Music

The Original Meters take The Howlin’ Wolf New Orleans stage

by Jenny Bravo on February 1, 2012

New Orleans funk band The Original Meters returns in their first club show performance in over 30 years, set to play The Howlin’ Wolf New Orleans. Their smooth sounds integrate a soulful blend of percussion, guitar and organ, a recognizable mix popular in the 70s. Their achievements include featuring as a backing band for musicians like Paul McCartney and Robert Palmer, and inspiring a following in later hip-hop and funk circles.

New Orleans notables come together again with principles Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, and George Porter Jr. to celebrate the famous beats in their hometown. On May 5, they will be joined by New Orleans funk band Papa Grows Funk as well as Grammy-Nominated Rebirth Brass Band on the Howlin’ Wolf stage. Tickets go on sale February 3 for $70, and can be purchased at TheHowlinWolf.com or at the Howlin’ Wolf Den.

Source: The Howlin’ Wolf

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Kreayshawn at the Varsity

by Elizabeth Glauser on December 30, 2011

A few months after her energized Voodoo debut, rapper Kreayshawn will return to the Bayou State to perform for Baton Rouge at the Varsity Theater, Saturday, January 28. Presented  by College Kid Dreams, the night will feature an opening set by DJ Triz-A and an after party with DJ Digital.

The California native became a YouTube success with her memorable hit “Gucci Gucci,” catching the attention of several record labels as well as an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best New Artist. The track and its accompanying music video have reached over 20 million hits on the video site since its debut in May.

22-year-old Kreayshawn already has godfather status with her music group the White Girl Mob, featuring fellow female  performer V-Nasty. She has also collaborated with fellow California rapper Lil B, even serving as a director for some of his music videos.

For tickets to see Kreayshawn live, visit varsitytheatre.com, call 800-594-TIXX or in purchase them in person at the The Chimes.

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VIDEO: Scene Magazine presents “A Film/Fashion Affair”

by Arthur Vandelay on December 21, 2011

With the fall ushering in NOLA Fashion Week and the 2011 New Orleans Film Festival, Scene Magazine hosted an exclusive soiree at Second Line Stages to celebrate. Tucked away in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District, the invitation-only affair gave a special crowd of nearly 2000 guests a sneak peek behind the walls of the Crescent City’s only built-for-purpose soundstage facility, where sets for Quentin Tarantino’s new film Django Unchainded are under construction.

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Essence Fest at center of legal dispute with BET

by Arthur Vandelay on November 4, 2011

The Essence Music Festival is at the center of a legal dispute between the BET Network and TV One. The celebration of African-American culture takes place over Independence Day weekend in New Orleans every year, featuring music performances by high profile entertainers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, along with panels and other showcases at New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Essence Fest 2011 featured Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson and the newly reunited New Edition.

According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s legal blog, TV One claims to have purchased the exclusive rights to broadcast both Essence Fest 2010 and 2011, only to have those rights infringed upon by BET, who aired 2010 Essence Fest performances directly across from TV One’s airing of the 2011 festival.

For a more comprehensive description of the allegations, visit THR Esquire for a full rundown.

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The Voodoo Doctor: A Q&A with Stephen Rehage

by Micah Haley on October 25, 2011

The first Voodoo Experience was held on Halloween in 1999, a ritual ushering in the new millennium. A ritual reviving ancient histories. For the last fourteen years, founder Stephen Rehage and his staff at Rehage Entertainment have summoned the best in expression, new and old. He spoke with Scene in advance of the ritual’s return to City Park this Friday.

MH: Halloween, music and New Orleans seem like such a natural fit for each other. It’s hard to imagine that less than fifteen years ago, there was no Voodoo! What was the creative and entrepreneurial reasoning behind that first Halloween in 1999?
SR: I have been asked this quite a bit, as it truly does seem that New Orleans and Halloween weekend make a perfect match.  The weather is cooling down. Our site is surrounded by two hundred year old oak trees and beautiful bayous, all five minutes away from some of the greatest music venues in the world. Recently I found a folder that contained my notes for the concept of Voodoo and at the top was a quote I had found by jazz musician Sidney Bechet. It became the foundation of everything I wrote after that, ultimately the underlying premise on which all my decisions for the past thirteen years have been made. The quote: “My grandfather, that’s about the furthest I can remember back. Sundays when the slaves would meet – that was their free day – he beat out rhythms on the drums at the square, Congo Square they called it. He was a musician. No one had to explain notes or feeling or rhythm to him. It was all there inside him, something he was always sure of.” In short, that is what Voodoo has meant to me. Telling the story of the rhythms of that drumbeat heard in Congo Square and how it can still be heard in many versions of modern music…it was something I was always sure of. It felt right in 1999 when it started. It felt right when we decided to produce the 2005 event after Katrina.  And it feels right today as we prepare for next weekend.

