A 50th Celebration of Arhoolie Records

 


Arhoolie records, one of the great American labels, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend. The record company  is the brainchild of Chris Strachwitz, a German immigrant who has left an indelible mark on the nation's sound-scape. The catalog of Arhoolie reads like a who's who in Cajun, Zydeco, Tex-Mex/Tejano, Bluegrass, Gospel, Blues, Country and Jazz music, making it one of the premier roots record labels in the world. Some of the many musicians who have recorded for Arhoolie are Clifton Chenier, Big Mama Thornton, Mance Lipscomb, Earl Hooker, Flaco Jimenez, Lightning Hopkins, Treme Brass Band, Beausoliel, and the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra.

The story of Arhoolie's longevity and broad tastes really reflect Chris Strachwitz's love affair with all types of American music. Over the years of personally knowing Chris and having been introduced to so much music through his recordings, it is easy to see how he fits into any musical setting. Chris has an aura with an incredible musical halo. The music seems to become magical or at least magical musical moments occur when Chris is present. There was a time in the nineties at Zydeco accordionist Geno Delafose's farm in Eunice when I first met Chris; soon after a multicultural jam took place in Geno's barn which could only have been topped by the wonderful spicy food served up his mama. Even last year, when Chris showed up in my courtyard as a guest of the band fat my annual Jazz fest party, there came a magical musical moment. I had just received a vintage 1930s book of Haitian sheet music as a winning EBay bid which I, of course, had to show to Chris. He promptly said, "let’s see if the band (Seva Venet's Storyville String Band) could play one of these Haitian numbers." They did, and little magic occurred, again orchestrated by Mr. Chris.

As part of the 50th celebration of Arhoolie Records "Hear Me Howling: Blues, Ballads and Beyond," a 4 CD set, has been released along with text by Adam Machado. The book has 136 full color pages and 150 photographs and features recordings made by Chris Strachwitz in the San Fransisco Bay area in the 1960s. These 72 tracks, many of which are previously unissued, concentrate on Strachwitz's home recordings from this time period. Strachwitz was very interested in the blues men who had found their way from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to find work in the ship yards of San Fransisco Bay. All of the recordings come together to show the broad expanse of his musical taste as well as the magical musical things that happen around this tall, slender soft spoken man.

Some of the musical highlights on the four CD set include the Skid (jug) Band doing a version of "Junko Partner," Bluesman Jesse Fuller covering an old vaudeville number of Bert Williams and some delightful comic wordplay in Bob Neuwirth’s "Come See." You'll be transported back into the sixties with the original recording of Country Joe and the Fish doing “Fixing To Die Rag," made famous at Woodstock some years later. Louisiana is represented by wonderful sides by the Hackberry Ramblers, Clifton Chenier and John Semien and The Opelousas Playboys. Two unreleased songs by New Orleans bluesman Lonnie Johnson are included and other bluesman represented are Rev. Gary Davis, Fred McDowell and Mance Lipscomb.

So celebrate Arhoolie this weekend by digging out your favorite Arhoolie LP or CD and consider picking up "Hear Me Howling; Blues, Ballads and Beyond" a 4 CD set of gems that will give you a view in to the world and music of Chris Strachwitz.

Almost Winter Garden

Down here in SE Louisiana we have an extra season that many parts of the country don't get. It's closer to a second summer than anything else as the day temps can sometimes make it into the low eighties and the nighttime temperatures hit the high forties. It kind of reminds me of summers in NE Pennsylvania where, in August, you pulled out the long sleeve shirts and put a blanket back on the bed. Our pseudo summer here in New Orleans is perfect for gardening.

As I live in an old urban area with limited space, I do all of my vegetable gardening in trays or planters due to the high levels of lead in the soil. It has recently been shown that in areas with high lead levels, even if you build raised beds with all new soil, the lead will migrate up into those beds over time so containers seem the safe way to go.

I'm interested in a simple garden, one that will give me a variety of lettuces and fresh herbs. You can certainly do more given more space and better sun than I have in the middle of the city. My garden this year consists of at least four kinds of lettuce, nasturtiums (for flowers, seeds and leaves),  broccoli rabe and bak choi. For green herbs, I have chervil, chives, flat leafed or Italian parsley, dill, basil and cilantro. I also have tarragon, oregano, sage, rosemary and lemon thyme to add to my flavor palate.

