Ponderosa Stomp in Austin SXSW & NYC for 2009 Lincoln Center Festival (full lineup) + Eli 'Paperboy' Reed touring

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Bo-Keys – Cracker Jack (MP3)

Wardell’s Band with Robert Parker @ Ponderosa Stomp ’07 in NOLA

Ponderosa Stomp is an American roots music festival that showcases the world’s most authentic, vibrant rockabilly, R&B, jazz, blues, soul, funk, and swamp pop….The 8th annual Ponderosa Stomp will take place in New Orleans on April 28-29, 2009.

The Stomp is also hosting a set of dates at this year’s Lincoln Center Festival 2009, which runs from July 7 through July 26, 2009 (tix on sale Friday 3/13). The Stomp @ Lincoln Center includes The Get Down: Soul/R&B evening on July 16, Best Dance in Town: Rockabilly on July 17 (both part of the Midsummer Night Swing series), and “A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue” on July 19 at the refurbished Alice Tully Hall.

The only date with details so far, “A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue,” honors the songwriter and arranger known as the “Creole Beethoven” with a performance of recent Quezergue (pronounced Kuu-zair) arrangements by:

New Orleans musician, producer, and session man Mac Rebennack (Dr. John); R&B icons The Dixie Cups and Robert Parker; soul greats Jean Knight, Dorothy Moore, Tammy Lynn, and Tony Owens; legendary New Orleans drummer Zigaboo Modeliste; garage-music pioneer Michael Hurtt; plus an all-star ten piece band led by Wardell Quezergue himself in a rare New York appearance.

Those at SXSW next week can get a preview of Ponderosa Stomp at its Friday, March 20th showcase at Continental Club featuring Roy Head, Barbara Lynn, Lil buck Senegal, Classie Ballou, Huelyn Duvall, Floyd Dakil, The Silver Apples, Little Joe Washington, The Bo-Keys, The Elite, The Excels. Founder Dr. Ike Padnos – a real anesthesiologist, is also presenting a SXSW panel.

Though it doesn’t mention it on the schedule, Eli Paperboy Reed will be performing with Barbara Lynn at the SXSW stomp. Eli is also playing the same SXSW venue two days earlier, and a show at The Bell House in Brooklyn this Thursday night (3/12). He’s also playing a lot of other places. All tour dates below.

The Lincoln Center Festival in NYC will also host the North American premiere of a work by Philip Glass, performed by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa as part of Two by Four with the Ruhr, four-hand and two-piano works.

Full Lincoln Center Fest ’09 highlights, Eli tour dates, and a Wardell Quezergue bio, below….

2009 LINCOLN CENTER FEST HIGHLIGHTS

Ariane Mnouchkine and Le Théâtre du Soleil’s Les Éphémères and the Chekhov International Theater Festival production of Pushkin’s Boris Godunov, directed by Declan Donnellan–both presented in association with the Park Avenue Armory, site of last summer’s revelatory staging of Die Soldaten

U.S. debuts by Algerian music icon Idir and Moroccan Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou

Shen Wei Dance Arts’ Re – (I, II, III), the first New York performance of the complete three-part work–a special Lincoln Center 50th Anniversary commission

Piccolo Teatro di Milano/Teatri Uniti di Napoli’s production of Goldoni’s comedy Trilogia della villeggiatura

Poland’s Narodowy Stary Teatr with Krystian Lupa’s production of Thomas Bernhard’s Kalkwerk

Two by Four with the Ruhr, four-hand and two-piano works with Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa, to include the North American premiere of a work by Philip Glass

North American premiere of Moscow’s Maly Drama Theatre production of Life and Fate, adapted and directed by Lev Dodin

Two Hungarian companies with premiere productions: U.S. premiere of Béla Pintér and Company’s Peasant Opera and Katona József Theatre’s New York premiere staging of Chekhov’s Ivanov

Afro-Blues for the 21st Century–a double bill with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, Issa Bagayogo

Emanuel Gat Dance with Winter Variations and Silent Ballet–two premieres, both Lincoln Center 50th Anniversary commissions

A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue, celebrated New Orleans songwriter, featuring a roster of noted musical artists from that city’sannual Ponderosa Stomp music festival

