MetaFilter posts tagged with NewOrleans and music

There is a house in New Orleans

growabrain — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 13:36:39 -0800

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one.

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans.

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk.

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun.
The Pirate Bay has a torrent file with 339 covers of "The house of the rising sun" (Excluding one played with Tesla coils). More about oral historian & folklorist Alan Lomax (His YouTube archives were posted here before). An interview with Ted Anthony, author of “Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song.. Also, wikipedia.

Frank Ocean was not the first

filthy light thief — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:29:31 -0800

“I am gay, and I’m proud to be called a gay rapper, but it’s not gay rap. That’s not a genre. My goal is always to make songs that a gay dude or a straight dude can listen to and just think, This dude has swag.... The best thing a song can be called is good.” Rapper/producer Le1f, in a short bio article on Fader, which mentions Le1f being swept up with the "more outlandish" (as Fader writer Alex Frank puts it) House of LaDosha and Mykki Blanco. The Guardian has another piece on the rise of gay rappers, but the Amoeba blog was there first in 2008, covering a bit of the New Orleans sissies. More videos and music directly linked inside (and you can assume the music and videos are NSFW). In the New Orleans Bounce scene, Katey Red, a gay, transvestite MC, was the first artist to perform as an openly gay artist, releasing her album in 1999 (title track). Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby picked up the torch from there. You can dive into the music with 53 minute Sissy Nobby party mixtape, or check out Dre Skull's Sissy Bounce mix. From there, we travel north to Brooklyn. House of LaDosha is a duo who were earlier associated with the witch house sound, as heard in Witches of Bushwick. Dosha Devistation, half of HoLD, released B/M/F, which was less witchy, but still far from mainstream rap styles. Cokeola of HoLD rapped over a Trap Music track from Gunplay, moving from witch house to trap music, more or less. Mykki Blanco is the drag persona of Michael David Quattlebaum Jr.. As Quattlebaum, he wrote a book of poetry, which was passed to Mykki and became an EP that is more punk than hip-hop, though there's something of the latter in Join My Militia a song that clearly displays Blanco's use of "hip-hop as a performance medium." Zebra Katz, stage name of Ojay Morgan, has been big since Rick Owens played the Katz' song on repeat for a Paris fashion show. Katz got to geek out and meet Owens, with the meeting filmed for posterity and education, with Katz mentioning Paris is Burning (wiki; covered previously) as an eye-opening film for him. And that brings us to Le1f, the Manhattan native who started out as a producer, hanging out with Himanshu from Das Racist, and providing the beats for Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (previously). Later, he produced Nasty for Spank Rock (the track featured Big Freedia, to make this whole journey more circular). Le1f then branched out and started rapping, as seen and heard in his debut video, Wut. If the lyrics or their meanings elude you, Rap Genius has you covered. This track is from Le1f's debut mixtape/album, Dark York (Soundcloud stream with individual track downloads, and a link to download the whole thing).

Musical Architecture

umbú — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:31:15 -0800

A wall with large buttons that trigger voices, mellotron-style; An Indonesian gamelan xylophone orchestra played with a arcade game-like control panel; A leslie speaker that amplifies whatever a stethoscope touches. These are just a few of the instruments built into a unique New Orleans musical architecture installation called Dithyrambalina, or simply, The Music Box. Street artist Swoon, installation artist Delaney Martin, and Bounce DJ/producer Jay Pennington (NSFW?) gathered together builders, instrument makers and artists around the theme of musical architecture. An 18th century creole cottage built when New Orleans belonged to Spain provided the lumber and scraps for the project after it fell down next to Pennington’s house. Martin had created large installations that were immersive ‘worlds’ before, but she had never populated them before. Conducted by Quintron, musicians such as Mannie Fresh, Andrew W.K., Thurston Moore, Japanther, Dark Dark Dark, Javelin, Black Dice, Hamid Drake, James Singleton, Dicky Landry, Helen Gillet, Jim White, the Nortec Collective, and many others performed on these new instruments embedded in the floor, walls and ceiling of the village. Diplo and Nicky da B used the site as the backdrop for a recent video (NSFW). Sound man extraordinaire Steven Richardson took on the daunting task of recording the cacophony and made some impressive mixes (scroll down to May 31, 2012 and April 16, 2012).

