My Vinyl Collection 192
Whodini, Traveling Wilburys, Wild Tchoupitoulas. American musics from Brooklyn to St. Louis to New Orleans. 33 rpm, Vinyl, Alphabetically aligned.
1270. Whodini, Whodini (1986) An EP from the third LP released by a Brooklyn based hip hop band that morphed rap into power pop blizzard rock. Hot on the road for a few years, the band played with Run-DMC, LL Cool J, and the Fat Boys and was involved in Fresh Fest, the first hip hop tour to play stadium venues nationwide.
But Whodini could never settle for repeating its hip hop roots and became loud and garbled in various crossover ventures. The group managed to stay active until band’s founder Ecstacy Fletcher died in 2020, age 56.
1271. Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys (1988)
The other night at a joint called Joe’s Cafe near Washington University I found a professor from Java who knew more than I about the Traveling Wilburys. I flipped on my pocket tape recorder as he spoke without pause as we stood in a bizarre garden of robots and trees.
The professor said, “The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still forever, began to go for short walks — not “traveling,” as we now know it, but certainly as far as the corner and back. They must have taken to motion in much the same way as penguins were at that time taking to ledges, for the next we hear of them they were going out for the day (often taking lunch or a picnic).
“Later, we don’t as yet know how much later, some intrepid Wilburys began to go away for the weekend, leaving late Friday and coming back Sunday. It was they who evolved simple rhythmic forms to describe their adventures.
“A remarkable sophisticated musical culture developed, considering there were no managers or agents, and the further the Wilburys traveled the more adventurous their music became, and the more it was revered by the elders of the tribe who believed it had the power to stave off madness and increase the size of their ears.
“As the Wilburys began to go further and further in their search for musical inspiration they found themselves the object of interest among many less developed species — nightclub owners, tour operators and recording executives. To the Wilburys, who had only just learnt to cope with wives, roadies and drummers, it was a blow from which many of them never recovered.
“A tiny handful survived — the last of the Traveling Wilburys — and the songs gathered on the record represent the popular laments, the epic and heroic tales, which characterize the apotheosis of the elusive Wilbury sound. The message of the music travels, as indeed they traveled and as I myself must now travel for further treatment. Good listening, good night and let thy Wilbury be done . . .”
The professor strolled off into the humid night. But then he turned and gave me a wave. “I forgot to tell you that I heard Jan tell the Monkey Man, ‘I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl. I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl.” And the walls came down/ All the way to hell/ Never saw them when they're standing/ Never saw them when they fell
Special thanks to Otis, Lefty, Charlie T., Lucky, Nelson Wilbury, the professor from Java. and any other talkin’ ‘bout last night.
1272. Wild Tchoupitoulas, Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976)
The thing about New Orleans music over the last hundred or so years is the groove, the currents of a river seen and unseen. The Wild Tchoupitoulas tribe exemplify, personify and glorify that groove, the NOLA Loop. They made the groove. Outside on the street. And inside at Allen Toussaint’s Sea-Saint Studio. In 1976 here was a splash of refreshment in a world of pain. Indians, here dey come.
This, their only album, caused something of a mid-seventies sensation among a slice of music fans. Mardi Gras Indians popped up into the rock milieu caught the attention of those tired of rock’s increasing heaviness. The New Orleans groove was striking. Where have you been all my life?
Hiding in plain sight. George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry, along with four Neville Brothers and Toussaint are all here, responsible for the authenticity of the beats and rattles of the bayou.
Landry manages the gumbo and the Neville brothers provide the rhythm, bringing up the musics, the muds and the funks from the bottom land. And along their walk, they’ve caught the rhythm of the path these Indians took. “Big Chief got a golden crown,” they shout, taking their time in the hot summer sun.
The band released only this one album. The songs are strung together along the parade, presented in a unique display of music that has been heard on the streets of the city for more than a hundred years. Music once performed with tambourines, pots and pans and leather drums is transformed into electric funk rhythm and blues accented by reggae and calypso.
The tribe was founded at the Patio Bar, 1974. Landry became head chief of the mystic society of like minded Blacks, a fraternity of working-class friends. Just one of a number of New Orleans “tribes” whose members “dress up” as American Indians in Mardi Gras season in astonishing handmade costumes, each the bravest of them all, each part of the most magnificent and grandest tribe of all.
“Hu-Na-Nay!” Beating tambourines, tapping woodblocks, ringing cowbells, rapping hubcaps, battering garbage can lids. Wood and tin and human skin and the voices of the human beings. Down the streets.
From the elders down, costumes are a year long project, a new suit every year. Weekly practices October to February, chanting, battle dancing, drumming. They are joined by neighbors who follow the tribe in processions on Mardi Gras Day and St. Joseph’s Night. The second-line.
At the same time the record was released in ‘76, a new cultural economy was emerging in New Orleans. Desegregation made a difference. Big Chief Jolly wanted too expand with the new listeners, he needed more than just his own crew, he needed his whole family.
Wild Tchoupitoulas happened because Jolly’s nephews brought so much experience into the studio in Gentilly. Keyboardist Art Neville came with “Mardi Gras Mambo” (1955) and a decade leading the Meters. saxophonist Charles Neville had played the world’s stages and worked sessions in NYC and LA. Vocalist Aaron Neville’s hits included “Tell It Like It Is” (1967). Percussionist Cyril Neville, years younger, played with Deacon John’s Electric Soul Train and family bands like the Neville Sounds and the Meters.
Jolly also brought along his own crew, portrayed in costume on the historic album. Second Chief Norman Bell, Trail Chief Booker Washington, Flag Boy Carl Christmas, Spy Boy Amos Landry. And don’t forget the backup band, the remaining Meters — Leo Nocentelli guitar, George Porter, Jr. bass, and Zigaboo Modeliste drums.