Wardell Quezergue bio…

Wardell Quezergue emerged as a bandleader in the mid 1950s with his royal Dukes of Rhythm and Wardell and the Sultans. He had honed his skills while serving in the U.S. army, stationed in Japan, where he was responsible for arranging and directing the army orchestra. Much of his career, from the late 50’s on was spent arranging and composing material for other artists and record labels, starting with Imperial, Watch, Rip and Frisco. Known among New Orleans musicians, as the “Creole Beethoven,” he gradually became the arranger of choice for a wide range of artists, across many musical genres. His arrangements and productions of songs like Professor Longhair’s “Big Chief,” Robert Parker’s “Barefootin,'” Willie Tee’s “Teasin’ You” and the Dixie Cups’ “Iko Iko” helped to define not only New Orleans music, but its culture, as well. Over the years artists who’ve benefitted from his expertise include Fats Domino, Stevie Wonder, The Pointer Sisters, Paul Simon, Aaron Neville, and Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) to name a few.

In 1964, Quezergue was a co-founder of Nola Records. An early hit on the label was Robert Parker’s “Barefootin”; the label went on to amass a huge catalog of soul and R&B recordings until it folded in 1968. “We created songs from scratch,” Quezergue later recalled of his ’60s apex. “The songs were really what would dictate the sound.”

Working out of Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1970s, he brought its distinct sound into the mix and to the top of the charts. After the success of his own studio productions, “Groove Me” and “Mr. Big Stuff,” big labels came calling and an avalanche of Quezergue productions surfaced on labels like Chimneyville, Atlantic and Cotillion, including powerful cuts by Irma Thomas, Tami Lynn, Johnny Adams and the Unemployed (a funk group headed up by Quezergue’s sons!). Wardell soon reached back to New Orleans to form his own new imprints, Pelican and Movin,’ issuing such funky masterpieces as Curtis Johnson’s “Sho ‘Nuff The Real Thing” and Chuck Simmons’ “Lay It On Me.”

From the late 1970s on, Quezergue worked on a variety of projects and was in great demand as an arranger for local New Orleans’ bands. He did orchestrations for Ronnie Kole, arrangements for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Kermit Ruffins Big Band, and was the music director for the 1984 World’s Fair Orchestra. He arranged and produced Dr. John’s 1992 Grammy Award-wining recording, Goin’ Back to New Orleans. Created over a six-year period, Quezergue’s monumental Creole Mass, a large-scale work for symphony orchestra and chorus, spiritual chorale, children’s choir, second line brass band, and soloists was completed and recorded in 2000. Although illness has caused him to be almost completely blind, Quezergue continues an active career as an arranger (his son transcribes the arrangements). All of the songs that will be performed on the July 19 concert are new arrangements he has done over the last three years.

Eli Paperboy Reed – 2009 Tour Dates
Mar 11 – US Tour Kickoff @ The Middle East Downstairs, Eli & The True Loves Return to Boston! Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mar 12 – The Bell House w/The Sweet Divines Brooklyn, New York
Mar 13 – Rock and Roll Hotel w/The Slackers Washington, Washington DC
Mar 14 – The Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina
Mar 15 – 3rd and Lindlsey Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 16 – Red’s Lounge Clarksdale, Mississippi
Mar 18 2009 2:00P – SXSW Music Festival! Austin, Texas
Mar 18 2009 6:30P – Sonny’s Vintage Party Austin, Texas
Mar 18 2009 11:45P – Continental Club, Official SXSW Showcase Austin, Texas
Mar 19 2009 2:00P – Pirate Radio Party @ Room 710 Austin, Texas
Mar 19 2009 7:00P – My Old Kentucky Blog / Aquarium Drunkard Party @ Peckerheads Austin, Texas
Mar 19 2009 11:45P – Photo Finish Records Party @ The Pure Volume House Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2009 7:00A – KGSR 107.1 FM in the Morning Live w/Barbara Lynn @ The Four Seasons Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2009 10:00P – The Ponderosa Stomp at SXSW w/Barbara Lynn @ The Continental Club Austin, Texas
Mar 21 2009 1:00P – The Bell House Party @ The Red Eyed Fly Austin, Texas
Mar 21 2009 5:00P – Twangfest & KDHX-FM PARTY @ Jovitas Austin, Texas
Mar 21 2009 11:00P – Clementine Coffee House Party Austin, Texas
Mar 24 – Off Broadway St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 25 2009 9:00P – Back Porch Stage @ The House of Blues Chicago, Illinois
Mar 26 – The Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Mar 27 – The North Star Bar Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 28 – Maxwell’s Hoboken, New Jersey
Mar 29 – The Iron Horse Bar Northampton, Massachusetts
Apr 15 2009 7:00P – The Izod Center @ The Meadowlands w/Dave Matthews Band E. Rutherford, New Jersey