NMissCommentor » Music

Turner Family fife and drum picnic is Friday and Saturday near Como, Mississippi

NMC — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:28:00 +0000

Scott Barretta writes in the Clarion Ledger:

One of Mississippi’s oldest and most unique musical traditions is the fife and drum picnic, which has traditionally had its strongest roots in Tate and Panola counties. On Friday and Saturday the tradition continues with the Otha Turner Family Goat Barbecue and Picnic in the Como area.

Musicians at the event, which starts both days in the mid-to-late afternoon, include the late Turner’s granddaughter, 19-year-old Sharde Thomas, who now leads his Gravel Springs Fife and Drum Band. Other artists include Kenny Brown, Mark “Muleman” Massey, Blue Mother Tupelo, David Evans and members of the Burnside family.

The African-American fife and drum tradition appears to have developed shortly after the Civil War, though it’s likely its roots stretch back to African-American musicians in the Federal Army. The tradition pre-dates blues, though today the repertoire includes blues standards including Sittin’ On Top of the World and My Babe.

The legacy of Otha Turner, who died in 2003 at 94, is actively celebrated by many members of his family, including his eldest daughter, Betty Turner.

“I’ve been going to these picnics for 65 years,” says Turner. “They weren’t as big as they are now, and before they just had one fife and drum band and it was just locals. Now you’ve got people coming from all over the United States and outside of the country, too.

“I get the chance to see so many people and I love that goat. I don’t get to have goat but once a year.”

The picnic takes place at the former home of Otha Turner on O.B. McClinton Road, just east of Gravel Springs Road in Tate County. Bands play on a makeshift stage, but the highlights are the fife and drum band’s processions through the crowd.

Admission is $2.

If you’ve never been, you should go. Here’s directions courtesy of Kenny Brown’s facebook feed. The Oxford directions will obviously work for anyone coming from the South on I-55 (in which case start the 2 miles on I-55 from the Batesville exit).

Oxford:
Rt 6 to I-55N,
Como exit E on Rt 310 2 miles,
L on Hunter’s Chapel Rd,
N on Hunter’s Chapel 4 miles (Hunter’s Chapel becomes Gravel Springs Rd),
R on O.B. McClinton Rd,
1-2 miles, Otha’s house is on R

Memphis:
I-55 to Sentabobia,
E on Rt 4 about 4 miles,
R on Gravel Springs Rd 3 miles,
L on O.B. McClinton Rd,
1-2 miles, Otha’s house is on the R

Donna’s closes, apparently ending live music on North Rampart in New Orleans

NMC — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:36:49 +0000

Folks who love New Orleans live music (particularly of the brass band sort) probably know about Monday nights at Donna’s, a dive-of-a-bar on North Rampart that for years was a center of the brass band scene there. Donna’s and its near neighbor the Funky Butt made that part of Rampart a major live music destination at the edge of the Quarter.

I’d heard lots of talk that it wasn’t what it had been, but it’s closed now, and apparently neither it nor the Funky Butt (which closed just before Katrina’s, and, in spite of some efforts, has not reopened since) will ever reopen because of city zoning restrictions and political powers who are opposed to live music in that neighborhood.

Here’s what Offbeat reports about the demise of Donna’s:

The last mainstay of live local music on North Rampart Street has closed its doors.

Donna’s Bar & Grill, which has been the home of brass bands for almost 20 years, is closed forever.

“We’re done. We turned in our license,” said Donna Poniatowski, for whom the club was named. “When we went to city hall to turn in the license—which is something you’re required to do—the lady who accepted it even told me, ‘You know, now there won’t be any live music on North Rampart Street.’” Donna’s right to present live music was grandfathered in when the city prohibited new Mayoralty licenses (that allow live music). The other establishment that was grandfathered in was the Funky Butt, which closed prior to Katrina.

