Ben Sandmel's new biography of the legendary New Orleans entertainer extraordinaire, Ernie K-Doe, is now available and should be considered essential reading for all fans of and obessives about the city's music scene and the exploits of its many colorful participants. Of those, K-Doe emanated a distinctively Day-Glo aura in the course of his planetary pursuits.
The official title of the book, published by the Historic New Orleans Collection, and associated website is Ernie K-Doe The R&B Emperor of New Orleans; and you can learn more about it by hitting that link. Also, the current editon of OffBeat has an nice excerpt.
As a disclaimer, let me say that I am a friend of Ben's and contributed just a smidgen to the massive amount of research he did for this book, which includes a thorough discography and extensive notes. Having gotten numerous reports on his progress over the past few years, I can attest that Ben has dug deep and labored long to do justice to all that was and is great about Emperor K-Doe's mythic life and mind.
I consider this biography to be a vital addition to the small but important body of work about specific New Orleans R&B musicians and performers, including Rick Coleman's impressive tome on the life and career of Fats Domino and New Orleans' place at the inception of rock 'n' roll, Blue Monday; Earl Palmer's slim but insightful reflections on his role as a rhythmic inventor, Backbeat; Harold Battiste, Jr.'s telling memoir, Unfinished Blues (also published by the HNOC); Dr. John's autobiography, Under A Hoodoo Moon; as well as the revealing story of The Brothers Neville.
Read all about it.
I saw the excerpt in Offbeat. The mention of the White Eagle in Port Allen, and Peter Rooster, got my attention, big time.
ReplyDeleteReally good stuff.
Uhmmm.....I may be credited [under one name or another] in the book as well, even though I can't imagine that I actually contributed anything.
Ben's a generous soul.
The book's going to prove to be a great resource as well as an entertaining read. And, yeah, Ben is a good guy....and a pro. Contributions are in the eye of the researcher, ana. So, ya never know.....
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