Tuba Skinny

Gigs at The Basement are usually quite a serious affair with seats on the floor reserved for those who've had a sit down dinner before the music starts.

The evening is one that brings to mind all the similarities between Darwin and New Orleans – the hot sticky climate fried food Tracy and Katrina and the undeniable vein of displacement and poverty running thick through the social strata.

Ragtime, Dixieland, Jazz, and Traditional Blues were the order of the evening. As a long time fan of these traditional styles of dance music, it was refreshing to see not only a younger crowd lapping up the sounds, but also, to see a group of fresh faced musicians playing a style usually reserved to septuagen

The enigmatic front lady Erika Lewis swooned the audience with a commandingly full yet sultry voice reminiscent of jazz greats Ida Cox and Bessie Smith.