own” name drops our
fair city and, much like “Born in the USA,” calls out
America for its hypocrisy, suggesting that while we
purport to stand on national pride, we frequently let
each other down: “From the shotgun shack to the
Superdome / There ain’t no help, the calvary stayed
home / There ain’t no one hearing the bugle blowin’ /
We take care of our own” Despite being recorded with
a variety of session musicians instead of the E Street
Band, the record ebbs and flows well. Tom Morello
guests on “Jack of All Trades” and “This Depression,”
both tender and subdued tracks that lack in any real
showboating on his part (aside from the impressive solo
to wrap up “Jack”). “Shackled and Drawn” possesses
a deeply folk feel, folding in influences from traditional
Appalachia to Negro spirituals while “Death To My
Hometown” is 100% Irish rebel music. Featuring a fiery
penny whistle, it is a passionate, anthemic rallying cry
that tells the tale of the death of a city, not at the hands
of soldiers, bombs or cannons but bankers, titans of
industry and politicians. The title track is vintage Boss:
defiant, bold and unforgiving. It’s a swollen mashup
of horns, guitars and vocals. The oddest of the bunch
is certainly “Rocky Ground,” which features heavy
religious imagery and the unexpected turn of a midsong rap by guest vocalist Michelle Moore. This song
and few that follow to wrap up the album take a turn
from rage to optimism, suggesting that though he’s
mad as hell, Springsteen still believes we can turn this
boat around. --Erin Hall
GRIMES
VISIONS
(4AD)
What a great record, right?
Listening to Visions is easy,
not in the way that pushing a
button or dropping a needle is
easy, but in the effortlessness
of Grimes’ ability to shift
a simple beat and melody
into something sleek yet
transcendent and how that
pure musical joy is so ready to digest. There’s nothing
particularly difficult about Claire Boucher’s style and
yet the subtle way she assembles all of the elements
into something different is at times astounding. It
doesn’t hurt that Visions is front-loaded with some of
its most ready-to-wear tracks. The overwhelmingly
beautiful “Genesis” folds a snappy pop structure
around Boucher’s echoing vocals, letting the song
churn on a brook of burbling synths before its
backbeat kicks into place. “Oblivion” is the sound of
a computer interpreting girl groups like the Crystals,
replacing the wall of sound with a wire frame but
leaving the heart. The tense yet soft electro bass and
hissy beat snake along like a thin spine while Boucher’s
voice double tracks its way across a gorgeous melody.
Visions is exceptionally good at eliciting emotions from
the listener while underplaying its hand. The fact that
Boucher herself created this record in three weeks
inside her apartment is as much a testimony to her
talents as it is an optimistic statement on the power of
democratized music production in the hands of an act
as good as Grimes. –Mike Rodgers
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF
LOOK OUT MAMA
(SELF-RELEASED)
Driven primarily by earthy banjo and the tender
vocals of Alynda Lee, Hurray for the Riff Raff
made its name as a simple folk band, channeling
the musical traditions of the American South with
great aplomb. Their newest release, a partially
Knuckle tat pride with Alynda Lee Segarrat of Hurray for the Riff Raff and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes at One Eye Jack’s (Josh Brasted)
26
fan-funded
10-track
record entitled Look Out
Mama, takes a somewhat
different approach. The
group certainly hasn’t
lost its homey charm, but
the diversity of sound
presented here may be
challenging for some.
Opener “Little Black Star” is lively and joyous,
a fiddle-and-handclap-charged ditty with overt
veins of gospel and Cajun. The title track and its
successor, “Ramblin’ Gal” stay firmly in the band’s
comfort zone, employing simple piano fills and
Alynda’s crystal clear warble. From here, however,
things get a little different. “What’s Wrong With
Me” is all ‘50s classic rock and roll guitar and
brokenhearted crooning, while “Lake of Fire” is
a distinctly ‘60s surf-esque track with doo-wop
vocals, fat guitar chords and rapid percussion.
“Ode to John and Yoko” is just what you might
think it would be. The longest song on the record,
it’s ambling with touches of psychedelia, fuzzed out
bits of Victrola-style vocals with harmonic male
backing tracks and lines like “Is there anybody out
there who still believes? / Love could bring time
down on its knees.” Another standout is “Riley,”
the dark and sparsely executed story of the fate
of a cheating man. It is simultaneously haunting
and alluring. All told, Look Out Mama is a clear
winner and apprehensive fans need not stress that
the band has lost its footing. It has simply taken a
wider, stronger stance. --Erin Hall
LEE RANALDO
BETWEEN THE TIMES AND THE TIDES
(MATADOR)
Solo
recordings
from
someone like Lee Ranaldo
can be troublesome to
review. An integral part of
the recently disbanded Sonic
Youth, Ranaldo’s gritty
guitar work gave the Youth
a great deal of instrumental
depth for so many years
that half of taking in Between The Times And The Tides
is determining how much of that recent past has
seeped into this new work. What many listeners don’t
realize is that he’s already an old hand at this and the
pleasant surprise is how much soul his vocals bring to
the songs on Tides. The distortion is set aside to bring
the complex lyrics forward, which isn’t to say that the
music itself suffers. A song like “Hammer Blows” is
a perfect example: in it, Ranaldo’s deceptively simple
acoustic setting backs a convoluted expression of
desperation and determination, drawing listeners in
and inviting them to lose themselves in a fascinating
vignette. He is an artist who has crafted an album
that is a successful fusion of experimentation and pop
sensibility, embodied most elegantly in songs like “Fire
Island (Phases),” “Lost,” and “Xtina As I Knew Her.”
Albums with that killer combination become classics.
