A few words in favor of Norco Lapalco

The following was written after a show on the weekend of Nov.16,2011 in New Orleans.

Somewhere between 1991-2 I was living in an apartment in the house of Klezmer All-Stars accordionist, Glenn Hartman. One night my friend, Ben Ellman, called to say he wanted some help to work out some lines on a cassette tape by a band he was going to do a gig with. At that time, Ben was playing with the Little Rascals Brass band. We had been hanging around some other places besides the golden Treme hotspots of that time- Pepinas, and Lucky's are particularly memorable backdrops, but there were others.

The cassette had a band called Lump on it. I remember thinking immediately that they had come up with some really wild lines. They would play in unison, fast, and the drum sound was really energetic and all over the place, but kept the energy at a fantastically manic level. They would rapidly change into these odd time slow sections and then declaim some really strange sounding stuff that I hadn't worked out yet. Ben mentioned that they were into a lot of interesting creative funk and jazz players (style naming is such a drag) that I also had special affection for- James "Blood" Ulmer etc.

Lump is in the past, yet the excitement, and particular emotional and conscious oulook they portrayed, stick firmly in the heads of those of us that used to see them- often by accident. One of the main features was the singular lyrics that spanned subjects from Deuteronomy to Delfayo Marsalis. Usually the music would suddenly move from the aforementioned instrumental outbreaks into these wild declamations penned by Lou Thevenot.

Going on about Lump is missing the point for some, who feel that you are nowhere without solid experience of some previous work of that band's members...but, I wasn't there. Some of these old, wizened, folks were in the audience at the Mermaid reunion show at Hi-Ho where Norco Lapalco showed up and became the stimulus for this ramble. The band really put those discussions of the past- in the past pretty quickly. In fact, not showing up with Lump (and it was probably requested) was a solid statement in itself, since they had been an early Mermaid Lounge scene staple. Norco Lapalco wasn't even a fleck in a dry imagination at that point in history.

If you are in New Orleans- you need to go out and see this group. Their stuff is really together. It drips authentic experience and Lou has always been a safeguard against pandering bullshit...so you are out of danger...that one anyway. This is really original music and it gets you in a mysterious part of the pelvis that hasn't been much written of in the yards of writing on rhythmic music. It's exciting in as much as it changes direction frequently, rapidly,unexpectedly, and yet the lyrics hang there mysteriously, well heard. (Did I mention the hot lead singer?) These are songs about what is actually happening and that provides a relief from the endless proliferation of solipsistic, escapist, pop-allegoricism that people seem to endlessly want to hang their songwriting clevernesses on. These are, after all, viscerally, fragmenting times and it's sad to see most young musical folks around New Orleans regurgitating music so old that it has no relevance except as a way to pull dimes out of misguided tourists.

This, on the other hand, is a band speaking from their time and place with a writer who doesn't beat around the bush with any of those folksy, saccharine singer/songwriter clevernesses, or cliche rock heroics. He plays guitar in a real interesting way too- as does the other guitarist. These days too many people are trying to play in standardized ways that descend from whomever they think is legit. (Did I mention the singers?-very penetrating...) It's time for more emotional experience. Go get it at a Norco Lapalco show.

Interview with Jeff Treffinger- guitarist, songwriter, architect, co-founder of The Mermaid Lounge, Tribe Nunzio.

A complete interview with Jeff Treffinger is now up on the interviews page.  You may have seen him with the singular Geraniums, or any number of other projects. You may also know him as one of the key hands in the, legendary to some, Mermaid Lounge. 

   Here he talks about his foregound and background activities that at different times have shaped the New Orleans music scene.  Treffinger describes how he came to be putting a bands together in New Orleans at all and, what his purposes were in doing so...or at least his thinking at the time.  He tells stories about the accidental discoveries that led him to architecture and how that led him into certain other nooks in New Orleans music.  He is frank about what he learned and how, and the interesting folks that he collaborates with or has dealt with over the years that have enabled his dealings to be loaded with a delightful, risky creativity. 

Also available as a podcast from the itunes store.

3 new interviews

Standby, for three new audio interviews. 

Anthony Cuccia- Percussionist, keyboardist, composer, idea man for The Other Planets. Anthony is uses music both for socially consciousness and for exploration of its own various technologies.  There is always a new way he is striving to assemble his ideas.

Dave Capello- a singular creative drummer with a desire for what is unique and portraying the importance of going for it even where there are risks involved.  Originally, from Kansas City, Dave has spent many years playing with a smorgasboard of the most interesting creative units. Previous to New Orleans he was in New York playing with The Bern Nix Trio, and William Parker.

Jeff Treffinger- Architect, song writer, cofounder of Tribe Nunzio, guitarist with The Geraniums, co-owner of The Mermaid Lounge and The Truck Farm.  That list is short and only covers the things that folks know most. He went pretty deep in this interview that discusses changes in the New Orleans music scene and the factors that contributed to it, as well as anecdotes that describe what it looked like at various times since his arrival.