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The Ponderosa Stomp takes
place in New Orleans during the third week of April, as part
of the yearly New Orleans Jazzfest. Consisting of two - 12
or more hour evenings featuring some of the greatest talent
ever assembled for a single venue, the stomp gives
incredible value for your entertainment dollar.
Dr.Ike, the promoter and
his Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau, do not show a profit for
this event. It's a labor of LOVE, folks!
I attended this event for
the first time this year. Based on the lineup posted on the
website for the event, www.ponderosastomp.com
, I expected a lot. This show delivered. I am telling
y'all that the Colonel got misted up more than once during
this event. Other times it was the chills down my spine!
Click here to view my short photo essay that tells the story
from my viewpoint: Colonel's
STOMP PHOTOS
Click on any photo there to start a full screen slide show
presentation.
Click Here to
view
the Colonels Stomp VIDEOS
Here is what one fan
who attended the stomp had to say about the
event:
05-26-2005
Posted by: michael
dominici
Ponderosa Stomp
2005
Scotty Moore plays one gig
a year. For the last few years that gig has been the
Ponderosa Stomp. Rockabilly freaks treck down to New Orleans
for their annual pilgrimage to hear Elvis Presley's original
guitarist playing with an ensemble comprised of Sun Records
legends. This year the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau fanned
the guitar flames with an impressive line-up featuring
guitar legends Robert Lockwood, Jr., Nokie Edwards from The
Ventures, James "Blood" Ulmer, Travis Wammack, Deke
Dickerson, Lil' Buck Sinegal, Lonnie Brooks, Deacon John,
Johnny Farina of Santo and Johnny and the wicked Link Wray
who was absolutely thrashing. Bad Ass. Even most of the
ladies on the bill were guitar slingers, but we'll get to
that in a minute.
As usual, The Ponderosa
Stomp was way over the top and totally saturated with a
blitzkrieg assault on the musical senses. Every year the
event is akin to having the world's greatest jukebox
suddenly come alive and this year was certainly no
exception. Saxophonist Ace Cannon played a terrific set of
smoky anthems that sounded straight out David Lynch's "Blue
Velvet." Sultry, raunchy stripper music that had ace
guitarist, the unbilled Alex Chilton smiling as he played
some rather tasty licks himself.
Dr. Ike comes from the
Russ Meyer's school where women are warriors because every
female performer on the roster performed with utter
authority, flair, and just enough finesse to reduce the
audience to butter. Barbara Lynn has been elevated to soul
queen status as a result of her unforgettable recent
performances, including a Valentine's Day set at the Circle
Bar and her star turns at the Rock'n'Bowl. When she went
into "You'll Lose A Good Thing" you could feel the
bittersweet warmth in the room. Goosebumps, baby.
Having seen the
eye-popping, mind-blowing promotional photos of Lady Bo in
her heyday, I was set for something spectacular and Lady Bo
delivered in spades. Dressed to kill in her hot black dress
with her guitar strapped around her like a machine gun, Lady
Bo put on a stunning show often stopping the band and
tweaking her guitar like an electrifying lover busting out
all the special moves for the wildest ride of your life.
Yeah, that type of shit. She had the audience bugged out in
awe of her prowess. The look in her eyes was five alarm fire
and the sound that came out her guitar was strictly Jimi
Hendrix in a G-string. Where does Dr. Ike FIND these
people!
Betty Harris was the
undisputable diva of the event descending a staircase
dressed in a fine gold dress to ecstatic applause. Harris
immediately dropped the bomb going from a lively
introduction straight into the riveting, spine-tingling
ballad "Cry To Me" which left the awestruck audience with
sparkling tears dripping down their collective faces. From
there she moved right into a series of classic songs written
by Allen Toussaint. An amazing set for anyone; but all the
more spectacular realizing that Betty Harris hasn't
performed in over 30 years!
One of the Ponderosa Stomp
highlights was Brenton Wood's incredibly sweet and soulful
performance downstairs. Backed by an Alex Chilton led unit,
the dapper Wood launched into "Oogum Boogum" and "Just Give
Me A Little Sign, Girl" causing the audience to go wild on
the dance floor particularly on "Psychotic Reaction.". His
brief set had the audience begging for more which Wood
obliged with a surprise duet with Lady Bo on "I'm Your
Puppet" which he played especially for my friend Zee who had
made a the request.
Another favorite moment at
the Ponderosa Stomp was running into WWOZ's general manager
David Freedman who asked me, "Who was that guy wailing on
the organ up there just now?" I replied, "Buckwheat Zydeco!"
His jaw dropped. That happens a lot at The Stomp.
With so many acts I'm
bound to miss a few things and I regret not hearing Nokie
Edwards, Archie Bell tearing into "Tighten Up" and James
"Blood" Ulmer's solo set. However, I DID get to hear Phil
Phillips sing "Sea of Love" and that was truly beautiful.
Having missed the original Meters reunion at Jazzfest I was
floored to hear Zigaboo Modeliste funkifrying the house down
with Deacon John and "bass face" Charles Moore on "Chicken
Strut" and "The Hand Clapping Song." The best funk I've
heard since Skip Pitts and Fred Wesley destroyed the place
with Zigaboo and Willie Tee at the Ponderosa Stomp a few
years back.
There's always something
just completely whack that goes down at the stomp and this
year there was two things that did it. After a raunchy
introduction by Dolemite, Blowfly hit the stage with these
crazy little white teenage punks that came ready to kick ass
in their sneakers with their crazy horns from hell. The
other thing was ROY HEAD. MY GOD! After a tour-de-force
performance with Deke Dickerson, Head came back for more
with a ranting "Treat Me Right" in which he told the
mesmerized audience that he'd been banned for a suggestive
dance that he made up one night that made all the college
kids go wild. A little something he called "The Crawl" then
he proceded to do a back flip and land face flat on the
stage where he wiggled like a snake, went into a state that
could only be described as a "convulsion" then, did another
flip, pointed to Deke, blew a kiss to the audience and
vanished.
~Michael Dominici
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