Drop it drop it drop it drop it

codacorolla — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:59:00 -0800

Hot Potato Style is a video by New Orleans rapper Nicky Da B made with a little help from Jean Luc Picard, Pee Wee Herman, John Stamos, and Charlie Chaplin (among others). Lyrics are probably slightly not safe for work.

Who's got the back that makes the beat go boom?

Kattullus — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:55:31 -0800

Y'all Get Back Now is the joyous new music video from Big Freedia, the Queen Diva of New Orleans Bounce. If Y'all Get Back Now isn't enough for you, there are more videos to watch on her website. [New Orleans Bounce previously on MeFi]

Project Sissy

four panels — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:48:32 -0800

New Orleans Bounce music is here. But, it's always been here, in the projects (nsfw), on the streets (gratuitous).

...like a hurricane...

KevinSkomsvold — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:31:14 -0800

Drugs seeped into the band, and were accompanied by an entourage of lowlifes stuck in a dizzying cycle of despair. Theresa was uninterested in the drug world yet she was too afraid to challenge her situation in her role as backup singer and dependent partner of Osborne. After nine turbulent years, the tension came to a head. Theresa had finally decided to confront Osborne about the drugs during a show at the famed Howlin' Wolf in New Orleans. The conversation predictably turned confrontational and with the usual crowd of partygoers surrounding the backstage area, Theresa snapped. She flung her violin through the window of the club. Glass shattered all over the ground and her violin lay broken beyond repair. It was over. Such is the life, death and the rebirth of accomplished violinist and singer,Theresa Andersson's music career. She came to the USA from Sweden along with her boyfriend Anders Osbourne, a guitar player. Slowly but surely, their relationship fell apart and she found she needed to find her own voice. Beginning with some experimentation with assorted loop pedals and a YouTube video of her showing her act (in her kitchen) and an NPR feature on her and Anders, life has been good for Theresa Andersson. The release of her CD, "Hummingbird Go!" as well as recent concert DVD shot in New Orleans, makes the circle complete. Not to be missed: "Oh Mary" "On Your Way Down" (with Allen Toussaint) "Birds Fly Away" (On Conan O'Brien). (as an aside, she does an awesome cover of "Like a Hurricane" on the documentary "New Orleans - Music In Exile")

Lenny Kravitz crashes the VOP Choir in New Orleans for "Fly Away"

ColdChef — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:44:23 -0800

Let's say that you're Lenny Kravitz and you're relaxing on a balcony in New Orleans when you hear someone singing one of your songs. What do you do? Well, you could always join in. (SLYT)

Who Wants to Be a Winner?

domo — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:54:15 -0800

The New Orleans B!ngo Show is a must see if you are into jazz, 30's gangster movies, the theramin, burlesque, and scary clowns. And of course, bingo. Look behind Door #1 for Clint Maedgen of Preservation Hall Jazz Band fame is the leading man. Yes, they pass out bingo cards at their shows and give out prizes at intermission. Yet they are more than just a gimmick band. They have a trailer. Here they are with the PHJB in Saint James Infirmary. They will soon be touring Australia with, of all people, the Polyphonic Spree. And the obligatory MySpace page. Please be gentle, this is my first post.

Tremé

nola — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:59:04 -0800

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans premieres Thursday, January 29 on PBS. Faubourg Tremé is considered the oldest black neighborhood in America, the origin of the southern civil rights movement and the birthplace of jazz. Trailer for Faubourg Tremé

the psychedelic hoodoo gonna getchoo...

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:06:52 -0800

Just ease on into one of the most laid-back grooves to ever weave its way through a New Orleans junkyard, and join the procession as the estimable Dr. John is led through the rusting automobiles on a mule. After that, you'll be ready to enter the Inner Sanctum of Deep Mystic Hoodoo, with the good Doctor as your intoning, night tripping guide through the Zu Zu Mamou hallucinations. You won't be the same, afterwards...