Tides is easily the first classic of 2012. –Leigh Checkman
ROYAL BATHS
BETTER LUCK NEXT LIFE
(KANINE)
It’s difficult for me not to
really get lost in these Royal
Baths records. They exist in
a kind of time warp that’s
planted squarely in the
magical time around the
Velvet Underground and
Stooges’ debuts, when the
confluence of the ragged
edges of punk rock and the bitter, dope sick death of
psychedelia combined to form something moribund
and amazing. Even more so than Litanies, Better Luck
Next Life is a mopey record subsisting entirely off of
doom and gloom. The mood is so completely black and
gray that it borders on the precipice of self-parody. But
then, after songs like “Faster Harder” and its playful,
jumpy rhythm section march through lyrics so by-thenumbers S&M that you sort of cringe-- you catch a
sly wink from Jigmae Baer’s delivery and the joke is
obvious. That’s not to say that the record is a joke, but
that it explores dark emotions with at least a knowing
nod. Next Life does suffer from monotony, though saying
that about an album prefaced on drone and mantra
does sound foolish, but the disc just doesn’t do enough
to differentiate its various tracks. The acid-steeped
crawl of “Be Afraid of Me” could bleed into the spare
atmosphere of “Contempt” and no one would bat an
eyelash. I think I prefer their debut record and the way
the guitars were gnarled and sharp instead of lying
muted beneath the bass. Next Life works in the way it
was designed, but that design could use just a bit more
life. --Mike Rodgers
THE SHINS
PORT OF MORROW
(AURAL APOTHECARY/COLUMBIA)
It’s been half a decade
since the Shins last released
an album. In that time,
lead singer James Mercer
collaborated on two wildly
popular albums with Danger
Mouse under the Broken
Bells moniker. Original
members Marty Crandall
(keys) and Jesse Sandoval (drums) were dismissed:
Mercer cites aesthetic and production differences;
Sandoval flat out says he was fired. The time gap and
shifting lineup have been points of (valid) concern for
longtime fans but with Port of Morrow, Mercer and the
new lineup sufficiently silence those fears by given us
ten beautifully crafted songs that combine to create
one of the most satisfying albums of 2012 thus far.
Opening with “The Rifle’s Spiral,” it’s easy to tell that
Mercer’s time with Danger Mouse made an impact,
as he has begun peppering tracks with more synthy
keys and effects. But tracks like “Simple Song” and
“It’s Only Life” recall the beautiful melodies of past
Shins albums, lush and layered with addictive hooks.
“September” is especially reminiscent of vintage
Shins (see: Chutes Too Narrow) and “For a Fool” emits
that sleepy swing and pleasant ambient energy the
band has always been so good at creating. “No Way
Down” is a most cheerfully presented condemnation
of the state of our economy and humanity in general
(“What have we done? / How’d we get so far from the
sun? / Lost in an oscillating phase where a tiny few
catch all of the rays”) while “40 Mark Strasse” (a nod
to the years Mercer spent living in Germany where his
Air Force father was stationed) is a spacey, orchestral
musing on love (“Cause every single story is a story
about love / Both the overflowing cup and the painful
lack there of ”). The album’s titular closing track is its
most unique, with Mercer’s signature vocals exhibiting
a falsetto twist on the verses and the supremely creepy
approach to the subject matter playing out in melodic
moans and lyrical passages like: “A fact of life I must
impress on my little girls / I know my place amongst
the creatures in the pageant / And there are flowers in
the garbage / And a skull under your curls.” A wellplayed return to form. --Erin Hall
TRUST
TRST
(ARTS & CRAFTS)
No album I’ve listened to
in the past few months has
conjured up so specific
an image as TRST. The
pulsing percussion, slinky
undulations of the bass
lines and haunted drag
queen cover photo all add
up to Buffalo Bill dancing
in front of his mirror ala Silence of the Lambs.
It’s no coincidence a scene like that would be
Reviews continued on page 33...
CORY MACLAUCHLIN
BUTTERFLY IN THE TYPEWRITER:
THE BRILLIANT AND TRAGIC LIFE
OF JOHN KENNEDY TOOLE
(DA CAPO PRESS)
The tragedy and triumph of A Confederacy
of Dunces, as well as the story surrounding
its author and its publication, is wrapped in
the often fickle, tricky bonds of timing and
luck. Twists and turns worthy of Ignatius
Reilly’s blatherings on Fortuna’s wheel
have also dogged those attempting to get
at the truth of who Toole was and what
makes Confederacy such an important work
of modern American literature. Author
Cory MacLauchlin reaps the benefits of
greater access to key documents, a thorough
approach to interviews with many of Toole’s
friends and best of all, a level-headedness
