Mofro's Orange Blossoms

Scheduled for release August 26, 2008, Mofro's 4th studio record Orange Blossoms.

Now that it's official I feel I can share a secret. Last October JJ Grey performed a solo acoustic set on WWOZ during Voodoo Fest weekend. One of the songs featured JJ on piano only and was my favorite piece of the entire broadcast. It was a new song and at the time JJ said he hoped it would be on the next record "if [he] could get it down right." To my knowledge this song hasn't been played live since. But I guess they got it down right because not only is it on the new record, it's the title and lead-off track, Orange Blossoms.

The performance was special, with JJ stating "I felt good about it. I ain't never played it... like that" shortly after the song's close. I almost afraid to hear the studio version since I've loved this early acoustic performance ever since I first heard it. But Dan Prothero always seems to get it right and it helps to be working with great songs.

Here's the tracklisting for the new record, available August 26th.

01. Orange Blossoms
02. The Devil You Know
03. Everything Good Is Bad
04. She Don't Know
05. The Truth
06. WYLF
07. On Fire
08. Move It On
09. Higher You Climb
10. Dew Drops
11. Ybor City
12. I Believe (In Everything)


Check out the live solo performance of Orange Blossoms below, broadcast on New Orleans' WWOZ, October 26, 2007.

Update 7/22: The entire broadcast is now hosted on Archive for download or stream. Thanks to Clay, Hollis, and Danny for their guidance.

John Ellis and Doublewide, Live at Donna's, May 3, 2008

I know, I know. Enough John Ellis already. Well, what can I say? I teased this recording over a month ago in a post called Coming Soon ("soon" being relative, of course, to whenever I get to it.)

Wanted to make sure the artist was ok with me spreading the recording far and wide. Even in this day and age of youtube, myspace, free music madness, I try to get the artists' blessing before putting any of their material out there. Well, thankfully John Ellis is cool with it. And so it's my pleasure to be able to share this killer recording and performance with you.

John Ellis & Doublewide
May 3, 2008
Donna's Bar and Grill
New Orleans, LA

Featuring: John Ellis: Saxophones, Jason Marsalis: Drums, Brian Coogan: Organ

Keeping The Lights On

Some of you paying close attention may have noticed the name Danny Powell under my sidebar section VISION. Some of you may have even clicked on the name, looked around a bit and moved along. But what you undoubtedly hadn't seen until just this month is Danny Powell's latest vision, the epic documentary series Keeping The Lights On [KTLO].

KTLO is simply about artists and their day jobs. The series (thus far) tells the artist's story through their own voice and perspective. It passes no judgment, gives no opinion. It simply looks into an artist's life in an attempt to manifest their constant struggle of balancing creative passion and earning an income.

Yet as with any great story, there are layers. And where KTLO truly shines is in the reflections of society that find their way into these personal stories. While providing perspective on one's own life, perhaps one's own struggle, KTLO also gives perspective on broader concepts such as the role of business in art, how different cultures vary in thought, and how people see the world in general.

The series was picked up just last month by Ropeadope's newly launched RopeadopeTV. Each Tuesday a new part is added to the site.

Below I've included the first two parts from the first installment, George Ferrandi, a visual artist from Brooklyn. You can view both of these parts as well as Part 3 and Part 4 over on Ropeadope. This week the first installment concludes with George Ferrandi: Part 5. (scheduled for release Tuesday, July 8)




George Ferrandi: Part 1







George Ferrandi: Part 2







You can stay up with what's happening at the Keeping The Lights On blog. The site includes new episode announcements and a budding community of artists sharing their own stories.

While Keeping The Lights On may focus on one artist at a time, its overall vision is to provide a center for the vast community of creative people, all headed on the same journey yet each traveling down different paths. I dig.

Obama Mural - This Is Our Moment