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Photograph by Greg Rhoades

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OK, I know I promised to be done with the VooDoo posts but I forgot about this one and, seeing as how it’s an ongoing story, it doesn’t really count.

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Anyways, if you know anything about brass band music in this city you should know that Derrick Tabb, the snare drummer for Rebirth, was featured on CNN’s Heroes segment for his Roots of Music foundation. The kids that Tabb has worked with over the years were out in full force at VooDoo, performing every day of the event and even finding time to do some marching.

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If you were wondering who all those people with blue signs were that said “Vote Derrick Tabb” and maybe dismissed it as some politician, well, shame on you. This is to make Tabb CNN’s Hero of the Year and everyone should cast their vote immediately. You can vote as many times as you want until 6 a.m. on Thursday November 19. There will also be a tribute to all the Heroes on CNN on Thanksgiving night.

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Rock the vote, New Orleans.

For New Orleans, at least. And let’s be fair: Monday may as well get in on this, too.

One where rock monsters flew, Irish punks fought, fuzzy garage rockers went Pilgrim, psychedelics inspired nudity, and nudity prevailed elsewhere. One where Halloween is mistaken for Mardi Gras. One where fleet-footed athletes outpaced and outjumped real-life ogres and sent an entire city reaching for the Bayer one moment and then damn near burning the place down the next.

You couldn’t have been within city limits this weekend and not been under the spell of the 2009 Voodoo Experience nor the pre-game enthusiasm and post-win ecstasy of the New Orleans Saints victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Here are the moments you may have missed.

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Will did a great job of giving you the rundown on the headlining bands yesterday. I did my best to stay away from the main stages (save for Widespread Panic, whom I had never seen before yesterday). And, this being VooDoo, goign to the secondary stages did not imply seeing second-string acts. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave. rocked their set in front of a more-than-respectably sized crowd that included Troy’s father cousin, Glen David Andrews.

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As you can see, the gathering was also lively in the Preservation Hall tent when Rebirth came into play an hour-plus of non-stop music. They finished their set with red-hot renditions of “Cassanova”, “Do Watcha Wanna” and “Saints Go Marching In” with more than a fair share of “Who Dat?” chants thrown in for good measure.

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For my money, though, Robert Randolph won the evening when he invited all the ladies in the crowd watching him to dance on stage during his rendition of “Hip Shake”. Earlier in the night Randolph and the Family Band payed tribute to Michael Jackson with spot-on, lyric-free renditions of “Thriller” and “Wanna Be Starting Something” while, with the help of Randolph’s younger sister on vocals, converted “Man in the Mirror” into a funky new song all its own.

Photo by Gary Loverde

After a weekend of rain and muck, Voodoo finished with a beautiful day on Sunday and large crowds. The Pogues had posted a missing person announcement on the band Web site as of at least early Sunday morning. Apparently, a binging member was located before the set. But that’s probably par for the course.

More photos after the jump.

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KISS may have lit up the sky with their fireworks but the real history was made inside the Bingo Parlour where Morning 40 Federation played their first live show since Mardi Gras. Joined by Clint Maedgen of the New Orleans Bingo! Show, the Morning 40 boys rocked the tent for an hour-plus long set.

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Of course silliness abounds at all Morning 40 shows and this was no exception. The Halloween crowd really added to the atmosphere and, among all the generic costumes you see every year, there were two that caught my eye.

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I have no idea what these guys were dressed up as but I liked it. Much like this last guy:

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Creativity and effort should always be rewarded. That’s it for now, if you wanna check out a bunch more pics you can head over to my Flickr and see my VooDoo collection. I can see the homestretch, I think we’re gonna make it.

Photo by Gary Loverde

The KISS army was out in force at Voodoo for Halloween. Even the Drive-By Truckers put on the KISS paint. And several other bands costumed as well. Mates of State came as the Captain and Tennille. And Jane’s Addiction came as Jane’s Addiction from 1990, but in a lame, my concert T-shirt is my costume kind of way. KISS also resorted to all its old tricks. Gene Simmons spit fire, played his ax guitar and did the messy bloody tongue thing. But the band otherwise showed little age (Paul Stanley’s voice excepted). And the band wasn’t shy about calling a song from its new album a “classic,” and even flashed the album cover on the video screen and mentioned that it’s available at Walmart.

More photos after the jump.

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There are bingo shows and then there’s the New Orleans Bingo! Show. I’ll take the latter every time. I’ve settled on a genre for them: Neo-Carney Circus Rock. I think that about sums up the insanity that goes up on stage. And off it, on occasion.

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That is a trapeze artist risking her life for the enjoyment of the Bingo Parlour crowd. It was incredible, as most death-defying stunts are (so long as death is, indeed, defied). Other cities may have music festivals, but they sure as hell don’t have the Bingo Parlour, and that’s what makes New Orleans amazing.

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Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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New Orleans also has Irvin Mayfield, which is basically like having access to unadultered bliss any time he performs. He drove the crowd nuts singing “I got your sister in here and you can’t come in/I got your momma in here and you can’t come in.” He’s also meddles with the trumpet (or so I’ve been told).

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It’s a beautiful day in City Park and, aside from a little mud, it’s all close to perfect here. If you’re not here, you should really reconsider your life at the moment.

Photos by Gary LoVerde.

At least visually, Eminem’s set followed a storyline about a homicidal patient escaping a hospital ward. The video intro included a scene of Em gobbling pills. Why there are large kitchen knives in hospitals made less sense, but Em picked up the motif on his T-shirt. More Friday photos after the jump

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Nothing. Rain, though, had something on everyone today. It came, it went, it came again and eventually the darkness drove us back to the car and towards the shelter of the New Orleans Arena. Not before stopping by the Bingo Parlour and seeing a little insanity, though.

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That’s the March Fourth Marching Band. Another fine example of “carny rock” (as I call it) which seems en vogue right now among some New Orleans Bands. Of course the best example is the New Orleans Bingo! Show, but we’ll get to that tomorrow. In terms of live music, whatever you call this genre is quickly becoming a favorite for me.

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Stay cool, people. We’ve only just begun.

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There’s going to be pictures and stories and maybe some sound (alas, not live music. But you can get that right here). Theere’s going to be stories about pictures of people taking pictures and maybe some audio of people talking along with their picture.

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We got in a little late and the crowd is slowly seeping in. You can forget quickly that it’s still early on Friday and we got a long way to go. The bands are rocking and you can’t ask for anything more. Rain has been a blessing, misting the crowds and cooling people down for a few minutes at a time.

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Being up close and personal in the photo pit is fun but we’ll leave the awesome photography to the professionals. This will be just one account of this weekend, let’s hope it all goes OK. Commence freaking.

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