October 30th, 2009
| Iconic restaurateur Rocky Tommaseo dies |
Photo and video from NOLA.com, more on Rocky: Rocky and Carlo’s co-founder dies after fall.
Categories: Fallen But Never Forgotten, New Orleans | Tags: chalmette, food, rocky and carlos, yat | No Comments
October 1st, 2009
“That hillbilly music was so slow. It was music that was putting me to sleep. I had no clue what rockabilly was. It was just something that I felt, so that’s what I did.” – C.J. Cheramie, a.k.a. Joe Clay
Dr. Ike and I visited rockabilly wild man Joe Clay, a Rockabilly Hall of Famer and Ponderosa Stomp regular, at his home on New Orleans’ West Bank in the spring of 2007. In the hour-long interview below, listen to him discuss his anticlimactic pre-Elvis turn on the Ed Sullivan show, how he changed his name, and why Marrero’s Gay Paree nightclub was the hot spot for the New Orleans country and rockabilly scene in the 50′s.
Listen to the Joe Clay Oral History Interview
Categories: New Orleans, oral history, Rockabilly | Tags: Joe Clay, oral history, Rockabilly | No Comments
October 1st, 2009
William Bell performs at the Ponderosa Stomp at Lincoln Center\'s Midsummer Night Swing, 7/16/09.
Even after William Bell brought the Stax label one of its first hits, 1961′s “You Don’t Miss Your Water” – a song that would largely set the tone for the label’s signature Southern soul sound – he still remained on the fence about whether or not to ditch the recording business and go to medical school. At least, that’s what he told me during our live interview this past August at the Cutting Edge Music Business Conference.
Luckily, he didn’t (though our own Dr. Ike proves that medicine and rock n’roll aren’t mutually exclusive.) We’ve posted the audio from that interview below so you can hear one of the Stomp’s most popular returning performers discuss the rise and fall of Stax, the intense creative and political climate of Memphis in the 60′s, and how he happened to come to New Orleans to get a new sound.
Listen to the hour-long interview here:
William Bell Oral History Interview, 8/30/09
Categories: Memphis, oral history, Soul | Tags: oral history, Soul, stax, william bell | 1 Comment
