Fiya Fest 2013 during New Orleans Jazz Fest

Fiya Fest 2013

Fiyawerx Productions is an up and coming live music event promotion powerhouse and Fiya Fest is their flagship event to raise funds and awareness for The Roots of Music. On May 3, 2013, Fiyawerx went big with the first annual Fiya Fest and you can catch a glimpse below.

Funk It Blog’s Fiya Fest 2013 Highlight Video:

Dragon Smoke (Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore, Robert Mercurio)
Country Livin’, Landslide [Fleetwood Mac cover], Sunday Morning, Padlock (with Nick Daniels), Karate (with The Roots of Music)

Karl Denson & The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Horns with Nikki Glaspie, Eddie Roberts, Robert Walter, Jennifer Hartswick & Natalie Cressman
It Ain’t My Fault [Smokey Johnson cover], Who Took The Happiness Out? [Dirty Dozen Brass Band cover]

The New Orleans Suspects & The Bonerama Horns
Mardi Gras Moms Ball (with Big Sam), Pocketful Of Grits, All The Money

Funky But Better (Big Sam, Terence Higgins, Doug Wimbish, Eric McFadden, Roosevelt Collier & Khris Royal)
Funky But Better Jam, ??? (with Mike Dillon) (inc. Treme & Shake That Thing Girl), ??? (with Mike Dillon)

G.A.B.E. (George Porter Jr, Anders Osborne, Billy Iuso, Eric Bolivar)
Will It Go Around in Circles (with Skerik, Corey Glover & Peter Levin), He Bite Me (The Dragon) (with Corey Glover & Skerik), Mr. Charlie

Also check out the youtube page of Cement Level Studios for more Fiya Fest 2013 videos.

You can also find my videos from the 2012 and 2011 Fiyawerx Family Funktion Crawfish Boils here and here.

Fiyawerx Jazz Fest Party 2011: Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience with Stanton Moore

Bill Dickens & Leo Nocentelli

Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience (with Stanton Moore)
May 7, 2011 New Orleans, LA @ Race & Religious House – Fiyawerx Party
You’ve Got To Change (You’ve Got To Reform):

Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience
May 7, 2011 New Orleans, LA @ Race & Religious House – Fiyawerx Party
The Hype and The Hoopla, Fire On The Bayou, Cissy Strut:

Stanton Moore

Also, check out videos from Fiyawerx 2012 Jazz Fest Party here and here.

Members of Dumpstaphunk & The Neville Brothers pay tribute to The Meters at private jazz fest party at the Maple Leaf

Nearly a year ago, during the 2nd weekend of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the 4th Annual SF Management Crawfish Boil kicked off at the Maple Leaf Bar. The music started at 7pm, so you’d have to forego your after-jazz fest nap if you wanted to see this show. All proceeds from the event were donated to the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation.

Shari Frank, the event coordinator, always makes it a point to put together a unique combination of musicians. For 2011, it was Ivan Neville, Ian Neville, and Tony Hall (from Dumpstaphunk) with David Russell Batiste (from The Funky Meters). Mark Rechler’s Circus Mind opened the show with choice covers such as Bill Wither‘s Use Me and Joe Cocker‘s version of Traffic‘s Feelin Alright. Midway, Gaynielle Neville, Cyril Neville‘s lovely wife, and her entourage stormed the stage for a few originals and a romp through the Sly & The Family Stone classic, Everyday People.

Video 1 of 4: Ain’t No Use (To Cut You Loose) [w/ Mark Rechler & Steve Finkelstein],
Doodle Oop (The World Is A Little Bit Under The Weather) [w/ Steve Finkelstein]

Slowly, the musicians filtered in and out, before we were left with 3/4th of Dumpstaphunk (Ivan Neville, Ian Neville & Tony Hall) + 1/4 of The Funky Meters (Russell Batiste). This is when things got interesting with some very deep cuts from The Meters‘ time-honored back catalog. What’cha Say. Gettin’ Funkier All The Time. These are Meters tunes that rarely if ever have been played live by either the original lineup or the Funky Meters lineup. Ivan and his friends put forth faithful interpretations that also expanded into heavy funk improvisations. Mojo Hannah, a Tami Lynn tune that was a staple of The Neville Brothers‘ repertoire was particularly soulful.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get much funkier, Cyril Neville busted onto the stage with an exhilarating performance of The Meters’ Chug A Lug, which then turned into a percussion jam between Cyril and Russell Batiste. Then Ivan teased in the chords of Zigaboo Modeliste‘s crescent city anthem, Welcome To New Orleans. That’s when my crew and I knew that we’d arrived.

Video 2 of 4: Chug A Lug [w/ Cyril Neville] > Welcome To New Orleans [w/ Cyril Neville]

Video 3 of 4:Gettin’ Funkier All The Time, Just Kissed My Baby

Video 4 of 4:What’Cha Say, Mojo Hannah,
The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry) [w/ Steve Finkelstein]

The full audio recording of this performance is available to stream or download over at Live Music Archive.

And if you’re interested in the 2012 SF Management Crawfish Boil, to take place on Saturday, May 5th, go to the SF Management website.