Donna and her husband, Charlie Sims, opened Donna’s because of their love for local music. Charlie cooked for crowds of people who loved his red beans and rice and barbecue, and in recent years Charlie ran the club. Donna has been teaching for several years since Katrina, full-time, at schools in Florida, and commuted to and from New Orleans. She told OffBeat in June that while the club took its usual summer hiatus, she was returning home for good because she’d managed to get a teaching position at the University of New Orleans. “I was on my way to New Orleans to sign the contract, and that’s when the [teaching] cuts were made by our ‘wonderful’ governor,” she said. Charlie, who’s now 75, experienced some serious health problems earlier this year.

But according to Donna, the main reason they decided to shut down the club is because of the condition of the building. “The building is in horrible shape,” she said. “We rent the property and couldn’t see investing thousands of dollars into a building that wasn’t ours. With all the rain we’ve had this year, the roof leaks and the ceiling is about ready to fall in. We just couldn’t see putting money into a building we didn’t own. We’ve had so many problems over the years, and the landlord just wasn’t interested in keeping up the building. So while it was a hard decision to shut down Donna’s, we just decided it was not in our best interests, given Charlie’s health and the condition of the building, which is just getting worse. We just couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over the business, either. I asked Charlie if he wanted to try to find a new location, but his health problems and the fact that I’m in Florida was too difficult, so we both decided that we’re done,” she said. “We’re going to relax and enjoy each other’s company!”

Interestingly, the Funky Butt, which is owned by the same landlord (Cahn Enterprise), closed for the same reason. Sammie and Shanekah Williams were operating the Funky Butt prior to Katrina, but decided to close the business because the building was “falling apart” and needed a totally new HVAC system, which the landlord would not replace. Just prior to Katrina, the Williamses were trying to relocate the Funky Butt to Frenchmen Street, but Katrina squashed that effort.

After Katrina, another operator attempted to reopen the Funky Butt as a music venue but was prevented from doing so because he could not get the proper licenses to allow live music. The same will now apply to any operator who’d want to reopen Donna’s as a music club. So it appears for now—unless the city steps up to the plate and revamps the zoning on North Rampart Street—that music on the historic street that runs next to Armstrong Park and Congo Square is a thing of the past.

From our standpoint, this appears to be a serious problem for the music scene in New Orleans and for the attempts to re-establish North Rampart as a street that permits and honors local traditional music. We’ve discussed this issue many times online and in the pages of OffBeat, and suggest that the property owners on North Rampart and in the historic areas of the city need to be held accountable for their neglect of their properties. It may not be unlawful to let the interior of an historic property fall into ruin—as long as the façade appears to be intact; it may not be unlawful to enter into a lease with a tenant who can’t afford to make structural repairs to a building that produces income and supports the city’s cultural health and economy. But both actions seem to us to be morally reprehensible and, in fact, ultimately damaging to New Orleans’ historic nature and to the city’s culture.

It’s still hard to believe that a city like New Orleans, known for its music, would not take proactive action to create music venues dedicated to indigenous music, such as jazz and brass bands. Are we a music city or aren’t we?

A New York Times travel piece from 2001 describes Monday nights at Donna’s:

My doubts about New Orleans evaporated on my first night. It was a Monday, and friends who know the city had ordered me straight to Donna’s Bar & Grill, a modest- looking club on North Rampart Street, which forms the northern border of the French Quarter. The club, appropriately enough, is across the street from Armstrong Park, which is worth visiting not just because of its statues of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Part of the park is also the former Congo Square, in the early 19th century the first place in the United States where slaves were allowed to congregate, sing and dance, and thus one of the venues where African-American music began to emerge. Once considered unsafe, Armstrong Park has been cleaned up and is now used for public events during the day and locked at night.

For more than a year, Monday nights at Donna’s, a midsize room with a bar along one side, have been the domain of Bob French, scion of a local family with a long jazz history, and his Original New Orleans Tuxedo Jazz Band. When I arrived, there was not a tuxedo in sight, but the place was full of deeply appreciative pilgrims who had come from as far as Canada, France, New Zealand and Japan.

