NCF Funk Squad: George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, John Medeski & Terence Higgins
NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 1 of 5: Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) [Donny Hathaway cover] > Keep On Marching [The Meters]
NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 2 of 5: Keep On Marching [The Meters], ?Art [The Meters]? > Dancing In The Street [Marvin Gaye / Martha And The Vandellas cover], Pungee [The Meters]
NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 3 of 5: Pungee [The Meters], Sugaree [The Grateful Dead cover] (with ???) > The Dragon (He Bite Me) [The Meters]
NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 4 of 5: The Dragon (He Bite Me) [The Meters], Turn On Your Lovelight [Bobby Bland / The Grateful Dead cover] (*In Tribute To Col. Bruce Hampton*), People Say [The Meters]
NCF Funk Squad 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 5 of 5:People Say [The Meters] (with Derrick Freeman & ???)
MVP: Jon Cleary, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Derwin “Big D” Perkins & Raymond Weber
MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 1 of 4: Sometimes I Wonder [Jon Cleary], Don’t Change For Me [Nigel Hall], Night People [Allen Toussaint / Lee Dorsey cover]
MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 2 of 4: Moonburn [Jon Cleary], Color Blind [Frankie Beverly & Maze cover], Clean Up Woman [Betty Wright cover], Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine [James Brown cover]
MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 3 of 4: Running Away [Frankie Beverly & Maze cover], When You Get Back [Jon Cleary], Getcha GoGo Juice [Jon Cleary] (with Terence Higgins)
MVP 5/2/17 NOLA Crawfish Festival
Part 4 of 4: Can’t Hide Love [Earth Wind & Fire cover], Groove Me [King Floyd cover]
When you’re in New Orleans for Jazz Fest, there’s nothing like catching a Funky Meters show to reassure you that you’re in the right place at the right time. But, as we know, the Funky Meters only contain 2 of the original Meters band members, namely Art “Poppa Funk” Neville and George Porter, Jr.
That’s why the 2012 Jazz Fest became so exciting when it was announced that all 4 of the Original Meters would be playing their first club gig in New Orleans in over 30 years! Yes, we’re talking about all 4 original members: Art “Poppa Funk” Neville on organ, George Porter, Jr. on bass, Leo Nocentelli on guitar and Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste on drums.
Yes, these 4 original Meters members have reunited sporadically for shows in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (and for a few festival gigs in 2011). Yes, they’ve played New Orleans before. But this felt like the real homecoming. The price was steep, but for the few that could get in, it was worth every penny. Art showed that he can still play ferociously, despite his age of, in his words,“74 fuckin years old”. Although Zigaboo did joke about the senior citizen status of the band, they hardly played like it. Judge for yourself, because here I bring you 47 minutes of footage from this now legendary show.
The Original Meters
May 5, 2012 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Fire On The Bayou, Africa > Look-Ka Py Py > Funky Miracle, Encore: People Say:
Also, here is the set closing Ain’t No Use, shot by photographer Marc Millman. I strongly suggest that you check out some of his photos from this show and even consider purchasing framable prints of his beautiful imagery.
By the way, you can download the full audio from this show here.
It’s not often you get to see master New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich play outside the city of New Orleans. But last November at Bear Creek Music Festival the man was everywhere sitting in with at least 5 different acts. I captured quite a big chunk of Bear Creek with my video camera, and I got some great footage of JohnnyV.
First I want to share a few videos of The Trio (which is the name of Johnny’s weekly Thursday night gig at the Maple Leaf, whether it involves 3 players or not). This particular Trio gig featured George Porter Jr on bass along with Jennifer Hartswick on trumpet. Freekbass was also a special guest for this set.
The Trio: Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter Jr & Jennifer Hartswick
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
(4 of 4) Big Chief:
The Trio: Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter Jr & Jennifer Hartswick (w/ Freekbass)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
(2 of 4) Don’t Be Squeezin’ My Heart:
The Trio: Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter Jr & Jennifer Hartswick (w/ Freekbass)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
(3 of 4) Don’t Be Squeezin’ My Heart (cont.):
The Trio: Johnny Vidacovich, George Porter Jr & Jennifer Hartswick
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
(1 of 4) Careful Who You Idolize:
Next up is JohnnyV sitting in with Jon Cleary‘s “Piano, Bass & Drums” group, which features Johnny’s longtime Astral Project collaborator James Singleton on bass. BTW, the drummer on the second video here is Doug Belote, a drummer of quite some repute down in Cajun country. [Interesting factoid, Doug Belote briefly replaced Raymond Weber in Dumpstaphunk for a short run of shows in December of 2010 when Raymond was busy filming episodes of the HBO TV show Treme.]
Jon Cleary: Piano, Bass & Drums (w/ Johnny Vidacovich)
Saturday, November 12, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
Reconsider Baby, Get Low Down:
Jon Cleary: Piano, Bass & Drums
Saturday, November 12, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
I Get The Blues, Tipitina:
Finally, I have some videos of Johnny sitting in with Marco Benevento performing the James Booker classic, Junco Partner. After that is a few more Marco Benevento videos, including one where Marco passes me his bottle of Makers Mark from the stage. That was a good start to the afternoon!
Marco Benevento (w/ Johnny Vidacovich)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
Junco Partner (James Booker cover) (1 of 2):
Marco Benevento (w/ Johnny Vidacovich)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
Junco Partner (James Booker cover) (2 of 2):
Marco Benevento (w/ Robert Walter)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
You Know I’m No Good (Amy Winehouse cover):
Marco Benevento
Saturday, November 12, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
Greenpoint, The Real Morning Party:
Marco Benevento
Saturday, November 12, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
The Real Morning Party (cont.), Atari:
Marco Benevento
Saturday, November 12, 2011 @ Bear Creek Music Festival
Hearbeats (The Knife cover):
And if you made it this far, then you are certainly a big JohnnyV fan. At that, you will be glad to know that Johnny was recently added to the Live Music Archive. I have recently uploaded over 30 audio recordings spanning from 2001 to 2011 and they are all available to be streamed or downloaded for free over at http://www.archive.org/details/JohnnyVidacovich.
NCF Funk Squad: George Porter Jr., Eric Krasno, John Medeski & Terence Higgins
MVP: Jon Cleary, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Derwin “Big D” Perkins & Raymond Weber
