First Stomp

Tonight's the first night of the Ponderosa Stomp at the House of Blues. Here's the lineup:

The Big Room Stage
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Little Willie Littlefield

6:45 PM - 7:15 PM
Classie Ballou

7:30 PM - 8:40 PM
Otis Clay and the Hi Rhythm Section

8:55 PM - 9:45 PM
James Blood Ulmer

10:00 PM - 10:45 PM
Dale Hawkins and James Burton with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

11:00 PM - 12:00 AM
The Remains

12:15 AM - 1:00 AM
Howard Tate

1:15 AM - 2:00 AM
Ray Sharpe with the A-Bones

2:15 AM - 3:15 AM
Lady Bo


Parish Stage
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Alton Lott backed by Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Johnny Powers backed by Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Carl Mann backed by Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

7:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Cowboy Jack Clement backed by Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

8:15 PM - 8:45 PM
Little Joe Washington

9:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Lil Greenwood backed by the Bo-Keys

9:30 PM - 10:15 PM
Texas Johnny Brown backed by the Bo-Keys

10:30 PM - 11:00 PM
Little Willie Littlefield

11:15 PM - 12:15 AM
The Bo-Keys with special guest Dennis Coffey

12:30 AM - 1:15 AM
Legendary Stardust Cowboy

1:30 AM - 2:45 AM
Kenny and the Kasuals


I don't even try to see it all, particularly with another night of Stomp ahead of me and last night's Condo Fucks' show behind me. Rob Cambre says Little Joe Washington is the night's must-see, so I'll try to catch him, James Blood Ulmer, and hang around to see if the Remains hold my attention. Typically, garage bands disappoint at the Stomp because their great records were often heavily shaped by the circumstances of their recordings, and left to their own devices, they're often pretty ordinary. IF they stay interesting, then I'll hang for Legendary Stardust Cowboy, but I suspect the same caveats apply. If I'm still in the bar after that, something went horribly wrong or wonderfully right.

Record/Not Record

I recently got the following press release from the organizers of French Quarter Festival, which took place the weekend before Jazz Fest this year:

NEW ORLEANS – April 17, 18 and 19, 2009, marked the 26th anniversary and a record year for French Quarter Festival. This year’s attendance figures indicate that more than 441,000* festival-goers enjoyed the music, food, special events and of course, the historic French Quarter. Visitors and locals alike enjoyed a unique weekend that only New Orleans can deliver.

The asterisk after its record attendance figure refers to an explanatory note at the bottom of the release:

*Attendance numbers are calculated based on actual counts (that are adjusted down by percentage to account for repeat entrances and exits). Fess Security counts at entry and exit points of major stages. This number does not include attendance at the festival’s Royal, Bourbon, Chartres and French Market stages, Battle of the Bands, Dancing at Dusk, Courtyard Tours, Cathedral Concert, Opera at the Cabildo, and other special events. The organization is pleased to report record sales of food, beverages and merchandise.

Because attendance is free and there are no gates to measure points of entry, this record number - the second in a row - is an estimate. Obviously, much of that paragraph is there to suggest that perhaps the numbers might be underreported because of all the things that didn't figure in the count. Or, the count is high and who would know?

There's no question that the French Quarter Festival has had two good years in a row, regardless of whether or not they have numbers to back up their belief that attendance has grown. The question is why a narrative of record-breaking growth is offered. Are we that married to the abstract importance of growth? Obviously, growth at any cost wasn't good for our economy, and after Saturday and Sunday at Jazz Fest, there's a point at which growth isn't good for Jazz Fest as an experience. I'm sure it makes it more profitable, but for us sheep, more sheep equals less fun. Perhaps a little rethinking is in order.

Good Grief

Here's a review I found online that fascinates me a) because I love the title of the album, and b) because for all the description, I don't have any sense of the music at all. I'm not even sure it's a Christmas album.

A Charlie Brown Death Metal Christmas...
I am unsure how to rate this album. I really am. I know for sure that I absolutely love it. Is it progressive? Oh yes. Is it experimental? Oh yes. Is it original? ...

