Fat Tuesday Video Du Jour: Dr. John, Earl King & The Meters

Did you catch Dr. John’s freaky getup during the Black Keys’ appearance at the Grammy Awards? Mac Rebbenack, in his guise as “Dr. John the Night Tripper” has always been one sorta strange cat – his records in the late 1960s were pretty bizarre and when you consider the period, that’s saying a lot.

Dr. John at the Grammy Awards.

But Dr. John is probably the king of New Orleans piano players (Art Neville notwithstanding) right now. In this video Dr. John, the Meters and Earl King lay down a funky slab of Crescent City, in the form of “Big Chief,” the tune popularized by the former king of New Orleans piano players, Professor Longhair.

Fun fact: Earl King (the dude in the yellow doing the singing) actually wrote “Big Chief.” King is also the composer, of course, of New Orleans standards “Trick Bag” and “Come On,” which he recorded, as well as Lee Dorsey’s “Do-Re-Mi” and Willie Tee’s “Teasin’ You.” King died in 2003, and Professor Longhair died in 1980.

Happy Mardi Gras, ya’ll! Don’t forget: Check out our Mardi Gras playlist from last week.  And, you can tune in to real-time live webcams for a ringside seat to the madness and Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.  NOLA webcams

It’s Mardi Gras Time – Again!

Editor’s Note: This is a repost from last year, or the year before – whatever.

Mardi Gras is the final big blowout before the period of fasting and sacrifice called Lent.  Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, is the end of carnival season and the final day you can indulge in those earthly pleasures we all love so much. Ash Wednesday is next Wednesday.

Feel free to party as you please; here’s some music to help you on your way.  Play ‘em loud, play ‘em often and play ‘em all year – make every day a Mardi Gras Day.

Don’t forget: You can tune in to real-time live webcams for a ringside seat to the madness and Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.  NOLA webcams

MP3: “Life Is A Carnival/Party” by the Wild Magnolias

MP3: “Mardi Gras Mambo” by the Hawketts

MP3: “Second Line, Part 1” by Bill Sinegal & the Skyliners

MP3: “Who Dat at Mardi Gras” by Luther Kent

MP3: “Carnival Time” by My Morning Jacket w/the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

MP3: “Brother John/Iko Iko” by the Neville Brothers

MP3: “My Indian Red” by Dr. John

MP3: “Shake That Thing” by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

MP3: “Walking To New Orleans” by Fats Domino

MP3: “Tipitina” by Professor Longhair

MP3: “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In” by Louis Armstrong

MP3: “Mardi Gras Mambo”/”Hey Pocky-A-Way” (live) by the Meters

Funky New Orleans: The Meters at Mardi Gras

Editor’s Note: This is a repost of an item we ran a couple of years ago, reappearing here to help get everyone in that Mardi Gras mood. The links have been updated and the Meters have still not made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Radio used to be magic. When the stars aligned, and the right artist played the right venue and radio was there, it could be just beautiful. Here’s one of those moments: January 1977, at the Showboat Lounge in the Fat City entertainment district of Metairie, which is a suburb of New Orleans. January in New Orleans is carnival season, and WNOE radio in the Crescent City marked the occasion with an hour-long live show by the always incredible Meters.

The band – featuring Art Neville on keyboards and vocals, Zigaboo Modeliste on drums, George Porter Jr. on bass and Leo Nocentelli on guitar (Cyril Neville may or may not have been an official member of the band, and he wasn’t at this gig) – ripped through some of their Mardi Gras anthems and some seriously greasy second-line funk.

In 1977 the Meters were about as big as they were gonna get: they had put out four albums on Warner Bros., they had opened for the Rolling Stones on their big 1975-76 world tour, they played Paul McCartney’s Venus and Mars party on the Queen Mary in 1974 and later in 1977 they were going to appear on “Saturday Night Live.” But here they are, in a small joint doing shout-outs on local radio.  Only in New Orleans, and only in that era.  Unfortunately, later in 1977 the Meters would also break up.

This recording captures one of American music’s great bands, tight as high-tension wire but playing as loose and funky as humanly possible. The recording has amplifier hum as well as that weird FM noise and a really smooth DJ cuts in every once in a while to let you know who dat. There are also a couple of very minor skips and hiccups (toward the end of “Hey Pocky Way”), but nothing can take away from this great music.

As Art Neville says, “It’s Mardi Gras time all the time, as far as we’re concerned.” Cook up some red beans and rice or cue this up in the car … and wonder why these guys aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

MP3: The Meters live at the Showboat Lounge, WNOE-FM, January 1977 (70 minutes)

Song order: “Just Kissed My Baby”/ “Big Chief”/ “Jungle Man”/ “They All Ask’d For You”/ “Hey Pocky Way”/ “People Say”/ “Ain’t No Use”/ “Po Boy Jam” /”Feel Da Groove”

The Original Meters official website

Let’s Get The Meters Into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Facebook page

Mardi Gras Time

The season of Mardi Gras, the final big blowout before the period of fasting and sacrifice called Lent, begins this weekend.  Feel free to party as you please; here’s some music to help you on your way.

