Saturday night was the 28th annual Krewe of D.A.D.'s Masquerade Ball... A Tribute to Lowell George, Little Feat's long time guitarist/vocalist/song writer. The show got started early and rocked on right to 2AM.. We got there early, knowing full well that the place was going to fill up fast and that there was great music in store. The Facebook party page had sketched out a basic roadmap for the evening; 3 sets, Paul and Fred from Little Feat, the NOLA Suspects, then all of them together to end off the evening... Hold on to your shorts folks...
Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett took the stage right at 9:00 and dove head first into a collection of tunes nearly any music fan would recognize. Just the two of them on stage, their guitars and microphones. That's all they needed.
Not familiar with The New Orleans Suspects... Well, let me suggest you get acquainted. These guys are some of the most storied and talented musicians in New Orleans music, and arguably rock music as a whole. "Mean" Willie Green has been the drummer for the Neville Brother's Band since the 1980's, Reggie Scanlan has played bass for The Radiators for over 30 years, Jake Eckert was the lead guitarist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, CR Gruver has played keys for The Meters Experience, and a laundry list of other jazz legends, and Jeff Watkins has lent his saxophone skills to James Brown for over 12 years, and worked as Joss Stone's producer for 6. These 5 guys put more funky-jazzy musical talent on stage than your brain can handle.
As if all of that wasn't enough, the third and final set of the evening was all these ridiculously talented musicians on stage together, at the same time... Playing favorites from both The Suspects and Little Feat's rosters, as well as a few artfully chosen covers, not a person in the Cabooze was sitting still. The party was rockin', and we were all sad to see it end, including the guys on stage.
A Special thanks to the Krewe of D.A.D.s for putting this show together. Further proof that the Minnesota music scene has a little bit of everything, and a little NOLA funk doesn't go unappreciated.