March 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

COLUMNlocal musicLIVE NEW ORLEANSCAN NOLA’S IMAGE BE UPDATED?by jason songe jason@liveneworleans.comMy Dad was cool enough to get us tickets to the NBA All-Star Game, andeven though I wanted the West to win because of the Hornets players onthe team, the score was ultimately immaterial. I was into it for the athleticism,and I got a lot. Jason Kidd stutter-stepped and shot a no-look pass and LeBronJames effortlessly threw up three’s from far away. It was fun to watch greatness.What I didn’t enjoy was watching the Rebirth Brass Band enter the pre-game festivitiesfrom what looked like a brothel. Purple lights shone down on the first leveland the musicians while women danced on the balcony in front of flashing red lightscoming through the windows behind them.But, wait, there’s more.During a timeout, men and women came onto the floor dancing in ‘20s and ‘30s attire.The women with their wavy hair, headbands, and dresses meant to bounce. Youknow where I’m going with this, don’t you? Probably it just sounds like I’m being aprude, but really, I’m upset #1) because in 2008 it’s offensive to project to the worldthat New Orleans is proud of its brothels, past and present. I know Storyville happenedand understand how important the brothels were to the evolution of jazz, butc’mon. Is that what we’re about now? Are we so locked into the past that #2) we haveto get people to dress up like it’s a century earlier? New Orleans needs to loosen itsdeath grip on the past and embrace the future, or we will die a slow death and becomeeven more of a caricature that we were at the game.Don’t get me wrong. I love Rebirth and Kermit and think we should honor our pastand music, but we need to look forward and see how we can start helping the localartists who are playing original music. Nostalgia will kill us. The history is now, notthen.ROCKIN’ FOR DOCSOn April 4th at One Eyed Jacks, Big Blue Marble, the Bad Off and Metronome TheCity will join together to raise money for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. At theCircle Bar the next day at noon, the benefit will continue with the following artists: ALiving Soundtrack, Manwitch, the Bally Who, Steve Eck, Good Guys, I Octopus,Big Baby, and White Bitch. The One Eyed Jacks show will be $7, while the Circlewill cost $5 all-day. A little about the clinic: In collaboration with LSU HealthcareNetwork and Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans, The New Orleans Musicians’Clinic (NOMC) provides access to health and social welfare services for thelocal music community.Since 1998, NOMC has played a pivotal role in sustaining the health of New Orleansmusicians. As housing, family and financial challenges continue, they strive toremain a core resource for the music community. From providing medical services tofunding gigs, their response to the needs of musicians knows no boundaries.THE GERANIUMS AT THE CIRCLE BAR—2/17/2008This deep, deep anger grew in me as I sat at the bar. I didn’t know what to do with it. Icouldn’t destroy the city, as I wanted, because that’s a silly and impossible thought.Being raw, I had emotion to spare, and I wished I could use it to convince the city ofthe Geraniums. They play these amazingly well written (both lyrically and musically)gems, and ten people show up? I never completely give myself to their music, becausewho knows if I’d get back from that shameful yet indignant place alive. Maybe it’d begood, though, you know, to excoriate.Music to drown to.ALEX MCMURRAY, JOHNNY VIDACOVICH, AND MIKE DILLON ATD.B.A.—2/19/2008I was excited, for the first time, to see Alex McMurray and Johnny Vidacovich gohead to head, but then I got really stoked, brah, and caught a bodacious wave whenI saw all-star percussionist Mike Dillon sitting in. How the hell was this going godown? Beautifully, it turns out, even though with all these Tuesday gigs there arealways train wreck moments. They pass quickly and come with the territory.McMurray played his songs, and Vidacovich and Dillon did their best to color. Themost fun had was during “Baby,” which is an irreverent take on cutting white babiesin half and selling them (still whole) on the black market. But then I guess any takeon that would have to be irreverent. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though. McMurraywasn’t serious, and it was great to see Vidacovich’s smile grow as he ingested the lyricswhile keeping a steady beat.Dillon stuck to the xylophone, either mimicking the melody, adding punch to Vidacovich’splaying, or just creating a whole other melody altogether. The set revealeditself, though, when Dillon started experimenting with his noise pedals while Vidacovichused every drum, keeping an irregular, ambient beat. McMurray stood in themiddle, unfazed, and played his song while slightly bending to the explorative hazethreatening to envelop him. Dillon and Vidacovich’s music made McMurray’s wordsthat much more powerful. It was a wonderful moment.06_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNlocal musicBURN THE SCENECATS AND PUNKSby auralee petzko auralee@antigravitymagazine.comFebruary has historically been a bust month for me. It comes in the middle of winterwhen everything around me is sluggish, cold and wet, and that just makes me wantto stay in with the cats, read a whole bunch, catch up on records I’ve bought buthaven’t listened to yet and try out new cookbooks, which is what I’ve been doing. Thanksto the mid-winter doldrums, I’ve perfected four different risotto recipes and was able toknock out Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, which was a depressing but worthwhilefeat in and of itself. I’m starting to feel like I’m turning into some sort of creepy old catlady, what with my antisocial behavior as of late and my penchant for activities normallyenjoyed by senior citizens.Needless to say, I didn’t get out to very many shows in the last month. Being on tour andplaying a show every night for a week was amazing and fun, and I wouldn’t have tradedit for anything else in the world, but after a while it becomes kind of monotonous and Iinevitably get a bit burned out on the idea of going to shows and I lose interest for a while.So what better return to the local scene than the extravaganza that was the Valentine’sDay show at the Dragon’s Den? And so the ever present reminders of the fact that I hadno Valentine of my own this year didn’t sting quite so hard, what with the Hot NewMexicans and locals Rougarou and Ruben enchanting and delighting my ears! Featuringmembers from the Chicago-pop-punk-sound-by-way-of-Mississippi band Carrie Nations,the Hot New Mexicans blend pop punk and rock and roll with just a little bit of sass thrownin for good measure. Rougarou is the brainchild of New Orleans music mainstays PaulThibodeaux and Eric Martinez, who have both been involved in more musical endeavorsthan I have the energy to think about or the time to type out. This time around they’ve gota nice little project going that basically sounds like everything good that came out of thealternative and pop scenes of the ‘90s: the right combination of feedback, melody, noiseand catchy hooks, all held up by driving beats. I can’t wait to get my hands on a recording,which should be available soon if what I hear is correct. This is a new band worth watchingout for. Ruben debuted with a brand of pop punk reminiscent of the old Cypress Halldays, before it become the prominent venue to pay overpriced admission to while gettingpushed around by pompous hardcore tough guys during mostly generic metal-core bands.Ah, memories. That’s a gripe best taken up in another column. Anyhow!My life does not seem to be completeunless I make the pilgrimage out to BatonRouge at least once a month. Sometimesmore. Because really, what betterthings do I have to do with my time/money besides burn half a tank of gas(each trip) on a stretch of lonely, desolatehighway? This month’s reason wasthe Big Baby/Thou /Parasytic/Acts ofSedition show at Q’s house. I was lategetting to the show (work-related function:thank you, professional life) whichis normally never a problem, except that it was the first (and probably the last) Baton Rougepunk show to actually start on time. I arrived as Big Baby was loading up their equipment.Acts of Sedition never actually showed up; apparently there was a mix-up at their endand they got their dates confused. The two bands I did see made up for all of this, though.Thou was great, of course, and Parasytic (from Richmond, Virginia) exceeded my expectationsin the best way. They’re on Profane Existence, which means they’re dirty, heavilytattooed, loud, full of distortion and hate for all things related to the capitalist machine.Not a bad combination when it comes to writing sweet music. They piqued my interestwhen I read that the drummer was a former member of Avail, one of the best punk bandsto ever string three chords together. One of their guitar players was a member of AlabamaThunderpussy (a terribly tasteless name for a decent southern rock band) as well. Parasyticsounded nothing like their former bands, but instead played excellent d-beat influencedpower metal.Next month I’ll be taking a look at the dearth of all-local shows in New Orleans, but untilthen there are plenty of other things you should be doing. Rougarou is playing at Q’s housein Baton Rouge on March 9th with Nana Grizol (members of the Hot New Mexicans andNeutral Milk Hotel) and Madeline. The 17th of March is pretty much going to be the biggestday ever: eco-terrorist Peter Young will be speaking at the A.R.K. in the early afternoon; inthe evening there’s the Torche/Haarp/Thou show at the Dragon’s Den or the Earth Crisis/Terror/ShaiHulud show at the High Ground. After that there are two late shows, thefirst being Pygmy Lush/Big Baby/Big Blue Marble/Ghastly City Sleep at the Big Top andthe second being the World Inferno Friendship Society and the Zydepunks at the Dragon’sDen. I have a feeling that I’m going to be spending a lot of money on that day and will bevery tired by the end of it. I’m taking a couple of weeks to recooperate and then there’s theParty Time/Jefferson Plane Crash/Wayward show at the Dragon’s Den. Last but not least,Pulling Teeth is also playing the Dragon’s Den on the 31st of March with Pussyhawk andmy band, We Need To Talk. There’s something for everything going on here in March, soyou really have no excuse to be antisocial like I’ve been. Get out and do something!Roll call: myspace.com/hotnewmexicans, /parasyticrva, /bigbabynola, /partytimepricks,www.actsofsedition.comantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_07