towards his subject that doesn’t detract from
the fascinating character that was Toole
himself. That detachment actually adds a
great deal to the examination in Butterfly
of what motivated this native son of New
Orleans, a precocious student who skipped
two grades and a keen observer and mimic
of the real-life characters he encountered
and what sadly precipitated his decline into
mental illness and suicide. MacLauchlin
says of Confederacy: “(Toole’s) predecessors,
such as William Faulkner and Tennessee
Williams, had missed the greatest lesson
of New Orleans: that its texture does not
come from its gritty underbelly but rather
from its centuries-long ability to enfold
new voices, while never losing track of its
elaborate roots, a cultural value that comes
from living on the edge of existence,”
and credits Toole with giving that lesson
universal appeal. It’s tragic that earlier
Toole biographers-- and other possible
publishers of Confederacy-- did not seem
to understand that, getting lost in the details
and drama of Toole’s too-brief life and the
at-first-glance aimlessness of Confederacy’s
plot, but MacLauchlin’s triumph is that he
drives that home so well. –Leigh Checkman
Robosaurus roars at the Mercedes Benz Superdome
27
L * I * S * T * I * N * G * S
FRIDAY, 4/6
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Panorama
Jazz Band, 9:30pm, 11pm
d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans,
6pm; The Bo-Keys, 10pm, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Camile Baudoin and
the Vicious Rumors, 10pm
House Of Blues: PJ Morton, Dawn
Richard, Aaron Camper, 8:30pm;
chasemccloud, Meriwether, 9pm (the
Parish)
Howlin’ Wolf: The Wheeler Brothers
(Live in the Den)
The Maison: Ashton Hine’s Big Easy
Brawlers, 10pm
One Eyed Jacks: The Pallbearers,
Disappointed Parents, Before I Hang,
Indian Givers, 10pm
Republic: Throwback f/ Force Feed
Radio
Siberia: Euclid Records DJs Lefty
Parker, James Weber, 5:30pm; Pizza
Delicious Benefit w/ Happy Talk
Band, Tin Types, Meschiya Lake, Sam
Doores, Alynda, 8pm
Tipitina’s: Louisiana Red Hot
Records Presents Kipori Woods Album
Release, 10pm, $10
SATURDAY, 4/7
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Ingrid
Lucia, 9:30pm, 11pm
Café Istanbul: Masakowski Family
Reunion, 9pm
Circle Bar: Carbon Poppies, Lovey
Dovies, 10pm
d.b.a.: Little Freddie King, 11pm, $5
Deutsches Haus: The Local Skank,
Curie, 7:30pm, FREE
Dragon’s Den: Grassroots! w/ Truth
Universal, Slangston Hughes, Phat
Word, David X, DJ Def D & Fo On
the Flo, 11pm
Hi-Ho Lounge: George Kilby Jr., By
& By String Band, 10pm
House Of Blues: Who’s Bad, 9pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Thomas Johnson and
the People Album Release Party, Little
Maker (Live in the Den)
Louisiana Music Factory: Blue
Mountain, 2pm; Carl LeBlanc, 3pm;
Bridge Trio, 4pm
Siberia: Matt Johnson, 5:30pm;
Thunderdome House Music Party w/
DJs Otto & Pr_ck, the Redwood Plan,
Kindest Lines, 9pm
Tipitina’s: “Meet Me At the Dew
Drop Inn” Benefit for Central City
Partnership, 7:30pm
SUNDAY, 4/8
The Big Top: Punk Rock Takeover
Sunday Matinee w/ Black Smoke,
Halfsy, Pancake, 2pm
d.b.a.: Marc Stone Band, 10pm, $5
Shadowbox Theatre: Atheist
Evangelist’s Revival, 8pm
Siberia: Whiskey Brunch w/ King
James, 5:30pm; Chain & the Gang,
Coasting, Noir Fonce, DJ Wesley
Stokes, 10pm
MONDAY, 4/9
28
House Of Blues: Jagermeister
Music Tour f/ Portugal. The Man,
Lonely Forest, 9pm
Siberia: Euclid Records Trivia Night,
10pm
TUESDAY, 4/10
d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band, 9pm, $5
One Eyed Jacks: Delta Spirit,
Waters, KG Accidental, 10pm
Siberia: Digital Leather, Super Nice
Bros., Indian Givers, 10pm
WEDNESDAY, 4/11
Checkpoint Charlie’s: Neslort,
11pm
One Eyed Jacks: Evening with Red
Elvises, 10pm
Siberia: Demonic Destruction,
Rottenness, Fat Stupid Ugly People,
Necrotic Priapism, 10pm
THURSDAY, 4/12
d.b.a.: Jon Cleary, 7pm; Mark Mullins
w/ June Yamagishi, Nori Naraoka,
Alvin Ford, 10pm, $10
Circle Bar: Jerry Giddens, Rod
Hodges, 10pm
House Of Blues: Kylesa, 8:30pm
(the Parish)
Louisiana Music Factory:
Maryland Jazz Band of Cologne, 6pm
Siberia: Thomas Johnson and
the People Album Release, the Kid
Carsons, Julie Odell, 10pm
FRIDAY, 4/13
12 Bar: Khris Royal & Dark Matter,
Brass-a-Holics, 9pm
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Shannon
Powell Trio, 9:30pm, 11pm
Circle Bar: Terry Malts, Die Rotzz,
10pm
d.b.a.: Soul Rebels, 10pm, $10;
Lightnin’ Malcolm, 2am, $5
House Of Blues: Tab Benoit, Royal
Southern Brotherhood, 9pm; The
Boxer Rebellion, Canon Blue, 9pm
(the Parish); Devin the Dude Seriously
Tripping Tour w/ Coughee Brothaz
North, Corner Boy P, Late (the Parish)
Howlin’ Wolf: Andi Coli’s Pretty
Witty Comedy Show (Live in the Den)
The Maison: Debauche, 11pm
