The Ponderosa Stomp "Insane Rock n Roll" Fest in New Orleans (plus the J & H Fest)

jinco
Groupie in Training

Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 49

Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 7:26 pm Post subject:

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Well, just too much to digest! But let me try by breaking up the highlghts into categories:

ROCK& ROLL:

Yep, The Alarm Clocks were a highlight -- they just burned.

Zak Thaks were good once they got rolling, but they still seemed a bit uncomfortable on stage, and maybe that's what holds them back from letting loose. The material is great, though.

The Wailers were just magnificent. One of my all-time faves and I'd never seen 'em before. They did not disappoint!

CC Adcock and the Lafayette marquis. man, they ripped it up.

On the soul/blues front:

Syl Johnson
William Bell
Barbara Lynn
Frogman Henry
Willie Cobb
Little Freddy King
The memphis Climates
& the amazing house band, Lil Buck & The Topcats

Rockabilly/Country:

Sonny Burgess - hell yeah! talk about the real deal...
Eddie Bond
Travis Wammack
Slepy Labeef

Kudos the the Doc and all who set this up. The lineup was great, the sound was uniformly fantastic, the beer was cheap and the good times flowed.

"It's also quite amazing to think that a substantial number of the artists appeared for free in order to maximize the funds raised for musicians impacted by Katrina. And we're not talking about wealthy rock stars with plenty of gigs to spare.

Here were my favorite moments:

--three soul very different soul greats, Syl Johnson, Bobby Patterson, and William Bell, all at the top of their game backed by dynamite bands

--Dennis Coffey burning the place down with his wah-wah funk. Everyone in Lil' Buck's Topcats had huge grins on their faces.

--The experimental set arranged by Scotty Moore. It was like hearing Mose Allison backed by the Texas Playboys. I noticed a lot of people left, but I loved the moody vibe. It's pretty cool that artists well into their senior years who could just work the oldies/casino circuit have instead come up with a pretty unique project.

--Barbara Lynn insisting that she perform despite being in obvious pain.

--Rockie Charles' solo set, pure soul music straight from his heart."

In any case, this fest sounds sublime.

Buck Wilders did--here's what he said on the goner records board:

"You had to be there. - Should of been there.
I would say something like ..."I could die tommorow and not care because I saw all my favorite DJ's playing records together, Percy Wiggins, Willie Cobbs, & Syl Johnson play with the HI Rhythm Section, the Climates sing some of the most beautiful Doo Wop I've ever heard, Archie Bell show you how to do the Tighten Up, Eddie Bo explain what it is to "Check Your Bucket", Willie Tee play "What I'd Say" better than Ray Charles, watch Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and be able to walk in the next room and find Jack O. and Adam W. backing Chick Willis, and finally see Harvey Scales represent everything I love about soul music all in one night." But I could never say that. Tommorow I have to go experience something like this again. And the night after that.
Get $40 and go to the Ponderosa Stomp. Beers were $2.00 and the entertainment was priceless!
Unfortunatlly, I missed Dennis Coffey and Roy Head. I missed a lot of acts. There was too much music for one night!
If you got the means, you best go Stompin'!!!"

