October 27, 2010
By Alex V. Cook
If you harbor a curiosity about what cool would sound like were it distilled into a single song, I suggest you point your ears at Ramsey Lewis’ 1965 hit "The In Crowd." It’s one of those songs so ingrained in our culture that we hardly recognize it as a song, but listen to it. It pits the high art of jazz against the street-level charm of pop. The crowd chatter breaks the barrier between a record and an appearance, between here and there, then and now. Clap along, you know you want to. This was just the opening salvo in a career that spans over half a century, blurring the lines between all our popular musics, leading right up to the Manship Theatre stage on Thursday night for 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. sets.
On Friday, The Manship Theatre also hosts country ingenue Emily West whose hit “Blue Sky” with Keith Urban affixed her in the contemporary country pantheon. Just down the road in the humbler confines of the Red Dragon, rockabilly oddball Webb Wilder will be shaking the timbers with his smart, infectious take on moonshine rock. Keep them dancin’ boots close by, for on Tuesday, Southern Culture on the Skids appear at the Spanish Moon to help you boogie off that leftover Halloween candy you ate over the weekend.
Speaking of the weekend, here’s Saturday night: Drew Landry and Abe Manuel Jr. will be staging a town hall meeting/drunken hoedown at the Spanish Moon. Proceeds from this event go to sending a coalition of Gulf Coast Citizens to DC to keep the conversation about our fragile gulf alive. As for the precise nature of the Pumpkin Smut reunion at Chelsea’s, I’m judging this to be awesome on name alone.
If that’s not all, Friday through Sunday the 2010 Voodoo Experience goes down in City Park in New Orleans. Here are my picks for the fest. In Lafayette, the Blackpot Festival delivers more flavors of Louisiana music than there are gumbo recipes. Get on it!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Finger Eleven and Taddy Porter & the Sleeping at the Varsity
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Ramsey Lewis at the Manship Theatre
Grupo Fantasma and Big Sam’s Funky Nation at Chelsea’s
Randy Rogers Band at the Varsity
Mayham Brown at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s
Friday, October 29, 2010
Webb Wilder and the Rocky Dennis Band at the Red Dragon
Emily West at the Manship Theatre
Indian Jewelry at Spanish Moon
Winbourne at Chelsea’s
Lady of the Barge and Polly Pry at Red Star
Hell’s Bells at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s
Saturday, October 30, 2010
After the Gulf Change Rally & Town Hall with Drew Landry and Abe Manuel, Jr. at Spanish Moon
Pumpkin Smut Reunion at Chelsea’s
Molly Ringwalds at the Varsity
Paramaya and Axes of Evil at North Gate Tavern
The Anteeks at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s
Killing in Apathy, Carry the Storm and Martyr of Men at Here Today Gone Tomorrow
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Southern Culture on the Skids and Bedlamville Triflers at Spanish Moon
NPR’s From the Top Live Taping at LSU School of Music, 7:30 PM
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