New Orleans ROCK CITY
After Katrina, New Orleans sounded different: The indie rockers dispersed. Lil Wayne and Juvenile ended up in Miami and ATL. R&B icons Allen Toussaint and Aaron Neville moved to New York City and Nashville, respectively. But slowly, many musicians have returned. Hokey as it sounds, they’re back because the culture here is too important to let die. Check out what’s mentioned below and you’ll see why.
R&B journeyman Ernie K-Doe (“Mother-in-Law,” “Here Come the Girls”) became cool for a second time in 1994 when he and his wife, Antoinette K-Doe, opened the Mother-in-Law Lounge, a popular, comfortably divey hangout. Since Ernie’s 2001 passing, Mrs. K-Doe has helped support the music scene by hosting concerts and cooking red beans and rice for benefit shows.
As artistic director for Preservation Hall—the home of traditional jazz in New Orleans since the early 1960s—Ben Jaffe, 37, followed in his father Allan’s footsteps. No fusty embalmer, the younger Jaffe jolts jazz tradition by inviting unlikely
musicians such as Sun Ra sideman Carl LeBlanc and spiky-haired punk crooner Clint Maedgen to play, traditionalists be damned.
Dr. Ike and the Mystic Knights stage the Ponderosa Stomp, an annual cavalcade of the unsung heroes of rock’n’roll (this year’s performers included Roky Erickson and the Shangri-Las’ Mary Weiss). When he can, Dr. Ike, a 43-year-old crate-digging anesthesiologist, pairs his heroes with younger artists who are also fans, resulting in a fiery bridging of the generation gap.
Formerly the director of New Orleans Musicians’ Hurricane Relief Fund, Jordan Hirsch now heads Sweet Home New Orleans, a coalition of charities working to find appropriate housing solutions for displaced musicians. When visiting luminaries such as the Edge, Tom Morello, and Steve Earle want the disaster tour, Hirsch is the one who shows them around.
Juvenile and Mannie Fresh may have popularized bounce—the call-and-response hip-hop strain unique to New Orleans—but DJ Jubilee was its forefather, releasing albums when Lil Wayne was still knee-high to a crawfish. Jubilee is also known for encouraging the rump-heavy dance moves that let him lay claim to the phrase “Back that ass up.”
615 TOULOUSE ST., 504-569-8361
From the deep-red bordello-style wallpaper to the heavily tattooed staff,
decadence rules in this French Quarter den of iniquity. The licentiousness even
extends to the booking, which skews to homegrown hard rockers like Supagroup
and Rock City Morgue and raunchy visitors like Turbonegro and the Black Lips.
The Saint
961 ST. MARY ST., 504-523-0050
This bar ain’t pretty, but it’s homey,
which is a bit of a surprise, considering
it’s co-owned by Rock City Morgue’s
Sean Yseult and her hubby, Chris Lee of
Supagroup. Yseult stocked the jukebox,
and her tastes are broader than you’d
expect. On Wednesday nights, Lee
hosts a variety show featuring sketch
comedy and mock interviews.
Tipitina’s
501 NAPOLEON AVE., 504-895-8477
This Uptown mainstay is both the
spiritual home of New Orleans funk
and R&B, and the main fundraising
arm for its namesake foundation,
which puts instruments in the
hands of needy music students.
Bands looking to help have been
approaching Tip’s to play; Wilco
recently headlined two shows.
d.b.a.
618 FRENCHMEN ST., 504-942-3731
Half watering hole for discerning
drinkers, half live music venue, d.b.a.
presents everything from Grammy-
nominated Cajuns the Pine Leaf Boys to
jazz improv with drum legend Johnny
Vidacovich. Score a front window booth
and people-watch on Frenchmen, the
Bourbon Street for those who prefer
funky beats over plastic beads.
Saturn Bar
3067 ST. CLAUDE AVE., 504-949-7532
With art on the walls and a jukebox
full of old country and R&B, this bar
was once beautifully disheveled. By
the late 1990s, “beautiful” no longer
applied. But after the 2005 death of
former owner O’Neil Broyard, his
family renovated, helping the place
reclaim its offbeat charm, which is
echoed by the bands that play here.
The birthplace of hits by Little Richard and Fats Domino, Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios first found a home on
Rampart Street—before it was replaced by a luau-themed Laundromat.
In the mid-’50s, J&M moved to another French Quarter spot, where, in a
building now owned by
Brad Pitt and Angelina
Jolie, it played host to
Dr. John, the Meters, and
Allen Toussaint.
ZACK SMI TH (LIL WAYNE); IS TOCKPHO TO.COM/ PLAINVIE W (RECORD)
References:
http://ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/PLAINVIEW
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