Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

‘They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora Arkansas’: Notes On The Life Of Tony Joe White

They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora Arkansas: Notes On The Life Of Tony Joe White

Tony Joe White grew up on a 40 acre farm outside a small town in northern Louisiana near the Arkansas border. How small? “Goodwill had three stores, a cotton gin, a pool hall, and a church,” he would state in a sixties newspaper interview.

The Mississippi River was a one mile walk to the east. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Cajuns, Rednecks, And Longhairs: Notes On The Celebration Of Life Music Festival in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana

Notes On The Celebration Of Life Music Festival in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana (photo: Opelousas Daily World)

It should have been the biggest party Louisiana ever saw. The Celebration of Life in 1971 was to be a deep south version of Woodstock where the hippies, rednecks and Cajuns all beat their feet in unison on that sweet Point Coupee, Parish mud. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Music From The Devil’s Swamp: Notes On The Life Of Silas Hogan

Music From The Devil’s Swamp: Notes On The Life Of Silas Hogan

I don’t believe the blues gonna die, the blues was here when nothing else was here and I think it’ll be here when everything else is gone, it’s gonna be right here.

In his later years Louisiana bluesman Silas Hogan had the appearance of a country minister. He kept his snowy white hair cropped close, and favored brilliant white dress shirts with slacks and well-polished shoes. Of course the man wore a necktie. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

New Orleans Boxer Joe Dorsey Jr Fought Jim Crow With The Sweet Science

rl reeves jr examines the life of New Orleans boxer Joe Dorsey Jr

“There shall be no fistic combat match, boxing, sparring, or wrestling contest or exhibition between any person of the Caucasian or `white’ race and one of the African or `Negro’ race; and, further, it will not be allowed for them to appear on the same card.”

That’s a rule codified by the Louisiana State Athletic Commission, an agency of the State of Louisiana with “full authority, regulation and control over all boxing and wrestling contests or exhibitions in the state” Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Notes on New Orleans Contract Killer Garelle ‘Jigga’ Smith

Notes on New Orleans Contract Killer Garelle ‘Jigga’ Smith

Soulja Slim liked to rap “I keep that motherfucking heata on me / That’s why no nigga don’t come fucking with me.”

But on November 26th, 2003, Slim broke his cardinal rule, and left his pistol in his truck while he dashed into his mama’s house on Lafaye Street in Gentilly. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Notes On The Life Of New Orleans Rapper Christopher Dorsey aka Baby Gangsta

Notes On The Life Of New Orleans Rapper Christopher Dorsey aka Baby Gangsta

Christopher Dorsey is now known as United States Federal Prisoner number 31969-034 but for a time he was high-flying Deep South rapper B.G aka Baby Gangsta, one of the biggest stars to ever wreck himself free from the firmament of the New Orleans rap scene. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Notes On The Short Electric Life Of Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones

Notes On The Short Electric Life Of Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones

The 1200 block of Saratoga in Central City is one of the most infamous streets in the annals of New Orleans crime. On the morning of July 27th, 1900, Robert Charles, a black man from Mississippi shot 24 white people including four cops before a white mob set fire to the cottage he was holed-up in, and shot him dead as the house burned to the ground. Continue Reading