One Eyed Jacks: Earphunk Record
Release
Republic: Throwback w/ Royal
Teeth
Siberia: DJs Pineapple & Lingerie,
5:30pm; Dark Clothing Launch Party
w/ Chilldren, Pr_ck & Otto, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Big Easy Bounce Band f/
DJ Jubilee, Partners-N-Crime, $10pm,
$15
SATURDAY, 4/14
12 Bar: Maurice “MOBETTA”
Brown f/ Nikki Glaspie, Nick Daniels,
Josh Connely & special guests Khris
Royal and Sasha Masakowski, 9pm
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Sasha
Masakowski, 9:30pm, 11pm
The Big Top: A Hanging, Cape of
the Matador, Fat Camp, Red Shield,
7pm, $5
Chickie Wah Wah: Eden Brent,
9pm, $12
Circle Bar: Mahayla, David
Dondero, James Hayes, 10pm
d.b.a.: John Boutte, 8pm, $10; Roddie
Romero & the Hub City All-Stars,
11pm, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Zydepunks,
Debauche, 10pm
House Of Blues: New Orleans
Craft Mafia & HOB Presents Voodoo
Garden Art Market, 11am-6pm; An
Evening w/ Umphrey’s McGee, 9pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Batam Foxes, Areal
Attack (Live in the Den)
One Eyed Jacks: Lost Bayou
Ramblers Record Release
Siberia: Ratty Scurvics, 5:30pm; Gal
Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, By
& By String Band, DJ Pasta, 9pm
Tipitina’s: Rebirth Brass Band,
10pm, $15
Howlin’ Wolf: Tyga, 9pm
One Eyed Jacks: Fleur de Lindy
Siberia: Ghoul, the Pallbearers, Toxic
Rott, 10pm
SUNDAY, 4/15
WEDNESDAY, 4/18
The Big Top: Punk Rock Takeover
Sunday Matinee w/ Opposable
Thumbs, Violent Sects, New Lands,
2pm
Circle Bar: Steve Eck, Blind Texas
Marlin, 10pm
d.b.a.: Ingrid Lucia’s New Orleans
Female Vocalists Revue, 10pm, $5
Circle Bar: Scooter’s Bachelor Party
w/ the Green Demons, Fury, the
Whole World Shakes, 10pm
House Of Blues: The Ting Tings,
MNDR, 8pm
One Eyed Jacks: WTUL Presents
Chairlift, Nite Jewel
MONDAY, 4/16
Circle Bar: Netherfriends, Naughty
Palace, Sharks Teeth, 10pm
d.b.a.: The By & By String Band,
6pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Dick Dale, 9pm;
Siberia: Hunx and His Punx, Natural
Child, Jean-Eric, King Louie’s Missing
Monuments, 9pm
TUESDAY, 4/17
Louisiana Music Factory: Ken
Colyer Trust Party f/ Kid Simmons’
New Orleans Jazz Band, 6pm
Siberia: The Fens, Blind Texas
Marlin, Hillbilly Hotel, 10pm
Tulane University (Room 260):
Nicholas Payton, 4pm
Tipitina’s: Charles Bradley and His
Extraordinaires, 9pm, $14
Siberia: The Honorable South, the
Sideshow Tragedy, T-Bird and the
Breaks, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Tyrone Wells, Joe Brooks,
9pm, $14
THURSDAY, 4/19
Circle Bar: Arrah and the Ferns,
Micah McKee, Archanimals, 10pm
d.b.a.: Washboard Rodeo, 7pm;
Louisiana Hellbenders, 10pm, $5
Siberia: Led to the Grave,
Crotchbreaker, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Homegrown Night f/
Mr. Christopher & the Devil’s Owls,
Remedy Krewe, Nod, 8:30pm, FREE
FRIDAY, 4/20
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Leroy Jones
Quartet, 9:30pm, 11pm
Circle Bar: DiNOLA, the Green
Demons, 10pm
d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans,
6pm; George Porter Jr. & His Runnin’
Pardners, 10pm, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Chris & Nina
Birthday Party w/ DJ Pops a Lock,
10pm
House Of Blues: Curren$y Jet Life
Tour, Midnight; Cage the Elephant,
7:30pm
Howlin’ Wolf: The Vagina
Monologues, 8pm; Daria & the Hip
Drops f/ members of Enharmonic
Souls, Southbond Drive, 9pm
Republic: Bassik f/ Borgore
Siberia: Dark Clothing Launch Party
w/ Chilldren, Pr_ck, 9pm
Tipitina’s: !!!, Shabazz Palaces,
10pm, $15
Circle Bar: Natalie Mae Palms w/
Alexandra Scott, Hannah KreigerBenson, 10pm
d.b.a.: Jeremy Lyons & the Deltabilly
Boys, 10pm, $5
Siberia: Open Mic w/ Sneaky Pete,
10pm
MONDAY, 4/23
The Big Top: Choi Wolf, Loma
Prieta, Donovan Wolfington, High in
One Eye, 7pm
d.b.a.: Debbie Davis Album Release,
6pm
Siberia: Magnetic Ear, 10pm
TUESDAY, 4/24
Circle Bar: Eleanor Friedberger w/
Hospitality, 10pm
One Eyed Jacks: Peelander Z, One
Eyed Doll, KG Accidental
Hi-Ho Lounge: My Graveyard Jaw,
Franz Nicolay, 10pm
Siberia: Bob Log III, Mr. Free and
the Satellite Freakouts, King Louie’s
One Man Band, 10pm
Tipitina’s: WKRN Presents Foxy
Shazam, 8:30pm, $15
WEDNESDAY, 4/25
Circle Bar: Winter Sounds, Seedy
Seeds, 10pm
Hi-Ho Lounge: Ceux Qui Marchant
Debout, 10pm
House Of Blues: Lacuna Coil, 8pm
Louisiana Music Factory: Ceux
Qui Marchent DeBout, 3pm
Siberia: The Night Beats, Acid Baby
Jesus, Paint Fumes, Babes, 10pm
SATURDAY, 4/21
THURSDAY, 4/26
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Johnny
Sansone, 9:30pm, 11pm
The Big Top: Community Records
Block Party 2012, Noon-Midnight
d.b.a.: The Original Wild Magnolias
f/ Big Chief Bo Dollis & Big Chief
Monk Boudreaux, 11pm, $20
Hi-Ho Lounge: Screening of
Alouette, 7pm; Shovels & Rope, Johnny
