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Ernie K-Doe

‘A Last Hoorah’

by barry December 5, 2010

As we noted here, the Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge will be closing its doors this month after a 16-year run as one of New Orleans’ most beloved small music clubs. We featured the Mother-in-Law and its owner, Betty Fox, in “Crescent City Blues.” And we wrote about some of the club’s history here. Before it [...]

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Coming to the rescue

by barry July 14, 2010

Last weekend, we flew down to New Orleans to witness an outpouring of love, as hundreds of residents turned out to help save the Mother-in-Law Lounge. And we learned this: When a community mobilizes to save a cultural institution, the results can hearten and inspire. The Mother-in-Law has been a veritable living room for many [...]

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Change of heart

by barry June 30, 2010

Just as we couldn’t imagine New Orleans without the Mother-in-Law Lounge, so couldn’t many New Orleanians. As the Times-Picayune reports: Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge owner decides to try and keep it open, after all By Alison Fensterstock Just about a week after deciding that she would close the landmark tavern she took over after her [...]

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End of the Mother-in-Law

by barry June 29, 2010

From New Orleans’ Times-Picayune (as well as local musician friends) comes this sad news: Betty Fox closing Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge By Alison Fensterstock The Mother-in-Law Lounge, a Treme landmark opened by New Orleans rhythm-and-blues icon Ernie K-Doe and his wife, Antoinette, in the mid-’90s, will close its bar operation next month but might reopen [...]

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"Like I was back at a CYO dance"

by admin January 24, 2010

We’re not accustomed to people throwing concerts in our honor. But that’s pretty much what happened Friday night at Mother-in-Law Lounge in New Orleans. John T. Lewis (above left), a blues and R&B guitarist whom we interviewed, and drummer Ben Sandmel, one of our consultants, pulled together four hours of live music at the Lounge [...]

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The Mother-in-Law

by admin November 22, 2009

When we visitied Louisiana last month, many musicians fondly recalled Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge, which opened in 1994 and remained open regularly until K-Doe’s widow Antoinette died this past Mardi Gras Day. The K-Does were beloved figures in New Orleans. After Antoinette’s death, folklorist Ben Sandmel (who is writing a book about Ernie and also [...]

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An anniversary celebration

by admin November 16, 2009

When we were first trawling for names of unsung rhythm-and-blues musicians, one of the recommended names that was unfamiliar to us was Tommy Singleton. A 66-year-old New Orleans native who drives an oyster truck for a living, Singleton (right) has been a regular on the city’s R&B scene for decades—starting with the Living Dead Revue, [...]

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