"PONDEROSA STOMP: CLOCK IN ON MEMPHIS MAYHEM! P-Stomp has turned into a regular Raccoons-style sabbatical (a la The Honeymooners), with rockin’ riff raff converging from hither, tither and yon with one quest only, that being to blast off with the big beat. This year’s bash moved the crew from New Orleans to Memphis May 8-9-10 with all cabbage going to Crescent City music makers, so big-time hats off to Dr. Ike for organizing the shebang, and to all the great stars who played gratis, just so displaced Louisiana mashers could maybe step closer back to their respective home plates. And what a fabulous barrage of talent it was, three big days of la-do-da! We hit town a day late for the big Sunday night DJ hop at the Hi Tone, but Mr. Fine Wine filled us in and it sounded like a real ball. The pre-Stomp record show Monday morning was a gasser. Billy finally scored Roosevelt Sykes She’s Jail Bait/Sputnik Baby on House Of Sound and I put on my Mr. Manicotti Records A&R hat and nailed a pile of future BIG ITCH candidates, including the aptly named Tokyo Stomp! Night #1 roared in with the ALARM CLOCKS setting the stage -- the guys were even better than at the Beachland in Cleveland, and that’s saying a lot! Hard to believe that this was only their second show since 1966. ROY HEAD turned in two massive sets and girls, he’s even handsomer now than he was decades ago, with unbeatable charisma and stage moves and that humongous signature diamond pinkie ring... back flip action and microphone antics and four-on-the-floor alligatoring aside... the man can and does deliver with prowling vocals and peak condition action capable of inciting instant riots. Joining a bevy of fans eager to meet and greet him after his second show -- yes, he did two-- NOT ENOUGH! -- I commented on his heady choice of cologne. “Jo-vaaahn,” he informed us, flashing, and I do mean FLASHING a devilish smile, shaking his mane and adjusting a massive silver belt buckle engraved with the Lone Star banner. We were agog. Absolutely! THE FABULOUS WAILERS delivered things Northwest style -- it was thrilling to hear singer Kent Morill pounding it out on the Hammond organ while the crowd Mashi’ed down below. Great rompin’ rockabilly sets from mega-super-legends JOE CLAY, SONNY BURGESS, SLEEPY LaBEEF (Gene “Made In The Shade” Dunlap on piano!), EDDIE BOND plus a devastating show from HAYDEN THOMPSON. WILLIAM BELL scored with an intense soul set and we caught HARVEY SCALES as his alligatoring best, no doubt inspired by Gulf Coast gator guru Roy Head. A shoulder injury caused the always excellent BARBARA LYNN to cut her set a bit short, but LAZY LESTER (who told us, “I ain’t seen you for a while. I thought you two was kidnap-ted!”) ably pinch hit. KENNY AND THE KASUALS (they did Journey To Tyme twice!), CLARENCE "FROGMAN" HENRY, LITTLE FREDDY KING, DENNIS BINDER also delivered the goods in spades. Round of loud claps to the hard working backing bands on the Stomp -- DEKE DICKERSON & THE ECCO-FONICS and LITTLE BUCK SINEGAL and MIKE HURTT and his combo were all aces all Stomp long... Guitar-maulin’ TRAVIS WAMMACK blasted out blistering attacks of whammy-bar britz with lightnin’ speed and had the crowd howling for more. Class to spare! Speaking of class, surprise guest JERRY “THE KING” LAWLER (!!!) made the scene to meet up with his pal Eddie Bond and despite my long allegiance to piledrivin’ Paul “Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff, Jerry’s long-time nemesis, I must say that The King was indeed not only easy on the eyeballs, but delightful to chat with, even though he would not divulge his brand of cologne. I mentioned that we had passed a billboard on the highway to Arkansas that read “JERRY LAWLER FIREWORKS: EXIT HERE”. He replied, “Did you?” and I stammered about not being behind the wheel. “Next time, STOP,” he commanded. Dare I say, there’s something about at Aqua Velva man? We were regally P.O.’d to have missed ARCHIE BELL... again. He taught us all to do the Tighten Up in the NOLA hotel lobby last year, and we’d had a lovely, lengthy yap about local variations of the T.U. I was really looking forward to seeing him then, but that very April night one year ago, just as we’d swung onto the hardwood floor of the Rock n’ Bowl, we got a phone call from home informing us that Norton stable stalwart Hasil Adkins had passed away. I headed back to the hotel and ended up bawling my eyeballs out all night. Sometime after midnight, came a tap on the door, and when I went to answer it, there stood Archie. I burst into fresh tears, managing to choke out, “I can’t believe I missed your show!” Archie looked most alarmed and tried to calm me down with, “Don’t cry, honey, you can see me next time I play!” Obviously Mr. Bell thought I was sobbing inconsolably because I had missed his show. Beautiful. I nearly cried all over again at missing him again this year. At least we all know how to do the Tighten Up. We should! We learned from the Creator! Arthur Murray, look out- by the way, thanks to Bettye Lavette who showed us how to Booty Green back in Brooklyn! Unadvertised hit of the Stomp was one man band ROCKIN' ENOCKY from Japan, who filled in for the Rebirth Brass Band’s last minute opt-out. Enocky had wowed wax hounds at in-stores at both Goner and Shangri-La Records shops earlier, but he hit us all upside the head with a howlin’ show that drew several encores. Dig Enocky on his many Jackie & the Cedrics recordings and try to catch him if he comes to your town. Fabulous! There was so much music on three separate stages that there was no way to catch it all. We missed BOBBY PATTERSON and EDDIE BO but heard great reports on both cats. Daytime antics in Memphis-town abounded pre-show every day. Highlights included the super great Stax/Soul Museum, rebuilt to the exact specs of the original building. A must-see. Amid the massive array of records and memorabilia I found my favorite chunk of soulessent ephemera, the boss suede shoes of Bobby “Blue” Bland resplendent with gold coke spoons casually inserted into the tongues and also into the clear Lucite stack heels. I don’t think even the Eleganza catalogues of yesteryear ever carried these suckers -- those dawgs gotta be custom! We must quiz Jimmy “Mr. Motion” Lynch next time he’s in town. Jimmy designed and sewed the flamboyant ensembles for the O’Jays-- get-ups that included crazy matching hats and shoes. Betcha he’ll know the story behind 3B’s mega-bucks! ‘Nother crazy treat was walking into a BBQ joint and spotting STEVE CROPPER munching on a gigantic platter of ribs—we barged right in on his saucy reverie with an autograph book and questions about Bobby’s shoes. “Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland was not a Stax artist. I don’t know what his shoes are doing in there,” said Mr. Cropper, who then inquired what we were doing in town. I told him about the Stomp, raved about his last show in Brooklyn, and got another autograph. Half hour later, he graced the sidewalks outside P-Stomp, just long enough to get the flashbulbs popping before exiting for either some Pepto or another plate of BBQ. Too much is never enough. Memphis didn’t let us out of her clutches until we had checked our bags and gone through security. Heading down to gate B-10, we saw the Sun Records café, one of those alarming theme restaurants, this one using the Sun banner and proclaiming Blues! Rock n’ Roll! Rockabilly! And also, curiously, JAZZ! And even curiouser, HIP-HOP! Ah, yes, that Sun Records Hip-Hop! But that’s not the story! Taking a quick snoop inside the establishment, my eye caught a familiar sight on the wall by the cash register: a Norton label Sun release in our company sleeve reverently matted and framed alongside bona fide Sun label wax! Touche! A fitting epilogue to another frantic, flawless, fabulous Ponderosa Stomp…"

