Filmmaker Lily Keber and Bunny Matthews, friend of James Booker, discuss James Booker after a screening of his biopic "Bayou Maharajah" at the music venue One Eyed Jacks, home of the Clandestine Film Series (the film festival arm of the Ponderosa Stomp) on September 24, 2010 in New Orleans. For the second straight year the film series will feature rarely seen archival footage of Stomp approved musicians, as well as several rare full length music documentaries.
Born in...
more »Filmmaker Lily Keber and Bunny Matthews, friend of James Booker, discuss James Booker after a screening of his biopic "Bayou Maharajah" at the music venue One Eyed Jacks, home of the Clandestine Film Series (the film festival arm of the Ponderosa Stomp) on September 24, 2010 in New Orleans. For the second straight year the film series will feature rarely seen archival footage of Stomp approved musicians, as well as several rare full length music documentaries.
Born in New Orleans, James Booker was able to combine the city's tradition of ragtime/stride piano playing, jazz, blues, and his classical music training into sublime art. Although his recordings sold only modestly, Booker had an avid following among those in the know, touring worldwide to great acclaim. Sadly, Booker passed away at the age of 42, a victim of his own demons, a lifetime of alcoholism, drug abuse, and a lifestyle that almost overshadowed his talent.
The Ponderosa Stomp is an annual music festival held in New Orleans since 2002 that celebrates the uncelebrated names in American musical history. The festival spotlights musicians who have contributed to the American roots musical canon in various genres, from rockabilly to soul to rock and roll to jazz to experimental. For two nights of the year these mostly forgotten names perform to an audience of aficionados whose memory has not faded and turn back the clock with blistering performances of the hits that did or (in the case of the regional musicians that plugged away unknown to the world at large, as well as those whose songs were recorded to acclaim by other musicians) did not make them famous.
In addition to the two nights of performances the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation (the non-profit founded by the eccentric Dr. Ira Padnos and his coterie of like minded music fanatics the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau) also produces two days of the Music History Conference.
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