Dave Bartholomew and Cosimo Matassa were awarded for their contributions to New Orleans music on the 60th anniversary of the historic “Fat Man” Fats Domino recording. The Louisiana State Museum and the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation held the ceremony in New Orleans on the steps of the historic Cabildo on March 6th, 2010.

Drop whatever you’re doing tomorrow, and head over to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music for a gander at Ponderosa Stomp photographer Jacob Blickenstaff’s brand new exhibit, “Still Life in Soul.”

If you’ve attended the Stomp in recent years, you’ve seen Blickenstaff at work. From performance shots to portraiture, he’s documented our mission in living color and in black-and-white. Now Blickenstaff has curated his favorite soul music shots — 40 in all — into a eye-catching, jaw-dropping exhibition that showcases the resurgence of American soul music. Lee Fields, Otis Clay, Barbara Lynn, the Mighty Hannibal, Barbara Lynn — they’re all there, alongside Stax artists Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Ben Cauley, and Skip Pitts.

The exhibition kicks off with an all-star opening party tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Be there or be square!

Go here for more info.

And go here to see more of Blickenstaff’s work.

Photo and video from NOLA.com, more on Rocky: Rocky and Carlo’s co-founder dies after fall.

“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

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

Whoa, WFMU’s Debbie D and company have gone bonkers over at the Rock ‘n’ Soul Ichiban site.

There are photos of Phil Spector, circa 1958, looking remarkably sedate. A picture of Tennessee Ernie Ford standing atop a pile of coal, advertising “Sixteen Tons.” A portrait of burlesque star Coco Barr brandishing a pair of pistols.

And, of course, there’s music galore: The Collins Kids, performing on the U.S. Air Force’s Country Music Time show. Big Star. Dexter Romweber. “The Patio Twist.” And an incredible live stream of “obscure ’50s and ’60s rock ‘n’ soul.” I’m listening to Huey Smith and the Clowns right now!

In other WFMU news, the Trashmen will be performing at the Record Fair, slated for Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion on October 23rd, 24th and 25th!