It is so many things. This is one of the most disjointed and unnerving albums full of so many flowing styles and mixes. Styles touched go anywhere form progressive rock and death metal, to indie rock and jazz. So many brilliant musical ideas are given to you, and with such conviction. Folk passages with clean vocals, death metal stomping in the midst of pretty sounds. The lyrics are something to ponder. This entire record strikes me as a virulent enigma, yet it captivates me with so vitriol.

The songs flow into each other in a way, and the entire album has an atmosphere (one that changes rather often.) The acoustic passages are beautiful, the heavy sections are well played and sound strong. One song in particular "Sleep is a Curse" is one of the prettiest pieces of music I have ever heard. How could they have come up with such a style? I do not know, and it makes this hard to rate.

The music is most certainly not easily accessible. It will alienate death metal and heavy fans, and it will alienate fans of soft acoustic/folk music. But, whatever they choose to do, they do so vibrantly, so skillfully, and with so many evocative melodies that entrance me completely.

There are interludes interspersed through the main songs, and are quite enticing. The entire album never stops being highly intriguing. So much material here to delve int0o and get lost in the lilting sounds. I will give this 5 stars. It is highly experimental and progressive, the songs go from powerfully brutal and dark, to emotionally moving and majestically pretty. By no means essential to everyone, but essential to me.

Anniversary Coverage

I don't get anniversaries as hooks for stories, and nothing illustrates why like Keith Spera's coverage of the 40th anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at Nola.com. It's a cyclical exercise in nostalgia for a non-story:

From James Booker and Bongo Joe to Billy Joel and Bon Jovi.

From $3 at the gate to $50.

From hundreds of attendees to hundreds of thousands.

From a budget in the tens of thousands to a budget in the millions.

From sponsorship by Schlitz to sponsorship by Shell.

Much about the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has changed

Ten years from now, the second half of those statements might change, but they'll reflect the same thought - "look at how things have changed" - but they could also be made four years from now or eight years ago or 17 years ago or 12 years in the future. The number's a marketing device; the press doesn't have to bite on it.

By the way, I generally like Keith's writing a lot, but he goes a little soft when he starts explaining away criticisms of Jazz Fest today:

Some longtime festival fans bemoan its lost innocence. They miss the days when ice chests and tent canopies were allowed and nighttime Jazz Fest concerts rocked the riverboat President. Some find corporate sponsorships and premium VIP ticket packages distasteful.

Ultimately, such contemporary festival realities do not distract from the average festival-goer's experience -- except, perhaps, when the grandstand's upper floors are reserved for VIP ticketholders and everybody else is huddled outside in the rain.

I'm not sure how he knows people aren't annoyed as they work negotiate their way through the Shell hospitality tents, and how people feel about there being a Miller hospitality suite with a view of the Acura Stage, and how he knows that most people who worked to get to the front of the stage don't care that the wealthy can buy their way in front of them with their VIP packages.

And while I agree that Jazz Fest ticket prices aren't out of line, that's probably the sort of argument that should come out of Quint Davis' mouth, not his.

Why Do We Do This Again?

Recently, I was called out (albeit in a friendly way) by someone who made meaningful contributions because I didn't comment on them in a review. I had to point out that the CD I was working from was an advance that came without artwork or a booklet, so I didn't know about said meaningful contributions. The last time this happened, I vowed we wouldn't review unfinished CDs (which includes the art and packaging), but that's often not realistic. As I write, I'm listening to the new Ha Ha Tonka to decide if I want to review it, and I'm doing so from an advance that came with a one sheet instead of liner notes. And a half-hour ago, I received the URL to download Jarvis Cocker's new album with the liner notes pasted into the email message. All of these situations conspire against liner notes that travel easily with the music it references. Information? What is it good for? (absolutely nothing!)

The Modern World

I can tell you everything wrong with the Sweet's Action: the Sweet Anthology (Shout! Factory) - much of it is simply bubblegum and/or journeyman efforts - but the stretch of the band at its best is irresistible for me. From 1972's "Little Willy" through the tracks from 1975's Desolation Boulevard, the Sweet performed a pretty smart trick, connecting Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman's schoolyard melodies with Brian Connolly's hard rock voice and Phil Wainman's sound-of-modernity production. The result sounded like a sexy, hard rock now that was available to anybody who wanted to be a part of it.

