Beatles Fest 2013

House of Blues hosted the 11th annual New Orleans Beatles Festival, the third one I’ve attended. It seems hard to believe that the Beatles debuted their first album, Please Please Me, in the UK 50 years ago. Next year will commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Beatles coming to America. Oddly enough, the band made a stop on that tour to play the stadium in City Park for $5 a ticket. Their only request was to meet the legendary Fats Domino, which they did. 

A Very Big Easy Birthday Party

New Orleans is known for being a good time and a great place to party. There may be no bigger party in the nation then the marathon of Mardi Gras – especially when we are taking a “break” from Carnival in the middle to have a week of Super Bowl festivities! That said, the only topper would be to celebrate your birthday during this party-palooza. A friend of mine did just that last weekend and it was as good as it gets.

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.

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.

Jazz Fest Starts – Trombone Shorty!

Jazz Fest has started and music is everywhere! I’d planned a quiet day at home but out of town friends changed all that and off I went to a yummy meal at Emeril’s, served impeccably, followed by a night of brass at the House of Blues. When we walked in, the Stooges Brass Band had the stage. Their fierce energy ran non-stop through a forever of songs. When I say non-stop, I mean they never stopped, one song ran seamlessly into the next. It was amazing.

1 Year of Oil and Kevin Costner at the House of Blues

Like so many others in this region, I am loathe to relay any information that would make someone avoid tourism or our amazing seafood, but it’s been a year since 11 men died, 200 million gallons of oil and at least 2 million gallons of dispersant were dumped into the Gulf and it’s time to face some facts. Tar balls still wash up on the beaches everyday. The marshes are a mess. Unprecedented numbers of dolphins and sea turtles are dying. Fish have lesions. Fisherman are out of work. Businesses shut down. Less than 20% of the BP billions set aside for the affected have made their way to less than half of the 500,000 claimants. But, 97% of the 100,000 quick pay claims have been paid – one time payments of $5,000 to $25,000 in exchange for agreeing not to sue BP.