COLUMNsportsSAINT NICKFREE AGENCY PREVIEWby nicholas simmons simmons@antigravitymagazine.comWith NFL Free Agency set to begin on March 1st, I thought I’d take the opportunityto take a look at notable Saints free agents and possible upgradesand replacements available around the league. Next month, we’ll lookahead to the NFL Draft and before you know it we’ll be talking about mini-campsand training camp. Got to love the year-round NFL.NOTABLE SAINTS FREE AGENTS: RB Aaron Stecker, WR Terrance Copper,WR Devery Henderson, WR David Patten, TE Eric Johnson, TE Billy Miller, CJeff Faine, C Jonathan Goodwin, DL Brian Young, MLB Mark Simoneau, SS SteveGleason, CB Fred Thomas. (Note: An asterisk [*] will denote Saints free agents below.)NO.1 SAINTS NEED: MIDDLE LINEBACKER Incumbent: *Simoneau, BrianSimmons. Possible Replacements: Lance Briggs (Chicago), Derek Smith (San Francisco—signedwith San Diego), Dan Morgan (Carolina), Tedy Bruschi (New England),Kawika Mitchell (New York Giants), Demorrio Williams (Atlanta), ZackThomas (Miami—signed with Dallas).There’s no question that the Saints need to upgrade this position. Unless Briggs issigned, the team needs to draft a linebacker that can compete for playing time in ’08,because this free agent linebacker group is mostly a lineup of role players and agingveterans. The Saints would have to break the bank to sign Briggs, but when you thinkof the team’s recent history with MLBs (see Simoneau, Simmons and Courtney Watson)it starts to look like a good idea. Briggs played weakside LB in Chicago (becausestalwart Brian Urlacher mans the Bears’ middle) but has the ability to excel at any LBposition. While Bruschi is an aging player who still has a lot to offer in the leadershipand football smarts departments, he’s unlikely to leave the Patriots. Thomas, releasedon February 14 by the Dolphins, is 34 years old and battled concussions in ’07. After anOctober car crash, he also had migraines that affected him so bad that the team placedhim on injured reserve. Mitchell and Williams represent the best bets, outside of Briggs.Mitchell is a solid tackler with decent speed, but has little upside. Last season, Williamswas a good player on a cruddy Falcon defense and notched his only interception of theyear Week 7 in the Superdome, then followed that with seven solo tackles in the Week17 rematch. He’s regarded as an up-and-coming player and could want to leave the perpetuallyrebuilding Falcons. Smith, a longtime leading tackler who played on some bad49ers teams, had his playing time eaten up by ’07 1st round LB Patrick Willis but couldhave some production left. He was released on February 19.SIMMONS WANTS: Briggs, Williams, Mitchell.NO.2 SAINTS NEED: DEFENSIVE TACKLE Incumbents: *Young, Hollis Thomas,Kendrick Clancy, Antwan Lake. Possible Replacements: Rod Coleman (Atlanta),Grady Jackson (Jacksonville), Shaun Rodgers (Detroit [On the trading block]), KeithTraylor (Miami), Ted Washington (Cleveland), Darwin Walker (Chicago). FranchisedFree Agents: Albert Haynesworth (Tennessee), Corey Williams (Green Bay).It’s time to add a bigger body alongside the massive Hollis Thomas, and the defensiveline could use a bigger backup, too. The problem here is similar to that at MLB—acouple of good players are out there, but most of this crop includes injury-riddled,aging players and malcontents. Ex-Saint Grady Jackson probably wouldn’t return tothe team because of his unheralded exit during the Jim Haslett era, Traylor and Washingtonare decent options but are 39 and 40 years old, respectively, Coleman missedall but five games of Atlanta’s ’07 season and Rogers worked his way onto the tradeblock with his reported unwillingness to buy into Lions coach Rod Marinelli’s defensivescheme. There isn’t a whole lot to choose from here, and it’s likely the Saints willuse a high draft pick on a tackle or cornerback, so the best we can hope for from thisbunch is a stopgap player.SIMMONS WANTS: Washington, Coleman (If he’s fully healed) or Traylor.NO.3 SAINTS NEED: CORNERBACK Incumbents: *Thomas, Jason David,Mike McKenzie, Jason Craft, Usama Young. Possible Replacements: Asante Samuel(New England), Gary Baxter (Cleveland), Ralph Brown (Arizona), DomoniqueFoxworth (Denver, Restricted), Randall Gay (New England), Eric Green (Arizona),Frank Walker (Green Bay). Franchised Free Agents: Nnamdi Asomugha (Oakland),Marcus Trufant (Seattle), Brian Kelly (Tampa Bay).The Saints are in a bit of a pickle at cornerback. McKenzie will likely miss at leastsome of the ’08 season while he recovers from a late-season knee injury, and Davidso underperformed that the team’s got to be a little worried about how he’ll bounceback.Continued on Page 22:08_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNadviceGUIDANCECOUNSELINGWHO’S GOT PROBLEMS?this month’s counselor: eric martinezYou might have first stumbledonto Eric Martinez when, as akid, he worked at Mike Blum’sguitar shop on Oak St. Since then he’splayed in countless awesome bandslike Hatchback, the Red Beards, PRO-MIS, Eat a Bag of Dicks, and nowcurrently with Rougarou (See “Burnthe Scene” for more on them). Alwaysshredding it up on guitar and drums,Eric lives and breathes music but alsofinds time for his photography, a DJgig at WTUL and his own home off the pleasant Freret street corridor, which he is inthe process of rehabbing. Hailing from Terrytown, Eric is our town Buddha, and justrubbing his belly or pantsing him seems to always bring good luck and prosperous times.AG released his spiritual magnetism and immaculate spelling on this month’s set ofadvice questions.It seems like everyone’s got that one high-maintenance friend, and mine goes like this: When hemeets people he usually talks in one-word sentences, like “Drink,” or “Bathroom,” and then heeither gets a drink or goes to the bathroom. The funnier thing is that he writes extremely well—hejust can’t put together a sentence vocally to save his life. The people who meet him look at him likehe’s retarded, and I have a feeling I’m getting guilty by association. But of course, he’s my friendso what the hell do I do?—John C.Fisrt of all, if this is your example of a hig matnence friend then you got it eazy. thisdoesn’t even sound like that bad of guy. I would apreciate friends that that you donthave to keep entertained with constant conversation.. ok. well if you are trying to getyour frined to not speak in fragments then try this one “hey asshole dont talk to me unlessit involves a question mark or period.” i dont know.. this guy really sounds cool tome.. my high matnence pals are all like.. “ok.. we have alot stuff to do! where will i everfind the time to do all this shit!?!” and then they go get drunk or smoke weed. i myselfam guilty of this too though...My roommate is a whore. She sleeps with every guy she meets. It seems like every other night shecomes home with a different guy. And it really creeps me out because these guys will be in the kitchenin the morning and sometimes in the (shared) bathroom at night. I don’t know any of these creepsand neither does she for that matter. We’ve got 8 months left on our lease though, so splitting up isn’texactly a piece of cake. How do I get her to keep her legs closed a little more so I can sleep in peace?—Jeffrey S.have you tryed barging in while they are doing it compleatly naked.. this solves alotproblems... hmm. well next time you run into the guy she’s banging in the bath room tryfreaking him out.. for example, “you she’s married, right?” then he will go like “ummwhat..” then youre like “yeah .. we are goin threw some tuff times and decided to getother separete rooms..” oh god there’s some many place to go after that.. hmm. youshould introduce your roomate to me one day...I have this friend who just got fired. Again. And, as usual he had a whole case as to why it wasn’this fault and yadda yadda yadda. Again. Bottom line—he’s the lovable loser we’re all starting togrow a little tired of. So I basically told him “I don’t give a fuck anymore,” and he got all hurt andthen started a campaign against me towards our mutual friends, who all agree that he’s out of hismind and is falling fast. My question is: do you think I should get a restraining order or a 9 mm?Either way I gotta get him out of my face...—Adam F.lovable loser.. thats like the new orleans mascott.. the saints should get ridd of gumboand get your freind up in the dome, he will have a job though.. which makes him less ofa loser.. unless he gets fired for drinking too much dome foam or harasing a saintsation..yeah.. get the 9mm just to be safe...Boxers or Briefs?—Timothy C.skelitor under roos!NEED SOME ADVICE? SEND YOUR PROBLEMS TO:ADVICE@ANTIGRAVITYMAGAZINE.COMantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_09

COLUMNlegaleseSOUND ADVICEPUBLISHING CENTSby andrew bizer andrew@bizerlaw.comDear Andrew,I ‘m a singer-songwriter and I’m looking for a record label to put out my CD. I’ve been toldthat record companies only need to pay me for writing 10 songs, even though there are 15 songson my CD. What’s the law on this?Thanks,Glenn G.Glenn,You are asking a question that deals with music publishing. As I have explainedin previous columns, music publishing is the business of acquiring, administering,marketing and promoting musical compositions. A musical composition is just afancy term for a song. It is important to differentiate a musical composition fromthe recording of that composition. A musical composition can be performed or recordedby anyone. For example, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote the musicalcomposition “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” but Otis Redding recorded an amazingversion of it. Music publishing deals with Jagger and Richards’ rights as thesongwriters, not Otis Redding’s rights as a performer.All record companies need a “mechanical license” to reproduce copyrighted musicalcompositions on CDs, records, and tapes. Without a mechanical license, a recordcompany is violating US Copyright laws and is subject to a copyright infringementlawsuit. The royalty rate for obtaining a mechanical license is set by Congress.Right now, the mechanical royalty rate set by Congress is 9.1 cents for recordings ofcompositions lasting 5 minutes or less. So, technically speaking, if there are fifteensongs on your CD, the record label should pay you 136.5 cents as the songwriter ofthe compositions contained on the CD.However, it doesn’t really work like that. There’s a reason record companies havebad reputations. Almost all record companies, large or small, major or indie will notpay you the full royalty rate as set by Congress. If you are lucky, they will offer topay you 3/4 of the 9.1 cents (6.825 cents) on only ten songs, instead of the full fifteensongs. So instead of getting paid 136.5 cents per record, they will only pay you 68.25cents per record. In this example, they will only be paying you half of what Congresshas mandated that they must pay you.How do they get away with this? How can they pay you less than the minimumamount set by Congress? The answer is because you will either agree to their terms,or they won’t put out your record. Everything is negotiable. Almost all record companiesinclude in their contracts a section that states what the mechanical royaltyrate will be and how many songs the record company will pay for. If you do not likethe rates they want to pay, you can go somewhere else, but the odds are other recordcompanies will not give you much better terms.So why does Congress even bother setting a rate when the record companies canget away with ignoring it? The answer is that record companies can only get awaywith it when the owner of the song agrees to the lower rate. Singer-songwriters suchas yourself agree to the rate because you want a record deal. However, if the artistand the songwriter are different people, the songwriter may not want to agree to alower rate. For instance, if the newly reformed Menudo want to record a versionof “Desolation Row” on their comeback album on Epic Records, Epic’s lawyerswould contact Bob Dylan’s lawyers and offer Dylan only 6.825 cents instead ofthe 9.1 cents. Dylan can’t (unfortunately) stop Menudo from covering “DesolationRow” if Epic pays the 9.1 cents. A mechanical license must be granted to any recordcompany that wants reproduce the composition, as long as they pay the Congressionallyset rate. If Dylan does not agree to the lower rate, Epic has two options: paythe full rate or take the song off the Menudo album. Essentially, you have the samechoice as Bob Dylan: you can agree to the record company’s terms, or not sign thecontract.Andrew Bizer, Esq. is an attorney admitted to practice in Louisiana and New York. He isthe founding member of the Bizer Law Firm, L.L.C. He previously served as the Manager ofLegal and Business Affairs at EMI Music Publishing and has worked in the legal departmentat both Matador and Universal/Motown Records. This column is to be used as a referencetool. The answers given to these questions are short and are not intended to constitute full andcomplete legal advice. The answers given here do not constitute an attorney/client relationship.Mr. Bizer is not your attorney. But if you want him to be your attorney, feel free tocontact him at andrew@bizerlaw.com. Or, just email him a question and he’ll answer it innext month’s ANTIGRAVITY.NEED SOME SOUND ADVICE? SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:ANDREW@BIZERLAW.COM10_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COLUMNfashionTHE GOODSYA BETTA’ SUPA DON’T!by miss malaprop mallory@antigravitymagazine.comLocal jewelry designer Maria Fomich creates funky and unique pieces that appealto a wide range of personal styles. She crafts everything from fabulous cuff braceletsmade from acrylic and recycled fabrics to adorable hummingbird earrings toquirky yet functional bike reflectors. One of my favorite pieces is her Louisiana “LoveIt” necklace, made from handcut silver with bronze detailing. I caught up with Mariato find out more about how she got started and what goes into her creating her one ofa kind work.Miss Malaprop: How did you get started making things?Maria Fomich: I think making is just a part of my family history. My mother juggledfour daughters, all under the age of 6 with me being the youngest, and still managed tofit in the cookie baking and craft making. When my oldest sister took an interest in art,I of course wanted to be at her side. She would set up a small picnic table in our hotgarage with a large fan running and we’d sit endlessly creating papier-mache creatures.My favorite one is in my living room today.MM: Can you tell us a little bit about what goes in to making your jewelry?MF: My metalwork is made with various techniques, from riveting to soldering, alldepending on the piece itself. Thecuff bracelets seem to be the mysteryfor people, so here you go!Firstly, I try to use as much recycledmaterial and scraps as I can.Of course, the best scraps comefrom my sister’s upholstery shopin Baltimore, MD. Even the plasticI try to buy as scrap. The cuffbracelets are made from a fusingprocess. With heat and pressure Iturn a plastic and fabric (or whateverI can get my hands on) sandwichinto a one of a kind, madewith love cuff bracelet. Then theygo through a rigorous cleaningprocess of sanding and buffingthat usually leaves me laid out onthe floor, yet with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the night.My process and endurance I can credit to the Cleveland Institute of Art, where Istudied Jewelry/Metal Arts, and the mastering of sleepless nights. I am lucky enoughto have the “every artist’s dream” studio in my apartment, because whoever lived herebefore me built it. The workbench extends the entire room’s length and is completewith outlets every few feet, coupled with a shelving unit. Thank you, you’re awesome,whoever you are!MM: When and how did you make the transition from hobbyist to selling your work?During school I took a production class, where I learned all about making and sellingjewelry. Problem was, at the time I wasn’t really making jewelry, I was making one ofa kind artwork, so it was an interesting experience. One of the requirements was to sellmy work at our student holiday sale. So I changed the way I worked and made somesellable jewelry. I had so much fun watching people interact with my work that I startedsearching for markets outside of school. I learn more with every market I do.MM: Are there things you enjoy making just for personal use or gifts, and not tosell?MF: Yes! Those items are my most important, and usually the most fun to make. Whenyou really know someone and can make them something you know they’ll cherish,there’s no better feeling. It’s love, and I make it!MM: What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever made?MF: A vessel. I had just learned to work with pewter, a beautiful material which rebelsagainst the usual properties of metal because it softens as you work with it. My sisterwas pregnant, and it was her sonogram picture that inspired the determination to makesomething unlike I’d ever made before. I worked nonstop and melted holes in the piecerepeatedly. In the end I had a closed bulbous form, constructed on thirteen segments ofsheet metal that rocked. I really don’t know how it came together, but it’s beautiful.MM: What do you do when you’re not creating?MF: I work for a jewelry artist by day, and by night I watch a lot of film, read feministliterature, drink beer with friends and, of course, disappear to my studio. I want to travel(who doesn’t), and plan to someday.MM: Where can people find your work?MF: Come say hello at the Freret Street Market & Bywater Art Market. My work canalso be purchased at Lucky 13 (Decatur Street), Magazine Metals (2036 MagazineStreet), and Funrock’n (1128 Decatur Street & 3109 Magazine Street). And there’s alwaysmy website, www.yabettasupadont.etsy.com, cause ya betta’ don’t, ya betta’ supadon’t. Holla y’all!FOR MORE MISS MALAPROP, GO TO:antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_11

FEATUREculturePHOTO ROUND-UP:THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA EXPO ‘08photos by leo mcgovernThe ‘08 version of the Alternative Media Expo went down on Saturday,February 23rd and was a huge success. We’re proud toannounce that over 650 people attended the Expo and, with exhibitorsand their guests added in, we’re estimating that the showhad approximately 900 people pass through! We thank all the attendeesfor their support and we hope you’ll again treat us with your presence nextyear!We’d like to thank all our sponsors: Humid Beings, Dirty Coast, theCharitable Film Network, Static TV, the New Orleans Craft Mafia andDefend New Orleans, as well as special guests Josh Neufeld and DeborahCotton, the Contemporary Arts Center, Juan’s Flying Burrito, NOLA Rising,Bernard Pearce, all of the AG crew that helped out at the booth, theTrumpet for their feature, Gambit Weekly for their excellent cover storyabout the Expo and, of course, all our exhibitors!We’re already thinking about AME ‘09, so get ready!Below: (Left) The NOLA Rising booth; (Right) Jac Currie and Jude Matthews; Bottom: CaesarMeadows’ Mogi Head.Right Column: (Top) Special guest Josh Neufeld; (Middle) City Hustler’s Alex Nunez; (Bottom)The New Orleans Craft Mafia booth.12_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREmusicON THE TRAIL: BLITZEN TRAPPERCAMPAIGNS IN THE WILD MOUNTAIN NATIONby marty garner marty@antigravitymagazine.comSometimes there’s a lot to be said for having littleto say. So goes the theory, at least, with Portland’sBlitzen Trapper, whose Wild Mountain Nation barnstompsacross genres—stoner country, junk-pop,experimental noise—with little message but large footprints.Nation, the group’s third self-released record, waspicked up and distributed by Sub Pop last year, launchingsomething of a mid-summer media frenzy as journaliststried to pinpoint the group’s sound, some deciding that thesix-piece is picking up where Beck left off after Odelay whileothers claimed that the title track’s guitar bends and the syrupysteel of “Country Caravan” makes BT heir apparent toAmerican Beauty-era Grateful Dead. The rest simply makecomparisons to Pavement’s Wowee Zowee, another albumknown more for its ambition than its tunes.Few, though, chose to comment on just how well BlitzenTrapper shift between these styles. It takes a serioustalent to jump from glam guitars to jawharp solos in asingle album, much less a single song (“Miss SpiritualTramp”) without coming across as contrived or unfocused.Maybe it’s the layer of fuzz that seems to lie decadentlyacross the album, but, somehow, the front-porchbluegrass of “Wild Mtn. Jam” doesn’t feel out of placebetween the power-dancing “Sci-Fi Kid” and the staticballad “Hot Tip/Tough Club.”In any event, one thing that everyone seems to be ableto agree on is that Wild Mountain Nation, in all of its afghan-coveredglory, is one hell of an album. Rolling Stoneeven called the title track one of the year’s 100 Best Songs,sandwiched between Nick Cave project Grinderman anda Kelly Clarkson song that is not “Since U Been Gone.”ANTIGRAVITY chatted up B. Trapp frontman EricEarley to find out just what his intentions are with ourdaughters, young man.ANTIGRAVITY: So Sub Pop released Wild Mountain Nation.Eric Earley: They just have it internationally, but we stillhave it in the U.S.AG: And you released your first two records, too. Howdid this one blow up?EE: This one? Well, this is the first record where we actuallyhad a publicist and toured and had a manager and allthat stuff. The other two we made but we didn’t really doanything; we just put them on the internet and sold themat shows.AG: So I’m guessing there are a few more people at theshows these days.EE: Yeah. [Laughs] Definitely.AG: Most writers tend to focus on the country songs onthe record, and they’re really great songs, but they seemlike they’re not very indicative of the album as a whole.“There’s no reason why a band can’t fluidlymove through all kinds of music.”Why do you think that those tracks are such standouts?EE: Oh, I don’t know, I think they’re just the easier onesto understand. They’re easier to talk about or write about.There are other songs on Wild Mountain Nation that aregood but they’re not in a specific genre necessarily, so peoplehave just been focusing on what they can [more easily]write about, like “Wild Mountain Nation” or “CountryCaravan.”AG: What are your musical backgrounds?EE: What, do you mean, like, studying or something?AG: No, like, what did you listen to growing up?EE: Oh, yeah, definitely. Like, Brian was into metal as akid and Mikey was into hip-hop very heavily. I like countryand folk music, Marty was more into, like, hippie-rock, andwith Drew it’s more experimental noise stuff. We cover allthe bases between us.AG: So when you guys are writing new songs, is ita more collaborative effort?EE: Kind of. I write all the material but when I’m arrangingstuff I pull from our group.AG: How do the live shows compare to your records?EE: I think they’re better than the record. They have a differentenergy and they’re not as patched-together. The recordis almost put together like a hip-hop record, whereeverything’s all pieced together with all kinds of noises andstuff. And live we do a lot of that, too, but I think it’s morecohesive live; you get a better feeling for what the band is. Idon’t know, I’m not allowed to see us play.AG: You’re not allowed?EE: Well, I’m usually up there playing.AG: [Laughs] Oh, I thought you meant, like, you refuse tolisten to live tapes.EE: Oh. [Laughs] I’ve done that.AG: You guys all come from pretty different backgroundsmusically, and your sound definitely reflects that, and youdon’t really see that much these days. I mean, my friendsand I, and I’m guessing most people, listen to all types ofmusic—from country to rock to hip-hop—but not manybands let their influences shine through like that.EE: Yeah, exactly, that’s how we are. And there’s no reasonwhy a band can’t fluidly move through all kinds of music. It’s afine line to walk, being able to actually do that and pull it off.AG: I know you guys did a really different version ofHeart’s “Crazy on You” for a comp. Do you ever pullthat one out live?EE: [Laughs] Yeah. [Laughs] Oh yeah, yeah. We do somestuff live that’s just guitars, just keyboards. We don’t do“Crazy on You” live, although I’ve thought about it. Maybeon the next tour we will.AG: Do you…you know, for most bands this would bea strange question, but you all are from the Northwestso maybe it’s not that odd of a question, but do youjam your songs out much live?EE: Typically no. I mean, sometimes we’ll do…typicallythere are so many songs we want to play that we won’t reallyjam but just move fluidly from song to song. We’ll dothat for four or five songs. We don’t ever just jam out on asong, though.AG: Do any songs from the first two recordsever show up live?EE: Yeah, we do one from each.AG: And you have a new EP out, too, right?EE: Yeah. We’ll be playing some other songs as well.There’s an iTunes EP and a tour EP and we’ll be doing stufffrom both of those.AG: I saw some of the new stuff on the last DaytrotterSession that you guys did.EE: Some of that stuff’s pretty rough. [Laughs] It was fun,though.AG: Are those songs the direction that your writing isheaded right now?EE: No, that stuff’s actually older than Wild Mountain Nation.Those are tracks that never made it onto records butthat we still like to play live and we didn’t have recordingsof them, so we decided that we’d just do them on Daytrotter.Although, no, I take it back, one of those songs is goingto be on the new record. The kinda-country one, “StolenShoes.” But the recording of it is much different than whenwe play it live. But I wouldn’t say it’s indicative of the newrecord.Wednesday, 3/12Blitzen Trapper w/ Man Manand the Extraordinaires,The Spanish Moon, 1109 Highland Rd., (225) 383-MOON, www.thespanishmoon.comFor more info on Blitzen Trapper, go to:www.myspace.com/blitzentrapperantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_13

FEATUREmusicREBEL, REBEL: THE INEVITABLE RISE ANDLIBERATION OF SAUL WILLIAMSby mike rodgers mike@antigravitymagazine.comCrossing over from acclaimed poet and spoken word artistto the increasingly close-minded music industry seems animpossible task. It helps when you’re incredibly talentedand have the brass to put together one of the year’s bestand most challenging records. Saul Williams’ The Inevitable Rise andLiberation of Niggy Tardust is a forward-thinking mash up of raw punkenergy, future sounds and hip-hop soul. Doing what very few artistsin history have been able to do, Saul Williams has put togethera political record that doesn’t sacrifice artfulness or energy in favorof a “message.” Sounding like the half-mad ghost of long dead Nintendosor the stomp of thousands of angry laptops, Niggy Tardust isa genre-twisting beast. ANTIGRAVITY talked to Williams aboutthe connection between punk and rap, the concepts behind his newrecord and making music without history.ANTIGRAVITY: Just to start off, how’s the tour going?Saul Williams: It hasn’t officially started yet. I’m speaking at different universities and doingpoetry reading, but I haven’t done any musical shows off of this album.AG: Is that because you’ve been working on this show?SW: Definitely. I wanted the album to have time to gestate with the public and I wanted totake my time allowing the formation of ideas, the concepts and all the preparation for thestage to happen. I had to expand my band a bit, so there’s preparation with the band andworking with the artist Angelbert Metoyer, who did the art for the digital download and isnow the art director for the show. We’ve just been getting ready.AG: It seems like this album is more “stage ready” than your earlier work, in there’smore room for spectacle.SW: In creating the album for myself, I wanted to set the stage [for me] to be able to experimentand for people to look at me and say, “Wow, I don’t know what he’s going to do, butI’m really interested in what’s coming next.” It’s so easy to be pigeonholed, whether it’s asa spoken word artist, a controversial artist, a political conscious rapper, whatever it is thatpeople want to say. None of those boxes are interesting to me. I’m always…not so muchfighting against the box, but encouraging myself to explore and expound upon anythingI’ve found in myself.14_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREmusicAG: What’s the difference for you between performing amusic show and doing a poetry reading or spoken wordperformance?SW: It depends on how you calculate rewarding. After leavinga spoken word show, my heart/mind/spirit has been elevated,so to speak, and aligned with something important.It’s great to be able to whittle down language into distinctphrases and also, if we’re talking about the fact that it happensa lot on universities, to be able to communicate in thatway as an artist and poet with students who are in reallyimportant years of their lives. The most influential experiencesI had in college were often with guest speakers. To beable to play that role is a great opportunity for me. There’ssomething cathartic about writing a poem and sharing it.I would say poetry is the ritual; it offers the themes of theperformance, the themes of so many things, whereas musicis the actual process of ritual itself. A lot of my work hasbeen done because I wanted to exorcise myself of my ownfears and shortcomings, but the power of art is that it canalso exorcise society, relieve tension and fears, and musicheightens that experience. It can really help someone travelbeyond themselves. It’s such a full on release in music.AG: It goes beyond words and becomes emotion.SW: Exactly, I create music so that I don’t always have touse words. Music is really one of the only things that gobeyond language. When I’m doing a music tour there’s nota lot of hanging around, speaking to people—it creates thiszone, this focus which is actually what the album came outof. I wrote most of it while on tour for the previous album,using that zone as an exchange for new material.AG: How was the genesis of Niggy Tardust different fromyour previous work?SW: The genesis of this album felt more musically aligned.Before I even knew what I was working on I’d written songslike “Scared Money” and “DNA.” But once Trent (Reznor)entered the picture, it was like when you make new friendsand are reminded of the fact that there are like-mindedpeople in the world and you can communicate beyond language—there’sreal synergy. This is between people whomay not come from similar backgrounds, who may notknow the same people or the same things but are open andwilling to share. When I connected with Trent in 2005 itwas one of those experiences for me and really a turningof the key for me to feel free enough to explore in the waythat I wanted to. I wanted to go this far out, but it’s sometimeshard to go there alone when you don’t have a levelof confirmation. You might get it from fans, but from theperspective of managers and executives it’s, “I don’t knowif we can afford this.”AG: How did your collaboration with Reznor work in thestudio? There’s always the myth of the Svengali producercontrolling things.SW: It didn’t go down that way for us. Trent was very respectfulof my creative space. It was me spending a lot oftime with myself, coming up with ideas and presenting themto him and him going, “Oh my God! Keep going.” That’swhat made this experience shine for me, that there were nohead games. When I was working with Rick Rubin, I playedhim a song and he said, “That’s horrible. It sounds like areally bad Lenny Kravitz song.” So then I’m working andsecond guessing myself and it starts breeding a level of insecurity.That never happened with Trent. He would giveme music that I would chop up, sample, make new stuff outof, add 808s and whatever, and then put my lyrics on top ofthem. It was just continual confirmation for me and I feltmore and more inspired to work.AG: Is Niggy Tardust a concept album?SW: It’s a total concept and the concept is exactly what’shappening in America right now. It’s to say that one day,whether we want to acknowledge it or not, our racial historyand all this shit will end. We’ll be able to make more lightof the matter than darkness. The word “nigger” is horrible,but the word “niggy” is cute, so there’s a strange twist on it.When I look at the rise of Barack Obama, that is the inevitablerise and liberation. There’s a lot of cynicism, a lot ofnaysayers, but America is proving America wrong. But it’snot just America; today is the day that the Prime Ministerof Australia finally apologized to the Aboriginals. It maynot seem like much to us, but in their country it’s a hugedeal. Without the apology there could be no reparations,there could be no federal funds allotted to ameliorating theirsituation.AG: That dichotomy you brought up is a theme in therecord, where very serious material is talked about in away that’s not overly pedantic and instead uses humor,metaphor, etc…SW: That was the goal. That was how I was able to distinguishmy album from, say, a Rage Against the Machinealbum. I wanted to have fun and Niggy Tardust gave mean excuse to shop and buy fun clothes. I wanted to havefun, but I wanted to talk about things that were pressing.I wrote the album between Australia and America. “ConvictColony” was written in Australia. Some of the albumwas written in South Africa and there’s a weird kinshipin the governments of those countries. It was about therealization that I knew regardless of how hard it was forme as a musician who has dark skin, for me to step upto a label and present them my music their first responseis, “That’s not hip-hop.” You’re so fucking ignorant! Youhave no fucking clue about how much more albums youcould sell if you stop underestimating the intelligence ofyour audience.AG: The Niggy Tardust record seems to push aside traditionalhip-hop notions, but there are some similarities.It has this twisted version of hip-hop swagger runningthrough it.SW: I come from hip-hop and I love that, but I don’t like thelimited, self-imposed definition that restricts growth. That’swhy in the song “Black History Month” I say, “SometimesI find it very hard to be me.” The idea of imposing limitingdefinitions on yourself while you’re still in a state of growthends the learning process. That swagger is intact for severalreasons. One, I still look for it in music. There’s such a B-Boy swagger in the rock idea of “I’ve seen a million facesand I’ve rocked them all.” You definitely had your hand onyour crotch when you said that.AG: That connection between rock and rap is interestingtoo. When hip-hop was still young it was looked at as thenew punk rock.SW: Thank you so much—you get it! That’s exactly whatI was going for. My self-titled album was my explorationof punk in connection with hip-hop, that’s why the albumsounds so raw. I wanted it to sound like ideas formulating.This record is a lot more polished, but that’s the same exactenergy I was going for. That’s the energy I love about MCing,that punk rock energy. Touring with Nine Inch Nailsand standing in front of all those kids with them looking atme like, “This guy’s probably a hip-hop artist. I don’t likehip-hop. A black dude’s not going to make music I’ll danceto.” Being able to stand there and challenge them to rise tothe occasion. For them to rise to it and acknowledge thefact that this may be better than any fucking thing they’veever heard, and I say that with all humble swagger. To beable to play them a song like “Black Stacy” and say this is asong about taking off your black shirt and still being blackfelt like punk to me. It set me free from falling into the trapof being black, male and young in America.AG: I need to ask you about the distribution of the album.Whose idea was the digital release?SW: It was Trent’s idea originally. He thought it would bereally cool if we could find an alternative way of releasingthe album or giving it away for free. I got it, but I wasn’treally gung ho about it at first because I’m a struggling artistand if I’m doing an album with Trent Reznor I think Ishould cash in on that. Once I really got into the album andgot into what I was doing my confidence was boosted and Ifelt like this was the time to do it. Realizing that it was such avisionary album and having such an un-visionary approachto releasing it… The labels were interested in releasing it,but they weren’t interested in doing anything original.AG: Just slap it in a jewel case and throw it on theshelves.SW: Yeah. You know it’s going to leak, so for me releasingit this way was a way of putting a price tag on the leak whilebuilding excitement and buzz. We still have a physical releasein early summer.AG: I’ve heard that not as many people bought it, but thenumber of people listening to the record was very high.SW: Yeah, and ever since Trent’s C/Net interview the numberof people who have bought the album has practicallydoubled. It’s people who have listened to it and gone backand bought it. There were tons of people who liked the albumand felt guilty, and they go back and pay for it. Thenthere’s MySpace messages like, “Dude I don’t have a creditcard, but if you come on tour I’m coming to the show andbuying a t-shirt.”AG: Do you think because of the slow release of the recordthat some of the media attention or critical responsewill come later this year as opposed to last year?SW: That’s exactly what I expect to happen. People thinkthey’ve heard the songs, but they haven’t heard it until theysee it live. It’s one thing to listen to a Radiohead album. It’sanother thing to be at a concert. It’s another thing for me tobe on the stage, in the middle of the song. It’s the only thingbetter than headphones, being in the actual convergence ofthose melodies and beats.AG: The atmosphere of the show…“I wanted to have fun and Niggy Tardust gave me an excuseto shop and buy fun clothes. I wanted to have fun, butI wanted to talk about things that were pressing.”SW: That’s what we’re doing with this tour, really heighteningand creating this atmosphere for the proper experiencefor the album. That’s where the acclaim comes if it comes.AG: Would you do anything differently?SW: Right now I’m really excited about the way we didand I wouldn’t do much differently. I’m amped about thenumber of people listening to the album. That’s somethingthat’s always been aligned with my poetry. I was amazedat the fact that I’ve been able to earn my living writingpoems, which were things I could hand out for free on thesubway. So with music, for people to be able to hear itfor free and explore beyond whatever parameters they’veput on about what they think they know about music isfucking great. It was so exciting the day we released it,to just press send and have it travel through that invisibleether and know that it was going to come through people’sspeaker system and sound like something that would comefrom that ether.AG: The record sounds exactly the way you would expectsomething electronically born to sound.SW: That’s what also made me excited to release it the waywe did. The final straw for me was the day before we releasedit, we had been talking with lawyers, but they couldn’tanswer our questions because the fact is there’s no historyfor this. For me, sitting in my room and hearing there’s nohistory for this was my cue to say, “Okay, that’s the directionI want to go.”Thursday, 3/4Saul WilliamsHouse Of Blues / The Parish, 225 Decatur, (504)310-4999, www.hob.com/neworleansFor more info on Saul Williams, go to:www.myspace.com/saulwilliamsantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_15

FEATUREcultureortino’s paintings to the photographs of Dave Relle,whose portraits of abandoned shotgun houses couldjust as easily be of exhausted New Orleanians for allof their slumping beauty.The book itself is alternatingly hilarious (MichaelPatrick Welch’s loving description of teaching musicto inner-city kids comes immediately to mind) anddevastating (as in the bleak dissonance of Bud Faust’spoetry). At times, most notably in Susan Gisleson’s“Why I Live Below Sea Level,” it manages to be both.But the piece that captures what Strange described as“the duality of living in New Orleans” with the mostpoetic accuracy is Jim Louis’ “Razor Knives.” In thedeceptively short non-fiction piece about the trials oftutoring kids in the Sixth Ward in 1995, Louis expressesthe struggle of attempting to point others towardssome sort of hope in the middle of horror, not to mentionthe effort it takes to remain positive oneself. That“Razor Knives” takes place ten years before Katrinaserves only to underscore how the storm amplified analready-existing condition. The piece ends with a verysimple setting of the scene, a scene that is a bit fantasticalbut, hey, in New Orleans circa 2008, what isn’t?The student that Louis has been tutoring has left forthe day, returning to the neighborhood “that hears,as we do, the nightly cough of gunfire.” Louis, meanwhile,is standing on his porch and looking out onthe street when he perceives “five blocks down andone over, on St. Ann, a marching band practicing forMardi Gras strut[ting] by a crime scene as the pregnantwidow, seeing her husband’s blood washed bythe rain into the gutter, faints.”This is true life, the mélange of dark and light, goodand evil, that exists everywhere but for whatever reasonis played out in such shocking contrast in NewOrleans. There is happiness, and there is sadness,there are celebrations and catastrophes, but the onething that remains constant is the humanity and worthof the people who live at the storm’s center, the peoplewho, everyday, are forced to come to terms with whatit means to be alive in a world gone mad. Everywhere,in every city, life is a delicate burden; we just happento handle ours—as we do everything here—ona stage much larger, much more extravagant. But indoing this, by capturing and expressing the losses andgains of normal human beings with such prescience,we show the rest of the world both the despair andthe hope of being alive. In that way, New Orleans isteacher to the world.Saturday, 3/1Constance Art Opening and Book Release,Barrister’s Gallery (2331 St. Claude Ave.), 7pmThursday, 3/13Constance Reading and Book Release,Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine St., (504) 586-0745,www.goldminesaloon.netFor more info and to order Constance, go to:www.weareconstance.orgArt/Photo Credits:Page 16: Jenny LeBlancPage 17: Brady Fontenot w/ Erik Kiesewetterantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_17

FEATUREmusicMIXING IN THE GAL POWER:SOUL SISTER & FRIENDS MAKE THE VINYLPURR FOR CHOCOLATE KITTY IIIinterview and photos by dan fox fox@antigravitymagazine.com18_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATUREmusic“When we say party, we mean it. Wethrow down.” —DJ Soul SisterEverybody knows Soul Sister has made a huge name forherself in a very good way here.AG: Any good recent finds or digging success stories?L: I found a great Mac Rebennack [aka Dr. John] singlewhich I was really psyched about because I had beenlooking for it for a long time, about nine or ten months.I had heard of it on the Bob Dylan DJ show on theinternet. He loves New Orleans music, so he’s alwaystalking about Mac Rebennack’s old band. There’s thisone song he played called “Bad Neighborhood” that’s somuch fun and when I found it I was freaking out!SS: On my trip to London I did some digging up thereand one of the things I was excited about was this Spanishversion of [McFadden and Whitehead’s] “Ain’t NoStopping Us Now” that breaks out into this wild Salsa; Iplayed it last night and the dance floor was on fire.L: Rock and Roll Collectibles had a whole bunch ofrecords for a dollar, and I found this one record by thisband called Pleasure. The cover has all these ‘80s lightbeams going across it; and there’s one good song onthere called “Glide.”SS: They have some other songs on that record that aregood, too.L: You know it?SS: Oh yeah!AG: How’s the record inventory in New Orleans?SS: New Orleans is known as a Mecca for records andall of the collectors cleaned us out years ago, but there’sstill stuff to be found. Especially with Katrina, so manycollections have been lost. It hurts my feelings to thinkabout that.K: It breaks my heart... You can find some stuff, but alot of people were stupid and thought their records gotruined because they got water on them. They didn’t tryto save them or clean them.AG: Yeah, vinyl is actually pretty resilient.BS: I helped DJ Skratchmo restore some of his records.He had gone to his house in St. Bernard and the sleeveshad gotten stuck to all of his records. He had a systemgoing where if you soaked them, all the paper would comeup. You’d lose your labels, but he saved the records.AG: What can we look forward to for Chocolate KittyIII?SS: Well, this is the third year we’re doing it. It startedout as a way for me and Ladyfingaz to play togetherbefore she left [for San Francisco] and it turned into ashowcase, not only of women DJs and undergroundDJs, but just representing for women, you know? It’salways a hot party. We’re going to have the booty patroldancers as well!AG: Did everybody know each other before thisevent?SS: Well, that’s just it; we really didn’t. It took Katrinato bring us together. The title comes from when MayorNagin made the “Chocolate City” comments, and we justthought, “Chocolate Kitty, that sounds like somethingfun!”BS: It sounds like a party.SS: Some of us are meeting for the first time today. NewOrleans is not known for its DJ culture, but having seenDJs in a lot of different cities I can say that New Orleanshas some of the best, really.K: I’m really proud of the mentality of the city of NewOrleans. Everyone here is a little bit educated about theirhistory so they’re going to hold you to some standard toactually try and put on a good show.BS: I think with parties like Mod Dance Night andHustle!—that they do so well says a lot about the city.When I first moved to New Orleans and started going toHustle!, I was just blown away. We could never do thisin Lafayette! This would never happen; no one wouldever come to this and look how successful and awesomeit is.AG: Mimi’s is probably one of the best places in theworld to be on a Saturday night.SS: I feel that way! I have a blast... With ChocolateKitty, We all know how to throw a party, and when wesay party, we mean it. We throw down. That’s what Iwant people to know. We all love music and that’s whatit’s about; we don’t just play the kind of music that wedo to make a point or a statement. We love to see peopleDJs Beverly Skillz (Left) and Robyn Steeldance and smile and enjoy as we do. And we do it ourway, so... no requests!Friday, 3/28DJ Soul Sister Presents: Chocolate Kitty III, w/ DJsSoul Sister, Lady Fingaz, Kristen, Lingerie,Bomshell Boogie, Robyn SteelDragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade Ave.,http://myspace.com/dragonsdennolaFor more info on Chocolate Kitty III, go to:www.myspace.com/djsoulsis20_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

FEATURE REVIEWmusicEvangelicalsThe Evening Descends(Dead Oceans)The Evening Descends openswith all of the drama ofa Max Fischer play. Guitarschime like harps, a few scenesettingsounds echo about,and one can mentally see the cheap curtain being raised ona still-drying set. But unlike the Rushmore character (andperhaps like the band’s religious namesake as well), Evangelicals’medium does not take a back seat to its message.Instead, the cheap production—and believe me, there are anumber of times when you can practically see the light cansin the back of the school cafeteria here—works closely withstoned-again search for meaning and God that lead singerJosh Jones guides his listeners through.The problem is, I can’t decide if Evangelicals are overachievingor underachieving. At times, the clipped and fadingpost-production tricks seem legitimately beautiful, as inthe downy guitars of “Snowflakes,” but the wailing sirensand mini-skits that begin “Party Crashin’” seem like shlockfor shlock’s sake. Sometimes, of course, the two coalesce, asin the gleefully dramatic “Bellawood,” whose horror-movietheremins wail and moan along with Jones when he shouts,“Strange things keep happening inside my head!”The group manages to channel ‘70s television soul, oldsound effects records, contemporary hardcore and the FlamingLips, not to mention the Rocky Horror vibe that saturatesnearly every track. While the sound is (somehow) a bit tighterand better controlled than 2006’s So Gone, The EveningDescends seems like a minor step backward; the group’saesthetic has begun to congeal, however slightly, but it toooften relies on slapstick instead of letting the music do thetalking. It’s a dark playfulness that is at times unnerving andlacks the stapled-together soulfulness that made parts of SoGone special.Which isn’t to say that this is a bad record, by any means.Evangelicals are far closer to the right side of the line betweenhokiness and authenticity than fellow Okies the FlamingLips were by their second record, if for no other reasonthan because the Lips provided the blueprint. And really,Evening feels like a cheaper version of At War With the Mys-tics, the Lips’ 2006 space rocker. The difference, though, isthat Evangelicals, perhaps by nature of their limited budget(not to mention fame), feel much more grounded in reality.Wayne Coyne may be singing about what would happenif you had all of God’s power, but Josh Jones sounds convincedwhen he screams through a wall of distorted vocals,“When someone loves you very much, you’re fucked,” inthe Broken Social Scene-y “Skeleton Man.” It’s the album’smost winning moment, following Jones’ titular character’sattempts to fill a chest “left empty by the heart’s affairs.” Hemay be screaming in fear, but he also recognizes that he’s nolonger a lifeless stick collection when he sings, “Hands andknees knelt down and scraped skin replaced bone.” In otherwords, as frightening as it may be to be known by somethingbigger than yourself, it sure as hell beats the alternative. Andyeah, it may have taken Jones a bit of maudlin drama to getthere, but in this day and age shock and awe sometimes feelslike the only authenticity we have left.All told, Evening is an at-times charming picture of wherewe seem to live every day. Jones, bassist Kyle Davis anddrummer Austin Stephens have lovingly set their scene,trimming it with thrift store curtains just threadbare enoughto let in a little light. —Marty GarnerPhoto by Scott Mellgrenantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_21

REVIEWSfilmCity of MenPaulo Morelli(Miramax)FernandoMeirelles’City of God is one ofthe best films ever made.Needless to say, expectationsran high for the Meirellesproduced follow-up,City of Men. Comparingthe two is unfair. Meirilles’visual flair directingCity of God was revolutionary filmmaking. His longtimecollaborator Paulo Morelli helms City of Men, afeature-length film featuring characters from the halfhourSundance Channel TV series of the same name.You don’t have to be series fan to enjoy this engagingpicture, but it may pique your interest enough to catchan episode or two.Rio is the setting, but not the glossy Carnival versionseen in travel brochures; rather favela shantytowns,crime-ridden and poverty-stricken, precariouslyperched on mountainsides overlooking thecity. For eighteen-year-olds, Acerola (“Ace” DouglasSilva) and Laranjinha (“Wallace” Darlan Cunha),best friends since childhood amidst a raging gang war,day-to-day life is a struggle. One learns to be a fatherwhile the other searches for his.At times I wished City of Men was a television episode.It takes a while for the action to begin. The leadsare likeable and you care for them enough to waitwhile the story develops. Once it does, you’re in for athoroughly enjoyable tale, in an exotic locale, filmedbeautifully.There’s something about the favelas that createsmajesty where poverty reigns. For all the possessionstheir inhabitant’s lack, they more than make up forin life. I couldn’t help but wonder at the similaritiesbetween them and our own housing project residents.As a grandmother’s shanty burns after her drug-dealinggrandson is driven from a neighborhood, one can’thelp but feel for her. Where will she go? Seeing wholecommunities change hands overnight is both breathtakingand horrifying. Rio scares the crap out of me.It’s a life I can’t imagine living, but a film undeniablyfascinating. —J.W. SpitalnyThe Band’s VisitEran Kolirin(Sony Pictures Classics)The Band’s Visit is justthe kind of film thatfew people would seekout, but if you’re luckyenough to stumble inyou’ll find a wonderfullyrendered, heartfelt picturethat just might reaffirmyou faith in humanity.This Israeli picture, about the Alexandria CeremonialPolice Orchestra lost en route to a gig openingan Arab Cultural Center, has all the magic of earlyJim Jarmusch films. For a foreign film, it’s surprisinglyEnglish-laden, thus far more accessible than onemight expect.The musicians are all likeable, trussed up in powderblue uniforms and always polite, seemingly obliviousto their surreal circumstances. Jazz music is a surprisingunifier of peoples. The Band’s Visit may not changeyour life, but it will make you smile. —J.W. SpitalnyContinued from Page 8:Last month, I stated that David will have a good year in’08—that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thomas hasgot to go (he’s an unrestricted free agent and is very unlikelyto be re-signed). Young’s got some upside and is expectedto get a lot of playing time in ’08, but it still meansthe Saints need one or two corners, as Craft is getting tothe tail end of his career and is best served in nickel anddime packages. Samuel would break the bank but be wellworth it, and the rest of this cast includes some solid andup-and-coming players like Gay, Baxter (who has someinjury concerns), Brown and Walker.SIMMONS WANTS: Samuel, and at far second eitherWalker, Brown or Kelly.NO.4 SAINTS NEED: WIDE RECIEVER Incumbents:Marques Colston, *Henderson, *Copper, *Patten, LanceMoore, Robert Meachem. Possible Replacements: BernardBerrian (Chicago), Randy Moss (New England),Troy Brown (New England), Bryant Johnson (Arizona),Andre Davis (Houston), DJ Hackett (Seattle), MushinMuhammad (Chicago).Half of the Saints’ WR corps are free agents, and of theones sure to remain only Colston is a proven commodity.Moore didn’t quite live up to lofty ’07 preseason expectationsand Meachem is still an unknown. While Patten wasa pleasant surprise, he never worked his way into a trueNo. 2 spot and Copper disappeared in ’07. Henderson’sconsistency problems are well documented and fans, if notcoaches, are tired of waiting for him to come around. Theteam would be best served if Meachem stepped up in ’08,but they should sign at least one other wideout. I just can’tsee Moss in a Saints uniform, and the Patriots are likely tofranchise him, anyway. Sean Payton lobbied to sign Brownlast season and may try again. Some intriguing options areJohnson, Berrian, Davis and Hackett. Johnson has beenburied under Arizona’s dynamic receiving duo of AnquanBoldin and Larry Fitzgerald, but has flashed the ability thatmade him a first round pick in ’03. Davis shined when hestepped in for Houston’s premier wideout Andre Johnson.Hackett missed nine games in ’07 but showed some speedwhen healthy. Berrian has been a consistent deep threat forChicago, even with the Bears’ inconsistent QB play—onewonders what he could do with a top-flight quarterback likeDrew Brees throwing him the ball.SIMMONS WANTS: Davis, Johnson, Berrian.22_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

REVIEWScomicsBrian Vaughan,Pia GuerraY: The Last Man #60(DC/Vertigo)Excuse the frequent use ofthe word “I” in this review,because while every reviewI give is, in the end, a personalpiece, Y: The Last Man isone of my favorite works, andwhat you’re getting here is verymuch the emotional responsethat I had to the final issue ofa series I’ve been reading and enjoying for five years. I’ll savethe suspense, though… despite some concern with the lastcouple of story arcs, the penultimate issue and even the bigreveal of what killed all the men, I thought Y: The Last Man#60 was terrific, maybe not as phenomenal as the first issuethat launched the whole thing, but damned close, at least.Here’s what I said when I reviewed the first issue of Y: TheLast Man and gave it a perfect score (a rating I stand by) overfive years ago: “Y is a hard book to pin down so far. Thereare elements of light humor and strong characterization, and apremise that fits pretty solidly into the horror genre. However,there are also elements of the series which seem to promiseaction, romance and adventure, not to mention a pretty heavytouch of science-fiction, both physical and more sociological.”Y: The Last Man is a good example of how to do a longformcomic book series. Start strong, build a good cast ofcharacters, explore a variety of territory in different waysand close strong. Everything promised in that first issue,from the tonal variance to the broadness of its genre appeal,was there throughout its sixty-issue run. Even better, the seriesbecame one of the best gateway comics for new readersthat I’ve seen as a retailer. The book opened doors into othermedia for comics, opened doors into comics for folks whomight not otherwise ever touch the medium and certainlyopened doors for its creator, who went from a promising butunknown writer to a superstar who rightly landed on one ofthe best shows on television (Lost) all while continuing todevelop more stories for the medium where he got his start.Along the way, it provided a thought-provoking read on bigideas, like the nature of gender politics or how the worldreacts to a disaster of unthinkable proportions, and smallerideas, like the friendship of the three main characters or howan everyman deals with the pressure of being the only guywho can do the most important job in the world.A rundown of Y: The Last Man as a series isn’t really thepoint of this review—that’s probably best saved for when thelast collection is released and I can give it a comprehensivelook. This is mostly a review to let readers know that whenwe got to the finish line, Y: The Last Man earned the rightto be called a great complete story, not just a graphic novelseries with some great stories in it. I wasn’t so sure of that fora while. One of the most important questions of the series,whether Vaughan originally intended it to be so or not, waswhat had happened to all the men? The longer the questionhung out there and the more we were teased about a magicring or some kind of genetic marker, the more anticipationwas built. And what we got was sort of a weird, fringe sciencetheory about mimetic behavior in monkeys, which was notterribly satisfying. Then the last couple arcs seemed to slowdown and, worse, some of the culminations of relationshipsthat had been building since the start took strange, in somecases seemingly out-of-character, left turns, and one death inparticular felt shocking, unnecessary, maybe even a realisticyet unsatisfying random end to what had been a well-craftedbit of character and plot development.My gripes are still there, though I have to admit I’m lookingforward to revisiting the collection and seeing if they standup now that I’ve seen the last page. But Vaughan, Pia Guerraand Jose Marzan Jr. have delivered exactly the kind of endingI had hoped for—one that is at once hopeful and realistic,one that lets us see how the world turns out as a result of theactions of our characters, and how our characters turn out asa result of the choices they made. The narrative trick used toaccomplish this is one of my favorite forms of endings. Somemight argue that it’s too easy, but I think for true closure youneed the distance and perspective that this type of writing toolcan give you, and I heartily applaud its use. As with Preacher,another long-form Vertigo series, there are really two final issues:One is the slam-bang penultimate issue, the other a sortof epilogue that provides important closure and story beatsthat would have been impossible to work in without changingup the pacing and point of view a little.I’m being deliberately vague to avoid spoilers, whichmakes it hard to give specific credit for the work done by theartists. I will say that I love Guerra and Marzan’s lovinglycrafted two-page splash at the beginning that shows us that,for all the struggles, all the despair, what our protagonists didmattered and it helped create a better world. I love the designwork they put into these characters and their backgrounds,doing some of the heavy-lifting required to get a story this bigtold in just the 48 pages remaining. And I will say that I lovehow we got to see the long-term effects of Yorick, Dr. Mann,Beth and all the others not just on each other, but on a widercast of characters. And the central relationship in this issue,something that could have been accomplished with dreamsequences or a philosophical type of exchange, is all the morepowerful for taking place in the physical world, using the scienceshown during the series itself.Y: The Last Man #60 is one seriously emotional finale to theseries, and I couldn’t make it through the final scene with Yorickand Ampersand without tearing up (especially when I sawwhere they were going). The ending is bittersweet in placesand damned tragic in others, but the general tone is upliftingand I can’t think of a more perfect closer than that last pageand the last two words spoken in the series. —Randy Landerantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_23

