Rebirth Brass Band at Smith's Olde Bar Tonight

Something about the music of New Orleans makes my feet move. Mind you, I'm no dancer, but the first time I heard Buckwheat Zydeco at the old Blues Harbor, my feet started twitching, then my legs started jiggling, and pretty soon my whole body was one big white rhythmic monster.

And this makes a good segue to the story of when I first encountered the music of Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. I was working at Turtle's Records in the summer of 1985, when in walked a customer. He asked if we had any Zydeco. "Zydeco?" I replied, "what the heck is that?" The man explained that it would probably be in the blues section and we went to look.

Sadly, there was not one drop of Zydeco to be found in the store. The man, who turned out to be Buckwheat's brother, went back out to his van and handed me a copy of 100% Fortified Zydeco, which I quickly became closely acquainted with. Later that week, Buckwheat was playing at the Blues Harbor, and I dragged a few people to see him. The rest, as they say, is history.

Tonight, I'll be making a fool of myself at Smith's Olde Bar as Rebirth Brass Band takes the stage. Not really the same stuff as Zydeco, but I love it just the same. I'm a brass geek from way back in my high school band days, and Rebirth does some dandy stuff.