Mr. French runs the band from his seat behind the drum set, and he has put together an ensemble of young players who manage the difficult trick of remaining faithful to New Orleans jazz traditions while still embracing new musical ideas. Anyone who thinks that the jazz played in this city is sterile, that it was left in the dust of the bebop revolution a half-century ago, should go to Donna’s on a Monday night.

Several of the players in the version of Mr. French’s shifting band that I heard — among them the trumpeter Leon Brown, also known as Kid Chocolate, and the pianist Davell Crawford, both of whom double as vocalists — proved extravagantly talented no matter where in musical history they stopped, from “Amazing Grace” to “C. C. Rider.” Kid Chocolate’s rendition of “Black and Blue” was the most soulful I have ever heard. ….

The two live music clubs of recent memory in that area– Donna’s and the Funky Butt are now apparently gone for good thanks in part to city zoning rules that bizzarrely enough prohibit live music at what has to be considered one of the most (if not the most) important neighborhoods in the history of jazz. A piece about this controversy in the Times Picayune has a quote that gets it right:

Famed New Orleans producer Cosimo Matassa once operated J&M Studios, which recorded the likes of Aaron Neville and Fats Domino, in the 800 block of North Rampart Street. He calls the lack of entertainment licenses on the street “anti-historical.”

More from the piece with the Cosimo Matassa quote is below the fold.

Debates about the future of North Rampart have long turned on a single issue: live entertainment. Business owners have repeatedly advocated more live entertainment on the street, but City Council members, led by current City Council President Jackie Clarkson, have refused, saying that loud music would alienate French Quarter residents.

Currently, North Rampart is designated as a mixed-residential and commercial zone, with businesses largely banned from obtaining licenses that would allow live music. While institutions such as Donna’s have been able to wiggle past these restrictions because of their long history of featuring music, other business owners have been largely unsuccessful in gaining permission to showcase live music.

Ritter said the council’s refusal is hurting the street, where music establishments helped usher in a new generation of New Orleans jazz in the 1970s.

“Bars and clubs are about the only things that work around here,” he said.

Ritter tried to resurrect the Funky Butt as a music club in early 2005 but ran into problems when the City Council opposed it. His plans were later washed away when Hurricane Katrina struck. …

In defense of the Main Street group’s opposition to such clubs, Klein said entertainment corridors drive down the quality of life in neighborhoods.

“It might end up as low-end nighttime economy. I think we can see what happened to Bourbon Street,” she said.

Michael Martin, who has lived in the area for years and recently began managing the Voodoo Mystique bar, doubts a real revival will be successful on North Rampart without more bars and clubs.

“If a residential area can co-exist with Creole restaurants, spiritual temples and peculiar bars, then yes, this street will be successful,” he said. “But it’s long odds.”

James Brown? James Brown!

NMC — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:03:12 +0000

That would be Arlen Specter and James Brown. Even weirder than the combination (well, perhaps even weirder) was the occasion. Any guesses?

The title is from an annoyingly catchy song I hesitate to directly post here. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go to about 2:15 in this video. Who needs to think when your feet just go?

Here’s a bonus.

What does it say about American culture that there’s an eternal fascination about the photo of Nixon with Elvis, but not hardly any about this one?

The Bridge at Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

NMC — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:23:53 +0000

A pleasant day of knocking around Breaux Bridge: Some fine zydeco from Leroy Thomas at brunch at Les Cafes Des Amis ( and two kinds of gumbo– with potato salad for adding, plus turtle soup, barbecue shrimp, and crab cakes. Here are two questions: First, neither the okra and shrimp gumbo nor the turtle soup had a sign of tomatoes in them. This was particularly interesting with the turtle soup, which was really about turtle meat and had a really nice, country, game taste that was well set off by the sherry, and not at all like what you’d get in New Orleans. So the first question is for confirmation that the lack of tomatoes in all three soups is characteristic of Cajun cooking, and for follow up, why would that be? Second question, a much bigger puzzlement: Why were the only musician pictures on the walls or columns in Les Cafes Des Amis two framed pictures of– get this– Peter, Paul and Mary?), some antiquing, and iced coffee and a Cajun music jam session in the Coffee Break.

