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.
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.
Before I hit the road to my first Bear Creek Music Festival, I have to unleash my videos of Dr. Klaw on the Creole Queen Riverboat during New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011. The full video is on youtube in six parts, listed below. I recommend watching in HD in 1080p or 720p. Also, if you are so inclined, the DVD is available to download at The Trader’s Den.
I’ve posted about Dr. Klawbefore. For those that don’t know, Dr. Klaw is a supergroup featuring Nick Daniels III and Ian Neville (both of Dumpstaphunk), along with Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno & Nigel Hall (of Lettuce, Soulive, Chapter Two, etc.). Basically, Dr. Klaw is a special conglomeration that only plays shows at Jazz Fest and Bear Creek (and sometimes Jam Cruise). Word is that they’ve been in the studio and will be releasing their new album at Bear Creek next week.
This video documents their only performance this year (until Bear Creek next weekend), and features several original tunes, as well as two Parliament covers that feature The Shady Horns (Ryan Zoidis, Sam Kinninger, & Rashawn Ross). The video was shot from right up front (because there really was no other way to see the band considering that the stage was only a few inches tall) with a Canon Vixia HF21 video camera and a Sony ECM-MS908C stereo mic. The audio is raw, dominated by Deitch’s cymbals and rim shots, but is still very listenable compared to the quality of most of the stuff you find on youtube. Enjoy, spread the word, and I’ll see you after what is sure to be an incredible Bear Creek Music Festival weekend!
Dr. Klaw – Part 1 of 6 – Beef, I Believe It:
Dr. Klaw – Part 2 of 6 – I Believe It (cont.), God Made Me Funky:
Dr. Klaw – Part 3 of 6 – Dr. Funkenstein, Do That Stuff:
Dr. Klaw – Part 4 of 6 – Do That Stuff (cont.), Rat Race:
Dr. Klaw – Part 5 of 6 – Lost Rager:
Dr. Klaw – Part 6 of 6 – Leave Me Alone:
Kirk Joseph’s 504 Brass Band w/ Steven Bernstein – Treme Theme Song:
