New Orleans

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Review: Contraband

A high-quality composite of knock-offs
True to its name, this standard heist thriller is a composite of knock-offs, but when Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America is among the sources ripped off, the quality is pretty high.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 17, 2012

Boston bartenders bust up the Big Easy

Strange tales
There was a wedding, a funeral (for the Long Island Iced Tea), fried alligator, mechanical bulls, and Ron Jeremy on harmonica. Boston bartenders, who were there in full force, can attest to all of it.
By LIZA WEISSTUCH | August 24, 2011

Playing pretty at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Anthems and praise songs
An accordion blasted a few bars of a two-step and then stopped. "That's the only Cajun music you'll hear on this stage," said Colin Meloy. The Decemberists were making their New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival debut on the Fais Do-Do stage, which is typically reserved for Cajun, zydeco, and other indigenous Louisiana music.
By JON GARELICK | May 12, 2011

Photos: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival | April 27–May 6, 2011
Big Freedia, Creole Wild West, Danny Barnes, Dr. John, Dave Bartholomew, Pine Leaf Boys, Tom Jones, Washboard Chaz and Zion Harmonizers perform live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival from April 27–May 6, 2011.
By JON GARELICK | May 18, 2011

Jeff the Brotherhood bring the DIY

Elemental
"If I hadn't witnessed Jeff the Brotherhood, there would be no Skimask," Skimask singer Andy Brown told me after an Allston basement show last month.
By LIZ PELLY | March 25, 2011

Dennis Taylor | Steppin' Up

Kizybosh (2011)
The set-up is familiar and unpretentious: a saxophone-fronted organ trio playing blues 'n' roots.
By JON GARELICK | February 23, 2011

Review: Hot Suppa

Hot Suppa’s new dinner service builds on longstanding strengths
When you sit down in one of the comfortable booths for the new dinner service at Hot Suppa, it is hard to remember the many years when Hot Suppa was closed in the evenings.
By BRIAN DUFF | February 16, 2011

Review: Bluebird Café

From bacon and eggs to fried catfish
How easy it is to take your favorite local places for granted. The Bluebird Café is my regular weekly lunch spot and a shortlist contender for taking out-of-town guests to breakfast, but I've shamefully neglected its once-a-week dinners.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 11, 2011

Attack on the middle class!

First they came for your paycheck. Then your house. What's next?
The remarkable thing about the American middle class is that we still have one, given the job losses, housing bust, and 401(k) wipeout of the past three years — and considering that for 35 years, politicians (and the bankers who own them) have been hammering away at middle-class institutions.
By JAMES K. GALBRAITH | January 05, 2011

Honk! Fest blasts back into Providence

Brass Dept.
The third annual "Providence Honk! Fest" (aka "Pronk!") rounds up 10 brass marching bands from Texas to Chicago to New York for a great big hootenanny in Providence on Monday, October 11.
By GREG COOK | October 12, 2010

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Interview: The Wippets

The Wippets got a fever, and the only prescription is: More washboard!
One chance encounter during a trip to New Orleans back in 2003 illuminated the bulb for the Wippets' Matt Martin and Tony Depoto, two East Bay musicians seeking inspiration during the annual Jazzfest.
By CHRIS CONTI | August 18, 2010

Drinking stories

How Boston's best barkeeps survived five days of around-the-clock cocktails
Twenty-five thousand members of the Lutheran Youth Congress are leaving New Orleans. Replacing them are another kind of faithful, equally dedicated in their way to their calling: 15,000 eager bartenders.
By LIZA WEISSTUCH | August 11, 2010

After the oil spill, an aging punk rocker takes the stage

Postscript
It's a Thursday around noon, and I'm sitting in the Hi-Ho Lounge, a dimly-lit dive bar on St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 11, 2010

Report from the Gulf

The BP spill is shattering hopes and dreams along the Gulf Coast.
On a windy Tuesday afternoon in New Orleans, Clara Gerica is in her usual spot: beneath a small, blue tent at the Crescent City Farmers Market in the well-to-do Uptown neighborhood.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 10, 2010