Above, an initial experiment with the camera on the iPhone 4. So far so good. Even tried some video, but have to learn to edit it before I show a sample.

And only 4 dropped calls in 2 days (4!? Apparently, as a lefty, I’m particularly vulnerable. I’m going to try the free bumper). So far, though I really like the phone. Big improvement in the map application I think, and I’ve put like 2500 more songs on it already.

Tonight– the Blue Moon Cafe and the Pine Leaf Boys.

Lil’ Dave Thompson has died in a car accident on the road

NMC — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:36:27 +0000

Scott Barretta reports the death of Leland blues musician Dave Thompson in an automobile accident in South Carolina:

I received the terrible news today that Delta blues guitarist and vocalist Lil’ Dave Thompson died early this morning in an automobile wreck. According to a news report, he died in Aiken County, SC when the van in which he was traveling lost control on I-20 around 6am.

Lil’ Dave was one of the most talented of the younger blues artists in Mississippi. His father was a bluesman, and as a teenager he began working with Greenville’s Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes. He recorded his first CD for the Fat Possum label when he was in his ’20s, and I recall seeing him on one of their early Fat Possum Caravan tours along with R.L. Burnside. For the last decade Dave spent most of his time out on the road, both across the nation and abroad. Looking over his schedule at his website, it appears as though he played over 200 dates a year, and he was scheduled to tour for a week in Romania next week.

As a result we didn’t see him here in MS too often, though he did seem to keep a busy schedule when he was at home. He was a regular performer at the annual Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland as well as at informal event in Holly Ridge the following day. I always enjoyed talking to Dave about his travels, and had fully expected that he would have been an integral part of the Delta scene for decades to come.

Here’s some biographical information from his website:

David Lonzo Thompson was born in Hinds County, Mississippi May 21, 1969. Lil Dave’s exposure to music came early and has always been a way of life. His father, the late Sam Thompson played with Willie Foster, Asie Payton, Paul Wine Jones, Eddie Cusic, James Son Thomas and others.

Lil Dave’s list of influences reads like an anthology of the blues. His family was burned out in legendary Moorhead, MS (Where the Yellow Dog Crosses the Southern) and moved to B.B. Kings hometown of Indianola, MS. But it was in Leland, MS, (Hellhole of the Delta) and home of James “Son” Thomas and other blues legends that Dave, at the age of 14, formed his first band. He, along with drummer, Dell Cusic and bass player, Allen Hite called themselves The Delta Blues Band. As a teenager, Dave played with various blues, Rand B, Reggae, and gospel bands in the delta area until he met and toured with the late Booba Barnes in 1990. …

A third or fourth generation Mississippi delta blues guitarist and vocalist, Thompson has come full circle with the blues. He has lived it, learned it and now seems to appreciate the rich legacy and his responsibility to the blues, this region and his fellow blues artists, past, present and future.Mississippi guitarist/vocalist Dave Thompson returns to recording with a bang after a six-year hiatus. In 1996 he burst onto the scene with his Fat Possum debut, then quickly disappeared. Now he’s re-emerged with a 14 song slab of modern, original soul-blues that are remarkable mature for a player under 35. His visceral, unvarnished music exude swagger, and there’s plenty of variety: shuffles, slow blues, junk, Southern strollers, and even a light jazz instrumental.

Here’s some video of him from 2008.

Click here to view the embedded video.

New Sunday Night Juke in Holly Springs

NMC — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:05:43 +0000

Sunday night was when Junior Kimbrough’s various jukes were open. The last was in Chulahoma on State Highway 4, and burned down ten years ago. Scott Barretta reports on his blog that for the last few months there’s been a new Sunday night juke at The Hut in Holly Springs:

The Hut is housed in an erstwhile American Legion Hall west of downtown on West Valley Avenue just west of Boundary Street. The easiest way to get there is to take 7 into downtown, and turn left on West Valley just after you pass Annie’s soul food restaurant.

