Blog: Barryfest

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 [...]

05.03: Babes + Bruiser's House of Surf + Sun Year - Dragon's Den 05.04: Brass Bed + Big Rock Candy Mountain + Au Ras Au Ras  - Siberia 05.05: Nick Lowe + Autumn Defense - House of Blues 05.06: Rotary Downs - Circle Bar To the casual observer, it may have seemed like a quiet spring for greatest band in the universe Rotary Downs , who kept [...]

• Rotary Downs - Holiday Home

We're half way into Jazz Fest and our city's young talent have already outdone themselves. Here are a few quick happenings to be aware of this week in the New Orleans underground: After breaking onto the New Orleans/Baton Rouge/Lafayette music scene just over a year ago, electro-pop outfit Royal Teeth has signed with Los Angeles-based Dangerbird Records , home to bands like Silversun Pickups, Maritime and Boots Electric.  Royal Teeth's first order of business as signed musicians will be embarking on an extensive US tour supporting new label-mates Fitz and [...]

04.26: Vox and the Hound + Gold and the Rush + The Jonesbirds + Sports & Leisure - The Hookah 04.27: Givers + Habitat - One Eyed Jacks It's practically a no-brainer that on a week which neatly serves as a backdrop to the first three days of Jazz Fest, that the New Orleans late night music calendar will be bursting at the seems with dynamically talented musicians of every genre vying for the attention of those festivalgoers with the gumption to take the [...]

Though it may be surprising to find ourselves realizing that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot , the 2002 offering from Chicago-based Americana heroes Wilco , has already turned ten years old, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that, after ten years, we are still reflecting on, raving about, arguing over and debating the album, its surrounding controversy and its place in the western music pantheon. The Story , as it is now known to practically everyone who fancies himself a conscientious member of the music obsessed in this day and age, isn't worth retreading after a decade [...]

With the very successful French Quarter Fest and Block Party now behind us, we're knee-deep in Festival Season® 2012. Here are a few quick hits to dig on before Jazz Fest kicks us square in the teeth. Positive-minded bounce rapper Lucky Lou has released the official video for this anti-violence theme "Stomp The Violence", the second single off his 2011 EP Intersection.   Lucky Lou will be appearing at the 7th Annual Noizefest in the Bywater on May 6, 2012. Dr. Michael White, classical jazz clarinetist extraordinaire, will release [...]

A Billion Ernies, All People, B L A C K I E, Brunt Of It, Caddywhompus, Choi Wolf, Controller, Dominique LeJeune, Good Luck, Habitat, Joystick, Left Alone, Mad Conductor, Maddie Ruthless, Matt Wixon's Flying Circus, Murphy's Kids, Mustard Plug, Safety, and The Lollies performing at The Big Top on April 21, 2012 for the 2012 Community Records Block Party

For some, long days at the Fairgrounds and late nights at their favorite rock club for seven days over two weekends are not enough to satisfy their Jazz Fest-induced live music jones.  Enter the Daze Between Festival, lodged between the first and second weekend of The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which returns to the Rusty Nail for the third straight year. This time around the event returns to it's origins as a one-day affair, but the modest courtyard stage of festivals past is being replaced by a full-scale outdoor set-up, making room for bona fide full [...]

Sun Hotel and friends performing at Ampersand on April 20, 2012

04.19: Arrah & The Ferns + Little Maker + ArchAnimals - Circle Bar 04.20: Sun Hotel - Ampersand 04.21: The Tontons + Major Major Major + The Beams - Circle Bar In it's fifth incarnation as the Gulf South's can't-miss punk event of the year, the Community Records Block Party is a shining paradigm of how to go homegrow a DIY culture without losing any of the ethic associated with it. Though having taken the [...]

Hunx and His Punx + Natural Child + Jean-Eric + King Louie's Missing Monuments performing at Siberia on April 16, 2012

By the end of April, just as the rest of the country is getting their festival engines started, a triumvirate of consecutive noteworthy weekend events will have already swept through New Orleans, satiate the diverse tastes of locals and flooding the streets with music lovers from all over the world. This past weekend's record setting French Quarter Festival did well to entertain fans of oppressive downtown crowds and bands you can probably see almost any other weekend of the year, while the looming Jazz Fest - with an old-bro jams heavy lineup that somehow includes Tom Petty, Bruce [...]

Dummy Dumpster performing at The Mushroom on April 13, 2012

Almost as quickly as our music-consuming culture abandoned compact discs as the industry standard in favor of digital downloading's ease and convenience, it began grasping for some semblance of physicality in the experience of owning and sharing music. Of course, the result has been the galvanizing reemergence of vinyl records. The newly-piqued interest of the medium has begun to yield not only the practice of contemporary albums finding release on vinyl but also a systematic first-issuing of an entire generation of music that existed during the age of cassettes and CDs and for whom such a release is nearly as [...]

MyNameIsJohnMichael performing at The Music Shed on April 12, 2012

Waters + Delta Spirit performing at One Eyed Jacks on April 10, 2012.

Bow & Arrow + Arvid Noe + Small Bones + Astronomical performing in an empty lot next to the home of Cullen Smith and Sean Hart on April 10, 2012.

04.12: The Unnaturals + Blacksmoke + Babes - The Saint 04.13: Hurray For The Riff Raff - AllWays Lounge 04.14: Silent Disco hosted by Rusty Lazer - 524 Frenchman St. One of the most fascinating things I saw at my first Bonnaroo, amidst the sea of outrageously fascinating things ones sees at his or her first Bonnaroo, came as I wandered aimless and barefoot around Centeroo after taking in as much [...]

It's common to hear this weekend's annual French Quarter Fest referred to as the younger sibling/cousin/progeny of the much grander New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival , but these days that classification is really only applicable based on the literal age of the event.  Sure, FQF didn't land Bruce Springsteen and His E Street Band this year, but due in no small part to a very attractive price of admission, the four-day showcase regularly out-draws it's Mid-City companion. With attendance expected to surpass 500,000, The French Quarter Festival is the largest admission-free music event in the Gulf [...]

Luke Winslow-King and Royal Teeth performing on Julia Street on April 7, 2012 for Jammin' On Julia