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Alison Fensterstock
Alison Fensterstock.
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Alison Fensterstock

Alison Fensterstock.

Alison Fensterstock

Story Archive

How Queer Tastemakers, Movers And Shakers Shaped The Music Of New Orleans

Big Freedia, shown performing in 2019 in New Orleans, is part of our starter kit for the queer music of New Orleans. Paras Griffin/Getty Images, hide caption

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Paras Griffin/Getty Images,

Starter Kit

How Queer Tastemakers, Movers And Shakers Shaped The Music Of New Orleans

No single lineage can contain New Orleans music. But one central thread is the legacy of queer performers and tastemakers — from Bobby Marchan to Big Freedia — who steered the sounds and the scenes.

NOLA Amidst COVID: Learning From A Tough Past To Cope With An Uncertain Future

A second line in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, photographed on April 15, 2018. The parades, along with much else in the city, have been suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Coronavirus Crisis

NOLA Amidst COVID: Learning From A Tough Past To Cope With An Uncertain Future

The city has recovered from its fair share of disasters and displacements, but the situation it currently finds itself in is unprecedented.

Preserving The House Of A Pioneering Musician — Who We Will Never Hear

The only known photograph of Buddy Bolden, standing back row and second from left, horn in hand. Also pictured: guitarist Brock Mumford, bassist Jimmie Johnson, clarinetists Willie Warner and Frank Lewis, and trombonist Willie Cornish. Courtesy of the New Orleans Jazz Museum hide caption

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Courtesy of the New Orleans Jazz Museum

Music News

Preserving The House Of A Pioneering Musician — Who We Will Never Hear

New Orleans has a fairly spotty track record when it comes to preserving cultural landmarks, but Buddy Bolden's blighted former residence may avoid being lost to time, as he nearly was.

Big Freedia Is The 21st Century's Ambassador Of Freedom

Big Freedia performs during the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans. Photo Illustration: Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage/Getty Images and Angela Hsieh/NPR

Music Features

Big Freedia Is The 21st Century's Ambassador Of Freedom

Big Freedia has always repped New Orleans, becoming famous by insisting on being her sui generis self. How could you see someone who loves herself so much and not follow her to the dance floor?

'Do You Want To Talk To The Man-In-Charge, Or The Woman Who Knows What's Going On?'

Betty Cantor-Jackson worked as the sound engineer for The Grateful Dead on official live and studio albums — and perhaps more importantly, recorded hundreds of reels of prized soundboard tape. Ed Perlstein/Redferns hide caption

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Ed Perlstein/Redferns

Music

'Do You Want To Talk To The Man-In-Charge, Or The Woman Who Knows What's Going On?'

Across several decades (and despite widespread sexism) women workers, supporters and associates shaped the story of America's most weird, colorful, sui generis rock and roll band.

Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans Jazz Pillar, Indicted For Laundering Library Funds

Trumpeter and former New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) artistic director Irvin Mayfield, who was indicted over alleged money laundering from the city's Library Foundation along with Ronald Markham, the former president and CEO of the NOJO. Skip Bolen/Getty Images hide caption

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Skip Bolen/Getty Images

The Record

Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans Jazz Pillar, Indicted For Laundering Library Funds

In the wake of criminal charges against the trumpeter and bandleader, a city laments that a visible face of recovery for his battered and beaten hometown might also have been bilking it.

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