Locals Rule
This week is a great one for checking out some long-standing and excellent local gigs. The heat is cranking up and the tourists are starting to thin out, which gives us a chance to reclaim a bit of the city for ourselves.
The Maple Leaf
Start your weekend on Thursday with the Johnny Vidacovich led Trio at the Maple Leaf. His rotating cast of guest stars has made for a series of exceptional shows so far this summer. This Saturday the excellent local ensemble Funk Monkey will be cutting a live record on the same stage. Funk Monkey is a supergroup of excellent New Orleans funk and brass masters including Greg Hicks and Bert Cotton (Bonerama), Jason Mingledorff (Papa Grows Funk), Rik Fletcher (Smilin' Myron) on keyboards, David Pomerleau (Johnny Sketch) on bass, and Eddie Christmas (John Cleary) on drums. Individually each of these players are part of projects that sustain the heritage of the New Orleans sound, together they are a conduit for the jam. Add in the fact that everyone brings for live recordings at Maple Leaf and you have the makings of an excellent night.
Tipitina’s
Tomorrow night Tipitina’s continues their excellent summer Free Friday series with Brass-a-Holics and Motel Radio. I love these shows. They are a great chance to hang out with locals at Tips and have a quick drink around some great music. On Saturday Tips turns the stage over to Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns with special guests Trixie Minx, Craig Klein (Bonerama) and the NOLA Chorus Girls. There are too many awesome people wrapped up in this for it not to be a great time.
Tin Men and Walter “Wolfman” Washington
One of my favorite summer traditions is hitting dinner at The Praline Connection (get the meatloaf) followed by back-to-back shows at d.b.a. Wednesday night you can catch The Tin Men followed by Walter “Wolfman” Washington. I love this combo of shows. It is about as New Orleans an evening as you can hope for.
To Do This Week
In addition to what is highlighted above check out RIPS at Siberia tonight. Tomorrow you can catch Snails at Republic. On Saturday the outstanding Rooney will be at Gasa Gasa.
To Listen This Week
- Fun new video from Diet Cig via Youtube
- Four Tet drops a new one via CoS
- Another great new video from Japanese Breakfast
