Poster From a Legendary (and sadly, fictitious) New Orleans Performer

Saw Gator Red in a tiny bar on Frenchman Street. Asked him for his autograph but he was so drunk all he could manage was an "X" and a little scribble of a National Steel Guitar. We got him in a cab and told the driver to take him home. Found out later he was rolled and left in Lake Pontchartrain, where we ran into him next day, feeling much better, picking his teeth with some rusted rebar.

Petes Pantheon: The Rugged Joy of Allen Toussaint

When Allen Toussaint performs, it seems that all of American popular music has floated down the Missisippi to his hometown of New Orleans and fetched up in his piano. Jazz and RnB flow elegantly into the songs of Paul Simon and Steve Goodman. As a singer, songwriter and producer, his creative powers have fueled the recordings of everyone from Irma Thomas to the Rolling Stones. The man wrote "Working in a Coal Mine" and arranged many of the horn parts for the Band's Last Waltz . His graceful piano playing seems effortless, steeped in local tradition, and tinged with a rugged joy. His quiet stage presence will disarm you right before the funk grips you and the indestructible music of New Orleans knocks the rust right off your soul.