MH: While I love seeing legendary and contemporary favorites alike at the fest, Voodoo Experience is also, by leaps and bounds, the festival that has introduced me to more new music than any other. Talk about the process that your team goes through to capture so many great new sounds that will be well known in a year or two.
SR: Ha! This may be the best-framed question anyone has every asked me, thank you. The fact that the mixture of African, European and Caribbean traditions has made New Orleans a unique musical and cultural melting pot affords us the opportunity to embrace many different musical forms. Being in such a liberal environment, one in which music is the epicenter of its culture, allows for us to base the process of developing an “Experience” – which is why it’s not called a “fest” – it’s all based on discovery. The team – a very small talented group of people – involved in the process is very much true to this concept of discovery. And not only the new sounds, as you described it, but the artists who have influenced the new sounds. Every successful artist has a muse, and it gets interesting when you can put both the artist and their muse on the same stage. Continue reading…

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Girl Talk at Voodoo Fest 2011

by Jacob Peterman on October 24, 2011

“People are just very used to the idea of recycled content all over YouTube and everywhere,” says Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, the gold standard of music mash-up makers. “Every time a Lady Gaga song comes out, there’s a thousand remixes within the next week. There’s just constant recycling of media to make something new. So I do think the discussion and the general perspective from the world has changed a bit on it, which has been refreshing. I do think I got lucky – the timing with this project and when it did happen – to become popular. Because there’s lots of performers, doing pioneering work in this world who had issues, from Danger Mouse to John Oswald to the whole hip hop gang in the 80s and 90s.”

A favorite topic of entertainment law blogs, his music continues to garner media attention as a copyright controversy, but Gillis has yet to be sued. “I think that the labels know that someone’s going to create something out of this. It’s not gonna really impact the sales of our artists; it’s just gonna help spread the word. I think that’s definitely where my music stands and in no way would I ever hope that the stuff I make would be competition for anyone, and if that was the case, I feel like I would be failing at what I’m trying to achieve musically.”

Using only a laptop, Gillis draws upon music from decades past, recycling other artists’ songs to create innovative dance-demanding compilations. Listening to one song asks the listener to recall around thirty songs, each an exercise in what’s changed – and what hasn’t – in a half century of modern music. “I think for a lot of people who have never heard of it, it is an audio collage and that’s what it’s intended to be,” says Gillis. “I feel like most people are familiar with the idea of a visual collage and to me the ultimate goal is to make a very detailed, elaborate audio collage that definitely is built out of other things and you can recognize all the source material but hopefully the overall picture is I think entirely new.” Continue reading…

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Editor’s Picks – September 2011

by Micah Haley on August 26, 2011

September brings the much-anticipated return of football, with the Saints and Tigers in full bloom. And of course, there’s a full selection of film and music. Click the links to buy tickets and watch trailers.
9.01.11 – Red State on VOD - Director Kevin Smith’s self-distributed independent film.
9.02.11 – Shark Night 3-D in theaters  - Shot in Shreveport.
9.02.11 – Smokey Robinson at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Hotel 
9.03.11 – LSU vs. Oregon  - Like the Chinese, I have my own calendar. And the new year begins with this game.
9.06.11 – X-Men: First Class on DVD - An excellent film that far exceeded my expectations. What could have been a derivative sequel is quick-paced and smart, with an excellent score.
9.06.11 – Mos Def at House of Blues - It’s Mos Def!
9.08.11 - Saints at Green Bay Packers 
9.08.11 – Katy Perry  - Yes, I’m a fan!
9.09.11 – Contagion in theaters - Director Steven Soderbergh’s film that essentially picks up where Rise of the Planet of the Apes left off. While the premise seems like its from the mid-1990s, everything Soderbergh does is refreshing.
9.09.11 – Warrior in theaters 
9.09.11 – 12 Stones at The Varsity 
9.13.11 – Thor on DVD 
9.15.11 – LSU vs. Mississippi St. 
9.16.11 – Drive in theaters - Director Nicholas Winding Refn is among the most exciting young directors working today.
9.16.11 – Straw Dogs in theaters - Shot in Shreveport, the remake of Sam Peckinpah’s classic that starred Dustin Hoffman.
9.24.11 – LSU at West Virginia
9.24.11 – Hanson at House of Blues  Scene‘s designer Erin Theriot says you should grow your hair out and go.
9.28.11 – Blondie at Mahalia Jackson Theater 
9.28.11 – Explosions in the Sky at Tipitina’s - The great Texas instrumental rock band whose music scored most of Friday Night Lights. Daily listening at Scene Magazine headquarters.
9.30.11 – Dream House in theaters  
9.30.11 – 50/50 in theaters

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Novatour De Force

by Susan Ross on August 22, 2011

After years of success catering Louisiana’s film incentive programs to producers, entrepreneur Will French is expanding into the music industry with Novatour, a joint venture between his Film Production Capital and SMG, one of the world’s largest stadium and arena management companies. “We have been utilizing the tax incentive structure in Louisiana to provide financing to films since the very early days,” says French. “So when the live performance tax credit, which was originally called ‘Broadway South,’ came into the scene, I was curious to see what was going to be done with it, if anything.”