R.I.P. Willy DeVille

maudlin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:57:20 -0800

Sister Sue, tell me baby what are we gonna do. She said take two candles, and then you burn them out. Make a paper boat, light it and send it out, send it out now ... Willy DeVille (formerly William Dorsay), died of pancreatic cancer on August 6, at the age of 58. So much of his music evoked the languid heat of a city night. This might be a good evening to turn it up loud. His band Mink DeVille played at CBGBs regularly during the rise of NY punk, but they were always more classic rock n roll/soul/blues/Latin than punk (Spanish Stroll; Cadillac Walk; Savoir Faire; Guardian Angel; Mixed Up Shook Up Girl). More people probably know him from the stately, gravellly Storybook Love, his collaboration with Mark Knopfler for the soundtrack of The Princess Bride. After moving to New Orleans in 1988, he continued to produce some really fine music, but most of the world never paid that much attention again. Go here or here to find any of his music that you might have missed. If you want an immediate hit, this YouTube channel has a growing selection of uploads with excellent, detailed commentary. There's a lovely 2006 interview with Willy here. And there's a lavish Wikipedia article on him here.

An American Art Form

netbros — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:06:00 -0800

NEA Jazz in the Schools takes a step-by-step journey through the history of jazz, integrating that story with the sweep of American social, economic, and political developments. This multi-media curriculum is designed to be as useful to high school history and social studies teachers as it is to music teachers. Start with the introductory video to get a feel for the place. The education outline contains five lessons. If you just want to listen, all the music samples are on one page. Perhaps you're more interested in individual artist biographies, or a jazz history timeline. These lessons are designed as units; five units serve as a week-long curriculum. NEW ORLEANS: MELTING POT OF SOUND — Jazz grew out of the African-American community at the turn of the 20th century, a time when blacks were being denied their most basic rights. The music has since become a part of every American’s birthright, a timeless symbol of American individualism and ingenuity, American democracy and inclusiveness. The birthplace of jazz is New Orleans, the most cosmopolitan city in the South. THE JAZZ AGE AND CHICAGO — In the 1920s, jazz spread rapidly all across America. The rise of jazz was part of a new, post–World War I optimism, a prevailing sense that something new was happening, that America was finally breaking from European culture and coming into its own. Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald called the new era the Jazz Age. FROM SWING TO BOP — With the decline in popularity of swing bands and the rise of singers as pop stars, many jazz musicians in the mid-1940s retreated to smaller groups of five or six instruments that were easier to organize, were cheaper to book in clubs, and provided more freedom for individual musicians to express themselves. NEW FRONTIER — The 1960s are virtually synonymous with social and political upheaval in America, and with a popular culture nourished by intrepid experimentation and a rejection of traditional symbols of authority. Of course, in the world of jazz, musicians had already been responding to—and carrying out—upheavals in American society for some time. AN AMERICAN STORY — Jazz is the purest expression of the American spirit—innovative, independent, and, ultimately, revolutionary. The history of jazz is inextricably linked with the political, geographic, and cultural history of America, and to understand the evolution of this music is to grasp the passion and genuine humanity at the heart of American democracy.

Good luck not dancing

2or3whiskeysodas — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:02:48 -0800

At Sammy's at 2016 Main, on September 8, a historic jam session occurred, an impromptu reunion of many of the city of New Orleans's finest musicians. Each player who walked in the door was much more than a mere musician that night -- they were an affirmation of life. Not only did their attendance indicate that they had survived the storm, but their collective presence also indicated that their music would survive, too.
The New Birth Brass Band (and friends) tears it the hell up in downtown Houston post-Katrina. The whole show is great, but if you're short on time, parts one and three are especially smoking.

It’s good to be loved

nola — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:37:29 -0800

In the French Quarters of New Orleans you are very likely to come across various street entertainers. Grampa Elliott is one such performer.

Elliott Small has had a smattering of recordings over the years like the 1976 Malaco record discussed here

Since that time no record lables have produced any of his work that I can find. He spent his time performing on street corners in the Quarter until Katrina, some people feared the worse, but he turned up on Royal street in 2005 no worse for wear. Here is a story by Rick Bragg of the NYT Grandpa Elliot & Stoney B. Born in New Orleans, Grandpa Elliot began his career over 50 years ago, tap dancing on Bourbon Street, and now plays harp and sings harmony on Royal and Toulouse. He joins Chicago “Blues Man” Michael Stone (a.k.a. Stoney B.) and is oftentimes accompanied by Oscar Castro on guitar. Together and singularly, they form formidable singers and musicians, playing everything, as Grandpa puts it, “From A to Z.” It was Stoney who gave Grandpa his nickname (“He’ll give you a nickname too”) and adopted the role of “a nervous, oblivious, snatched off the Nervous Ward and set right down here” bumbler who, with Stoney’s virtuosity on standard blues renditions, is transformed into a perfect savant. Elliot has “done some recordin’ in (his) younger years” with “I’m A Devil and Girls Are Made For Lovin”. He loves the French Quarter and is saddened by the changes that he’s seen. But he maintains his mantra: “To keep me out you’d have to chain me to the outside.”

