1. Chef Menteur at Circle Bar May 17, 2008
2. Chef Menteur at Dragon’s Den June 6, 2008

Thanks to Christy!

On the first night of the Potluck Audio Conference, Chef Menteur is playing the Dragon’s Den with A Living Soundtrack, Douglas Ferguson, Rat Bastard and splnlss (Jon Cohrs).

A Living Soundtrack (New Orleans) could be one of the best live electronic bands in the country and a must-see for anyone who thinks they know what the New Orleans music scene is all about. “There’s a new sound bubbling out of New Orleans and it doesn’t sound funky. Will the Big Easy be the birthplace of the next decade of rock?” – Jambase.com alivingsoundtrack.com Douglas Ferguson (Austin, Texas) is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter. Douglas improvises and scores with a combination of homemade electronics, fx pedals, synthesizers, and acoustic instruments to create sound installations, textural soundscapes, and soundtracks. Douglas has performed solo as well as in the following bands: Necessity, O.U.C.H., Study Partners, the Austin Theremonic Orchestra, EList of Likes, Lunar Death, Tetrahedon, Ejouto Dynamato, Buckle, Book of Shadows, ST37, Primordial Undermind, Rest Area, Venison Whirled, and Laundry Room Squenchers. http://www.douglasferguson.us Chef Menteur (New Orleans) has been confounding people’s expectations since they put a monkey in the oval office. Ot-of-phasey psychedelic drifters recently nominated for best local electronic rock act. “Sounds like an instrumental version of Kashmir as performed by Gary Numan” –Aural Innovations. The live lineup of Alec Vance, Dan Haugh, and Brian Abbott with Mike Mayfield may surprise those who last saw the band play live a year ago. http://www.chefmenteur.org Rat Bastard (Miami): Multi-beer drinking, producer and hoo-ha guitarist by way of Laundry Room Squelchers, To Live and Shave in LA and Scraping Teeth —”Worst Band in America”. spnlss a.k.a Jon Cohrs (Brooklyn) is a visual/sound artist who recently migrated from Portland (where he worked at Jackpot!), runs a recording business named after his missing spleen, and works for Laurie Anderson.For more info: http://www.backporchrevolution.com/shows.php 

some photos from the Circle Bar show that Abby took.

Also, check out this week’s Gambit magazine for the “Hot Pick of the Week”, we got a nice plug for this Saturday’s show, courtesy of Alison Fensterstock.  

More on the band

Keyboard kaiser Mike Mayfield (from the Buttons, Electrical Spectacle, Liteworks) will be playing once again with Chef Menteur in upcoming gigs Saturday, May 17 at the Circle Bar and Friday June 6 at the Dragon’s Den. See the BPR shows page for more information. We’re also excited to be playing shows with two great local bands that we think are the cream of the current experimental crop: Metronome the City (May 17) and A Living Soundtrack (June 6).No, we didn’t win ‘best electronic act’ at the Big Easy Awards recently, but we did help ourselves to the open bar and the free martinis and got to see our friends in Country Fried and the Happy Talk Band win their respective categories, which were both well deserved. Congrats to them! Also to hear master of ceremonies Harry Shearer (a.k.a Derek Smalls) deadpan about the jackass in the White House was good fun.

Chef Menteur plays two upcoming shows in New Orleans:

1) Sat, May 17 at the Circle Bar with Metronome the City (NOLA)

This is our first show in a long time. Also a great opportunity to catch Metronome the City, whose “Electric Elements Exposed” is getting a good response.

2) Fri, June 6 at the Dragon’s Den with A Living Soundtrack (NOLA), Douglas Ferguson (Austin), Rat Bastard, spnlss

This show is scheduled on the first night of the Potluck Audio Conference (formerly TapeOpCon) in New Orleans, so we hope to see some other musicians and audio types there. For more information on shows see http://www.backporchrevolution.com/shows.php

Chef Menteur has been nominated as “best electronic act” in the Big Easy Awards alongside Mr. Quintron and MC Trachiotomy. And just as we’ve essentially become a rock act again.Isn’t it ironic….dontcha think?

Our former Original Groupie, Crusty Mcknuckle (#27 Crescent Wenches) is the Times-Picayune’s Big Easy Rollergirl of the Week! We’ve had to play groupie to herself and Scabigail (#1337 Storyvillains) ever since. Oh, how the tables have turned. Here is an adorable picture of her from this year’s Mardi Gras. Don’t let that cute smile trick you, she will kick your ass back to the 1970’s on the track. Or anywhere else for that matter.And yes, she is good at blowing her own horn. But thanks for playing! http://blog.nola.com/flattrackfever/2008/03/rollergirl_of_the_week_crusty.html 

Our adorable pal, Mister Court, made his recording debut yesterday, totally hooking us up with some sweet mandolin action. Here he is on the left, adding his chops recording the middle 8 of new song “Crain” with Brian on the ukulele.