Lake Charles native Justin Martindale began producing and recording his own music when he was 17. His first solo EP, Justin Martindale & The Backstabbers, just dropped.
Let me provide a few brief notes on the record. I’ll start with the second cut, on which a simple tribal drumbeat — a single loud, regular beat — in tandem with some impassioned vocal delivery propel a tight rock song about a man who’s unable to leave his woman.
Martindale hits his lyrical stride halfway through the EP on the piano-oriented ballad “Someday You’ll Be Free.” He makes some keen observations about the human condition:
“You can’t quite see the difference between who you are and what you do.”
“Life will put you to bended knee.”
The title of the song indicates that Martindale is still young enough to retain the optimism of youth. Most of the lyrics on this recording present a narrative of someone going through troubles but being assured that something better will develop down the pike.
In the cut, “Small Town Skin,” with its simple, lyrical keyboard bridge between verses, Martindale demonstrates he has a real mastery of melody.
At times, the EP’s last cut (a live performance) has the pleasantly noisy jangly guitar music often heard on Velvet Underground recordings.
Different people have different reactions to the same music. The two musicians I was reminded of over and over during this EP were Tom Petty and Bruce Springfield. If you happen to like both of those, it’ll probably be to your advantage to check out Justin Martindale & The Backstabbers. The EP is available at all digital retailers.
The music on the EP is rock, but it draws easily from pop, synth pop, folk and country. Melodies are always immediately accessible. The EP indicates a successful songwriting future for Martindale. A press release calls his writing “raw” and “honest.” That’s a fair assessment of what one hears here. There’s also the ability to develop the basic components of what listeners expect to hear in a rock song.
Martindale’s backing band, The Backstabbers, features Ben Ezell on drums, Jace Verdin on bass and Reese Hayes on keyboards.
Martindale started his own studio last year. He still produces, having worked for Brittany Pfantz and many others.
It’s Already Time
It’s already time to start thinking about the biggest event in Southwest Louisiana in 2017 — the ginormous annual book sale at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.
Good Shepherd is accepting your gently used books, DVDs and audio books right now. (No encyclopedias or textbooks, please.) You can donate your items in the drop-off boxes located at the side entrance of the church at 715 Kirkman St.
Last year’s book purchases resulted in $15,000 of donations to local charities.
I’ll let you know the date of the sale as soon as I know it. And I’ll remind you at that time that the last day of the sale is always the day when you can buy a whole bag of books for $5.
So, get your read on! Take your books to Good Shepherd now and avoid the rush.
Corruption Louisiana Style
Speaking of books, Pelican Publishing of Gretna is out with plenty of new books in plenty of time for Christmas giving.
Catching the Up Fronter’s eye was a new book with the jazzy title Hollywood South: Glamour, Gumbo and Greed. Although she lives in Hammond and was born in Mississippi, author Linda Thurman is a “Hollywood insider.” She’s worked for HBO and United Artists. She’s also co-founder of a Louisiana studio — Emerald Bayou.
I was a little surprised to learn that Thurman wrote about not just the rise of the Louisiana film industry, but also about its corruption. I wasn’t aware of any such corruption. But the book blurb certainly suggests it’s there; we’re told the book is “part memoir and part exposé” and tells the story of “several arrests.”
Now I do understand this: “Thurman sheds light on the convoluted relationship between politics and entertainment in both Hollywood and Louisiana.” It looks like that convoluted relationship is coming to an end in Louisiana. If you’re already feeling nostalgic about the Louisiana film, Thurman’s book may be right up your alley. It’s a $27.95 read.
If the corruption in Thurman’s book isn’t enough for you, you can get really corrupt with the new book The Strange Case of Dr. Etienne Deschamps: Murder in the New Orleans French Quarter by Christopher Pena. Back in the notorious Storyville days of N.O., Deschamps believed he had hypnotic and “magnetic” powers. (I guess the book explains what magnetic powers are.)
Believe it or not, Deschamps convinced himself he could find Jean Lafitte’s treasure if he sacrificed a virgin. He chose as a victim a poor 12-year-old immigrant girl, perhaps on the supposition that she wouldn’t be missed or sought after. No one will be surprised that this was one of those cases in which the question of the perpetrator’s sanity was crucial to his trial. (Cost is $24.95.)
Also in the new book selection are:
— A paperback version of Ken & Thelma, the book by Joel L. Fletcher that tells the story of New Orleans author John Kennedy Toole and his literary masterpiece A Confederacy Of Dunces. (Cost is $24.95.)
— A revised edition of Jeff Dwyer’s Ghost Hunter’s Guide To New Orleans. (Cost is $18.95.)
Need to know more? Call 1-800-843-1724 or visit pelicanpub.com.
First Cousins
Moriah Istre’s new documentary First Cousins, which chronicles the overlap between Cajun and Creole musicians in Louisiana, debuted last month at UL-Lafayette. The title indicates that Istre feels there are so many overlapping factors in the two groups’ ancestry and heritage that they might as well consider themselves “first cousins.”
Istre maintains that Cajuns and Creoles share roots in Africa, Europe and French Canada that go back more than 300 years. These common roots, and the ongoing influences of new forms of popular music, result in what Istre calls “our current mixed music world.”
She interviewed numerous Cajun and Creole musicians about their personal experiences. She says the single quality that struck her the most was the musicians’ humility.
You’ll be able to see plenty of musical performances in the film. In an interview with Lafayette’s The Independent magazine, Istre broke down the sub-genres of Louisiana music and which performer represents each one:
— Jure music: Cedric Watson.
— La La: Goldman Thibodeaux.
— Traditional Cajun: Steve Riley.
— Traditional Creole: Geno Delafose.
— ZydeCajun: Wayne Toups.
— Zydeco influenced by hiphop: Lil’ Nathan Williams.
To read the interview with Istre, search for “Family Affair” at theind.com site.
Get Out Your Checkbooks
As you may know, the Louisiana Legislature only funded TOPS 100 percent through the end of the year. Come Jan. 1, 2017, government funding for TOPS will drop by more than 50 percent.
So … there may be a little something extra in that big packet of stuff your university sends you at the beginning of every semester. And by a little something extra, I mean a bill (or a note, as some around here say). Merry Christmas!
Bowie Update
If you’ve been interested in hearing the music David Bowie wrote for Lazarus — the autobiographical musical he was working on when he died — all the cuts are now available to the public on the just-released soundtrack to the musical. To learn more, visit davidbowie.com.
As for Lazarus, it began its London run on Oct. 25. The musical has enjoyed both popular and critical success in New York.
What I’ve Been Doing Wrong
“Forget the press. Read the internet.” — Donald Trump, in an Oct. 19 speech.
The Funnies
Darla (Lucy Punch): [Seductively] I’m a naughty little schoolgirl…
Barry (Steve Carrell): You look a little old to be a schoolgirl.
Darla: I need to be punished. I cheated in class. Don’t you want to be my school teacher?
Barry: I’m really not qualified. I work for the IRS.
Darla: [winks] Not tonight…
Barry: No, all the time. I work …
Darla: OK, OK! You work for the IRS and I have been very, very bad. I haven’t paid my taxes and I need to be spanked now!
Barry: Well, that’s really not the way it works. You probably just have to pay the difference, plus interest.
Tim (Paul Rudd): [Yelling in pain] My back! My back! My back!
Barry: Is it your back?
Kieran (Jemaine Clement): Have you ever lived among a herd of goats, for months at a time, as one of them?
Barry: No.
Kieran: That surprises me.
— All from Dinner for Schmucks, 2010, dir. Jay Roach
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