Fat and Funky

Hey, Cheri, It’s Fat Tuesday!  Time for some king cake, gumbo, beads, and alcohol.  Music?  Of course, it’s a New Orleans thing, and we need to partake. 

Let’s start off with … Root Boy Slim.  Say what?  Yeah, I know, Root Boy was a DC guy, but his most famous song was Dare to be Fat.  Given that it’s Fat Tuesday, let’s all dare to be fat.  Root Boy was a DC icon playing with the Sex Change Band and the Rootettes.  I saw him back in the day, and he was a character.  Check out the "COOL" glasses - he also had some that said "ROOT."  He’s now deceased, but we remember him at BRP:

 
Moving on to music from New Orleans, we’re going with two of that city’s most famous:  Dr. John with Iko Iko and Professor Longhair with Go to the Mardi Gras.  Can you spot all the celebrity guests playing with Dr. John?  Amazing.  I dress like him when I go out in Philly.  I love Dr. John and Professor Longhair, and normally wouldn’t pick either of these songs to highlight.  But it’s Fat Tuesday, so you get what you get.  Do yourself a service, and check out these guys in more depth – you can thank me when you see me.

 
Mardi Gras ain’t nothing without some zydeco.  First up it's Buckwheat Zydeco with Hey Ma Petit Fille.  And then it's Beausoleil with Zydeco Gris Gris. Oh, baby, we're getting it done now!  Try, I mean really hard, not to tap your foot or dance to this stuff.  Give up?  Me, too.  It was stupid to even try! 

 
You want something a little more now, a little more famous?  How about the Revivalists?  They’re from NOLA, and they had a big hit about a year ago called Wish I Knew You.  Here it is, just for you:

One last tune, and then we’re off to the parades where we’ll knock over granny so that we can catch some of those expensive plastic beads.  Aaron Neville has the most awesome voice, and the Neville Brothers are probably New Orleans’ biggest musical patron saints.  This song is for the end of the festivities, when your sorry drunken butt is back in your house, and you are getting that somewhat bummed out feeling that the alcohol and the end of the party brings.  You put on Tell It Like It Is and listen to the heartbreak.  But you hang on Aaron Neville’s vocals because they are superb:

 
God, I love New Orleans! 

The Mardi Gras season ends today.  Tomorrow, people will walk around with ashes smeared on their foreheads, and telling you that they gave up something incredibly stupid for lent.  Let’s be sure that we don’t get really crazy and give up BRP.  The Lenten season is going to be huge here because of the wonderful lineup of live music that is just around the corner.  In the meantime, go watch the Olympics, get geared up for March Madness, and read your BRP.  Au revoir.  And you know what to do if you want to catch some of these beads!