Who all here went to the Ponderosa Stomp?

...'cause there was a veritable BONANZA of soul/R&B-type acts there this year,
and I'm surprised no one's filed a report. (I didn't 'cause there was so much to
see and I was just plain tired!)

"I did bump into SS listers John Ciba, Jim O'Neal and Rob Bowman (great meeting
him for the first time), and as far as actual performances, I was partial to
Bobby Patterson (last act on the last night and even though I was feelin' the
fatigue, what a way to go!), Lazy Lester (did an AMAZING version of a Merle
Haggard outlaw ballad - I think it was "I'm A Lonesome Fugitive"?), William
Bell, Roy Head, Harvey Scales, Syl Johnson, Skip Easterling, Clarence "Frogman"
Henry, Barbara Lynn, and several others that slip my mind at the moment."

"Reclusive, iconoclastic performer joining originators of blues,
garage, rockabilly, R&B, and rock'n'roll in welcoming
the Ponderosa Stomp back home to New Orleans on May 2, 2007

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Roky Erickson's biggest hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me," with his band the 13th Floor Elevators, only reached No. 56 on the national pop chart, yet the lyrics and music composed by this reclusive — and at times mysterious — musician still reverberate today. And this spring, Erickson will make a very rare foray outside of his hometown of Austin, Texas to play a concert-length set at the Sixth Annual Ponderosa Stomp, set for New Orleans' House of Blues on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. Backing him will be The Explosives (Freddie Krc, Waller Collie and Cam King) who played with Roky in the '80s.

At the Ponderosa Stomp, Roky Erickson will be surrounded by legendary performers, including master arranger Wardell Quezergue and the New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Revue, soul songwriter supreme Dan Penn, rockabilly wild man Dale Hawkins, R&B soprano Little Jimmy Scott, Texas Tornado co-founder Augie Meyers, Stax sessions guitarist Skip Pitts, Gulf Coast guitar empress Barbara Lynn, Mardi Gras king Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Excello harp master Lazy Lester, keyboardist extraordinaire Willie Tee, President of soul Rockie Charles, hillbilly bopper Jay Chevalier, tough Texas shouter Roy Head, and rockabilly wailer Joe Clay, with more to come.

One of the first artists to refer to his music as “psychedelic,” Roky Erickson eclipsed Sun Ra as a legal resident of Outer Space. Since charting that Top 100 hit in 1966, Roky has become famous, and infamous, for drug use and mental health issues. These fits and stops have punctuated his career. Still, Roky has managed to emerge from the murk time and time again, producing classics like "Two Headed Dog" and "Don't Slander Me."

Now, thanks to diligent work both on his part and that of his legal custodian, younger brother Sumner Erickson, Roky is back in full force, as witnessed by the lucky fans who attended the 2006 Austin Music Awards or Roky's Ice Cream Social during SXSW and got a taste of his revived energy and spirit.

