Halloween voodoos out in this city of spirits

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

With New Orleans citizens’ penchant for costuming, this city goes for Halloween in a big way. Balconies and front porches have long been decorated in celebration of the upcoming holiday and a few folks have already been spotted donning witch and other such appropriately ghoulish attire.

The Halloween weekend in the Crescent City really got bumped up with the arrival in 1999 of the Voodoo Fest. Every year since, it’s been presented at various locations in City Park. The one exception was during the fall following Katrina when a smaller, free version was held at The Fly, an area along the river near Audubon Park

After moving around the park from early locations like Marconi Meadows, commonly known as the old golf course, to directly behind the New Orleans Museum of Art, Voodoo Festival returns for the second time to the park’s newly installed Festival Grounds. Cranking up from Friday, October 31 —Hal­loween! — to Sunday, Nov­ember 2, the event brings thousands of visitors to the city and satiates the cravings of mostly, young, electronica, hard rock, metal and hip hop fans. National stars like the Foo Fighters (Sunday, 6:30 p.m.) and Outkast (Friday, 9:20 p.m.) headline the event though earlier in the day, there remain more laid-back options for those who want to take in the Voodoo Fest.

Friday could be considered “local day” as the Soul Rebels and Rebirth brass bands both bring on the New Orleans big time spirit and vibe at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively. These two groups, some of the best brass in the city, play on the Flambeau Stage, a smaller, more intimate venue than the humongous Ritual Stage where the “superstars” close the shows. The very musical, trombone-heavy, Bonerama step up on the Flambeau Stage at 2 p.m. Later, at 5 p.m., the Brooklyn-based, multicultural brass and drum ensemble, Red Baraat, hits with its fusion of East Indian bhangra rhythms with brass band funk, jazz, go-go and hip-hop. The group isn’t local though it’s been adopted in a sense by New Orleanians who identify with its celebratory music that is reminiscent in spirit to our own brass band culture.

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and Orleans Avenue is the only New Orleans band to perform on the big Ritual Stage (Sunday, 4:45 p.m.) and you can bet he’ll rock the house. Those who have attended the Voodoo Festival know how refreshing it is to hear a group of talented and knowledgeable musicians playing real instruments as a tight unit with great leadership – Shorty! Electronica can’t beat that. Also performing in a position of prominence is bounce queen Big Freedia who closes the Carnival Sate on Saturday at 9 p.m. Shake your booty.

For more information and the full music schedule go to www.worshipthemusic.com.

To gear up for Halloween, the place to go is Armstrong Park for Thursday evening’s Jazz at the Park show, the last in the People United for Armstrong Park’s series. It’s really a Treme night in the Treme neighborhood with homeboy, trumpeter and vocalist Kermit Ruffins getting the party going at 5 p.m. His cohorts, the Grammy-winning – love to write that – and fellow neighborhood guys, the Rebirth Brass Band, with whom he started his very successful career, take the stage at 6:30 p.m. Following the event, there’s a special after party, a Halloween Costume Ball at nearby Perseverance Hall to benefit the restoration of the historic building’s second floor.

Jazz at the Park has presented some terrific shows this season despite some regrettable set backs – loss of power, cancellation due to the threat of bad weather and the fiasco of the arrest of trumpeter Shamaar Allen (no resolution on that yet). Last week’s double bill began with vocalist Stephanie Jordan, who mixed her primarily jazz set, which included a great take on Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw It Away,” with some unexpected New Orleans rhythm and blues. That was followed by Los Hombres Calientes that not only had trumpeters Irvin Mayfield and Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown blowin’ hard but the superb Afro-Cuban and Afro-New Orleans rhythm section of Los Hombres co-founder Bill Sum­mers on congas, Cuban-born Alexey Marti on timbales and Jamal Batiste on trap set. Wow. If you haven’t ventured out to Armstrong Park for the series, now is the time to go. Costuming is encouraged.

Frenchmen Street rollicks on Halloween night and Snug Harbor is throwing a party too. The wall between the barroom and the music room will be opened up – yes, it was designed to do that – to create a wide open space to get down with guitarist and vocalist Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters. Washington put on one of the absolutely best shows of the recent Crescent City Blues & Barbeque Festival with an oh-so-soulful performance that highlighted his uniquely New Orleans urban style. He was oh-so-cool. Unfortunately, sometimes New Orleanians take artists like Wolfman for granted, thinking, “Oh, I can see him anytime – hmm, maybe next week.” Catch him at Snug on Halloween, Wednesdays at d.b.a. or anytime when he’s with the Roadmasters or the excellent Joe Krown Trio.

This article originally published in the October 27, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.