The regular band is led by Junior Kimbrough’s son Robert Kimbrough, who is the younger brother of musicians Kinney and David Kimbrough. He’s a bassist and vocalist, and when I visited a couple weeks ago his music seemed to be shaped by his guitarist leaning towards funk and soul-blues…

There’s more about the place on Scott’s blog, along with photos by Jamison Hollister, and a video of Junior in the place in Chulahoma.

“Which makes me now to lament and say, pity the fate of young felons all…”

NMC — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:59:54 +0000

This cheery ballad, whose narrator takes up a life of crime and lives to regret it came up on the iPhone in the Watersons version, which I could not find online, and so I’ll post the video of Richard Thompson doing it, along with an mp3 of the Watersons’ version.

This one’s for Matt and all my other readers in pubic defender’s offices.

I don’t think I’ve ever posted much folk music, which is one of my loves. Here’s two. It’s been a while since I’ve done an mp3– let me know if it works.

Watersons, Adieu Adieu

Click here to view the embedded video.

Will Shade and Charley Burse of the Memphis Jug Band musicians on film…

NMC — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:21:57 +0000

Here are two of the best prewar Memphis jug band musicians, Charlie Burse and Wil Shade, doing “Kansas City Blues” for a 1958 television special called “Blues Street”

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Django was music made into a man.’

NMC — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:20:14 +0000

There’s a wonderful NPR story about the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s birth. Here’s a film of him in the best possible setting, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Watch his chording hand– he’s only using two fingers, because of an accident in a fire that could have ended his caree

Click here to view the embedded video.

For another film clip of him him playing, check out the top one on this post–the clip of Django is in the middle.

Memphis Local TV: “MPD Investigating Jay Reatard’s Death As Homicide”

NMC — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:24:47 +0000

The headline, quoted above, tells the whole story:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis Police are searching for a possible suspect in Wednesday’s death of Memphis musician Jay Reatard at his Cooper-Young home.

Officers were called to the 900-block of Meda around 3:30am and found 29-year old Jimmy Lindsey, Jr., also known as Jay Reatard, dead on arrival. The Homicide Bureau is handling this as an ongoing investigation.

Here’s some of the New York Times obituary;

With a discography of 22 albums and more singles than even he could keep accurate count of, Mr. Lindsey was a creative tornado. And while his aesthetic was deliberately rough — he favored corrosive blasts of guitar and simple smacks on the drums, usually recorded by Mr. Lindsey alone with the most minimal equipment — his facility with sweet melodies and his concise, economical songwriting style earned him wide respect among critics and fans.

Mr. Lindsey was born in Lilbourn, Mo., and moved with his family to Memphis when he was 8; his precociousness as a teenage noisemaker got the Lindseys ejected from more than one address. “We’d stay three to six months in a place, and they’d make us move ’cause he wouldn’t turn that volume down,” his father, Jimmy Lindsey, said. “They even said, ‘Don’t worry about the lease, just go.’ ”

With help from members of the Oblivians, a proudly sloppy veteran Memphis garage-rock band, Mr. Lindsey started his recording career at 15 and released music with numerous bands, including the Reatards, the Lost Sounds, the Bad Times and the Final Solutions. By the mid-2000s he had established a reputation in the rock underground for his songwriting skill and devotion to do-it-yourself production methods, as well as for a sometimes belligerent stage manner.

Mr. Lindsey began to reach a wider audience in 2006 with his first solo album, “Blood Visions” (Fat Possum), and in recent years he continued to produce music at a rapid pace. “Few indie-rockers have ever been on a roll like this,” Spin magazine said in a review of his latest album, “Watch Me Fall,” released in August on Matador Records, a trend-setting independent label in New York. …

Mr. Lindsey’s productivity was a source of as much admiration as curiosity in the music press, and he was often asked to explain his compulsion to create so much music so quickly.

“I’m just trying to get the idea out before the inspiration is gone,” he said. “Everything I do is motivated by the fear of running out of time.”