Says Dr. Ike, executive director and founder of the Ponderosa Stomp, "Roky's appearance . . . is a truly special occasion. It is only the fourth gig he has played out of Austin since his stupendous comeback. It is his first gig in New Orleans in more than 20 years. It will truly be a night to walk with the zombies under starry eyes."

http://inabluemood.blogspot.com/

Check out the May 24th posting on the Ponderosa Stomp. I so need to go to that event.

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/ponderosa_stomp_7.php

2008-2nights

Dear god, that looks like heaven

I've been on a Collins Kids kick, didn't realized they've been touring.

Rolling Teenpop 1958

Trying to convince myself to spend the $ and go down there---

Ronnie Spector, Roky Erickson, Mary Weiss, Question Mark and The Mysterians, The Collins Kids, The Green Fuz, Syl Johnson, The Hi Rhythm Section, William Bell, The Bo Keys, Bobby Parker, The Mighty Hannibal, Nathaniel Mayer, Eddie Bo, Zigaboo Modeliste, Lazy Lester, Barbara Lynn, Tammy Lynn, Al Johnson, Lil Buck Sinegal and The Top Cats Featuring Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Warren Storm, Hayden Thompson, Sonny Burgess, Joe Clay, Jay Chevalier, Deke Dickerson and The Eccofonics, Little Freddie King, Henry Gray, Louisiana Red, James Blood Ulmer, Wardell Quezergue and His Rhythm and Blues Revue, Roscoe Robinson, Ralph "Soul" Jackson, Herman Hitson, Wiley and The Checkmates, and Rockie Charles.

Ponderosa Stomp Music Conference

April 29th, and 30th 2008, 12pm -5pm.

Oral histories and moderated panel discussions at the historic Cabildo in New Orleans French Quarter. Sponsored by the Louisiana State Museum and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Music Writers and Experts: Peter Guralnick, Holly George Warren, Andria Lisle, Jim O'Neal, Michael Hurtt, John Broven, George Paulus. Musicians: Barbara Lynn, Tammy Lynn, Harold Batiste, Lazy lester, Roy Head, Dale Hawkins, Zigaboo Mdeliste, Earl Palmer, Bob French, John Boudreaux, Hayden Thompson, and Sonny Burgess. Music Industry: Joe Bihari- owner of RPM, Modern and Flair record lables and Bob Sullivan - original engineer of the Louisiana Hayride from 1949-1959.

And I think that's only a partial list (taken from a blog and not the Ponderosa site)

From an Offbeat magazine e-mail:

there are a few late additions to the lineup. In addition to Ronnie Spector (pictured), Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, the Mighty Hannibal, Roky Erickson, and Dr. John playing guitar with Wardell Quezergue's Rhythm and Blues Revue, James "Sugarboy" Crawford (who cut "Jock-A-Mo" in 1953) will perform with grandson Davell Crawford. Other late additions to the lineup include Boston soul shouter Barrence Whitfield and Sun rockabilly recording artist Hayden Thompson. This year also marks the debut of the Ponderosa Stomp Music Conference, a free series of oral histories and panel discussions with music figures and rock 'n' roll historians at the Cabildo April 29 and 30 as well. New Orleans producers Harold Battiste and Cosimo Matassa will be on the bill, and Bob French will lead a panel of New Orleans drummers Earl Palmer, Smokey Johnson, Zigaboo Modeliste and John Boudreaux. There will be a discussion of swamp pop-Including an answer to the question, "What is it?"-and much more.

The Ponderosa Stomp folks put on a mini-set at Jazzfest yesterday. From Alex Rawls of Offbeat's blog:

The Ponderosa Stomp Revue wasn't it's strongest lineup, but it did present some of the Stomp's signature performers (along with Barbara Lynn, who played Friday) . Roy Head was money, still a rambunctious ball of dance and mic moves, and kissed Dr. Ike and gave Stanley "Buckwheat Zydeco" Dural, Jr. a big hug while Buck was playing the B3 as part of the house band. But no one else had was as distinctive a performer. Dennis Binder embodied a '50s rockin' blues singer, but by the end of his part of the show, he'd become a little generic. New Orleans' Tammy Lynn segment was better structured, opening with "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" and closing with her hit, the psychedelic funk song "Mojo Hannah," but she's an acquired taste. Archie Bell got time for an extended "Tighten Up" - his one song before the rain forced the closing of the tent and the festival (though I thought I still heard Congo Square through the rain as I went to my car.

Sunday in NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Heavy rain is dousing the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the second consecutive day, sending music lovers to cover under tents.

