Jan Ramsey

Luther Kent, who was a part of the New Orleans music community for over 60 years, has passed away as a result of heart failure.

Is Live Music Going To Survive Technology? With the growing market for virtual reality is live music goingto survive?

Musicians can make ends meet by supplementing their income in a way they may never have considered: being a tour guide.

An important conference is coming to New Orleans on June 3-5: the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) will be held in New Orleans for the first time from June 3 – 5. NIVA is a relatively new organization, formed in response to the devastation in live music that occurred beginning with pandemic in March 2020.

OffBeat’s 2023 Best of The Beat Music Awards took place on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at Tipitina’s. The Best of The Beat Awards™ is a program of the OffBeat Music & Cultural Arts Foundation and was presented by the Gia Maione Prima Foundation and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, with support from OffBeat

The music club and bar—d.b.a. New Orleans, located at 618 Frenchmen—has been sold after 23 years by owner Tom Thayer to a local group of Frenchmen Street venue operators: Sophie Lee Lowry (musician and owner of Three Muses); and Cheryl Abaña, Bradley Clement and Doug Emmer (The Spotted Cat). Lowry and Thayer are renowned in

Billboard has once again named Loyola as one of the top music business schools in the world, taking its place among some of the finest collegiate music programs for the third year running. Billboard named Loyola to its annual list of Top Music Business schools for 2023 in its October 7 issue. The school is

Live music—the bedrock of New Orleans’ reputation as a music city—is in danger of collapsing. This is kind of a complex issue, so bear with me. OffBeat has always been focused on live music. Without live music, New Orleans would not be the music mecca it is. Live music is the fist thing that groups

Radio station WWOZ is negotiating to sign a long-term lease for a new home to be located on the entire fifth floor of The Shops at Jax Brewery, a prime location at 600 Decatur Street overlooking the French Quarter and Mississippi River. As readers of OffBeat know, WWOZ has been looking for a new permanent

New Orleans has long been known as the “City That Care Forgot,” but I think it might be renamed “The City That Doesn’t Care” when it comes to its musical history. Having published several features over years regarding the deterioration of New Orleans musically-significant properties, I was dismayed and disappointed to read in today’s newspaper

Buffa’s Bar, which OffBeat and many other media outlets had reported would be closing, is still hanging on, according to Chuck Rogers, proprietor of the bar and music venue at 1001 Esplanade. Buffa’s, like many small hospitality businesses, is suffering from the excessive heat and lack of business that they usually do during the long,

In response to last week’s blog on the sad state of Frenchmen Street, we received this letter from a local jazz musician, who asked us not to identify him, his colleagues or club name. He has some interesting points that made me think about the state of New Orleans music: Your latest “rant” on May

Jan Ramsey, AKA Mojo Mouth avers: “I’m so thrilled to be writing this, my first column in print since OffBeat’s 2022 Jazz Fest Bible™ in April.”

Now that the “music city” of New Orleans has someone (Howie Kaplan, director of New Orleans Nighttime Economy office) who can be the liaison between music, musicians, venues, bars and restaurants, he needs some input on what needs to be done to improve the lot of local musicians and night time economy businesses. Many other

In 2017, OffBeat’s Publisher/Editor-In-Chief Jan Ramsey wrote a feature in Mojo Mouth urging New Orleans to consider establishing a new “cabinet level” position of “Night Mayor” after learning that these positions were being created in cities worldwide, like New York, London, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Seattle, Portland, Orlando and many more. Most of these cities do not have anywhere near the so-called “nighttime economy” of New Orleans. Things don’t move fast in New Orleans, but under Mayor LaT…

Welcome to Jazz Fest! Finally, I can say that, after three canceled dates. We’re back where we belong, still here and still loving local music. I always thank our subscribers, supporters, writers, photographers, designers, and distribution team during Jazz Fest. It’s a big job and it take a lot of hands-on deck to create what

I met Jim McCormick many years ago, when the very accomplished singer-songwriter was performing locally with the band the Bingemen, and teaching a class in English at the University of New Orleans. Over the years, he was signed as a staff songwriter in Nashville. His songs have resulted in his music being recorded by many

Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, one of the most acclaimed jazz vocalists in the world, will release his latest album, SuperBlue on October 8 on Edition Records. Elling, born in Chicago in November 1967, says his interest in music began with his father who was Kapellmeister (choir director) at a Lutheran church. Elling sang in the

A few weeks ago, stopping the COVID virus seemed to be within our grasp. Now, the people who refuse be vaccinated are allowing it to spread.

Why you and everyone who loves New Orleans music and musicians should be tested and get the vaccine as soon as possible.