(SWEET, SWEET BRASS) Three reasons to see Rebirth. One: It’s a fundraiser for Katrina survivors. Two: It’s at the Royal Esquire Club, a historic black-men’s organization you haven’t been inside before. Three: Rebirth is one of New Orleans’s finest musical exports, a rafter-rattling explosion of funk and jazz in the tradition of “second line”—killer brass bands that play for Mardis Gras parades, community processions, and the famous jazz funerals. (The Royal Esquire Club, 5016 Rainier Ave S, www.brownpapertickets.com. 8 pm, $25–$50, 21+.)
Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua.... More by Brendan Kiley