REVIEWSmusicBritish Sea PowerDo You Like RockMusic?(Rough Trade)On Do You Like Rock Music?,British Sea Power’sthird full-length album, theband set out full sails aheadin an attempt to create genre-shredding, epic rock music.Over the years, the English four-piece has shifted awayfrom their adrenalized brand of post-punk in favor of morepop-centric sound; but on Rock Music, BSP shoot for themoon, only to slip into insipidity overdrive before exitingthe atmosphere. The album does not fail entirely, however.In fact, Rock Music? succeeds in blowing the listener awaywith a mammoth sound that could entertain an arena filledwith U2 devotees. Unfortunately, this constant sonic barragequickly grows tiresome, and the first break from thetorrent of emetic grandiosity is the uninspired “Canvey Island,”where all the band has to offer about the devastating1953 deluge seems to be, “I can’t believe it’s happening,and that it’s happening now.” In the past, BSP have alwaysbeen cheeky and elusive with their stage persona andwriting techniques, especially their lyrical content, whichshrouded the band in a cloak of ambiguity. This ambiguityis almost absent on their latest release, with both the lyricsand the music predictably spelling out the nature of eachsong and not leaving the listener much to mull over or question.Nevertheless, this is also where the album succeeds;BSP could very easily reach the modern rock radio waveswith such tightly produced indie-rock anthems as “No Lucifer,”“Waving Flags” and “Trip Out.” The album diddebut at #10 on the UK album charts. It is just too bad theydid not make an entirely instrumental album in the vainof the pensive, thoroughly enjoyable “Great Skua,” whichmakes terrific use of the production help from the ArcadeFire’s Bilerman and Godspeed’s Efrim Menuck. Do YouLike Rock Music? may come across as rather confoundingor unimaginative to fans of their first two LPs, but for theunacquainted looking for an epic, stadium-sized, BritishArcade Fire with an affection for Coldplay, here is yourband. —Dan MitchellThis Will DestroyYouThis Will Destroy You(Magic Bullet)This Will Destroy Youis the Texas band’sself-titled full lengthdebut, and within its moderately epic, post-rockinstrumentals you can feel the subtle touches of thatTexan landscape crawl into frame. Whether it’s theslightly twangy guitar of “Threads” or the monolithicbuild of “The Mighty Rio Grande,” small bits ofsouthern Americana find their way into the soul of therecord. It’s a good thing too, as every month bringsanother also-ran to the rock instrumental table; thinkof This Will Destroy You as Godspeed You! BlackEmporer-lite—more subdued, unbound by politicalmotives or the extended heft of a larger band. Asidefrom those Texas flourishes, there’s also a smatteringof electronic percussion that breaks apart some of theslower moments; for instance the chattering electronicbeats that litter the otherwise organically serene “TheyMove on Tracks of Never-Ending Light.” Never doesthe addition of electronic elements distract from thebeauty of the music or approach anything resemblingoverproduction, it’s just another instrument in theswirl. Ultimately, This Will Destroy You is a welcomeaddition to the post-rock cannon, a beautiful debutLP from a band who balances instrumental majestywith unpretentious songwriting. —Mike RodgersThrow Me TheStatueMoonbeams(Secretly Canadian)Throw Me the Statueis the banner underwhich Seattle multiinstrumentalistScott Reitherman crafts bedroom-based,self-produced pop songs. On Moonbeams, Reitherman’sdebut album, he showcases his diverse repertoire ofhomey, Pollard-esque songs while dabbling in Cluelesserapower-pop and light-hearted remembrances ofyouth that are akin to Belle & Sebastian, all the timeemploying an impressive miscellany of vocal deliverymethods. While he does not possess the vocal rangeof label-mates Jens Lekman and Antony, his variancebetween the tracks keeps the album fresh and inviting.Moonbeams opens with “Young Sensualists,” a pleasantlyunaffected pop number driven by light programmedpercussion and finds Reitherman channeling his bestinner Travis Morrison, as he also does effectively on theairy rock of “Groundswell.” The second track, “Lolita,”is an undeniably fetching song, complete with its clatterof bells, handclaps and an innocent (maybe?) lyricalode to the storied young girl, who is nineteen in thisinterpretation. The Kinks-y “Your Girlfriend’s Car”possesses similar catchiness. On “About to Walk,” JeffMagnum can be heard straight away before Reithermanfinds his own voice on the refrain with a distant yetsincere delivery, adding a little light to Magnum’s usuallydrab style. The real triumphs of the album, however, arethe tracks where TMTS crank it up and rock a bit, andthe champion of these is “Yucatan Gold.” Opening witha funky percussion-driven beat set to a restrained guitarriff, the music descends into an ‘80s, post-disco metallicstomp with Reitherman reminiscing about romanticmissteps in Mexico. The kind of unpresumptuouscreativity present on “Yucatan Gold” runs throughthe first nine tracks of Moonbeams and saves the albumfrom sinking with the less than stirring songs towardthe end of the album. Although not groundbreaking,Reitherman & Co. triumph in creating a solid andultimately rewarding low-key collection of unassumingand enjoyable pop songs. —Dan MitchellVampire WeekendVampire Weekend(XL)When a new band rollsaround, surroundedby a massive cloud ofhype and sporting a sounddifficult to categorize, it can be quite a chore to figureout what to do with them. Vampire Weekend’s selftitleddebut is such a record; I could take the lazy wayout and make some half-assed Strokes by-way-of PaulSimon references, or I could simply say that VampireWeekend is a breezy, light hearted, very rarefiedand impossibly preppy band that also happens to beimmensely listenable. The arrangements are simple andeach instrument has its distinct place: guitars chime inand out, the bass plucks along, the drums and otherbits of percussion are economically parsed out, organchords shift in and out of the melody and Ezra Koenig’slilting voice coats it all in an indie rock shout. The realsurprise is how un-rock ’n roll Vampire Weekend reallyis—it drops most of the power chord riffing of modernrock, preferring instead to blend new wave pop janglewith Afro music rhythms and structures. “A-Punk”is one of only a few tracks on the album that soundsmuch like college rock, “M79” could be the soundtrackto a Rushmore deleted scene and “Cape Cod KwassaKwassa” is an almost trite tribal bounce filtered throughupper class experience. Behind all the hype and genrename games, Vampire Weekend maybe isn’t the nextbig thing or even a great record, but it’s a good one thatyou’ll find playing in your stereo for months to come.—Mike RodgersMUSIC REVIEWS SPONSORED BY THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITY24_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_25

EVENTSNEW ORLEANS45 Tchoup, 4529 Tchoupitoulas (504) 891-9066Alamo Underground, 1547 Crete St., (217)419-0547, http://myspace.com/the_alamoThe A.R.K./Iron Rail Book Collective/Plan B, 511 Marigny, (504) 944-0366Barrister’s Art Gallery, 2331 St. Claude Ave.The Big Top, 1638 Clio St., (504) 569-2700,www.3ringcircusproductions.comThe Blue Nile, 534 Frenchmen St., (504) 948-2583Broadmoor House, 4127 Walmsley, (504)821-2434Cafe Brasil, 2100 Chartres St., (504) 947-9386Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow St., (504)865-9190, www.carrolltonstation.comCheckpoint Charlie’s, 501 Esplanade Ave.,(504) 947-0979Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal Street (504)304-4714, www.chickiewahwah.comCircle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., (504) 588-2616, www.circlebar.netClub 300, 300 Decatur Street, www.neworleansjazzbistro.comCoach’s Haus, 616 N. SolomonThe Country Club, 634 Louisa St., (504) 945-0742, www.countryclubneworleans.comd.b.a., 618 Frenchmen St., (504) 942-373, www.drinkgoodstuff.com/noDer Rathskeller (Tulane’s Campus),McAlister Dr., http://wtul.fmDragon’s Den, 435 Esplanade Ave., http://myspace.com/dragonsdennolaEldon’s House, 3055 Royal Street,arlovanderbel@hotmail.comErnie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge,1500 N. Claiborne Ave.Fair Grinds Coffee House, 3133 Ponce deLeon, (504) 913-9072, www.fairgrinds.comFuel Coffee House, 4807 Magazine St. (504)895-5757Goldmine Saloon, 701 Dauphine St., (504)586-0745, www.goldminesaloon.netThe Green Space, 2831 Marais Street (504)945-0240, www.thegreenproject.orgHandsome Willy’s, 218 S. Robertson St., (504)525-0377, http://handsomewillys.comHi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave. (504)945-4446, www.myspace.com/hiholoungeHot Iron Press Plant, 1420 Kentucky Ave.,hotironpress@hotmail.comHouse Of Blues / The Parish, 225 Decatur,(504)310-4999, www.hob.com/neworleansThe Howlin’ Wolf, 907 S. Peters, (504) 522-WOLF, www.thehowlinwolf.comKajun’s Pub, 2256 St. Claude Avenue (504)947-3735, www.myspace.com/kajunspubKim’s 940, 940 Elysian Fields, (504) 844-4888The Kingpin, 1307 Lyons St., (504) 891-2373Le Bon Temps Roule, 4801 Magazine St.,(504) 895-8117Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 581-5812, www.cabaretlechatnoir.comLyceum Central, 618 City Park Ave., (410)523-4182, http://lyceumproject.comLyon’s Club, 2920 Arlington St.Mama’s Blues, 616 N. Rampart St., (504) 453-9290Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak St., (504) 866-9359Marlene’s Place, 3715 Tchoupitoulas, (504)897-3415, www.myspace.com/marlenesplaceMcKeown’s Books, 4737 Tchoupitoulas, (504)895-1954, http://mckeownsbooks.netNEW ORLEANS (Cont.)Melvin’s, 2112 St. Claude Ave.MVC, 9800 Westbank Expressway, (504) 234-2331, www.themvc.netNeutral Ground Coffee House, 5110 DanneelSt., (504) 891-3381, www.neutralground.orgNowe Miasto, 223 Jane Pl., (504) 821-6721Ogden Museum, 925 Camp St., (504) 539-9600One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361, www.oneeyedjacks.netOuter Banks, 2401 Palmyra (at S. Tonti), (504)628-5976, www.myspace.com/outerbanksmidcityRepublic, 828 S. Peters St., (504) 528-8282,www.republicnola.comRusty Nail, 1100 Constance Street (504) 525-5515, www.therustynail.org/Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., www.myspace.com/saturnbarSide Arm Gallery, 1122 St. Roch Ave., (504)218-8379, www.sidearmgallery.orgSouthport Hall, 200 Monticello Ave., (504)835-2903, www.newsouthport.comThe Spellcaster Lodge, 3052 St. ClaudeAvenue, www.quintonandmisspussycat.com/tourdates.htmlSt. Roch Taverne, 1200 St. Roch Ave., (504)945-0194Tarantula Arms, 209 Decatur Street (504)525-5525, www.myspace.com/tarantulaarmsTipitina’s, (Uptown) 501 Napoleon Ave.,(504) 895-8477 (Downtown) 233 N. Peters,www.tipitinas.comThe Zeitgeist, 2940 Canal St., (504) 827-5858,www.zeitgeistinc.netMETAIRIEAirline Lion’s Home, 3110 Division St.Badabing’s, 3515 Hessmer, (504) 454-1120The Bar, 3224 EdenbornHammerhead’s, 1300 N Causeway Blvd, (504)834-6474The High Ground, 3612 HessmerAve., Metairie, (504) 525-0377, www.thehighgroundvenue.comKeystone’s Lounge, 3408 28 th Street, www.myspace.com/keystonesloungeStitches, 3941 Houma Blvd., www.myspace.com/stitchesbarBATON ROUGECarlotta Street, 3207 Carlotta St.,starsandlemonade@hotmail.comThe Caterie, 3617 Perkins Rd., www.thecaterie.comChelsea’s Café, 2857 Perkins Rd., (225) 387-3679, www.chelseascafe.comDragonfly’s, 124 West ChimesThe Darkroom, 10450 Florida Blvd., (225) 274-1111, www.darkroombatonrouge.comGovernment St., 3864 Government St., www.myspace.com/rcpzineJunkyard House, 3299 Ivanhoe St.North Gate Tavern, 136 W. Chimes St.(225)346-6784, www.northgatetavern.comRed Star Bar, 222 Laurel St., (225) 346-8454,www.redstarbar.comRotolos, 1125 Bob Pettit Blvd. (225) 761-1999,www.myspace.com/rotolosallagesThe Spanish Moon, 1109 Highland Rd., (225)383-MOON, www.thespanishmoon.comThe Varsity, 3353 Highland Rd., (225)383-7018,www.varsitytheatre.comSaturday, 3/1Adam’s Attic, House Of BluesBig Blue Marble, Big Rock CandyMountain, Hi-Ho LoungeBlair Gimma, Jon Crocker, ARK, 7pm, $5Constance Art Opening and Book Release,Barrister’s Art Gallery, 7pm, FREEDie Rotzz, Big Baby, DJ M.B., Circle BarGoatwhore, Haarp, Dusk Rapist, One EyedJacks, 10pmJohn Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pmNSECA Ceramic Show, The Big Top, 6pmRemember the Good Times Party, Dragon’sDen (Upstairs), 10pmRoddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars,d.b.a., 11pm, $5The Unnaturals, the Bills, Banks St. Bar,10pm, FREESunday, 3/2Alexandra and the Thieves, Circle BarFleur De Tease, One Eyed JacksLinnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmMartin Krusche, Simon Lott, HelenGilette, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmSchatzy, d.b.a., 10pmState Radio, The Parish @ House Of BluesWonderfarm Cabaret, Hi-Ho LoungeMonday, 3/3Citizen Cope, House Of BluesJohnny Woodstock & the Cosmic Oasis,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmTchoupchupacabara, Circle BarVavavoom, d.b.a., 10pmTuesday, 3/4Axes of Evil, Red Star BarBlind Texas Marlin, Steve Eck, Circle BarBuilt to Spill, the Meat Puppets, Howlin’Wolf, 10pm, $15Hurray for the Riff-Raff, Dragon’s Den(Upstairs), 10pmJohnny Vidacovich, d.b.a., 10pmWilco, Tipitina’s, 10pmWednesday, 3/5The Fens, Circle BarMarco Solo with the lead singers ofZydepunks, Morning 40 Federation, MyGraveyard Jaw, Hurray for the Riff Raffand Wooden Teeth, Hi-Ho LoungeHot 8 Brass Band, Howlin’ WolfWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Wilco, Tipitina’s, 10pmThursday, 3/6Coco Robicheaux, d.b.a., 7pmDoomsday Device, Kid Midi, Arajay,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmGal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue,d.b.a., 11pm, $5The Passing Parade, Circle BarRougarou, Vincent Black Shadow,Tarantula Arms, 10pmSilverstein, the Devil Wears Prada, A Day toRemember, Protest the Hero, House Of BluesVincent Black Shadow, Rougrou, TarantulaArms, 9:30pmFriday, 3/7Arajay, Doomsday Device, Dragon’s Den,FREEBayou Silver, Circle Bar, 6pmThe Black Hollies, Saturn Bar, 10pmBlair Gimma, Circle Bar, 10pmWednesday, 3/5Beach House, Papercuts, Baby Walrus,Spanish Moon, 10pmAlex Scally and Victoria Legrand, thesweet Baltimore duo Beach House,bring their languid and dreamy pop tothe Big Easy to promote Devotion, theirsophomore album from Carpark Records.This time around, their slide guitar andorgan sound a bit more polished and lesssleepy—think Mazzy Star after a coldshower and a cup of coffee—plus they’veswitched from being backed by a drummachine to using a real live drummer (inthe form of Jason Quever, opening bandPapercuts’ lead singer). Go ahead andrevel in their exquisitely haunting echoand reverb effects; just beware the lovesickdesire to hold hands with the strangernext to you. Either way, be prepared to becharmed. —Julia BoteroConsortium of Genius Premieres“Morgus vs. COG vs. Rock CityMorgue,” Rock City EP Release Show,One Eyed JacksCrescent City Celebration: A Benefit forthe Neighborhoods Partnership Networkf/ Kirk Joseph and the Backyard Groove,Howlin’ WolfEver Be, the Secret State, Cities KilledStarlight, Cheney Youth, Keystones LoungeDead Kenny Gs, d.b.a., 10pm, $10Hot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pmLovehog and Friends, Hi-Ho LoungeNo Fucker, We Need to Talk,Hellkontroll, Tarantula Arms, 11pm, FREEThey Might Be Giants, House Of BluesWhite Colla Crimes, Tray Diggz, Circle BarSaturday, 3/8A Living Soundtrack, the Other Planets,Dragon’s Den, 10pm, $5Black Snow, Runoft, Endora’s Mask,Tarantula Arms, 10pmBlue Cheer, Suplecs, the Giraffes, One EyedJacks, 10pmConverts, Worlds Most Dangerous,Hammer-On, Twist Of Lime, 10pmJake Smith, The Parish @ House Of BluesJealous Monk, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs),10pmJohn Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pmLes Claypool, Secret Chiefs 3, House Of BluesLittle Freddie King, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Morning 40 Federation, the Ettes, Hi-HoLounge26_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