Corndawg, 10pm
House Of Blues: Bustout Burlesque,
8pm, 10:30pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Slow Burn Burlesque,
11pm, Torgo, England in 1819 (Live in
the Den)
Louisiana Music Factory: Claude
Bryant and the All-Stars, 2pm; Anais
St. John, 3pm; Lil’ Red & Big Bad,
4pm
One Eyed Jacks: Melvins, Unsane
Siberia: Alex McMurray, 5:30pm;
NOCULT V Dance Party, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Crawfest Afterparty w/
Dragon Smoke, Soul Driven Train,,
10pm, $16
The Big Top: Mike Dillon/James
Singleton Expanding Orchestra, 9pm,
$10
d.b.a.: By & By String Band, 6:30pm;
Good Enough for Good Times, 10pm,
$10; Marco Benevento, 2am, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Stooges Brass Band,
10pm
House Of Blues: Bonerama f/ Dave
Malone, 9pm (the Parish)
Howlin’ Wolf: Radio Radio (Live in
the Den)
Siberia: Sleepy Sun, White Hills,
Dirty Ghosts, DJ 9ris 9ris, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Dirty Dozen Brass Band,
10pm, $20; The Grandmothers of
Invention, 9pm, $30 (Tip’s French
Quarter)
SUNDAY, 4/22
The Big Top: Punk Rock Takeover
Sunday Matinee w/ Small Bones, Mea
Culpa, Reagabomb, 2pm; Ceux Qui
Marchent Debout, 7pm
FRIDAY, 4/27
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Shannon
Powell Trio, 9:30pm, 11pm
Blue Nile: Stooges Brass Band, Slavic
Soul Party!, Debo Band, 10pm, $15
Café Istanbul: Theresa Andersson,
Cedric Burnside Project, T-Bird and
the Breaks, 10pm, $20
Circle Bar: Egg Yolk Jubilee, 10pm
d.b.a.: Meschiya Lake & the Little
Big Horns, 6pm; Honey Island Swamp
Band, 10pm, $10; The Ever
29
Expanding Elastic Waste Band f/
members of Morphine, 2am, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Debauche, Little
Freddy King, 10pm
House Of Blues: Robert Randolph
and the Family Band, 10pm; Lil’ Band
of Gold, 10pm (the Parish)
Howlin’ Wolf: Ivan Neville’s
Dumpstaphunk, Papa Grows Funk,
Rebirth Brass Band; Super Jam w/
members of Dumpstaphunk, Papa
Grows Funk; Gravity A, Young
Hedons Album Release, Consider the
Source, 11pm (Live in the Den)
One Eyed Jacks: One Eyed Jacks,
Simpleplay & WTUL Present Givers,
8pm; Greyboy Allstars, Late
Republic: Nolafunk Jazzfest Series
Inaugural Event w/ Anders Osborne,
Bill Kreutzmann, Various Artists
Siberia: DJs Pineapple &
Fensterstock, 5:30pm; Wea Dat Beat
At Bounce Show w/ JC Styles, Big
Freedia, Katey Red, Magnolia Rhome,
Nicky Da B, DJ Q , 10pm
Tipitina’s: JJ Grey, Mofro, the
Revivalists, 9pm, $21; Galactic, 2am,
$35; Mickety Hart Band, 9pm, $30
(Tip’s French Quarter)
SATURDAY, 4/28
12 Bar: Royal Southern Brotherhood,
Very Special Guests, Mia Borders,
11pm
Antoine’s Hermes Bar: Sasha
Masakowski, 9:30pm, 11pm
Blue Nile: Flow Tribe, EarPhunk!,
Sol Driven Train, 10pm, $15
Café Istanbul: Stanton Moore Piano
Trio, Khris Royal & Dark Matter,
10pm, $20
Circle Bar: Empress Hotel, Mahayla,
10pm
d.b.a.: John Boutte, 8pm, $10; Andre
Williams w/ Morning 40 Federation,
Happy Talk Band, R. Scully & the
Rough 7, 11pm, $20
Dragon’s Den: Uniquity 3rd
Anniversary Show w/ Slangston
Hughes, Nesby Phips, Jon Mercure,
TNC Boys & Fo On the Flo, 11pm
Hi-Ho Lounge: Honey Island
Swamp Band, Monophonics, 10pm
House Of Blues: Trombone Shorty
& Orleans Ave., 9pm; Gary Clark Jr.,
Henry & the Invisibles, 10pm (the
Parish); Beats Antique, Laura Low,
Late
Howlin’ Wolf: Leftover Salmon, 7
Walkers, Anders Osborne; Frogs Gone
Fishin, Shessh (Live in the Den)
One Eyed Jacks: Aquarium
Drunkard Presents Lee Fields and the
Expressions, 8pm; the Prophylactics,
Late
Republic: Los Lobos, the Iguanas,
early show; Rebirth Brass Band, DJ
Jubilee, late show
Siberia: Matt Johnson, 5:30pm;
Honky, Dirty Secrets, Suplecs, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Dr. John, Henry Butler,
9pm, $36; Greyboy Allstars, 2am,
$30; Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes,
10pm, $15
SUNDAY, 4/29
30
The Big Top: Punk Rock Takeover
Sunday Matinee w/ No Children,
Rose Cross, Kay Swiss & the Keddz,
Losing Streak, 7pm
Café Istanbul: Funky Butt Revisited,
11pm, $20
Circle Bar: The Alex McMurray
Band, 10pm
d.b.a.: Palmetto Bug Stompers,
5pm; Jon Cleary & the Philthy Phew,
8pm, $10; Papa Grows Funk w/ Big
Chief Monk Boudreaux, 11pm, $20;
Lightnin’ Malcolm Duo, 3am, $10
House Of Blues: Trombone Shorty
& Orleans Ave., 10pm
Howlin’ Wolf: The Doctor is In:
Benefit for Roots of Music, Sweet
Home New Orleans & Trombone
Shorty’s Horns for Schools Program f/
Rebirth Brass Band, Big Sam, Kermit
Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, Jeremy
Davenport, Baby Boyz Brass Band,
Yojimbo
One Eyed Jacks: Honey Island
Swamp Band
Siberia: Dirty Mouth Reunion w/
the Other Planets, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Black Joe Lewis & the
Honey Bears, Big Freedia w/ the Big
Easy Bounce Band, the Preservation,
9pm, $25