Start Saving Up

This almost makes me regret my affection for Christmas music:

YMC Records and Ali Lohan are kicking off the Christmas season with the release of her debut album, Lohan Holiday, which will be available in stores on November 21st. Following in the footsteps of older sister Lindsay, Lohan is taking the teen pop music scene by storm with a holiday-themed record that celebrates her love of the Christmas season. Lohan Holiday is an infectious and up-beat album that features the hit single "I Like Christmas" and classic songs such as “Deck The Halls,” “Jingle Bells” and
“Silent Night.” In addition to original tracks such as “Christmas Magic” and “Christmas Day,” Ali’s vocals were digitally added to the critically acclaimed singer Amy Grant’s song,
“Santa's Reindeer Ride," originally recorded by Grant as a teenager at the start of her career. The song captures the holiday spirit as reflected by two generations of up-and-coming pop sensations.

Lohan Holiday is not only the perfect stocking stuffer, but great for the family sing-a-longs during this year’s celebrations. For more information check out www.AliLohanMusic.com.

Track Listing:

1. “Christmas Day”
2. “I Like Christmas”
3. “Winter Wonderland”
4. “Christmas Magic”
5. “Jingle Bells”
6. “Groove of Christmas”
7. “Lohan Holiday”
8. “Deck The Halls”
9. “Silent Night”
10. “Santa’s Reindeer Ride” featuring Amy Grant
11. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”
12. “I Like Christmas” (Remix)

Almost. There's a lot to love in all of that - songs called "Lohan Holiday" and the uberbanal "I Like Christmas", the requisite Lindsay reference, hype for a Christmas album a mere 7 or 8 shopping months' early, and Ali's voice added to an Amy Grant track. Y'know, it was creepy enough when Natalie Cole first did that with a Nat King Cole song, but at least that had some father/daughter drama to make it interesting. This is just Ali stapling her voice to a successful track by someone else, a naked attempt to be successful in some vague, purposeless, honorless, talent-neutral way.

Not by the Hair

On The Flashing, the Fancing, I'm with Chin Chin's retro disco/NYC dance rock, but it's soul jazz moments leave me in the same place so much soul jazz does - waiting for more soul or more jazz.

Growing Hole

At first I thought Booker T.'s collaboration with the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young, Potato Hole, lumbered a bit too much for its own good. Now I love its weight as the electric guitars crunch with with as much distortion as they can carry, making Booker's organ sound even more glide-ready. Making organ-driven rock 'n' roll didn't seem like a good idea at first, but "Stomp it Out" finds his organ pulsing as authoritatively as the Truckers' power chords, and "Native New Yorker" spawns the sort of Neil Young solo we live for, and Booker follows his lead beautifully. The stunt song selections - "Hey Ya" and Tom Waits' "Get Behind the Mule" - seem gimmicky and unnecessary by comparison, and I'd say the same for the Truckers' "Space City" if Mike Cooley's vocal melody didn't mesh with Booker's sense of melody so seamlessly.

An Interesting Miss

Cher's 3614 Jackson Highway is now available via download from Rhino, and it's such an intriguing misfire. She recorded it with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section in 1969, covering Dylan, Buffalo Springfield, and Dr. John's "Walk on Gilded Splinters" - the latter a rock/soul version that is one of its stronger tracks. Ultimately, the album didn't work because she's not a blues or soul singer, and no amount of soulful support could change that. It could mitigate her shortcomings, but she was a rock star even then, and the subtext of all her performances was her persona. Where the subject matter was too weird to fully move into - "Gilded Splinters" - or the song so malleable that anyone could find a place in it - "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" - she shines, and she was enough of an actress to make "(Just Enough To Keep Me) Hanging On" credible.

It's Not Real if You Don't Feel It

I just walked past a car with a mother and her teenage son smiling and listening to a radio preacher at the same volume that guys with bazooka tubes blast hip-hop as they drive down my block. A half-block down the street, I could still hear him.