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Delta blues, string bands and Durango Bettiesby Chris Aaland I first met the five-time Grammy nominee way back in 1998, when she played a pair of Durango Society of Cultural and Performing Arts (now known as Durango Acoustic Music) gigs at the old San Juan Room (now the Wild Horse Saloon). I was new to the DSCPA crew and knee surgery kept me propped up at the merchandise table where my freshly minted new girlfriend (now wife of 10 years), Shelly, and I hocked Ball’s wares. I spoke to Ball for the first time in 15 years last week about the resurgence in Louisiana culture, post-Katrina New Orleans and her recent inductions into the Gulf Coast (2010) and Louisiana Music (2012) halls of fame.
She recorded Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” — an ode to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 that left 700,000 people homeless — for her “Let Me Play with Your Poodle” album in 1997. Eight years later, Hurricane Katrina made the song prophetic. “Especially for the audience, no matter where we go, people from Louisiana come up to me and say how touched they were,” she says about the song that she still plays live. Ball said she began playing the song around 1993 or ’94, when flooding on the Mississippi threatened the dikes that protected millions of people. “People were very concerned about it,” she said. “We were playing up in Kansas City ... that was the first time I’d ever done that live. It’s an important song.” Katrina, of course, devastated New Orleans’ cultural community — forcing countless musicians, artists and chefs to move away from their muse, or, worse, abandon their careers altogether. If there’s a small silver lining, it’s the fact that Americans have embraced the very Crescent City culture that was nearly wiped out. The popularity of HBO’s “Treme” has given new exposure to dozens of Louisiana acts. “People really love that music,” said Ball. “They find us and they find their music at the same time. They can hear it and enjoy it and dance to it. It’s just so real. It’s like when you play real country music, it never goes out of style. We don’t just cover stuff, we write, and we’re adding to the lexicon. We’re trying to expand the style so that it stays alive and doesn’t go away.” Ball’s recent hall of fame accolades have humbled her. “So many great musicians come from Louisiana, and it’s amazing to me that I’m part of that,” she said. “To be recognized by your home state is an honor to me.” Michael Burke, whose creative juices helped spawn both the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown and DSCPA, has ventured out on his own to present the Six Dollar String Band as part of the Durango Heritage Celebration at the Hank from 7-9 p.m. tonight (Thurs., Oct. 11). Many of you are familiar with this local old-time act from last year’s Meltdown (they filled in Friday night for the geographically challenged headliner, Charlie Sizemore) or their opening slot for Vince Herman last month. This is a free show, although donations are encouraged to be split between the band and next year’s Heritage event. “They truly capture the style and spirit of the early country string bands during the early days of recording and demonstrate where bluegrass comes from,” said Burke. Larry Carver’s longtime rock band from San Francisco, Void Where Prohibited, plays two shows with him at the Derailed Saloon on Friday and Saturday. Expect to hear plenty of classic rock and blues covers from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Doors, Cream, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. There’s no cover charge and both nights start at 8:30 p.m. If you’re a hockey nut like me, you’re red in the face while watching the NHL bozos lock out players. It seems like just yesterday that we missed an entire season (2004-05, in fact) due to the owners’ rampant greed. Fortunately, there’s local hockey to be had. The Durango Betties (and, damn it, don’t call them roller girls — the Betties wear ice skates, beat rubber pucks with composite sticks and have more teeth because of the full cages on their helmets) host the Durango Hockey Face-Off, a fund-raiser from 5-9 p.m. Saturday at Ska Brewing World Headquarters. A $5 donation is suggested. There will be hockey trivia, a slap shot contest, prizes, food, the live sounds of girl band Caitlin Cannon and the Artillery and, of course, beer drinking. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the DAYHA girls’ hockey program. Ska unleashes another brew in its popular local series at the On the Sly Again release party from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the World Headquarters in Bodo Park. On the Sly Again is a German weizenbock, perfect for the fall. What’s a weizenbock? Beer Advocate calls it “a more powerful dunkel weizen of bock strength.” Beer geeks will recognize an estery alcohol character, perhaps some spiciness, and bolder, more complex malt characters of dark fruits. Moe’s features the sounds of Sonar on Saturday. Other regular occurrences include tonight’s Salsa Night and Sunday’s Jazz Church. There’s some bit of confusion about Jazz Church — it’s not just jazz music, but rather a freeform jam session featuring experienced local musicians. Proceeds from the event benefit the Katzin Music Scholarship. Elsewhere: The Summit gets in the local spirit this week with Kentucky Deluxe at 10 p.m. tonight and DJs Juan Blanco & B-Side at 10 p.m. Saturday; and Mark Berensen plays folk at this week’s Ska-B-Q. This week’s Top Shelf list recounts my favorite songs from Marcia Ball’s catalog: Bring some home brew to keep awake? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net. |