Though the live performance incentive program’s original moniker suggested Tennessee Williams and Sweeney Todd, the scope of the offering would soon encompass live musical performances as well theatrical productions like The Addams Family. “Honestly, when the law was enacted, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense and I didn’t see a way to use it. Then, they changed it in 2009 to have it apply to live performances and touring live performances, and so that caught my attention,” says French. “I started thinking, ‘If there is a way that we can get national concert tours to originate in Louisiana, to rehearse in Louisiana and use Louisiana vendors to service that tour as it goes around the country, then we can provide a good bit of funding for those tours just like we do for film.’”

While French’s Film Production Capital had many connections in the film industry and could offer both an understanding of Louisiana’s tax incentives and substantial amounts of financing, he needed allies in the music touring industry. “The problem that I had was I knew that I could put these deals in place, and I knew that I could provide a substantial amount of funding for a concert tour using a program like this, but I didn’t really know how to get to all of the decision makers on the concert tours,” says French. “So, in December of last year, I sent an email to Doug Thornton with SMG.” SMG manages many of the major properties in Louisiana that serve as venues for major live music shows, including the New Orleans Arena, Louisiana Superdome, Bossier City’s CenturyLink Center, the Baton Rouge River Center Arena, The Shreveport Convention Center and more. “I sent him a note that this may sound like a crazy idea,” recalls French, “But here’s something that I’m contemplating: providing this funding to concert tours using this incentive program. And, I got an email back very quickly, within twenty minutes or so, and his response was, “Your timing is uncanny. We’ve been talking about this internally for several weeks and the one thing we can’t figure out is how to do the tax credit financing.” The partnership that emerged was Novatour.

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Mary J. Blige: Soul of Ages

by Susan Ross on August 17, 2011

Multi-talented falls woefully short of describing Mary J. Blige. In her nearly two-decade career, the versatile soul songstress has received ten Grammy Awards and recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and last summer, she launched her first perfume through Carol’s Daughter.

Still an active performer, Blige followed Trey Songz and the newly reunited New Editon to close out Essence Music Festival 2011. “I’m excited just to be here at Essence Fest,” she told Scene of being in New Orleans prior to taking the mainstage. “It’s always fun. Though, I don’t think I can remember a time when [visiting New Orleans] wasn’t for business.”

Blige has had a steadily increasing presence in the world of film, like many of her music generation. The soul singer/songwriter’s first Grammy came for “I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By,” her 1995 duet with Method Man, who stars in the forthcoming New Orleans-shot supernatural thriller The Mortician. And in addition to playing small roles in film and television, she has an excellent track record of performing music for films. Her song “Not Gon’ Cry” helped make the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack a phenomenon in the mid-1990s.

More recently, Blige penned and performed “I Can See in Color,” a wrenching, beautifully inspiring song from director Lee Daniels’ film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. “I was damaged, in a good way,” she said of the creative process. Attempting to pull all emotion possible into her performance, Daniels said to her, “If you’re about to cry, just cry.” Daniels is now in New Orleans shooting his follow-up to Precious, a film entitled The Paperboy.

As for the soul queen of the screen, Blige is currently filming Rock of Ages, Hairspray director Adam Shankman’s adaptation of the jukebox musical of the same name. “I’m super excited about it!” she told Scene at Carol’s Daughter in New Orleans before taking the stage at Essence Fest. “I’ve been practicing my acting.” Blige’s blowout performance at Essence Fest occurred just before she was to begin work on the film with co-stars Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. When asked how her preparations were going, she said, “I don’t know…I won’t know till next week!”

Blige plays gentleman’s club owner Justice Charlier. “She’s probably the person with the most problems that they never see,” she said of her character to ScreenRant. “She has to keep everybody lifted up. That’s the inner work. The inner work is that she’s been through hell, she can’t find love, so she ended up in a strip club. But, she’s fun. She’s funny. Most funny people have sad, sad stories. So, she’s the light in the dark place.”

While filming Rock of Ages, another big screen effort featuring the music of Mary will open in theaters on August 10. Starring Academy Award-nominee Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark, The Help is the story of three African-Americans women employed as maids in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi.

“The very first time I saw The Help, I just started typing down ideas and different things that jumped out at me in the film, and I think that was the day I actually got the title…it was stuck in my heart,” Blige recalled while talking to Blacktree. “Those words, ‘living proof,’ came out when I saw Aibileen walking down the street.”

From The Help’s soundtrack, “The Living Proof” parallels the film’s themes of perseverance, respect and hope. “The song is definitely written from Aibileen’s point of view, because when it was time to speak, she didn’t have any fear,” she says. “The beautiful thing about these women is that they were very smart. And they chose to walk in love and forgiveness.”

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