The magic of Voodoo Fest

24th October 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

The Voodoo Festival, that enlivens City Park with music, food and a bit of magic and mayhem for three days and nights, Friday, October 28, through Sunday, Octo­ber 30, isn’t just for the young crowd anymore. Sure, there are the two, big booming stages that offer popular groups like Soundgarden but because of the festival’s layout and the expanse that the park provides, their area, in a sense, stands as an event all its own.

The streets that wind through City Park behind the Museum of Art, act as a pedestrian walkway. So down the road a bit and off to the side, musical styles that are more apt to suit mature audiences reign. Stages sponsored by community radio station WWOZ and Preser­vation Hall present such familiar names as rhythm and blues man Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes, the excellent Cajun music of BeauSoleil with special guest clarinetist Michael White and even the gospel sounds of Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds.

Sunday’s line-up really shines with the return of the original Meters, who tore up the festival the last time the group played there in 2006. A particularly memorable moment was when in the darkness of night, the masters — keyboard­ist/vocalist Art Neville, bassist/-vocalist George Porter Jr., guitarist Leo Nocentelli and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste — jammed mightily with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Porter, a hugely versatile musician who leads his own group, the Runnin’ Pardners and is also a member of the offshoot band, the funky Meters, remembers that night as well as the first time he performed at Voodoo Fest. That was early on when the event was held in Marconi Meadows. He was working with keyboardist David Torkanowsky and drummer John­ny Vidacovich. “It was cold and I think we played for like five people,” Porter says with a laugh.

No chance for a sparse crowd when the Meters take the stage for this too rare event happening at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday. Most people still consider a Meters performance as a reunion of the influential group that formed in 1965, broke up in 1977 and came together again for the first reunion at San Francisco’s Warfield in 2000. Of late, they’ve been working together more often doing several gigs in recent months.

“I’m kind of not really into the ‘reunion’ thing as much as people make of it,” says Porter of the description. “Whenever we get to play together there are moments that I love and there are the moments that I hate. Don’t ask about the moments that I hate,” he quickly adds with a laugh. “I guess that’s when the train wrecks happen. We handle train wrecks very well. Most of the time, when a train wreck happens, only we know.”

Porter’s love for the Meters, their material, their sound comes to light beyond the stage as he has just released an album of their material with his group the Runnin’ Pardners. Aptly dubbed Can’t Beat the Funk, the disc is composed of 16 songs that the Meters recorded but the band rarely, and in some cases, never performed live. His aim was to bring the songs back into the musical realm through the recording and also play them on his dates with the Pardners. It turns out that the Meters have also revisited a couple of them including “Stay Away” and “Liver Splash.”

“I thought we should play them because they were great songs,” Porter explains. “The four or five songs that I’m singing that were Art Neville vocals or maybe Cyril Neville vocals, I thought I that I was able to pull off. I don’t tear up on Art Neville vocals too often but I’ve always leaned on Cyril’s vocals so I felt comfortable doing any song that he sang. Cyril and I, we’re both shouters rather than singers. Art is a crooner, you know.”
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Porter says that his band, the Runnin’ Pardners and the Meters as well as the funky Meters all have one thing in common. “Each one has a great drummer — Terrence Houston, Zig and Russell Batiste (respectively). You’re not going to get too much better than that. All three bring totally different things to the table and that keeps me on my toes.”

For a time now and especially since Katrina scattered musicians across the country, festivals have been mixing artists up in various configurations. Porter has definitely been in that number and generally enjoys the experience.

“Yeah, I get to do a lot of that,” says the bassist whose resume looks like a who’s who of the music scene over the last four decades. “The buyer hires four or five musicians for a band of his concept,” Porter explains. “Then there are artists-at-large that go and play around with everybody on the site. There have been some mistakes but thank goodness I haven’t been in one of them. My first question is ‘Who’s the drummer?’’”

Voodoo Fest will have its share of mixing things up. Just to name a few, the Soul Rebels’ Saturday afternoon set will include Cyril Neville and he’ll also be a guest on Dr. John’s Sunday show along with Irma Thomas and Walter “Wolf­man” Washington.

The vast range of styles presented at Voodoo Fest can be realized by just checking out a selection of acts. There’s the old-school hip-hop of Snoop Dogg, expressive jazz by the Illuminesti Trio with bassist James Singleton, percussionist Mike Dillon, saxophonist Skerik and keyboardist Brian Coogan, blues from Bobby Rush and the wild combination of Latin, funk, reggae, hip hop, rock and more of Ozomatli.

“Voodoo is what it is,” Porter exclaims. “It’s done during the time of year when everybody is getting down. Get hoodooed at Voodoo!”

This article was originally published in the October 24, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper