DX where's that from?

but keep in mind that to say that this is only scratching the surface is a gross overstatement

I have Vol. 1 of New Orleans Party Classics on CD, and it makes a great primer to the New Orleans sound, both jazz and rock-era.

About the only thing it doesn't have is something by Irma Thomas, though in all fairness most of her music ("Break-A-Way" being the big exception) isn't really party music. Unless you're talking about an intimate party for two.

(ETA: Heather, xposted with your last message. Irma's one of my favorites, but she really falls much more into the "sweet soul" side of New Orleans music. If you like Etta James, you should like Irma.)

It was an ESPN commercial that featured Warwick Dunn talking about the curse associated with being on a magazine cover, like the SI curse. The punch line was that appearing on Cat Fancy almost ruined his career.

GRRRRR! I was just browsing through some iTunes iMixes to see if anyone had done all the work for me already. Under the name "Cajun Party" I found Brooks & Dunn, George Strait and Alabama. Uhm, nuh uh.

Well, Alabama and Texas and wherever Brooks & Dunn are from are all near Louisiana, relatively speaking.

Heather, xposted with your last message. Irma's one of my favorites, but she really falls much more into the "sweet soul" side of New Orleans music. If you like Etta James, you should like Irma.

And I do, "You Can Have My Husband" is an awesome song.

"Ruler of My Heart" is not only my favorite Irma Thomas songs, but also one of my fav slow dance songs.

In the seventies she also did a series of recordings in Memphis that are excellent. Those singles were collected onto a single CD put out by Chess (I think), which is probably out of print but fairly easy to find.

Unlike a lot of other soul singers, it was a big deal for Irma to record in Memphis because not only is there a bit of rivalry between Memphis and NOLA, they apposite approaches to rhythm. Memphis plays back behind the beat, and New Orleans pushes just ahead.

This conversation has passed but re:Tom Frank

I hope you don't condemn him entirely for being born rich.

Just wanted to point out that is entirely NOT why I have issues with him. As you can imagine, many KS liberals were very excited for his book, but there was a certain amount of nervousness. There is already a huge schism between East and West KS as it is. The Overland Parks vs. the Salina/Hutchison/Goodlands.

KS in particular is ripe for a sound argument that doesn't treat conservativism like it's idiot disease. They have an incredibly splintered Republican party, the Repubicans who elected and loved an awesome moderate like Nancy Kassebaum are almost as horrified at craxies like Sam Brownback as liberals are. It is so splintered, in fact, that a no-name totally uncharsimatic Democratic candidate got elected Governor in 2000.

And the Frank book just kind of made things worse locally speaking. Not because he is rich or whatever but because he just wasn't as respectful as he could have been to the people he was telling to think harder. But I think I was expecting too much from it, honestly. And actually, I would be pretty stoked to meet him because - someone from home.

I was working on a matter last year that Frank touched on in his book. He didn't speak about it at length, but reported the popular impression of what it was about as true. With basic research he could have corrected the false impression he left. Losing this example wouldn't affect his thesis, but it doesn't give me confidence for other examples he reported on.

Those singles were collected onto a single CD put out by Chess (I think), which is probably out of print but fairly easy to find.

I found a Razor and Tie compilation at a local Tower a few months ago.