Sounds Of Mardis Gras Come To Ditmas Park Next Tuesday

According to purists, you can only celebrate Mardi Gras one day during the year. As a long-time Gulf Coast resident explained, it’s fine to have Carnival festivities throughout the weeks leading up to the big day. But a real Mardi Gras party has to take place on “Fat Tuesday,” the day before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season begins on Ash Wednesday.

Cortelyou Road’s Bar Chord may be 1,300 miles from New Orleans, but they managed to get that part right. The club’s Mardi Gras celebration is appropriately scheduled, due to kick off at 10 PM next Tuesday, February 9th.

And the night’s headliners, the New York City-based Dirty Water Dogs, exhibit a similar respect for Carnival; their 2013 Mardi Gras Party release was recorded at a live Fat Tuesday gig three years ago at Ulysses Folk House in lower Manhattan. The band has an attractive track record at Bar Chord, building a loyal Ditmas Park audience in multiple appearances there.

Bar Chord’s Mardi Gras party will feature night-long specials on Louisana-brewed Abita beer and a version of the classic New Orleans cocktail the Hurricane. They are also bringing in Rozwell Catering to serve up jambalaya and the emblematic Creole dish red beans and rice.

A Mardi Gras gig makes perfect sense for the Dirty Water Dogs, as Neil Thomas’ accordion evokes the Cajun and zydeco sounds associated with New Orleans. “We aren’t just a traditional zydeco band,” explained guitarist Homeboy Steve Antonakos. “We play many things on the periphery of the tradition, but we have so much respect for those who have made it their life’s focus.”

The Dirty Water Dogs have a history that’s as thick as a pot of Louisiana gumbo. Thomas was recruited years ago by Lake Charles, Louisiana native Jimmy Mac (McDonald) for his band Loup Garou. Jimmy Mac was one of those musicians with a lifelong focus on Cajun and zydeco music. Thomas then brought in Bruce Martin and Skip Ward for the rhythm section, musicians he’d been playing with at the XR Bar for a couple of years after the demise of the late, lamented 5 Chinese Brothers, where Thomas and Antonakos had played together.

“I think it was playing with Jimmy Mac that gave Neil, and then Skip and Bruce, the opportunity to play that music intensively for the first time,” Antonakos recalled.

The Dirty Water Dogs was the next step in the evolution. Reuniting with Thomas gave Antonakos his own opportunity to get an education in the music of New Orleans. “I got it from them through osmosis and doing my own homework. Getting the gig is where you hone your skills, hopefully involving a musician who is actually part of the tradition, and listening critically to your source material. At least that’s the way I think it works in a cosmopolitan place like NYC. And I daresay, we’re good at it.”

The Dirty Water Dogs have had the time to get good at it, with a history stretching back far enough that even Antonakos can’t recall exactly how long it’s been. “I do remember that we played Y2K New Years Eve and that we had been playing together for a while at that point, so 20 years is a nice round number that is probably pretty close.”

Twenty years has given the group the time not just to dig deep into Cajun and zydeco, but also develop a deep groove powerfully deployed on blues, rock and country tunes that appear on their 2012 release, Uptown, Alive and Well. What you hear as the band moves through various genres of “roots music” is four guys playing the kind of music they love with guys they love playing with.

“By the time you’ve been playing a while,” Antonakos said, “those roots are what you are most comfortable with. Like the Corn Flakes box says: ‘the Original and the Best.’ There are reasons why these core traditions have lasted for generations; people like to play them, and people like to hear (and dance) to them. It’s kind of that simple.”

“For me personally,” the guitarist continued, “it’s all about the rhythm and the vibe, and I find it playing this kind of music with like-minded people. Of course, ‘roots music’ is a convenient term; it does cover a lot of ground. But I think the thing that this band has tapped into is that the cajun/zydeco thing is part of the New Orleans tradition, which, in turn leads to many, many traditions, whether it be blues, country, jazz, Carribean, Latin, what have you.”

2016 will be the first time Bar Chord has actually scheduled a Mardi Gras show. Antonakos acknowledges that it’s a bit of a challenge. “Bringing the Mardi Gras flavor to a club in Brooklyn is a pretty good trick, because the general public doesn’t really do it up here. Frankly, it’s just another school night to most New Yorkers. But I think we’ve got the right ingredients and the right people to give it a go.”

“You’ve got the band, who will be dressed up and bringing the tunes. The bar will be serving red beans and rice, check. There’s booze, check. You’ve got some people running the place, Jonny and Christy who, along with their staff, respect the music and their clientele, check. And the venue attracts a very diverse and music-loving crowd, double check. I think we’re in good shape.”

As always, the music is free, so be sure to tip the band.