MONDAY, 4/30
Circle Bar: The Bruisers, O.L.D.,
10pm
d.b.a.: Pandora Happy Hour, 5pm;
Charlie Hunter w/ Mike Dillon
& Skerik, 8pm, $10; Glen David
Andrews, Midnight, $10
Hi-Ho Lounge: Dayna Kurtz, 11pm
House Of Blues: Piano Night
Benefit for WWOZ, 8pm
Siberia: Singer/Songwriter Night w/
Thomas Johnson, Julie Odell, Micah
McKee, Dave Jordan, Denton Hatcher,
10pm
Tipitina’s: Tipitina’s Foundation
11th Annual Instruments a Comin’ w/
Galactic, Trombone Shorty & Orleans
Ave., Various Artists, 8:30pm, $40
TUESDAY, 5/1
Circle Bar: Chris Lee Speaking in
Tongues, 10pm
d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band, 8pm,
$5; Brian Stoltz & the I-12 All-Stars,
Midnight, $10
House Of Blues: 2 Chainz, 9pm
Howlin’ Wolf: New Orleans Suspects
w/ Camile Baudoin and the Living
Rumors, Dave Malone, 9pm
One Eyed Jacks: Dragon Smoke
Tipitina’s: The Fray, Jessie Baylin,
9pm, $36.50
WEDNESDAY, 5/2
Blue Nile: Ivan Neville’s Piano
Sessions Vol.2, 8pm, $15; Gravity A,
Monophonics, 10:30pm, $10
Circle Bar: Eric Lindell, 10pm
d.b.a.: The Iguanas, 8pm, $10;
Walter Wolfman Washington &
the Roadmasters, 11pm, $10; Clint
Maedgen One Man Show, 2am, $5
House Of Blues: Seun Kuti & Egypt
80, 9pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Megalomaniacs Ball
f/ Garaga a Trois, Stanton Moore
Trio, Marco Benevento, the Dead
Kenny Gs, Mike Dillon Band f/
members of Yojimbo, MC Silver Ice,
9pm
One Eyed Jacks: Bear Creek AllStars
Tipitina’s: Lettuce, Nigel Hall Band
Jam, 9pm, $20; Glen David Andrews
& Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show,
8pm, $12
THURSDAY, 5/3
12 Bar: Eddie Roberts Trio, 10pm,
$15
The Big Top: Illuminasti, Pain Relief,
AG writer Rev. 9pm
Daniel Jackson with Scott Biram at One Eyed Jack’s (Erin Hall)
Mark Southerland,
Blue Nile: Cyril Neville’s Nevillution,
10pm, $15; Honey Island Swamp
Band, Late, $10
Circle Bar: Gal Holiday & the
Honky Tonk Revue, 10pm
d.b.a.: Jon Cleary, 7pm, $10; Little
Band of Gold, 10pm, $25; Cedric
Burnside Project, 2am, $10
House Of Blues: Grace Potter &
the Nocturnals, 9pm; Soul Salvation f/
Ruthie Foster, Paul Thorn, 10pm (the
Parish); Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
presents Sticky Fingers, Late
Howlin’ Wolf: Royal Family Ball f/
Soulive, Lettuce, 9pm
One Eyed Jacks: Soul’d Out & CEG
Present Allen Stone w/ Luke Winslow
King,
Jucifer 8pm
at Siberia (Gary LoVerde)
Tipitina’s: Ziggy Marley’s Wild &
Free Tour, 9pm, $45; Chris Robinson
Brotherhood, 2am, $25
FRIDAY, 5/4
Blue Nile: Mashup, Pedrito Martinez
Group, 10pm, $20; Brother Joscephus
& the Love Revival Revolution, 10pm,
$15 (Balcony Room); Big Sam’s
Funky Nation, Late, $20; Mike Dillon,
Yojimbo, Late, $15 (Balcony Room)
Circle Bar: Dash Rip Rock, 10pm
d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans,
6pm; Dirty Dozen Brass Band, 10pm,
$20; Lost Bayou Ramblers, 2am, $10
House Of Blues: Grace Potter & the
Nocturnals, 9pm; A.M. Sessions, Late
(the Parish); New Mastersounds, Late
Howlin’ Wolf: 10th Annual Bayou
Rendezvous f/ the Pimps of Joytime,
Various Artists, 9pm
One Eyed Jacks: Garaga a Trois,
8pm
Tipitina’s: Soul Rebels, Honey
Island Swamp Band, 9pm, $25; Karl
Denson’s Tiny Universe, 2am, $30;
Bonerama, Cedric Burnside Project
w/ Roosevelt Collier, 11pm, $20 (Tip’s
French Quarter)
WEEKLY EVENTS
MONDAYS
Banks Street Bar & Grill: N’awlins
Johnnys, 9pm
Bayou Park Bar: The Hooch Riders,
9pm
Checkpoint Charlie’s: Karaoke,
9pm
Circle Bar: Kelly Carlyle, 6pm
d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews, 9pm, $5
Desperados: Kickball Disassociation
After Party & Old Timey Music, 9pm
Dragon’s Den: Slide Guitar
Domenic
Hi-Ho Lounge: Blue Grass Pickin’
Party, 8pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Josh Garrett and the
Bottom Line
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Gerald French and the Original
Tuxedo Jazz Band, 8pm
The Maison: Swing classes w/
NOLA Jitterbugs, 6pm (Penthouse);
Royal Roses, 7pm; Super Jam, 9:30pm
One Eyed Jacks: SIN
Preservation Hall: St. Peter Street
Playboys featuring Maynard Chatters
Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson, 4pm;
Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen
St. All-Stars, 6pm; Kristina Morales
& the Bayou Shufflers, 10pm [1st &
3rd Mondays]/The Jazz Vipers, 10pm
[2nd, 4th & 5th Mondays]
TUESDAYS
Banks Street Bar & Grill: Roy
McGrath Jazz Jam, 9pm
Bayou Park Bar: Walter Wolfman
Washington, 9pm
d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band, 9pm, $5
Carrollton Station: Acoustic Open
Mic, 9pm
Café Negril: John Lisi and Delta
Funk, 7pm
d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band, 9pm, $5
Desperados: Noxious Noize
Tuesdays, 9pm
Dragon’s Den: Climate Change
Hip-Hop Nite
Hi-Ho Lounge: Euclid Records Triva
w/ DJ Lefty Parker, 8pm
The Hookah: Entourage Ent.