Many of the local nurseries and Farmer's markets have plants ready to put in the ground. I often find these to be four or five plants in a single small pot and I carefully pull them apart and end up with five separate plants rather than one  struggling one. In container gardens you can plant pretty close together which maximizes the container or tray area. I always buy a packet of mixed lettuce or mesclun. As I thin it out, I replant the seedlings into other trays and always have more than I need.

That's about all there is to it other than keeping an eye on watering the seedlings and keeping the cats away from the nice fresh beds you are making. I tend to cover the fresh trays with landscape fabric to keep them wet and the cats away. Be sure and reseed before you diminish the plants and you can keep a garden going until March without any heavy frost. Believe me there is nothing like heading out to the courtyard to pick the fresh greens for that night's meal.

You can plant seedings or seed but the thing to do is get your "winter" garden going now. Within a short period of time you will be eating fresh greens from your garden, saving you money and giving you the satisfaction of growing it yourself. Now get planting.

My Favorite New Orleans Farmer's Markets

The Farmer's Market scene has grown here in New Orleans much like it has across the US. I don't have the time nor the gasoline to catch every market in the area but wanted to share with you the three markets I enjoy the best.

 Even though it is completely on the opposite side of town from where I live, Tuesday's Farmer's Market uptown is probably my favorite and is worth going to for a couple of reasons. The first is access; it is easy to find the market at 200 Broadway by driving the River Road. If you try and find it by going down Broadway, you might not find it. Once there, there is plenty of free parking and that means a lot. The last thing you need after you purchased nice fresh food is to find a ten or twenty dollar ticket on your car. The Tuesday market is set up nicely with two major rows of vendors. There is plenty of room to walk from booth to booth and scope out the entire market at a glance. At this market you can normally find fresh seafood, grain fed beef, vegetables, juice, popcorn, and flowers. The draw for me is that they normally have two different bakers offering their wares. There is nothing like a crusty baguette to remind me of time spent in Paris. Another draw is the vendor who sells chickens, quail, his own hot sauce and Bloody Mary mix. I recognize him as a favorite of mine who used to come to the market all the time before the storm and I am happy that he is back. The wonderful quail are rich and priced right: 4 for $10. His chickens taste like chicken and

have some texture to the meat which is sorely lacking in grocery store poultry. You never know who is going to show up to sell, so every booth is a delight. Take time to explore everyone's wares. The markets have become a draw for people you might not find in a normal grocery store line. One week uptown it was filled with grade school children exploring the market and buying goodies for their lunch. The Uptown market also has a booth for a local restaurant to sell their food. I haven't bought any yet, but the selection is always interesting.

 The other two markets I frequent are the Saturday market in the CBD on Magazine at Girod and the Saturday West Bank Market in downtown Gretna.  I normally start my Saturday morning in the CBD and then hop over to Gretna to see what is happening. The Saturday market in the CBD also has fresh seafood, grain fed beef, some baked goods and a number of booths that sell homemade foods like pestos. The parking is terrible and since Saturday parking is no longer free, you've got to feed the meter. The market is smaller than uptown and normally crowded, sometimes not with buyers but people just looking. I can't tell you how many times I have stood behind someone to find that they aren't going to buy but take up the merchants time and mine asking inane questions about their wares. It is not that I am not a patient man but come on folks, you go to the market to buy. It isn't a tourist spot and if you want to bring your kids, dog and then kibitz about your lives, then get out of the major flow of people.

 After walking around the Saturday CBD market, I take the short ride over to Gretna where it feels like I have been transported to another part of the state. The Gretna Market has an open sided market structure for the vendors and it is a winner. Parking is always available close by and you don't need to feed the meter. The atmosphere is so wonderful; there is room for everyone to move around even with their kids and dogs, while listening to a band play Cajun or New Orleans music. The prices are the best at any markets I go to, normally 1/3 less. They have seafood, North Shore wines and sausages, smoked meats, a knife sharpener twice a month, fresh veggies and some home made food like tamales, meat pies and such. The vibe is just so relaxed with no tourists gawking at eggplants and local West Bank folks having fun on a Saturday morning.

 There are other markets in the area. There's one on Thursday at the old Can Factory out Orleans Ave and a new one near Armstrong Park on Fridays. There is another one once a month or so in the Lower Ninth and there is

the fabled Vietnamese market out in the east of the city. I would love to go to it but it is an early market with much of everything gone by 8 or 9 am: too early for me. So go out and explore the markets, bring a cloth bag to help cut down on plastic bags and take your money out of your wallet when you get there so you can pay the vendor promptly to make it faster for the folks standing behind you. Get a fresh juice to sip as you stroll and bring home something to cook that you never ate before. Life is good and farmer's markets make it even better.