Beatles Fest 2012

For the 10th year, guitarist and Beatles enthusiast Chuck Credo IV has pulled together a number of New Orleans musicians to celebrate the music and mood of the Beatles at the New Orleans Beatles Festival. Jeff “The Dude” Dowd and Twelve Years a Slave hero (and my beau on the premiere episode of this season of HBO’s Treme), Rob Steinberg, joined us for a night of singing and swaying to familiar hits at the House of Blues. The evening started much as it had last year, with soulful Jimmy Robinson alone with his guitar playing a couple of tunes.

Buckjumpers and Saints

Sunday, we headed to the theatre to see The Muppets on the big screen. The movie was great, reminding me of everything valuable about Hollywood. On the way home, we had to choose between turning or getting stuck while a parade passed. You can guess which one we picked. The super-cool Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers were the focus of the parade, but the second line included Junior Buckjumpers and 3 brass bands – Young Fellaz, then Stooges then Rebirth Brass Band. I thought of how many of us attend festivals or go to clubs to hear these bands and here they were, just playing in the street. 

The Beatles, Big Easy Style

Summers in New Orleans usually bring lots of heat and few festivals but, lately, the weather has been cooler than most of the nation and we got to celebrate the 9th New Orleans Beatles Festival. Founded by guitarist Chuck Credo IV (grandson of Chuck Credo Jr.  of The Basin Street Six), the festival moved from Mid-City Lanes Rock N Bowl to the House Of Blues in 2007.