Presents Hip-Hop Night, 10pm
Howlin’ Wolf: LIVE IN THE DEN:
Comedy Beast, TNM Stand Up
Comedy Showcase, 8:30pm
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Jason Marsalis, 8pm
The Maison: Gregory Agid Quartet,
6pm; Magnitude, 9pm
Mimi’s in the Marigny: Michael
Hebert, 8pm; the Emilonius Quartet,
9pm
Preservation Hall: The Preservation
Hall-Stars featuring Shannon Powell
The Rusty Nail: Open Mic w/
Whiskey T., 8pm
The Saint Tikioke, 9pm, FREE
Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson, 4pm;
Smokin’ Time Jazz Club (1st Tuesday),
Tuba Skinny (2nd & 3rd Tuesdays),
Aurora Nealand and The Royal Roses
(4th & 5th Tuesday),6pm; Meschiya
Lake & the Little Big Horns, 10pm
WEDNESDAYS
12 Bar: Brass-a-holics, 9pm
AllWays Lounge: Major Bacon Blues
Show, 10pm
Banks Street Bar & Grill: Major
Bacon, 10pm
The Bar: Musician Appreciation
Night, 7pm
Bayou Park Bar: U.S. Nero &
Friends, 9pm
Blue Nile: United Postal Project,
8pm; Gravity A w/ Special Guests,
11pm
The Box Office: Dan Wallace
Quartet, 7pm
Carrollton Station: Standup
Comedy Open Mic, 9pm
Checkpoint Charlie’s: T-Bone
Stone, 7pm
Circle Bar: Jim O. and The No
Shows w/ Mama Go-Go, 6pm
d.b.a.: Tin Men, 7pm; Walter
Wolfman Washington and The
Roadmasters, 10pm, $5
Deckbar: Blues & Beyond Jam w/
John Lisi & Delta Funk, 8pm
Dragon’s Den: DJ T-Roy Presents:
Dancehall Classics, 10pm, $5
Hi-Ho Lounge: DJ Bees Knees &
SINful Friends, 10pm
The Hookah: Entourage Ent.
Presents Hip-Hop Night, 10pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Humpday Hoedown
w/ Hillbilly Hotel (Live in the Den)
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Kipori Woods, 5pm; Irvin Mayfield’s
NOJO Jam, 8pm
The Maison: The Upstars, 9pm; The
Penthouse Sessions, 10pm (Penthouse)
Preservation Hall: The Preservation
Hall Jazz Band featuring Mark Braud
The R Bar: DJ Lefty Parker
The Rusty Nail: Jenn Howard’s Jazz
31
Set, 8pm
Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson, 4pm;
Free Swing Dance Lessons, 5pm; The
Orleans, 6pm; St. Louis Slim and the
Frenchmen St. Jug Band, 10pm
Yuki: Mojotoro Tango Trio, 8pm
THURSDAYS
Banks Street Bar & Grill: RX Filled,
10pm
Bayou Park Bar: Pocket Aces Brass
Band
Blue Nile: Micah McKee & the Little
Movers, 7pm; DJ T-Roy Presents Reggae
Night, 10pm; My So Called ’90s Dance
Party, 10pm (Balcony Room)
Circle Bar: Sam and Boone, 6pm
d.b.a.: Jon Cleary, 7pm
Desperados: Loose Marbles, 9pm
Dragon’s Den: Basebin Safari w/ DJ
Proppa Bear, 10pm
Fortier Park (3100 Esplanade): Drum
Circle, 6pm
Hi-Ho Lounge: Stooges Brass Band,
10pm
The Hookah: Studio 504 Disco Dance
Night, 9pm
Howlin’ Wolf: Comedy Gumbeaux,
8pm (Live in the Den)
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Roman Skakun, 5pm; Treme Night feat.
James Andrews, 8pm
La Nuit Comedy Theater:
A.S.S.tronot, 8:30pm
Les Bon Temps Roule: Brass-a-holics,
11pm
The Maison: Erin Demastes, 5pm
32
One Eyed Jacks: Fast Times ’80s Dance
Night, 10pm
Republic: LEGIT, 10pm, $7
The Rusty Nail: Boozin’ Bingo, 8pm
Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson, 4pm;
Miss Sophie Lee, 6pm; Smokin’ Time Jazz
Club, 10pm
FRIDAYS
Bayou Park Bar: The Revealers, 10pm
The Big Top: Friday Night Music Camp,
5pm
Blue Nile: DJ Real and Black Pearl,
Midnight (Upstairs)
Checkpoint Charlie’s: Hooch Riders,
4pm
Circle Bar: Jim O. and The Sporadic
Fanatics, 6pm
Desperados: Michael James and His
Lonesome, 9pm; Bobby Bouzouki, 11pm
Hi-Ho Lounge: Stooges Brass Band,
9:30pm
The Hookah: College Fridays, 10pm
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Professor Piano Series, 5pm; Leon “ Kid
Chocolate” Brown, 8pm; Burlesque
Ballroom f/ Trixie Minx , midnight
La Nuit Comedy Theater: God’s Been
Drinking, 10pm, $10
Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown Live
Piano, 7pm, 9pm
The Maison: Those Peaches, 5pm;
Comedy Showcase, 8:30pm; Buena
Vista Social Latin Dance Party, 10pm
(Penthouse)
One-Eyed Jacks: Running with Scissors
presents Grenadine McGunkle’s Double-
Wide Christmas, 7pm
Preservation Hall: The Preservation
Hall Jazz Masters featuring Leroy Jones
Republic: Throwback, 11pm
Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson, 4pm;
Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, 6pm; New
Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Tipitina’s Foundation Free
Friday!, 10pm
SATURDAYS
Blue Nile: DJ Real and Black Pearl, 1am
(Balcony Room)
Circle Bar: The Jazzholes, 6pm
d.b.a.: John Boutte, 8pm
The Hangar: Ladies Night
The Hookah: M for Mature, 10pm
House of Blues: Sabado, Fuego, DJ
Juanes, DJ Q, Midnight (The Parish @
House Of Blues)
La Nuit Comedy Theater:
ComedySportz (1st/3rd Saturdays), 7pm
LePhare: DJ Jive
The Maison: Ramblin Letters, 5pm;
Smoking Time Jazz Club, 7pm
One-Eyed Jacks: Running with Scissors
presents Grenadine McGunkle’s DoubleWide Christmas, 7pm
Republic: Evolution: Holiday Spirit
Edition
Spotted Cat: Panarama Jazz Band, 6pm
SUNDAYS
Banks Street Bar & Grill: Ron
Hotstream and the F-Holes, 9pm
Bayou Park Bar: Roarshark, 4pm
Blue Nile: Mykia Jovan, 7pm; Mainline,
10pm
Café Negril: John Lisi and Delta Funk,
7pm
Checkpoint Charlie’s: Acoustic Open
Mic w/ Jim Smith, 7pm
Circle Bar: Drink N Draw, 3pm; Micah
McKee and Friends, 6pm
d.b.a.: The Palmetto Bug Stompers, 6pm
Desperados: Stumps the Clown’s Variety
Show Sundays f/ Jo Robbin, Stalebread
Scotty & More, 9pm
Dragon’s Den: Bass Church: Dubstep
for the Masses, 10pm (Upstairs)
Hi-Ho Lounge: Skinz&Bonez Indian
Practice, 6pm; Sarah Quintana’s Sirens,
7pm
The Hookah: DJ RQaway & the Room
Service Band, 10pm
House of Blues: The Sunday Gospel
Brunch, 10am; Poppa’s Party House,
Midnight (The Parish)
Howlin’ Wolf: Brass Band Sundays w/
Hot 8 Brass Band
Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse:
Tyler’s Revisited f/ Germaine Bazzle and
Paul Longstreth, 7pm
Le Bon Temps Roule: Chapter Soul
f/ Calvin Johnson, Kirk Joseph & Kevin
O’Day, 9pm
Spotted Cat: Rights of Swing, 3pm;
Kristina Morales, 6pm (1st/3rd Sun.)/Ben
Polcer and the Grinders (2nd/4th Sun.),
Pat Casey & the New Sound, 10pm
Tipitina’s: Cajun Fais do do f/ Bruce
Daigrepont, 5:30pm
Reviews continued from page 27...
