Mother-in-Law Lounge

Last updated
Kermit Ruffins (at right) outside the door of Mother-In-Law-Lounge, Mardi Gras Day 2017. Kermit Ruffins at his Mother-in-Law Lounge.jpg
Kermit Ruffins (at right) outside the door of Mother-In-Law-Lounge, Mardi Gras Day 2017.

The Mother-in-Law Lounge is a live music venue, pub and a shrine in New Orleans, Louisiana dedicated to the memory of rhythm and blues singer, Ernie K-Doe. It is at the downtown river corner of Claiborne Avenue and Columbus Street in the 7th Ward of New Orleans. The exterior of the building is decorated with colorful murals depicting K-Doe and other prominent figures in New Orleans music, especially people who collaborated with K-Doe.

The lounge was originally opened by Ernie K-Doe in 1994, and it has become a historical icon in the local community. It was flooded with five and a half feet of water during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. With the help of the Hands on Network and Chet Haines, the lounge reopened its doors on 29 August 2006, on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Mother-in-Law Lounge was owned and operated by K-Doe's widow and musician, Antoinette K-Doe, before she died during Mardi Gras 2009.

In 2011, local musician Kermit Ruffins agreed to lease the site, and it reopened on January 20, 2014. [1] Ruffins is now running the establishment as Kermit's Mother-In-Law Lounge. [2]

Related Research Articles

Allen Toussaint American musician

Allen Toussaint was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer, who was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures". Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions, including "Whipped Cream", "Java", "Mother-in-Law", "I Like It Like That", "Fortune Teller", "Ride Your Pony", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "Freedom For the Stallion", "Here Come the Girls", "Yes We Can Can", "Play Something Sweet", and "Southern Nights". He was a producer for hundreds of recordings, among the best known of which are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by his longtime friend Dr. John, and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.

Tremé New Orleans Neighborhood in Louisiana, United States

Tremé is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Tremé / Lafitte, from when including the Lafitte Projects.

Dillard University Private college in New Orleans, Louisiana

Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.

Kermit Ruffins Musical artist

Kermit Ruffins is an American jazz trumpeter, singer, composer, and actor from New Orleans. He has been influenced by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan and says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C. He often accompanies his songs with his own vocals. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards though he also composes many of his own pieces. Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Ruffins is an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material."

Ernie K-Doe American rhythm-and-blues singer

Ernest Kador Jr., known by the stage name Ernie K-Doe, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law", which went to number 1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.

WWOZ Community radio station in New Orleans

WWOZ is a non-profit community-supported radio station in New Orleans. It is owned by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The station specializes in music from or relating to the cultural heritage of New Orleans and the surrounding region of Louisiana. The playlist includes Jazz, Blues and other world music.

Six Flags New Orleans Abandoned theme park in New Orleans, Louisiana

Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a leasing agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the previous operator's bankruptcy proceedings. Six Flags invested $20 million in upgrades, and the park reopened as Six Flags New Orleans in 2003. It was closed eight days prior to Hurricane Katrina making landfall on August 29, 2005, and due to serious damage from flooding, the park never reopened.

9th Ward of New Orleans Region in New Orleans, Louisiana

The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. On the south, the Ninth Ward is bounded by the Mississippi River. On the western or "upriver" side, the Ninth Ward is bounded by Franklin Avenue, then Almonaster Avenue, then People's Avenue. From the north end of People's Avenue the boundary continues on a straight line north to Lake Pontchartrain; this line is the boundary between the Ninth and the city's Eighth Ward. The Lake forms the north and northeastern end of the ward. St. Bernard Parish is the boundary to the southeast, Lake Borgne farther southeast and east, and the end of Orleans Parish to the east at the Rigolets.

WTUL Radio station in New Orleans, Louisiana

WTUL is a progressive/alternative FM radio outlet in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, operating at 91.5 MHz with an ERP of 1,500 watts. The transmitter is located on the campus of Tulane University.

Rebirth Brass Band American brass band from New Orleans, Louisiana


The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1983 by Phillip "Tuba Phil" Frazier, his brother Keith Frazier, Kermit Ruffins, and classmates from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School, which closed in the spring of 2018, in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans. Arhoolie released its first album in 1984.

Harrahs New Orleans

Harrah's New Orleans is a casino in New Orleans, Louisiana, near the foot of Canal Street a block away from the Mississippi River. It is a 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) casino with approximately 2,100 slot machines, over 90 table games and a poker room. The casino is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.

<i>When the Levees Broke</i> 2006 American documentary series

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

Orpheum Theater (New Orleans) United States historic place

The Orpheum Theater is a theater in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Irvin Mayfield Musical artist

Irvin Mayfield Jr. is an American trumpeter, composer, bandleader and educator.

New Orleans Music in Exile is a documentary and music film that was made in 2006 and released on DVD on August 7, 2007. It was directed by Robert Mugge.

Antoinette K-Doe was the spouse of R&B singer Ernie K-Doe. She was also owner of the Mother-in-Law Lounge in New Orleans, a pub and shrine to her late husband. She was a notable cook and costume designer, putting her skills to use to make elaborate suits for Ernie and dresses for herself. Antoinette acted as spokesperson for Hands on Network, a volunteer organization dedicated to Hurricane Katrina relief. Antoinette herself was rescued from the Mother-in-Law Lounge after being stranded by flood waters for seven days, and she was passionate about the rebuilding of her city. A local celebrity, she was known by many as "Miss Antoinette".

Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts

The Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts is a theater located in Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was named after gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was born in New Orleans. The theater reopened in January 2009, after being closed since the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.

Basin Street Records

Basin Street Records is a Grammy Award-winning independent record label based in New Orleans, Louisiana, that specializes in jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues (R&B).

Alfred Lawless High School was a public high school and junior high school in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Dew Drop Inn (New Orleans, Louisiana) Former hotel and nightclub

The Dew Drop Inn, at 2836 LaSalle Street, in the Faubourg Delassize section of Central City neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a former hotel and nightclub that operated between 1939 and 1970, and is noted as "the most important and influential club" in the development of rhythm and blues music in the city in the post-war period. The venue primarily served the African-American population in the then heavily segregated Southern United States.

References

  1. "Kermit’s Tremé Mother-in-Law Lounge – open at last; Speakeasy likely to close", Louisiana Weekly. Accessed 14 February 2014
  2. "Kermit Ruffins to lease former site of Mother-in-Law Lounge".