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Spirituals to Funk
updated: Oct 16, 2012, 11:52 AM
By Edhat Subscriber
Here's a brief overview of the Lobero concert, "Spirituals to Funk" for y'all!
The old Lobero Theater was transformed into a N'walins Church, honky tonk style last night and the
audience was roused for well over 90 minutes with no intermission. Two five-time Grammy award
winning musicians performed together onstage. In what at first might have been a genre of stark
musical contrasts, the blending of the elder master's voices turned out to be a satisfying earful of
spiritual harmonies. A Boomer aged audience rose to their feet during one of many rousing Blind Boys
of Alabama spirituals.
Dr. John, the Nite Tripper, started up the evening. Casually striding onto the stage, he wore a sparkly
feathered fedora and purple suit adorned with his signature voodoo accessories. Decorative skulls were
strategically placed on top of two acoustic uprights (one upright was adorned with a red velvet dust
cover). The set-up enabled the Dr. to sit between the two pi-anas to occasionally play both
simultaneously. Blind Jimmy Carter, the elder of the 3, (he's 90!) after performing a 360 degree spin
onstage, (while Joey Williams, a sighted vocalist, made sure Jimmy kept his balance!) "jumped" down
from front stage (handlers assisting) and strolled down both aisles singing "can you feel it?" into his
microphone. There were no doubts from audience response how we felt! The tribal powow commenced
in what is now considered a deeply rooted vernacular of American Spirituals. The Dr.s side-men,
themselves allstar players and vocalists, included young slide trombonist Sarah Morrow who adeptly
applied the plumber's plunger as a mute, (for "wah wah" effect) while pointing the bell of the brass
upstage then down toward the front row. She played that large slide with the guts and glory of a
N'awlins funeral! Such a night!
These cell phone photos of blind Tenor, Ben Moore, vocalist Eric "Ricky" McKinnie and Sarah Morrow
after the concert will give you a little flavor of the evening.
Send this picture as a postcard
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