MCLA Presents! 'A Night In New Orleans'
NORTH ADAMS – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ MCLA Presents! series will kick off its inaugural season with a celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Church Street Center.Featuring New Orleans-based Papa Grows Funk, Joe Krown, and Walter “Wolfman” Washington, “A Night in New Orleans” will give each of the groups a chance to perform on their own, before bringing everyone on stage for the type of jam session New Orleans is famous for. Opening the evening will be locally based Cafe Budapest Trio.
“We could not be more delighted than to kick off the MCLA Presents! series with some of New Orleans finest funk-makers,” said Jonathan Secor, MCLA director of special programs. “I have had the pleasure of working with John Gros, the ‘Papa’ in Papa Grows Funk, for many years now and he always puts together a great happening. He follows in the footsteps of the Neville Brothers, Dr. John and the Funky Meters as a great keyboardist carrying on the traditions and music of New Orleans, which includes keeping it new, fresh and funky.”
All three bands are regulars at the Maple Leaf Bar and Grill, one of New Orleans’ favorite musical hot spots, Secor said. They will bring their mixture of fresh interpretations of New Orleans classics, Mardi Gras party music, improvised jams, and hard-hitting fund to the Church Street Center, he added.
Washington was scheduled to play at MASS MoCA the month that Hurricane Katrina hit, yet never made it to that show, Secor said. “So it is wonderful to finally be able to introduce the Wolfman to North Adams.” Walter “Wolfman” Washington has been an icon on the New Orleans music scene for decades, helping to define the Crescent City’s unique musical hybrid of R&B, funk and the blues since he formed his first band in the 1970s.
According to Dr. John, “Walter ‘Wolfman’s’ new album, ‘The Funky Thing,’ is crucialchronic FUNK at its best!” And Krown is described by New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly as a “piano man and organ wizard” who leads his band though “classic Hammond B-3 driven funk, blues and R&B groves.”
MCLA will collect money at the concert for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, an organization that provides access to health and social services for the New Orleans musical community, including some of the artists performing in “A Night in New Orleans.” For more information, go to www.neworleansmusiciansclinic.org.
Tickets for general admission are $12, $5 for MCLA facility and staff. MCLA Presents! members and MCLA students are free. To reserve tickets, call (413) 662-5204. For more information, go to www.mcla.edu/presents.