the dominant mood of the record: Trust evoke
that kind of kink vividly. Even at its brightest
moments, TRST sounds like a drugged disco
in an abandoned warehouse. Ostensible single
“Bulbform” lives somewhere between codeine
chant and mid ‘90s rave up-- dirty from the
ground up. Then there’s the voice. Sharing
vocal duties, duo Robert Alfons and Maya
Postepski counterpoint each other. Postepski
has a vague, monotone drone not unlike Nico
without the language barrier, but it’s Alfons
who provides most of the album’s vocals and
his creepy croak pulls the record further into
a dimly lit and sweaty headspace. Musically,
TRST is represented by the kind of plainspoken electronics that crafted early Depeche
Mode or a sleazy motel version of Psychic
TV. The synths, beats and ambiance sound
deliciously analog and stay unburied beneath
the kind of overly retro distortion or dreamy
haze much of contemporary synth-based music
relies on. TRST never hides its disco roots, but
instead colors them with a pervasively grimy
tone and enough gothic atmosphere to fill a
cathedral’s basement. --Mike Rodgers
THE UNNATURALS
THE UNNATURALS
VS. THE 50 FT. BETTIE
(SHEER TERROR)
It’s easy to get distracted by the fact that the
Unnaturals are a surf rock band because the
genre is still somewhat of a niche item in the
realm of popular music. It’s also easy to focus
on the novelty of a band composed entirely of
New Orleans natives not
only playing a type of
music that is very nonNew Orleans-y (i.e. NOT
jazz, funk, r&b, blues,
rock, punk or metal); but
constantly playing shows
here in New Orleans-where there is no surfing. But if you pay
attention, you realize that the expanse of the
influence on this music is actually extremely
New Orleans. Sure, the reverb is cranked up
to 11 but the beats are marching band and
hip-hop. The basslines are a little faster, but
they’re still as rubbery as an over-cooked
oyster. The groove is killer and this record is
really impressive, not just as a surf record but
as a straight-up good record. “Redneck Riot”
calls out to the jazz standard “Caravan” with
its smoky swing and “Rumblebee” quotes
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
Album closer “Whiskey Surf ” starts out with
huge stomping Gene Krupa drums like “Sing
Sing Sing,” then soars into an overdriven
melange, before easing down into a west-coast
swing groove and finally screaming back into
the waves of a Van Halen-ized guitar solo. It’s
a lot of damn fun. Go tell your friends: Gulf
Surf has arrived. -The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Jackson
WATER LIARS
PHANTOM LIMB
(MISRA)
The debut recording from Water Liars is as
surprising to its listeners as it was to its label.
Recorded casually on a single microphone
over a long weekend in Pittsboro, Mississippi,
Phantom Limb sat in limbo
on Misra’s shelf until
singer-songwriter Justin
Kinkel-Schuster politely
harangued the label into
believing that it was a
brand-new project, not
pseudonymous outtakes
from his other band’s (Theodore) sessions.
The record is a bit disjointed, most likely due
to its off-the-cuff origins, but nothing here is
obviously out of place. Existing somewhere in
the vocal territory between Justin Vernon and
Neil Young but nudged a couple miles toward
the Mississippi River, Kinkel-Schuster’s
lyrics are honest and beautiful and terrible,
recalling lost loves and questionable parenting
practices-- from “Dog-Eaten”: “My father was
quietly taking / The money I was making /
From the dog-eaten wallet he gave me that
year.” Drummer, multi-instrumentalist and
producer Andrew Bryant fills out the twosome
and his stomping drums perfectly compliment
Kinkel-Schuster’s velcro guitars on “Short
Hair.” This band is not your average drums and
guitar combo, however. Very little is garage-y
about this record, as Bryant’s production
skills generate lush and extravagant but still
somehow spare soundscapes on tracks like “It
is Well With My Soul.” Like its moniker, this
record feels like something that is not there,
not only in Kinkel-Schuster’s reminiscent and
ruminating lyrics, but in the overall aesthetic
of an experimental record that is actually
cohesive and accessible. A happy little accident,
indeed. --The Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Jackson
33
Grimes at Tulane University (Josh Brasted)
Diplo creams the crowd at BUKU Music & Art Project (Josh Brasted)
Hawg Jaw at Siberia (Gary LoVerde)