- Events
Ellen Rogers Candlelight Concert on December 14th
[Special Events] - Our History
Louis Armstrong, Buddy Petit, Bunk Johnson, Kid Ory, and the Fritz Brothers are just some of the legends who performed at the Dew Drop. [Our History] - Directions
Only blocks from Lake Pontchartrain, the Dew Drop Jazz Hall survives in a neighborhood in Mandeville, Louisiana.
[Directions]
Special Events
Acclaimed vocalist Ellen Rogers, of Houston, with strong ties to
the north shore and New Orleans, will return for a highly anticipated
seasonal Candlelight Concert on Dec. 14 at the Dew Drop Social and
Benevolent Hall in Old Mandeville.
The show, a reprise of two sold out performances in December of
2007 at the same location, is being sponsored by the Friends of the Dew
Drop, a non-profit volunteer board dedicated to preserving the historic
music hall in the 400 block of Lamarque Street and opening it as a venue
for contemporary fans of jazz.
Rogers, who grew up in the area and attended Mandeville High
School, will sing from 6-8 p.m., backed by a trio of musicians likely
consisting of a upright bass, drums and piano or rhythm guitar.
Tickets for the jazz flavored holiday season concert are $10 and
are on sale at The Good Earth, 821 Girod St., and Corks N Canvas, 503
Girod St., both in Old Mandeville. They can also be obtained online at
www.dewdropjazzhall.com.
"I am so thrilled and excited to be invited back again this year.
I love performing in my former hometown among old and new friends. It is
for me a very unique privilege and honor to get to stand on that stage
in that glorious old building and sing for a live audience,'' Rogers
said recently from Houston where she was preparing for an early
Christmas concert in that city.
Area audiences, who packed the Dew Drop last year to hear Rogers,
seem to be returning the love.
"It is amazing really. I have had people already coming in asking
and hoping I had the tickets they could buy for her concert. That was
before the Friends of the Dew Drop had even confirmed that she would be
able to appear and even before any tickets had been printed,'' said Paul
Williamson, owner of Good Earth.
The concert is being underwritten, as last year, by Iberia Bank.
Jimmy Rogers, father of the singer, is the president of the Mandeville
branch of the bank that has headquarters in Lafayette.
The Friends of the Dew Drop board will maintain a cash bar on the
grounds and a merchandise tent and food will be available for purchase,
home cooked by women members of the next door First Free Mission Baptist
Church.
The Dew Drop, built in 1895 and listed on the National Register of
Historic Places, is considered the oldest virtually unaltered rural jazz
dance hall in the world. International authorities on music history
agree that traditional jazz was created in New Orleans the same year
the Dew Drop was constructed.
Before re-locating in Houston after Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
Rogers was a busy professional performer at numerous venues in New
Orleans and on the north shore. She charmed audiences before the storm
as such locations as Louisiana Grill, the Columbia Street Tap Room,
Mandalay Jazz Cafe, and Ruby's Roadhouse and had a busy career fronting
bands led by such musicians as Eddie Bo, Kermit Ruffins, Deacon John,
Walter "Wolfman" Washington, John Cleary and others. She was a regular
prior to the storm at such south shore clubs as Margaritaville,
Tipitina's, Mid City Rock 'n Bowl, Bon Temps Roule, House of Blues,
Joe's Cozy Corner.
After re-locating, Rogers has resumed a busy performing career at
numerous clubs and for festivals and parties in the Houston area.
While still performing as Ellen Rogers, she has made one major
change in her life since last year's concert. "I got married in Houston
to Will Johnson,'' she said. He will accompany her to Mandeville.
This concert will close out the fall season for the Dew Drop that
included a show on Nov. 23 featuring the traditional jazz quartet of
Chris Burke & His New Orleans Music. Friends of the Dew Drop will host a
master class under the guidance of Don Vappie in March for selected area
school musicians; a roots music jam session and in April a mini-jazz
fest. These events will be funded in part
by the Louisiana Decentralized Arts Fund program administered by the St.
Tammany Parish Commission on Cultural Affairs and the New Orleans Jazz
& Heritage Festival Foundation.
Friends of the Dew Drop consists of Chairman Bernie Cyrus, Vice Chairman Edward Deano, Secretary Zella Walker and members Peggy Baldwin, Jacqueline Ann Vidrine, Lynn Mitchell, Richard Boyd, Catherine Deano, Trilby Lenfant, Renee Maloney, Simmie Fairley, Bill Sims and consultant Leslie McGoey.