Do You Like American Music?

Miko — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:54:59 -0800

Sounds of America is a new monthly streaming audio program, a collaboration between the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Global Sound. Up now are 3 episodes: African-American music in New Orleans, Women in American Music, and Freedom Songs of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

A lover of music, with the eye to prove it.

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 06:17:42 -0800

From 1970 to 2004 Michael P. Smith photographed musicians in performance at every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. With an excellent sense of timing, Smith was adept at capturing the ex ul tant, transcend ant musical moment. Whether they be of the very famous or the relatively unknown, his are photographs you can practically hear.

Louis Gottschalk

Gyan — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:22:54 -0800

Louis Moreau Gottschalk - an unjustly forgotten American composer of classical music

Hilton Ruiz is dead.

languagehat — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 06:56:38 -0800

Hilton Ruiz is dead. The wonderful pianist Hilton Ruiz, who "had been in a coma since May 19, when he was found outside a French Quarter bar with severe head injuries," has died in a New Orleans hospital. He'd played with everyone from Freddie Hubbard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk to Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Archie Shepp, and Clark Terry. Sad news, especially coming hard on the heels of the loss of Billy Preston.

Cajun Music MP3s

LarryC — Sat, 06 May 2006 21:29:03 -0800

Cajun Music MP3s, featuring music from the 1920s to 1970s.

The Show Must Go On

Miko — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:24:53 -0800

After the Storm Sometime this weekend, you may be able to hear one of the best expressions of New Orleans’ role in music and culture available in any mass media. It's American Routes, a weekly show carried on many US public radio affiliates. Programmed and hosted by folklorist and UNO professor of folklore and culture Nick Spitzer, the show normally broadcasts from a studio in the heart of the French Quarter, but has found a temporary home on a Creole/Cajun French/English public radio station in Lafayette. Spitzer told the NYT that he began planning the music for this week’s show as he was fleeing the flooding city in his car, playing Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans." This week’s show highlights New Orleans’ recovery from disasters past, emphasizing the city’s role as the greatest single wellspring of American music. The Crescent City, after all, has either birthed or nurtured everything from jazz, R & B, cajun and the related black-influenced zydeco, soul, blues, gospel, and rock and roll.) With an encyclopedic knowledge of American vernacular music, an utterly democratic spirit, and an unmistakeable respect and love for American musical forms and the people who create them, Spitzer has stepped forward several times this week to serve as a compassionate and optimistic spokesman for the irrepressible creative spirit of a suffering city and a culture in diaspora.

Go tell my baby sister never do like I have done...

taz — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 02:34:14 -0800

There is a house in New Orleans... A recent archeological excavation in the French Quarter reveals that a hotel called the "Rising Sun" operating in the early 1800s may have been the ruin of many a poor girl. Clues include suggestive newspaper ads from the period and artifacts such as "a large number of liquor bottles... Alongside... an unusually dense collection of rouge pots". [more...]

Let her go, let her go, God bless her...

languagehat — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 11:50:04 -0800

The story of "St. James Infirmary." You thought it was a piece of old New Orleans? Turns out St. James Hospital was in London (and treated lepers), and the song goes back at least to the 18th century (though it used to be sung to the tune of "Streets of Laredo"). Rob Walker's Letter From New Orleans #13 describes the results of his obsessive researches. If you have more info, he wants to hear from you! (Via Wordorigins, a site any word lover should know.)

Professor Longhair

madamjujujive — Thu, 19 Dec 2002 19:24:42 -0800

"Picasso of keyboard funk" - Professor Longhair would be 84 today if he were still alive. His distinctive meld of boogie woogie, blues, funk and Latin makes for piano that is quintessentially New Orleans...Tipitinas, one of the more famous local music bars, took its name from his signature song. "Fess" was a seminal influence on such musical greats as James Booker, Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Art Neville, Doctor John and Marcia Ball, one of my current favorites. You can hear a few Fess samples from Crawfish Fiesta, arguably his best recording, issued just after he died in 1980. He was inducted in the R&R Hall of Fame as an early influencer in 1993. Happy birthday, Professor!