Ponderosa Stomp for New Orleans Sept. 24-25

Flamin' Groovies, Jim Jones Revue, Henry Gray, Duane Eddy, SugarPie De Santo, Thee Midniters, Red Simpson, The Trashmen, Honeyboy Edwards, Lazy Lester, LaLa Brooks of the Crystals, Roy Head, Barbara Lynn, DL Menard and more. Plus a music history conference to boot. Sweet!

By Blurt Staff

The 9th Annual Ponderosa Stomp Festival bum-rushes the fall  after eight years of spring events, and fans are marking their calendars on the 24th & 25th of this month.The Ponderosa Stomp throws down in its 9th year with an incredible array of performers. The line up represents American music's expansive range of genres, from twangy guitar genius to bold, sassy R&B, Chicano rock, primal garage, truckin' anthems, Southern soul, blues, Cajun, swamp pop and rockabilly.

Duane Eddy, SugarPie De Santo, Thee Midniters, Red Simpson, The Trashmen, Honeyboy Edwards, Lazy Lester, LaLa Brooks of the Crystals, Roy Head, Barbara Lynn and Cajun genius D.L. Menard will lead the charge.

They are joined by R&B singer Wendy Rene, Texas rockabilly guitarist Huelyn Duvall, New Orleans' Joe Clay, the swamp pop masters Harry Anselmi, Leroy Martin, Vin Bruce blues shouters Young Jessie and Tommy Brown, New Orleans R&B singers Wallace Johnson and Willie West, Lil Buck and the Top Cats, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Johnnie Allan,  Doug Ardoin & Bert Miller, Joyce Harris, Sammy Ridgley, Deke Dickerson and his Eccofonics, Michael Hurtt and his Haunted Hearts, Eve and the Exiles and Homer Henderson.

Concurrently, during the day there will be the American music history conference, presented in partnership with the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame & Museum and the Louisiana State Museum, at the beautiful Cabildo in Jackson Square, in which the great producers, iconoclastic performers, journalists and notable music figures speak on panels and oral histories. This year interviewees include Duane Eddy, Thee Midniters, Ronnie Spector, The Trashmen, Gloria Jones, Roy Head and Dave Bartholomew among others. The historians Holly George-Warren and John Broven is on board; acclaimed journalists like Ann Powers and Chris Morris join the experts from the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame to handle the interviews. Also, an exhibit, curated by The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, "The Secret History of Louisiana Rock ‘n' Roll" is on display at the museum as well. Outside the Cabildo is a record show, for those who'd like to pick up some new albums.

This year's Clandestine Celluloid film series moves to One Eyed Jacks, a few blocks from the Music History Conference being held in the Cabildo in Jackson Square.  The two-day series, with filmmakers Les Blank, Bradley Beesley and others in attendance,  includes the first ever public screening of "It's What's Happening, Baby!, a 1965 TV special hosted by the infamous East Coast DJ Murray the K, a sneak preview of the film-in-progress "Bayou Maharajah" about New Orleans piano legend James Booker, "Hot Pepper", the story of Clifton Chenier , and some extremely clandestine films that have been scarcely seen and hotly pursued by those who have heard the whispers.  

To open the Stomp this year, there will be a performance and interview with bluesman Henry Gray at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on Thursday. Sunday, the Stomp throws an afterparty with Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan of the Flamin' Groovies w/ The A-Bones and the Jim Jones Revue at One Eyed Jacks in the quarter. This is a can't-miss opportunity to experience the principals of the Flamin' Groovies on stage together.

For more information on Ponderosa Stomp:

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/ponderosa_stomp_9.php

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/ponderosa_stomp_music_conference.php