I’d been hearing rumors circulating for a while that Matt Russell, otherwise known as 86′d Productions (the gentleman who brings you five-band-strong punk and metal bills at the Saturn Bar on weeknights) was planning a Jazz Fest-time blowout. Today, I saw the poster (above) and realized it was booked… and that it’s called “Jazz Fest.”

Detail of the info for the “metal tent” behind the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

When I noticed the BONO Blog now has identifying tags for “TV” and “Nostalgia,” I couldn’t help sharing this vintage gem, especially in light of Eddie Bo’s recent passing. Seafood mogul Al Scramuzza, seen here in one of his iconic homemade commercials (with lagniappe commentary from Ronnie Virgets), could have happily been assured a place in the pantheon of New Orleans characters just for those. However, back in the day, Scramuzza was also the man behind the local indie label Scram Records - for whom Eddie recorded several songs in the ’60s, including his famous track “Hook and Sling.” The story goes that Eddie got the song’s title from Scramuzza himself, or at least from directions the fish man gave to workers who were unloading crawfish at his stores: “First you hook ‘em, then you sling ‘em.” Anyway, enjoy.

This is the side of the Hot Food Express, a truck that usually parks on S. Clark St. near Canal. It’s never open. One would have thought that the kosher pig lips would have business swarming in…

A sweet tidbit of graffiti on the ice machine outside Jimmy’s Grocery at Dauphine and France Streets in the Bywater.

A memorial event for Eddie Bo is planned for Wednesday, April 1 at the old Mid-City Lanes Rock n’Bowl at 4133 S. Carrollton Avenue. No formal service will take place. There will be live music, food and drink from 2 p.m. till 5 p.m.

A memorial fund has been established in Eddie’s honor. Donations can be sent care of Eddie Bo Memorial Fund, PO Box 57175, New Orleans, LA 70157-7175.

New Orleans piano legend Eddie Bo has passed away at age 78. Spokesperson Karen Hamilton confirmed that the musician died late Wednesday night of a massive heart attack. No funeral arrangements are available to the press at this time.

Bo, whose real name was Edwin Bocage, was a fantastically versatile pianist whose skills created the bridge between New Orleans R&B and funk. He was less known for his contributions as a producer. Signed to Joe Ruffino’s Ric label in 1959, Eddie Bo scouted, arranged, produced and wrote for artists there including Irma Thomas, Tommy Ridgely, Robert Parker and Johnny Adams. A jack of all trades, Bo even built a small studio for Ruffino behind his office. In the early ‘60s, Bo recorded for several labels, including Scram, Rip, and the visionary AFO records (the AFO Combo backed him on his local dance hit “Check Mr. Popeye,”) sometimes using the alias ‘Roy Ward’ or recording with Chris Kenner, ‘Candy Phillips’. He eventually signed to Joe Banashak’s family of labels in 1966, where he produced artists including Art Neville and Oliver Morgan.

After over a year’s hiatus from the airwaves, the beloved WWOZ DJ Billy Delle will return to the Wednesday night slot he held on WWOZ since the early ’80s.

Over twenty-plus years of broadcasting his Records From The Crypt show - three hours of obscure “scratchy 45’s,” as he called them, of New Orleans rhythm & blues from the ’50s - Delle won legions of fans locally and internationally as a valuable repository of New Orleans music knowledge. The New Orleans native interspersed his playlists with entreaties delivered in a heavy New Orleans accent to “open your windows, open your doors - and let the music flow out into the street,” plus uniquely personal memories and stories about a local music culture gone by.

Delle (pictured above with Earl Stanley at the old WWOZ studio in Armstrong Park) is a Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee and the first recipient of WWOZ’s “Guardian of the Groove” award, given at Gambit’s annual Big Easy Awards ceremony to honor a WWOZ volunteer.

I have a slightly personal interest in Delle’s return. For about 90% of the Wednesdays since Billy took his break, I subbed for him on the air, madly trying to cobble together sets of vintage New Orleans R&B and fielding phone calls from confused and sometimes annoyed fans wondering where their favorite DJ was.

So this Wednesday at 7 p.m., as the OZ spring fund drive ends, turn your radios up for Billy - and when your neighbors ask what you’re listening to, you can say “Say, Slick. I’m listening to WWOZ… and those records from the crypt.”

This Bywater resident (Dauphine between Poland and Lesseps) apparently thought the city-posted sign below his own creation just didn’t pack enough oomph. The block did look pretty tidy.

Ninth Ward weirdoes Q and P have taken off for their first Australian tour as of last weekend, leaving behind the first music video from their 2008 Goner Records album Too Thirsty For Love. Shot on Halloween night at One Eyed Jacks and around the French Quarter, it features promoter Matt Russell dressed as Chris Owens, some scary puppets, and a guy wearing one of those shirts with Obama standing next to Martin Luther King on it. Watch it here.

Visitation will take place from 2-7 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, February 27, at Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge at 1500 N. Claiborne Ave, and also from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, February 28, at the St. James Methodist Church at 1925 Ursulines Ave.

Following an 11 a.m. funeral service, Mrs. K-Doe will be taken in a procession from the church on a route to be determined. A repast will follow at Mid-City Lanes Rock n’Bowl, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., from 2:30-6:30 p.m.

Donations to Mrs. K-Doe’s memorial fund will be accepted at Metairie Bank, 2341 Metairie Road, Metairie, LA 70001. Checks can be made payable to Antoinette K-Doe Memorial Fund.

“Teenage Antoinette - you can’t break her yet.”