Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
Magazine
Issue 79, Winter 2012
The Louisiana Music Issue
“Music in Louisiana isn’t an escape, or it’s not only an escape. It’s a form of civic engagement, often speaking to very specific constituencies. The music is personal but not private as musicians speak to and for their communities.” —Alex Rawls, Guest-editor’s letter
Features by Amanda Petrusich, Stanley Crouch, Brian Boyles, Duncan Murrell, Jason Berry, and Matt Sakakeeny. Poetry by Yusef Komunyakaa, Rickey Laurentiis, and others.
Opening Acts
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Meters, Tony Joe White, Kix Brooks, Barbara Reid, Kenny Bill Stinson, Terrance Simien, and the Buffalo Soldiers Trail Riding Club
Features
OOLA MALLA WALLA DOLLA
The Long Cosmic Reach of Professor Longhair
by Jason Berry
DRAGGED THROUGH THE FOREST
The Long-gone Sound of Amédé Ardoin
by Amanda Petrusich
WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS
You Have To Swing To Be There
by Stanley Crouch
BEGIN AGAIN
The Anxiety of Authenticity
by Duncan Murrell
BOURBON STREET PARADE
Twelve Hours in a New Orleans Strip Club
by Brian Boyles
WHY DEY HAD TO KILL THEM
The Life and Death of Shotgun Joe
by Matt Sakakeeny
Poetry
THREE POEMS:
Quicksilver, The White Handkerchief, and from Requiem
by Yusef Komunyakaa
Little Song
by Rickey Laurentiis
Little Freddie Makes Seventy at BJ's in the Bywater
by Lee Meitzen Grue
Blues on Burgundy
by Keith Veizer
Cover illustration of Professor Longhair by Marc Burckhardt