These are some Louisiana-style tunes to spice up your Mardi Gras mixtape. Play ‘em loud, play ‘em often and play ‘em all year – make every day a Mardi Gras Day.

MP3: “Between Eunice & Opelousas” by Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

MP3: “Zydeco Et Pas Sale” by Clifton Chenier & His Red Hot Louisiana Band

MP3: “Grow Too Old”  by Bobby Charles

MP3: “Shake Your Tambourine” by the Neville Brothers

MP3: “Ooo Poo Pah Doo” by Trombone Shorty

MP3: “St. James Infirmary” by Allen Toussaint

MP3: “Meet De Boys On De Battlefront” by the Wild Tchoupitoulas

MP3: “My Indian Red” by Dr. John

MP3: “It’s You I Love” by Fats Domino

MP3: “Tip On In (Part 2)” by Slim Harpo

MP3: “Give Him Cornbread” by Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers

MP3: “Hot Tamale Baby” by Marcia Ball

The Meters Should Be In the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Meters, c. 1975

This is getting to be a Mardi Gras tradition around here – an hour-long live radio show from 1977, featuring the funky, funky Meters.  This magic recording was cut at the Showboat Lounge in the Fat City entertainment district of Metairie, which is a suburb of New Orleans, by WNOE radio.

The band – featuring Art Neville on keyboards and vocals, Zigaboo Modeliste on drums, George Porter Jr. on bass and Leo Nocentelli on guitar (Cyril Neville may or may not have been an official member of the band, and he wasn’t at this gig) – ripped through some of their Mardi Gras anthems and some seriously greasy second-line funk.

In 1977 the Meters were about as big as they were gonna get: they had put out four albums on Warner Bros., they had opened for the Rolling Stones on their big 1975-76 world tour, they played Paul McCartney’s Venus and Mars party on the Queen Mary in 1974 and later in 1977 they were going to appear on “Saturday Night Live.”  But here they are, in a small joint doing shout-outs on the radio.  Only in New Orleans.  Unfortunately, later in 1977 the Meters would also break up.

This recording captures one of American music’s great bands, tight as high-tension wire but playing as loose and funky as humanly possible.  The recording has amplifier hum as well as that weird FM noise and a really smooth DJ cuts in every once in a while to let you know who dat.  There are also a couple of very minor skips and drops (toward the end of “Hey Pocky Way”), but nothing can take away from this great music.

As Art Neville says, “It’s Mardi Gras time all the time, as far as we’re concerned.”  Cook up some red beans and rice or cue this up in the car … and wonder why these guys aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

If that omission pisses you off as much as it does me, do something about it and electronically sign this petition to get those buttheads up north to do the right thing and put this great American band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

MP3: The Meters live at the Showboat Lounge, WNOE-FM, January 1977 (70 minutes)

Song order: “Just Kissed My Baby”/ “Big Chief”/ “Jungle Man”/ “They All Ask’d For You”/ “Hey Pocky Way”/ “People Say”/ “Ain’t No Use”/ “Po Boy Jam” /”Feel Da Groove”

The Original Meters official website

Video Du Jour: Meschiya Lake and Her Little Big Horns

The Carnival season has begun in New Orleans, it increases in intensity until it culminates with the big Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday event next month.  To get you in the mood, today we have Meschiya Lake and Her Little Big Horns from the Crescent City.

The multi-tattooed Meschiya may look über-modern but her sound is anything but: she has been highly instrumental in helping preserve the “classic” New Orleans jazz sound.  Check out this clip, filmed in 2009 on Royal Street in the French Quarter, complete with a timely screech of brakes.  Only in New Orleans.

Meschiya Lake official website

Fat Tuesday: All On A Mardi Gras Day

Today is Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday – Mardi Gras day.  Today’s the day for partying, especially if you are in New Orleans (although they’ve been partying pretty much continuously since the final seconds of Super Bowl 44 two Sundays ago).

We’ve posted a bunch of New Orleans/Mardi Gras music and it’s still available on our blog, look around and you should find it.  Or you can just go here and find it all.  The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, one of the greatest New Orleans combos ever, has a new album with guest appearances by people like Steve Earle, Tom Waits, Richie Havens, Merle Haggard and many more.  You can stream it for free (today only), and buy it, at the Amoeba Records site.

If you are not in a place where there’s a Mardi Gras parade today, don’t despair: the New Orleans Times Picayune offers live, streaming webcams from Bourbon Street and other strategic locations.  Go here and look in the box that says “Mardi Gras resources.”