EVENTSN.O.C.C.A. Nite w/ the Pears, the Shots,Floopy Head, Wizmar, Venus Chain, TheBig Top, 6:30pmThe Old Ceremony, Dan Sartrain, Red Star BarSimon Lott, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pmSpickle, Collapsar, Circle BarSunday, 3/9Brian Coogan, Helen Gillet, Rick Trolsen,Hi-Ho LoungeDeadly Syndrome, Saturn Bar, 10pmGreen 17 Tour f/ Flogging Molly,Reverend Peyton’s big Damn Band, theCherry Coke$, House Of BluesLe Concorde, the Physics of Meaning, Circle BarLinnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmMarc Stone Band, d.b.a., 10pmNew Orleans Craft Mafia’s Crescent CityArt Market, The Big Top, 2pmWATIV, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmSunday, 3/9Madeline Adams, Nana Grizol, theDeathset, Ponytail, Pumpkin, Dragon’sDen, 6pm, $5Magnetic Ear, d.b.a., 10pmMake A Rising, I, Octopus, Red Rockets,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmSay Hi To Your Mom, We vs. the Shark,Spanish Moon, 10pmThe Weight, Red Star BarTuesday, 3/11Black Moth Super Rainbow, BornRuffians, Cadence Weapon, Spanish MoonBone Thugs-N-Harmony, the Pack, HouseOf BluesCapital Offense, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 6pmJohnny Vidacovich Duo f/ WolterWierbos, d.b.a., 10pmMEN (JD and JO of Le Tigre), HeyWillpower, One Eyed JacksPigeon John, Guerilla Pub. Co., DJ TonySkratchere, Johnny on the Rocks, Hi-HoLoungeSia, Har Mar Superstar, The Parish @ HouseOf BluesTakka Takka, the Coast, Black Horse, Circle BarWolter Wierbos w/ Ed Petersen, FairGrinds Coffee House, 8pmWednesday, 3/12The Slits, Peelander-Z, Shellshag,This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, the FutureVirgins, Happy Talk Band,One Eyed Jacks, 10pm, $10The Slits have officially reunited andare refusing to be labeled as agingpunk rock has-beens. Having not releasedmaterial since 1981’s Return of the KillerSlits, original members Tessay Pollit andAri Up, along with ex-Sex Pistols drummerPaul Cook, Adam and the Ants guitaristMarco Pirroni and the daughters ofCook and the Clash’s Mick Jones, landin New Orleans in support of Revenge ofthe Killer Slits, their newly released EP.Definitely not lost over time is their dissonantguitars and screams, aggressive attitudesand signature genre-stepping dubsound that earned them an earmark inthe textbook of punk rock history and cementedthem as major influences for theRiot Grrrl movement. New to the mix istheir single “Slits Tradition,” a self-congratulatoryreminder of their feministpolitics set to a playful rap, proving theseladies have not lost the knack for breakingboundaries and experimenting withnew styles. These ladies are sure to ripout old favorites like “Typical Girls” and“I know What Boys Like.” The night willbe rife with infectious riffs and the type offervent energy sure to recharge anyone’sbattery. —Julia BoteroMonday, 3/10311 Fan Party, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmBorn Ruffians, Cadence Weapons, OneEyed Jacks, 10pmCloud Minder, Wisely, Tiny Whales,Voodoo Economics, Circle BarDeath Set, Pumpkin, Start Select, Dragon’sDen (Upstairs), 6pmANTIGRAVITY, Static TV andPark the Van Presents:Dr. Dog, the Peekers, One Eyed JacksLet’s hark back to a time when songsencouraged audience sing-alongs,vocals harmonized in unison with“oooh”s and “ah”s and twanging guitarswandered away from melodies onlyto return back to them. Now visualizea goofy quintet donning plaid flannels,dark Ray-Ban sunglasses and you’ve gotDr. Dog. After touring with My MorningJacket in 2006 these playful, bearded fellowsfrom Philly (whom prefer the stagenames Tables, Trouble, Text, Taxi, andThank) earned some break-out cred andlanded a positive review of their albumEasy Beat in the New York Times andeventually TV appearances on David Letterman,Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno.Dr. Dog has been compared to the BeachBoys, the Band and the Beatles, but it’ssafe to say that with their most recent releaseWe All Belong, their music has risenabove comparison but has stayed true toa sound that’s a healthy mix of blue grass,folk and psychedelic rock. —Julia Botero;Photo by Tamara GraysonWednesday, 3/12BareBones f/ Wolter Wierbos, “Big Sam”Williams, Rick Trolsen, Mark Magraine,Jeff Albert, Blue Nile, 9:30pmBeneath the Massacre, See You NextThursday, Born of Osiris, the Tony DanzaTapdance Experience, High Ground, 7pm, $10The Fens, Circle Barantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_27

