dr. ike and the mystics knights bring an all star cast to new orleans if you weren’t in new orleans april 27 and 28 then you missed the ( biggest rock a billy show ) ever produced. performed by rockabilly’s biggest stars. dr. ike and the mystic knights of the mau mau did it again getting all these stars together for an all-star performance. they brought in the wailers from the west coast doing their big hit ” the tall cool one” a 1959 smash hit that got air play world wide. these artist never seem to age they get better as time rolls by. the show was held a the ” rock n bowl ” located on carrolton ave, in new orleans. the rock n bowl has been known for years as the place in new orleans to see the rockabilly stars of yesteryear, and april 27 and 28 proved to be no exception. deke dickerson and his band the eccofonics were there backing up many of the stars who performed. “deke” is the best rock a billy guitarist in the world. and if you’ve never seen him crank up his guitar and start playing riffs then you have truely missed the worlds best because “deke” does it all and he makes it look easy. there isn’t a hit rockabilly song “deke” can’t play. this young guitarist is booked world wide and stays on the road 11 months of the year. there isn’t a major nite club in the usa ” deke” hasn’t worked. and if “deke ” wasn’t enough “mr. rockabilly guitar” james burton was there, the man ” deke” learned from. james burton has no equal in rockabilly, he is the man who was the driving force behind “dale hawkins” susie-q, bob luman’s ” red cadillac and black mustache” and james created the driving guitar sound that made rick nelson famous. until ozzie nelson hired james burton away from bob luman “rick nelson” had no recordings that were worth air play. once nelson got into the studio with “james” his recordings had listening appeal style and direction and no one could miss the driving guitar sound of “james” burton. deke dickerson has a talent to be recognized and acknowledeged as a valid achievement of greatness, however james burton had already driven his ability on the guitar as the standard by which all guitarists following in his footsteps would use to measure if they might some how reach even the lowest level of a bar that james burton had set so high. the master guitarist “james burton” and the pupil deke dickerson tappk the stage together in new orleans making rockabilly music come alive as never before. the one and only “dale” hawkins took the stage and put on a performance that was one for the rockabilly fans to remember forever. for my money “dale” hawkins is the best rockabilly performer in the world today, the “ole swamp blues rockabilly star” stands tall as the man to equal up to. “dale” has been making music since he was 15. he and james burton rode “bicycles” to their first “gigs” in shreveport and bossier city. young as they were, they both had a knowledge of music and what to do with it, that producers three times their age had no idea of. together they produced “susie-q” with no outside help from any record company a&r person producer or manager. both have gone on to greatness in the recording business. d.j. fontana was there making sounds on his drums the same way as he had done when he played behind “elvis” with scotty moore and bill black. d.j. backed up sonny burgess one the greats at sun records in the 50′s. sonny did all of his hits from the 50′s sun days, “my bucket’s ggot a hole in it”, “red headed woman”, ” i wanna boogie”, “i’m going home”, etc. sonny is as wild on stage today as he was 40 years ago, a real showman who gets better with time. it must be the “new orleans” air blowing in off the “mississippi” that keeps everything in a youthful stand still. lazy lester gave a knock out performance doing songs he made popular on “excello” records 50 years ago. lazy is the last of a group of musicians that included “slim harpo”, “lonesome sundown”, and “lighting slim” when they recorded at crowley’s studio owned by jay miller. those were the days of the big beat in the big easy. matt lucas, ray sharpe, billy boy arnold, joe clay, and jay chevalier all gave performance’s worth a million dollars that you only had to pay $35.00 to see. the rock n bowl had bands both up stairs and down stairs in the lounge. the rock n bowl is a great place to go for entertainment, you can bowl while the bands play sit down a have a drink. security is provided around the club so that no one can cause any trouble, if you do, you’ll be shown the way to the outside. the rock n bowl staff are a nice group of folks who are there to serve you and make sure your evening is pleasant. dr. ike and the mystic knights always put on a good show. the 2004 stomp #3 was great! we have all come to expect a great nite of entertainment from the mystic knights and they always provide everyone with shows up and above the expected. hope to see you at next years show.

~ Widmarc Clark