The only other thing you can do to make your Mardi Gras day authentic (besides wearing beads) is to cook yourself a nice Louisiana-style dinner.  Our good friends at Zatarain’s offer a number of recipes for Red Beans and Rice, which is a great New Orleans dish.  Although I don’t know why they present them as “Red Beans and Rice Party Dip” or “Red Beans and Rice Tacos” – maybe to make them more palatable to people up North.  If that’s the case then don’t forget the sour cream, New Yorkers!

Well.  Have a nice Mardi Gras day.  Be sure to get your ashes tomorrow, honor lent and be nice to your brothers and sisters.  Peace, and lassez les bon temps roulet.

YouTube: Preservation, An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall promo

Who Dat?™ Geaux Saints!

Oh yeah … all those years when nobody else cared about the Saints, it was “Who Dat? Nation” and “Who Dat?” dis and “Who Dat?” dat.  Now the NFL is claiming “Who Dat” is copyrighted, or it’s a trademark, or something.  Now that the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl, the NFL is seizing”Who Dat?” – oh wait … “Who Dat?™” – in hopes of feeding its already bloated billion-dollar enterprise.

Who Dat?™ who’s greedy?  The NFL, dat’s Who Dat?™!

In other news, our great friend and awesome photographer Art Meripol sent an e-mail yesterday: he’s on assignment in New Orleans shooting jazz clubs from about now until the middle of next week.  The Super Bowl’s on Sunday, Mardi Gras hits its fever pitch next week (or Sunday if the Saints win), and our buddy’s in the middle of it all.  Nice work if you can get it.

Anyway, the covergence of these great events is convenient … so in the interest of public service, here’s a handful of New Orleans and Louisiana swamp rock songs for your Super Bowl/Mardi Gras party.  You can find many more by going to our “Walkin’ To New Orleans” series, plus we have a handful of Saints fight songs.  Of course, there are beaucoups more Saints fight songs at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.  The Saints, the Colts and the Who are gonna tear it up this weekend … be there, square hair!  Geaux Saints!

MP3: “Party Town” by Bobby Charles

MP3: “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino (Live at Austin City Limits)

MP3: “The Crawl” by Guitar Junior

MP3: “Tell It Like It Is” by Eddie Bo

MP3: “Shake Your Tambourine” by the Neville Brothers (live)

MP3: “Hang ‘Em High” by the Meters

MP3: “Where There’s A Will There’s A Way” by Ernie K-Doe

MP3: “I’m A Fool To Care” by Joe Barry

MP3: “Rockin’ At Cosimo’s” by Lee Allen

MP3: “My Toot Toot” by John Fogerty w/Rockin’ Sidney

MP3: “Down South In New Orleans” by the Band w/Bobby Charles & Dr. John (live)

MP3: “Mardi Gras In New Orleans” by Professor Longhair

MP3: “Don’t Mess With My Popeye’s” by Fats Domino and Doug Kershaw

Walkin’ To New Orleans: Let’s Go To The Mardi Gras!

Ah yes, Mardi Gras.  If this is your first time, welcome.  I remember my first Mardi Gras in New Orleans, back around 1978 or so.  I spent three days and nights there, and when I left I wondered “What the hell just happened?”

Mardi Gras is a party for the best of reasons: to have a party.  Catholics say it’s to get all the deviltry and mischief out of your system before Lent sets in but if you go to New Orleans you get the impression most of these partygoers aren’t worried about sinning, church and stuff like that. 

At Mardi Gras, you drink a lot.  You stand around to yell and grovel for someone to toss you cheap colored beads and worthless coins.  You drink some more.  Women walk up to you and lift up their shirts, and their breasts are painted like big eyeballs.  Prostitutes hit on you, transvestites hit on you, middle-aged male tourists from Des Moines hit on you.  You need to drink some more.

So, as a public service, on the other side of the jump we give you the official 30 Days Out Mardi Gras Party Kit.

Walkin’ To New Orleans: Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras in Mamou (Photos by Art Meripol)

Well, here we are.  Mardi Gras, for all intents and purposes, is New Orleans.  The parades, the beads, the coins, the crowds, the costumes, the bare breasts … ahem, that’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Many places celebrate Mardi Gras around the country – and of course they celebrate “Carnival” in other parts of the world.

My favorite Mardi Gras is the old-timey party they throw in Mamou, Louisiana, a small town in “northern” Cajun country (north of where Interstate 10 crosses the town of Crowley).  They have the traditional Mardi Gras celebration, consisting of a big dance on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, then a “courir de Mardi Gras” the next day.  That’s a sort-of procession where men (traditional) dress up in wild-ass costumes and ride horses (mostly) around to farms in the area, gathering food items for a big community gumbo that night.

My Uncle Harold (Champagne, from near St. Martinville) told me about it once, and I mentioned it to my Port Arthur News partner and ace photographer Art Meripol.  So, very early one morning in 1980, we were in the car headed east with the vague idea that there was some kind of Mardi Gras thing in Mamou.