A sunny morning saw ever-increasing clouds and a light rain by early afternoon. At midafternoon, a cloudburst struck. By then, most of the vendors had already put up rain shields and most of the fans had put on rain gear.

The ground was still soggy from yesterday's (Saturday) torrential rains.

The rain did not stop the music.

Crowds thinned and dancing stopped. But people remained in front of the stages or ran for the tents, although it was difficult to hear the groups because of the pounding of rain on the canvas.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Wow, Jazzfest tickets have gone from $25 a day at the gate in 2004 to $50 a day at the gate in 2008.

the stomp is $45 (plus "convenience fee") for EACH NIGHT now and is at the house of blues, which means attendees will be drinking 5-dollar cans of high life surrounded by, like, alligator heads w/ sunglasses on.

that said, the lineup is awesome.

You've got a point, although each "night" goes from like 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and they don't have Shell sponsorship like the JF.

I think that WWOZ annual piano night thing tonight is pricey as well.

Pareles in the NY Times hails the first night of the Ponderosa Stomp-

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/arts/music/01pond.html?ref=music

Was reading that this morning -- good piece, I thought.

Yep. Couple of bloggers weighed in on night 1 also:

http://thevinylword.blogspot.com/2008/04/ponderosa-stomp-day-1.html

http://offbeatpoplife.blogspot.com/2008/04/ponderosa-stomp-notebook-dump-night-1.html

hey adam!

i got in to the jazzfest free on saturday, but got rained out before i could see anyone else. :(

I only got to see the condensed revue version at JF. Roy Head was indeed "money"; one of the greatest things I saw all weekend.

I'm gonna have to win the lottery and fly these folks up to DC or just suck it up next year and pay the money, miss work, bring my kid, etc.

I missed it again. Flamin' Groovies reunion for the 1st time in decades with the A-Bones and YLT's Ira Kaplan. I keep trying to get DC clubs and the Kennedy Center to book these folks but have had no luck. There are NYC shows scheduled for July

Here's Jon Pareles in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/arts/music/01pond.html

http://www.lincolncenter.org/asc_load_screen.asp?screen=LCF_Ponderosa_Stomp Coming to NYC in July

i saw roy loney sing a song with the a-bones on monday night. it was neat, though the sound was terrible. yo la tengo opened up and played a great set of covers, none of which i recognized. i dig the whole loving spirit of the stomp but the garage rock aspies freak me out.

Ha. Yea I guess they would be out in force at something like this

NYC shows start tonight.

On Thursday night at Damrosch Park (175 W. 62nd St.), "The Get Down" is a night of soul and R&B featuring William Bell, Harvey Scales and the Bobettes, with the Bo-Keys, and Friday's "Best Dance in Town" brings a rockabilly night to Damrosch Park with the Collins Kids, Carl Mann and Joe Clay, with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics. Both shows start at 6:30 p.m., then Sunday night, the Stomp and Lincoln Center present "A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue" 9(pictured) at 8 p.m. at Alice Tully Hall (1941 Broadway). Performers celebrating one of the architects of New Orleans music include Mac Rebennack, the Dixie Cups, Robert Parker, Jean Knight, Dorothy Moore, Tammy Lynn, Tony Owens, Zigaboo Modeliste, Michael Hurtt and Wardell Quezergue's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/arts/music/21wardell.html?ref=arts

Jon Pareles on A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue, one of the Ponderosa Stomp in NY events

WWOZ is airing some of 2nd weekend of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest I saw in a headline. I wonder if it will be any old New Orleans musicians?

Germaine Bazzle is 91!

Wow, yep saw an AP news story on Jazz Fest that mentioned the younger Deacon John Moore, members of Meters, and Irma Thomas . in their late 70s or 80s

NYC food critic Robert Sietsema is tweeting photos of food from his visit down there in New Orleans. I think Dan and Jordan would approve

Cool! Happy to know Mosca's is still open.

http://www.soultracks.com/story-toussaint-mccall-dies

Rip Toussaint McCall

Jazz Fest in New Orleans has started. I stopped going years ago as it seemed to get too crowded, and lots of the old New Orleans r'n'b musicians I loved have passed on. But I bet the gospel tent is still good as are the brass bands and others. The Rolling Stones might even be still fun too.

Seeing on Facebook acclaim for visiting Colombian band rancho aparte chirimia

But yes, day 1 headliners included Beach Boys on 1 stage and Stephen Marley on another

x-post - Band may be just called Rancho Aparte and despite the big names there Thursday, this Colombian band's photo is on the Friday cover of the Times-Picayune newspaper