words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

The Relatives

The Ponderosa Stomp is now in its 9th year and has grown steadily since its origins as a backyard wedding party for festival founder Ira 'Dr. Ike' Padnos. The 2-day, New Orleans-based festival (that took place on Sept 24 and 25th this year) brings to the stage an amazing line-up of 'unsung heroes' and originators in the intermingled genres of country, blues, garage, rock n' roll, soul, swamp pop, rhythm & blues, and funk. Attendees experienced artists who actively recorded in the 1940's through the 1970's and 1980's delivering profoundly moving and authentic performances, providing a vivid glimpse into a world of music that might seem long-gone.

The Stomp is musically successful because it encourages artists to perform their original music and brings in talented and dedicated bands to support them. This year included many of the usual suspects (check out the review and pictures from 2009): New Orleans soul-blues veterans Lil Buck and the Top Cats, Western Music masters Deke Dickerson and the Eccophonics, Michael Hurtt and the Haunted Hearts, The A-Bones, and Eve and the Exiles. Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents debuted with La La Brooks of the Crystals who will be in NYC on October 20th when she plays a CMJ show at BB King Blues Club & Grill with Paula Valstein. Tickets are on sale if you don't have a CMJ badge.

The Stomp attracts a core audience of baby boomer soul and blues fanatics, rock-a-billies, Zoot-suiters, music writers, radio hosts, DJ's, record collectors, historians, WFMU-types, and a sprinkling of open-minded music lovers of varied backgrounds and ages. During the day, there are panel discussions between artists and respected historians, screenings of rare music documentaries and a record show. Even for the most die-hard, the sum total is a bit overwhelming. But Dr. Ike, an anesthesiologist by trade, seems to revel in the dazed and delirious look on people's faces at the end of 2 non-stop days. If you can keep your bloodshot eyes open, you'll see him floating from stage to stage with his airbrushed T-shirt that reads "Dr. Ike Stomped My Ass".

Pictures from both nights of the 2010 festval continue below...

Continue reading "the 2010 New Orleans Ponderosa Stomp (in pics)"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Ira Kaplan, The A-Bones + Flamin' Groovies

Among the resurrected bluesmen, rockabilly cats, garage rockers and soul shouters at the eighth annual Ponderosa Stomp were various "Littles," including Little Willie Littlefield, Little Joe Washington, Lil' Buck Sinegal -- not to mention Long John Hunter and Lazy Lester. Though each of these acts that held court at the festival (held April 28 and 29 at the House of Blues in New Orleans), and several others -- including a master's class given by newly inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson -- demonstrated the breadth and width of American music, one undisputed highlight was the Wednesday reunion of the two prime forces in the Flamin' Groovies, who played a set together for the first time since 1971.

Groovies frontman Roy Loney and guitarist Cyril Jordan, who co-founded the Bay Area rock band in 1965, tore through selections from the three critically heralded LPs released before Loney's departure, with backing by Brooklyn combo the A-Bones (which featured Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan on keyboards and guitar, and, appropriately, former Flamin' Groovies Fan Club president Miriam Linna behind the drum kit). As Loney explains, "Cyril and I rehearsed in San Francisco and the A-Bones rehearsed in New York" -- yet this bicoastal convergence showed no signs of disconnect, jelling as if they were a long-estabished unit. [Spinner]

Continue reading "the 2009 Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans - Day 2 in pics (the A-Bones / Ira Kaplan / Flamin' Groovies reunion included)"