NOLAFugees.comNew orleans online magazine2 YEARS 2 BOOKSLIFE IN THE WAKE:Fiction from post-KatrinaNew OrleansYear Zero:A Year of Reportingfrom Post-KatrinaNew OrleansWe writewhat we know.Available Online or at yourfavorite local bookstoreWWW.NOLAFUGEES.COMEVENTSMan Man, Blitzen Trapper, theExtraordinaires, Spanish Moon, 10pmRTX f/ Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux,Puddin Tang, Hibachi Stranglers, Hi-HoLounge, 10pmWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Thursday, 3/13Constance Reading and Book Release,Gold Mine Saloon, 7pmGhostland Observatory, House Of BluesGood Guys, Big Baby, Dragon’s Den(Upstairs), 10pmNile, Suicide Silence, the Faceless,Unexpect, Warbringer, The Parish @ HouseOf BluesPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pmRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmShannon McNally, d.b.a., 11pm, $5The Stationary Set, Circle BarWolter Wierbos, James Singleton,David Tortanowsky, Justin Peake, DaveCapello, Saturn Bar, 10:30pmFriday, 3/14Bucktown All-Stars, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmDon’t Die Cindy, the Flood Memoirs,Cities Killed Starlight, High Ground, 7pm,$6HorrorPops, the Pink Spiders, Steve ENix, the Cute Lepers, The Parish @ HouseOf BluesIngrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pmInvoke the Nightmare, Chronic Brutality,Keystones Lounge, 9pmJames Hall, the Bad Off, One Eyed JacksKenny Brown, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Kings of Happy Hour, Circle BarMan Kind is Obsolete, Ierased, Hi-Ho LoungeNew Orleans Rhythm Conspiracy,Tarantula Arms, 10pmTrey Songz, J. Holiday, House Of BluesSaturday, 3/15Black Primer, Switchblade Combs,Tarantula Arms, 10pmCount Jeremy’s Monster March ElectronicMusic Festival, MVC, 5pm, $6The Cribs, Ra Ra Riot, Jeffrey Lewis, theJitters, One Eyed JacksDroppin’ Bombs 2 f/ Oscillator, Hellabent,Kaotik Grace, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmEndora’s Mask, Black Snow, TypicalStereo, Hi-Ho LoungeJohn Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pmOtra, d.b.a., 11pm, $5The Roots of Music Fundraiser f/ theRebirth Brass Band, Trombone Shorty,Orleans Ave., DJ Captain Charles, Howlin’WolfZydepunks, My Graveyard Jaw, Circle BarSunday, 3/16A Place to Bury Strangers, Holy Fuck, OneEyed Jacks, 10pmAni DiFranco, Over the Rhine, House Of BluesBrutal Knights, Menthols, Die Rotzz,Nasty Habits, Hi-Ho LoungeDick Darby’s Hip-Hop World Tour,Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pmTeenage Prayers, Alana and the RoughGems, Sissy Wish, Circle BarYoung Republic, d.b.a., 10pmMonday, 3/17Earth Crisis, Terror, Sworn Enemy, ShaiHulud, Down to Nothing, Recon, HighGround, 7pm, $18EOTO f/ members of String CheeseIncident, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pmGreat Lakes Myth Society, City Streets,Cameron McGill, What Army, Circle BarJoe Krown Organ Combo, d.b.a., 10pmPeter Young, ARK, 4pm, FREEPygmy Lush, Ghastly City Sleep, BigBlue Marble, Big Baby, The Big Top,10pm, $5Torche, Haarp, Thou, Dragon’s Den, 7pm, $5Why?, Panther, Spanish Moon, 10pmZydepunks, World Inferno FriendshipSociety, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmMonday, 3/17Hardcore for the Hardcore Fest,Iron Rail, 4pm; Dragon’s Den, 7pm;the Big Top, 10pmlong day of fun to be had by all. WeA begin at 4pm at the Iron Rail BookCollective, where animal liberator andeco-saboteur Peter Young will give a shortlecture on his felony conviction of releasing8,000 mink into the wild, being on therun for seven years, and his subsequentrelease from prison. Afterwards, we shallmarch down the street holding hands andscowling—a silent, baleful second linedown to the early, all ages, stoner/metalshow at the Dragon’s Den. This show featuresTorche (ex-Floor, Kyuss style rock),Haarp (local kings and warlords from theParish), and Thou (misanthropic bardsfrom Baton Rouge). For some the eveningwill continue in a mad dash to Metairieto catch a set from vegan straightedgelegends Earth Crisis. For most, it will bea leisurely bike ride or drive down to theBig Top for a late night show with the bestnew bands stemming from those Sterling-Richmond-DC punks in Page NinetyNine. Pygmy Lush deliver a haunting,melancholy country sound, said to be amixture of the Black Heart Processionand Tom Waits—while their sister bandGhastly City Sleep delivers a more SigurRos/ Godspeed! You Black Emperor/Explosionsin the Sky mix. This show willbe bookended by local indie giants BigBlue Marble and Big Baby. Marijuana addictsand hipster lushes, don’t be scared.The hardcore legions of New Orleans willoffer you a gentle evening of fun and camaraderie—inorder to lull you into a defenselessposition so we can move in forthe kill: transforming you from a lazy, donothinginto a hard-working, proactive,NO-FUN, DIY machine. —Bryan FunckTuesday, 3/18Big Blue Marble, Modern Skirts, BrassBed, One Eyed JacksComa Lillies, Gentlemen Auction House,So Many Dynamos, Circle BarDelfeayo Marsalis, Hi-Ho Lounge28_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

EVENTSJohnny Vidacovich, d.b.a., 10pmKosha Dillz, Know One, Dragon’s Den(Upstairs), 10pmLegendary Shack Shakers, Bones, SpanishMoon, 10pmMatt White, Five Times August, DerekJames, The Parish @ House Of BluesTuesday, 3/18Friday, 3/21Baroness, Young Widow, One Eyed JacksFleur De Tease, Run Run Run, Spanish Moon, 10pmHot Club of New Orleans, d.b.a., 6pmI, Octopus, A Living Soundtrack, Dragon’sDen (Downstairs), 10pmJuvenile, House Of BluesPeople on the Side, Hippie, Black MarketHalos, Paramaya, Keystones Lounge, 9pmRefried Confuzion, Tarantula Arms, 10pmSoul Rebels, N.O.madic Belly Dancers,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmZydepunks, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Saturday, 3/22BoDeans, House Of BluesBluerunners, d.b.a., 11pm, $5DJ Maxmillion, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmEthylene, Centerpunch, Run Run Run, TheParish @ House Of BluesGal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue,Circle BarJohn Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pmThe Gutter Twins, Great Northern, OneEyed JacksPete Robbins w/ Simon Lott, Hi-Ho LoungeKimya Dawson,Shelter #10 in Audubon Park, 3pmKimya Dawson’s career has been likea backwards jig, compared to somany other punks-gone-corporate-sellouts.Her first solo record was releasedon Rough Trade before she moved on tomore indie labels like Important and K.And she’s since released a record on themilitantly DIY Plan It X Records. Evenwith the success of her music on the Junosoundtrack, the influence of her newfoundcolleagues in Ghost Mice and Matty PopChart was quite evident in her last performancein New Orleans, as she played anall ages benefit at the Iron Rail (since thebenefit she was playing at the House ofBlues was 18 and older). And it continueswith her upcoming free “show” out in thepark. We’ll either enjoy a beautiful daytogether, holding hands, gently caressedby Spring’s breeze—or we’ll all huddleup against one another, our bodies moistwith rain and sweat, escaping the showersfor musical bliss. —Bryan FunckWednesday, 3/19Acid Mother’s Temple, Danava, One EyedJacks, 10pmChrisette Michele, House Of BluesCougar Den, Rougarou, The Big Top, 7:30pm, $5The Fens, Circle BarWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Thursday, 3/20Blue Mountain, The Parish @ House Of BluesChristmas Forever, Circle BarCoco Robicheaux, d.b.a., 7pmGov’t Majik, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmGrayson Capps, d.b.a., 11pm, $5The Hanks, the Forward, High Ground, 7pm, $8Master/Slave, Arajay, Peppermint Pony,Saturn Bar, 10pmRebirth Brass Band, Gravy, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmVenus Train, A Living Tree, Hi-Ho LoungeSunday, 3/23Alexandra and the Thieves, Circle BarDave Dondero, Narcissy, Hi-Ho LoungeFree Jazz, Brah!, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmThe Gondaliers, Saturn Bar, 10pmPete Robbins Trio f/ Simon Lott, d.b.a., 10pmSt. Louis Slim, d.b.a., 6pmMonday, 3/24Dick Darby’s Hip-Hop World Tour,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmSchatzy, Circle BarWashboard Chaz Blues Trio, d.b.a., 10pmTuesday, 3/25Carl LeBlanc, Circle BarJohnny Vidacovich, d.b.a., 10pmMy Graveyard Jaw, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)Wednesday, 3/26The Bravery, House Of BluesBurning Brides, One Eyed JacksCaptain Chaos, Eric Ayotte, the LetDown, ARK, 7pm, $5The Fens, Circle BarWalter Wolfman Washington, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Thursday, 3/27Black Belt, Meadow Flow, Emergence,Dragon’s Den, 10pm, $5Gold and Glass, Circle BarHatikva, Howlin’ WolfIsotope 504 f/ Rob Mazurek, Saturn Bar, 10:30pmMeadow Flow, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmNew Model Army, Zydepunks, Hi-HoLounge, 10pmPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 7pmRebirth Brass Band, Howlin’ Wolf, 10pmSnarky Puppy, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Southern Culture on the Skids, The Parish@ House Of BluesFriday, 3/28Chicago/NOLA Underground Duo f/ RobMazurek and TBA, Fair Grinds Coffeehouse, 8pmDirty Coast Fashion Show, One Eyed JacksDJ Soul Sister Presents: Chocolate KittyIII Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_29

EVENTSGive The Drummer Some: A Tribute toJohnny Vidacovich f/ Stanton Moore,George Porter Jr., Shannon Powell,David Torkanowsky, Russell Batiste,Arthur Mintz, Kevin O’Day, TerrenceHiggins, Shane Theriot, Tony Dagradiand Steve Masakowski, Howlin’ WolfIngrid Lucia, d.b.a., 6pmJohn “Papa” Gros, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Porcelin Arms, Ever Be, Luke Starkiller,Valeyra, Keystones Lounge, 9pmSticky Wig, Flow Tribe, Hi-Ho LoungeTift Merritt, Paul Sanchez, The Parish @House Of BluesVermillion Lies, Spanish Moon, 10pmThe Wayward, the Jefferson Plane Crash,Party Time, Dragon’s Den, 6pm, $5Yellowcard, Secondhand Serenade,PlayRadioPlay!, Treat of Paris, House Of BluesSaturday, 3/29Big Chief Alfred Doucette, d.b.a., 11pm, $5Converts, Hammer-on, Street Light Suzie,Banks St. Bar, 10pm, FREEThe Dirtbombs, Kelley Stoltz, True Sonsof Thunder, One Eyed Jacks, 10pmDJ Tester, Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pmHerman Put Down the Gun f/ SoniaTelow, Mary LaSang, Ruby Rendrag, Hi-Ho LoungeJohn Boutte’, d.b.a., 7pmOne Man Machine Album Release,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmPaul Sanchez, d.b.a., 5pmYour 33 Black Angels, the Public, MeadowFlow, Circle Bar, 10pm, $5Sunday, 3/30Alexandra Scott, Circle BarChicago/NOLA Underground Quartet f/Rob Mazurek, Larry Sieberth and TBA,Hi-Ho LoungeLinnzi Zaorski, d.b.a., 6pmLost Bayou Ramblers, d.b.a., 10pm, $5Nick Jaina Band, Steve Eck, Why Are WeBuilding Such a Big Ship?, One Eyed JacksSpooky LaStrange and Her Billion-DollarBaby Dolls, Tarantula Arms, 10pmSwitchfoot, House Of BluesMonday, 3/31An Evening with moe., House Of BluesCarl LeBlanc, Circle BarDick Darby’s Hip-Hop World Tour,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmThe Other Planets, d.b.a., 10pmPulling Teeth, We Need to Talk,Pussyhawk, Dragon’s Den, 7pm, $5Tuesday, 4/1Pink Razors, Erin Tobey, Rougarou,Cyclops Card, The Big Top, 7pm, $5Wednesday, 4/2Salt Dreams Documentary World Premiere,One Eyed Jacks, 8pm, MidnightWEEKLIES /DANCE NIGHTSFriday, 3/7Kid Twist’s Bounce Night, N.O.madic BellyDancers, Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), 10pmFriday, 3/14The Shadow Gallery, Dragon’s Den(Upstairs)Friday, 3/21ActionActionReaction, Circle BarMondaysBeans and Blue Grass, Hi-Ho Lounge, 8pmMusicians’ Open Mic, Tarantula Arms, 9pmOpen Turntables w/ DJ Proppa Bear,Dragon’s Den (Downstairs), 10pmService Industry Night, Dragon’s DenTuesdaysAcoustic Open Mic w/ Jim Smith,Checkpoint Charlie’s, 10pmFunk n a Movie w/ Joshua Reppel f/Nick Hughes and Clifford Hines, TarantulaArms, 10pmIvan’s Open Mic, Rusty Nail, 8pmWednesdaysDJ T-Roy Presents: Dancehall Classics,Dragon’s Den, $3Tequila Wednesday w/ Lynn Drury,Tarantula Arms 10pmThursdaysThe Bombshelter w/ DJ Bomshell Boogie,Dragon’s Den (Upstairs)DJ Kemistry, Republic, 11pmDJ Proppa Bear Presents: Bassbin Safari,Dragon’s Den (Downstairs)Fast Times ‘80s Dance Night, One Eyed JacksPunk Night, Tarantula Arms 10pmVelcro Indie Dance Party, Spanish MoonFridaysElectro-City w/ DJ Izzy Ezzo, TarantulaArms, 1amFriday Night Music Camp, The Big Top,5pm; 3/7: The JackalsN.O.madic Belly Dancers, Dragon’s Den, 8pmRewind ‘80s Dance Night, the HangarSoul Movement w/ Brice Nice, Dragon’sDen (Downstairs), 10pmThrowback, Republic, 11pmSaturdaysDJ Damion Yancy, Republic, 11pmDJ Rock-A-Dread, Tarantula Arms, 11:45pmSundaysDJ Lingerie, Circle BarReggae Sunday w/ DJ Real, Tarantula ArmsCOMEDYThursday, 3/6Young Comedians Show, Circle Bar, 8pmTuesdaysOpen Mic Comedy Night, Howlin’ Wolf, 7pm, $5ThursdaysMake Ovis, Not War, La Nuit Theater,9:30pm, $5FridaysGod’s Been Drinking: Cutting EdgeImprov, La Nuit Theatre, 8:30pm, $10Open Mic Stand-Up, La Nuit Theatre, 10pm, $5SaturdaysComedySportz: All-Ages Comedy Show,La Nuit Theatre, 7pm, $10Improv Jam, La Nuit Theatre, 10pm, $530_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative

COMICSantigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_31