Southern exposure

Savoring from Arkansas to Shreveport
Though I grew up in northern Indiana, my mother took us to visit her large Southern family during summer and holiday breaks.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | July 21, 2010

Video: The 12 acts you should've seen at Bonnaroo 2010

From the xx to Jay-Z
When I told my bosses here at the Phoenix that I was going to need some time off to attend Bonnaroo for my third year in a row, I expected to hear something along the lines of, "Have fun, don't die, and we'll see you when you get back."
By MICHAEL C. WALSH | June 22, 2010

Two sides to Guy

Boston Phoenix letters, June 25, 2010
I’m a delegate at the state Democratic convention and I didn’t vote for Guy Glodis for auditor.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 24, 2010

Summer treats

Whether classical, jazz, pop, or folk, 'tis the season to get out and enjoy the music
From Andean to zydeco, pick your flavor and there's a summer music festival ready to serve it up.
By CLEA SIMON | June 18, 2010

Freaks, Geeks, and Faux Bono

Boston-area subcultures keep the Bay State comfortably kooky this summer
As Bay Staters, we recognize that our European ancestors sure knew how to roll: scarlet letters, sticks up asses, if-she-drowns-she's-not-a-witch-if-she-floats-she's-a-witch-so-let's-kill-her legal applications.
By ALEXIS HAUK | June 20, 2010

Ketman | Ketman a Go Go

Lifted & Gifted (2010)
The winking disconnect between Ketman’s promotional art (swingin’ young people from a half-century ago enjoying the pleasures of their hi-fi system; Twiggy types with black bars across their eyes) and Ketman’s music (lean, pugilistic rock with 1980s American punk in its rear-view mirror) is now a little less disconnect-y.
By ZETH LUNDY | May 19, 2010

Russell House Tavern

Tastes good, looks great — no gimmicks necessary
For a place with major, major foot traffic, Harvard Square has proven to be a tricky spot for restaurateurs.
By ROBERT NADEAU | May 12, 2010

Amazing grace

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival carries on
The morning after I get back from the 41st annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, an oil executive is on the radio: “We’re throwing everything we have at it.” Meaning the exploded BP-leased well in the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
By JON GARELICK | May 04, 2010

Jakob Dylan | Women + Country

Columbia (2010)
“Boring” is the sort of adjective used by music snobs (hi there!) to describe the Wallflowers, the band who brought Jakob Dylan’s hoarse and unexcitable voice into the mainstream.
By ZETH LUNDY | April 21, 2010

Making change

John Sinclair vs. ‘the dictates of conventional society’
John Sinclair’s poem “Ask Me Now” leaves little question about the poet’s values.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 21, 2010

Election attracting urine stains

Drama queens and vampire squids
For those who have felt that the entertainment value of Our Little Towne’s mayoral elections has been in serious decline since the Bud-I’s extended stay in New Jersey, look no further than the RIFuture blog.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 21, 2010

The Sunnyside

Delicious ‘daytime dining’ in Warren
One of the wonderful things about Rhode Island is that new restaurants pop up to fill empty spaces and that amazing chefs find their way home again.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | May 17, 2010

Easy does it

Treme tours New Orleans
Writer/producer Eric Overmyer was quoted in a New York Times Magazine article last month, but it’s worth repeating: “ Treme is not the The Wire .” He went on: “Those who are expecting The Wire or wanting The Wire may be frustrated.”
By JON GARELICK | April 08, 2010

Breakfast of champions

Slipping into Surprise Me Mr. Davis
The Slip have been a fixture on the jam band scene for 15 years. Over the past six years, the Slip’s core members — bassist Marc Friedman, guitarist Brad Barr, and his brother Andrew behind the kit — along with pianist Marco Benevento and singer/songwriter Nathan Moore occasionally whip up a little something on the side they like to call Surprise Me Mr. Davis.
By CHRIS CONTI | April 08, 2010

Peter Wolf | Midnight Souvenirs

Verve/UME (2010)
This Boston music legend’s metamorphosis from party animal to monster songwriter became complete with his previous solo album.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 30, 2010