In a week in which music abounds around town, here’s my list of "Six Top Live Music Peeves." Just to be dramatic, they’re listed in ascending order from No. 6 to No. 1. 6. Performers who introduce one their standards by saying, "This next song goes something like this."We like what Frankie Ford said at the […]
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How Problem Solving Gave the Vieux Carre A FestivalThere are many reasons why festivals are started; an appeasement for ticked off merchants is one of the less romantic explanations. Yet, because of anger that oozed a quarter-century ago, locals were lured to dance in the streets of the Vieux Carre this past weekend.If a […]
How Problem Solving Gave the Vieux Carre A FestivalThere are many reasons why festivals are started; an appeasement for ticked off merchants is one of the less romantic explanations. Yet, because of anger that oozed a quarter-century ago, locals were lured to dance in the streets of the Vieux Carre this past weekend.If a […]
7 Proposed Speech Lines Mayor Ray Nagin is in China this week reportedly to help promote tourism and trade. Since the trip there can be fatiguing and he may not have had time to work on all his comments, we offer these speech lines: On CrimeY’all’s policemen here in Beijing have some nice uniforms although they are […]
Many Jazz Fest visitors not only know what performers they want to hear, they also know exactly what they want to eat when they go to the Fair Grounds Race Course for a day of hanging out with the best of New Orleans. A lot of people won’t call it a day before they get […]
Ed. Note: This is an occasional column by a native New Orleanian on military duty in Iraq. Because of military regulations, he is not able to use his read name. We can tell you that he is a decorated Navy pilot from a prominent New Orleans family. Ihave just passed the two-thirds point of my […]
Research from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans may provide a new way to fight cancer. Dr. Augusto Ochoa, director of the LSU Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, along with his brother, Dr. Juan Ochoa of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, discovered cancer and trauma patients quickly lose Arginine, an […]
Fats Domino has classic performance anxiety,” says a local physician who asked to remain nameless. “I have never treated Fats Domino and have never talked to anyone who has. My diagnosis is based on newspaper accounts of Domino’s failure to appear for gigs over the years,” adds the physician who’s attuned to the local music […]
She died alone, murdered in broad daylight. Now the body of 24-year-old New Orleans Police Officer Nicola Diane Cotton rests in a stone vault at the corner of Greenwood Cemetery, near City Park at Canal Boulevard. A two-year veteran of the NOPD, earlier this year Cotton became the second female officer slain on-duty and allegedly […]
A dozen black angel figurines were the only undamaged items Melrose Biagas found in her office after the levee breaks in 2005. Now those angelic faces watch over her from a new bookcase at James Singleton Charter School, where she directs the education of over 700 students, many still traumatized by the loss of family […]
For close to a half-century, New Orleans has played a key role in the worldwide drama of space exploration. Today, while the space shuttle-related work – for which the local area is best known – winds toward a close, new missions that will include travel to the moon and Mars promise to keep New Orleans […]
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I was a little disappointed last month that none of you sent me a birthday present. Apparently the fact that I didn’t mention my March birth date was somehow involved. Frankly, I expected more from you people. Don’t let it happen again. I take a medium in snowshoes, by the way. MiLa, (Renaissance Pere Marquette […]
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I am standing in the produce section of the Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. in the morning, looking in all directions at once to be sure nobody walks up while my sister-in-law Gloriosa does what she has to do. She is weighing her bosoms, one at a time, on the produce scale.She says, “Two-pound-10 …” and […]
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Anne PrattAnne Pratt is known for her award winning jewelry designs 18k gold and/or sterling silver necklaces, pendants, earrings and rings set with pearls diamonds and semi-precious stones. In addition, her Magazine Street shop offers a variety of iron and glass tables, sconces and decorative accessories. Photo of oval hand carved wood framed mirror with […]
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Sheer navy blue and yellow floral print empire tunic from Ropa; White woven cuff shorts and Gucci chain belt, both from Saks; White and gold dangle earrings and double strand necklace, both from Francesca’s Collections; canary yellow and white bangles from The Red Carpet. Silk, apple green dress with sweetheart neckline and flounced-hem by Oscar […]
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In a week in which music abounds around town, here's my list of "Six Top Live Music Peeves." Just to be dramatic, they're listed in ascending order from No. 6 to No. 1.
6. Performers who introduce one their standards by saying, "This next song goes something like this." We like what Frankie Ford said at the Jazz Fest one year before performing "Sea Cruise," his biggest hit: "This next song does not go something like this, it goes exactly like this."
5. Staging the fake walk-off. You've seen it before. The performer finishes his last number than walks off the stage to wait for the crowd's applause to bring him back for a pre-planned encore. Audiences deserve more respect.
4. Big name performers who don't sing the songs that got them there. Sure they've performed the song a zillion times and they're tired of it, but it's the song we've come to hear. We'll endure the occasional "something new I wrote for my next CD" but give us what we're there for otherwise we could be home listening to the old CD.
3. Lounge acts that have too long of a warm-up before the person you paid to see begins. My suggestion is that the drinks should be free during the preamble until the main attraction takes the stage.
2. Acts that don't start on time. Okay, so they're musicians and they're supposed to be free spirits whose days begin at 3 p.m. But for those of us who're acclimated to conventional hours and who're conditioned to being punctual for appointments, it's no fun waiting for musicians to futz around past the announced time. I was once at a concert that was supposed to begin at midnight on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. At 12:45 a.m., the musicians started tuning their instruments. Somewhere after 1, the performance began. I wasn't there for the end. A few weeks later I saw the musician. When I told him how late his show had started, he hadn't even realized it. Attention musicians! Your audiences live in the real world.
1. Smoke. Some people think that cigarette smoke and nightclubs go together. They do, in the same way that fish and mercury poison go together. The political expression "smoke filled room" originated at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. James Garfield became the compromise choice for his party's presidential nomination after hours of meetings in a Blackstone room where the dealmakers were puffing on stogies. Several years ago I visited the jazz club in the hotel's lobby. A sign announced that smoking wasn't allowed. If they're prohibiting smoking at the original home of the smoke filled room you can sense a trend. Smokeless nightclubs are coming sooner or later. Let's go for sooner.
Okay, enough being grumpy. It's time to relax and listen to good, live music. I just hope the amplifiers aren't too loud.
Let us know what you think. Any comments about this article? Write to elaborde@renaissancepublishingllc.com. For the subject line use MUSIC PEEVES. All responses are subject to being published, as edited, in this newsletter. Please include your name and location.
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