George Porter, Jr. and Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste of the Meter Men

The Meter Men described themselves as senior citizen funk, but by looking and listening to them it was hard to agree. George Porter Jr., Leo Nocentelli, and Zigaboo Modeliste were tight and together, playing the low-down grooves they were known for in their Meters days but with plenty of vicious guitar shredding from Leo. Without a doubt this was one of the day's highlights at the Acura Stage.

Theresa Andersson

I'll admit to not having heard Theresa Andersson before this event. I was of the understanding that it was essentially just a girl and her violin. I thought, "Well, I'm sure she's very good at it, but I need some OOMPH and ATTITUDE in my music and typically that recipe doesn't deliver for me."

However, I've kept up well enough to tell that she really dropped a bomb on critics with her 2008 release Hummingbird GO!, so I figured I'd stroll by to see what all the commotion is about. While Theresa does mostly deal with just her voice and a violin, by employing some inventive looping she creates a much more complex sound than just those two elements. And as she hops around on-stage crafting these sounds on the fly, I gotta say she was certainly filling up my Oomph & Attitutde bucket. Enough so that I think I've got my Mother's Day present figured out (... and sliding another copy of Hummingbird GO! onto the counter at Louisiana Music Factory, looking both ways to make sure no one's looking* one for, uh, my other mother too).

On the way over to the Acura Stage I peeked in on another curiosity. Po' Henry & Tookie were tucked away inside the Lagniappe stage. This duo were playing downbeat guitar and harmonica blues, many of them covers such as "Hoochie Coochie Man." While their sound won't surprise anyone, their placement on the Lagniappe Stage was excellent. The Blues Tent is well suited to the big-production, big-sound acts that it has hosted so far, but the Lagniappe stage's open-air acoustics were perfect for a simple act like this.

Po' Henry