Yesterday, LMB NOLA got the opportunity to interview Leo Nocentelli of Meters funk guitar fame, who quickly told us from his home in Burbank, CA that he was eager and “getting ready to come down to the Gumbo and do what I do.” This weekend marks a special trip for Nocentelli back to the Big Easy, as it will be the first time the New Orleans native has ridden a Mardi Gras float, where he will serve as a Grand Marshal on Sunday’s Thor parade in Metairie. Additionally, the guitarist will be receiving an honorary Mardi Gras Gibson guitar prototype billed as “The Bourbon Street” that, if all goes as planned, should hit store racks soon. Fans wanting to see the guitarist perform this weekend are in luck, as Nocentelli will also be performing with a polished cast of players as The Meters Experience on Friday night at Tipitina’s. Among other topics, Nocentelli chatted with us about the chances of a more extensive Meters reunion, the origins and phonetics of the Nocentelli name, and a solo album with some special guests in the works.
For whatever reason, in music, as is the case in just about any other line of work, some days don’t glue themselves to the long term memory bank like the others. However, on any given night, certain indescribable circumstances can converge, lightning-and-a-bottle can be captured, magic can happen, and an unforgettable live music experience is forged deep into the hippocampus for both the fans and artists themselves. These are the concerts, life events, and peak professional moments we hoped to capture in this feature by asking a few standard questions about the year in music to some of our favorite artists.
This little corner of the Internet would not be possible without the hard work and support of the people below. We’ve got an eclectic confederation of folks keeping the wheels turning at LMB NOLA and we hope you enjoy reading our memories from the year in music.
A few weeks back, I caught a great Brothers Past show at Brooklyn Bowl (you can check out my original post with setlist, photos, and video here).
But before BP kicked things off at Brooklyn Bowl, I actually had the pleasure of linking up with band members Tom Hamilton (guitar/vocals/laptop) and Clay Parnell (bass, vocals) for an informal interview. I joined Tommy and Clay in their van outside the venue — since even the bands aren’t allowed to smoke indoors in NYC — and we spoke about their current status as a band, their touring plans for 2010-2011, and their forthcoming album (which is tentatively slated for release later this Fall). Brothers Past reunited with original drummer Rick Lowenberg in late 2008, after taking a couple years off for other projects and while drummer Rick got his law degree. Since then, they’ve gradually been re-building their momentum and have begun working on the follow-up to their 2005 album This Feeling’s Called Goodbye, which won them a nice bunch of praise as one of the more cohesive albums ever coming out of the jam scene.
Brothers Past recently released a third podcast, with a few solid segments from shows in February, including the Brooklyn Bowl show I attended. They’ll be playing at a charity event called Rock the Ribbon this Saturday (3/27) at the Regal Ballroom in Philly, and then they head out to Colorado for four-night run at the beginning of April.
Read on for my chat with Tommy and Clay…
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A couple weeks back, a new iPhone app called Music Archive was released on the iTunes App Store that streams concert recordings from the Live Music Archive. I was pretty excited to see this at that time, and I know that many of our readers will also be interested in this app if they haven’t already heard about it.
I’ve not yet posted about it because I decided that I wanted to dig a bit deeper into its development. One of the things that struck me was that the developers are offering it as a paid app, but what they’re tapping into is a database of non-commercial content offered by a non-profit organization (archive.org). Not only that, when I first checked it out, I noticed that they hadn’t directly addressed the issue on their website or in the iTunes store. As such, I not only wanted to get a bit more background on how the project came together, but I also wanted to explore some of the underlying issues related to using the LMA’s non-commercial content for a more commercial enterprise like an iTunes app.
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Trey Anastasio has a small interview in Time Out: New York about his Sept. 12 show coming up with the New York Philharmonic, in which lucky fans will get to see orchestral representations of many Phish and Trey Anastasio Band songs that we all know and love by now. I recently heard his orchestral version of “First Tube” from the Baltimore show in May and it literally sent chills down my spine, so I consider that to be a hot ticket for a Saturday night in NYC.
Not long after the interviewer poses the question of “what album will you playing at Festival 8 for the Halloween set,” and Trey answers with a typical “it’s an album I really love” answer, we get this as the answer:
Can you tell me which album you’ll be covering in full at Festival 8?
The only clue I can give you is that it’s an album I truly love. That’s kind of a boring clue. My wife gives me a hard time all the time because I like everything. Saying it’s an album that I like doesn’t really narrow it down.
Do you listen to a lot of pop music?
I really liked MGMT when that record came out. I like Band of Horses, you know, [Singing] “I could sleep, I could sleeeeeep.” That song really got inside me for a while. I was listening to Panda Bear. I would be cooking in the kitchen and listening to “Comfy in Nautica.
Would he really be that daft to suggest MGMT when the rumors were already swirling that it’s an album that could see the light of day? The Lillywhite connection is totally there. But I would literally die a happy man if I heard the band try to recreate something completely inventive like the Panda Bear Person Pitchalbum. In fact, I’d probably ask my neighbor to just end my life right then and there; it would be impossible for a musical moment to have more meaning to me than at that moment. It would be like seeing Jesus. It’s easily the record I’ve listened to most over the last three years of my life, and I often find myself continually convinced that it’s one of the best albums ever created.
So maybe he’s not suggesting it, per se, especially considering the question comes after the pop music thing is referenced, but I like the dream of it all to keep me going until Halloween weekend down in Indio.
Happy Hump Day, ya’lls. Here’s a look at some of the interesting stuff I think you should check out: READ MORE
It’s finally here! Stay Smooth X is finally here! The smooth music themed party is taking place on Saturday at Chicago’s Columbia Yacht Club on a boat! Inspired by the now infamous Yacht Rock web-based TV show, Stay Smooth is a party celebrating all that is smooth in music. You see, there was a time when Captain’s hats, dark rum and smooth music reigned supreme. And this Saturday night, we celebrate these times.
A few of you may be thinking, “Yeah, I’ve been to a Jimmy Buffet concert,” but you should bite your tongue. Buffet is mellow — maybe even kinda shitty — but definitely not smooth. Smooth is the color of Michael McDonald’s silver hair and the lush tones of his voice. Smooth is Donald Fagen wearing sunglasses, sneakers and a suit. Smooth is John Oates’ mustache. Smooth is Kenny Loggins.
The parties were created and are thrown by DJ’s Bald Eagle of the Life During Wartime dance parties and STV SLV of the The Hood Internet. I recently got in touch with Steve Reidell (a.k.a. DJ STV SLV) to ask a few questions about the party, his love of smooth music and other random stuff that I wanted to know. Read on for the interview.
Stay Smooth X will run you $40 for four hours of smooth music, three hours of open bar — and did we mention it’s on a boat? You can get your tickets right here.
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