Heavy Drinking. Dirty Dancing. An Evening with DJ Minor Strachan [The Mohawk / Thursday]

The Mohawk is no stranger to unique and special events. The venue has consistently brought us a wide array of entertainment, from Beard & Moustache Competitions to Bollywood Bashes, from Ice Cube to Monotonix. This Thursday, the mysterious DJ Minor Strachan spins his vast collection of New Orleans swamp pop records for our pleasure. We learnt from a couple of sources that Strachan actually makes a conscious effort to keep his name and his show listings off the internet. No MySpace page here. He lives in NYC now and only DJs a couple of times a year, offering up music from New Orleans spanning the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Apparently, he stores these prized records in a cedar case lined with Crown Royal bags and laced with the lightest dose of Drakkar Noir (per our source!) Thursday’s event is presented by esteemed Austin musician Chris Pagan Nelson (The Foggy Mountain Cop Killing Boys) who also lives in NYC now.

We worked some magic and were able to touch base with the somewhat elusive Strachan briefly via email earlier this week.

Where did you obtain this magnificent collection of New Orleans music we keep hearing about? What genres or artists can we expect to hear on Thursday at The Mohawk?

My father was a collector of all things incredible. At the time of his death, his vast collections ranged from WWII military vehicles to rare coins to lace undergarments worn by famous prostitutes of the French Quarter. Among the first things he collected as a child were records—45s to be more specific.

He would save his lunch money during the week, likely going hungry because of it, and on Saturday sneak out to Yazoo St. or Mr Tim's, two now long forgotten palaces of sanctity and good taste. They were the New Orleans record stores of the 40s & 50s. There he spent his weekend hours pouring over and buying the music that went on to inform all modern popular music as we know it. And that music was New Orleans R&B from the 1950s.

Smiley Lewis, Clifton Chenier, Hank Ballard, Eddie Bo (rest his soul), Ernie "Mother in Law" K-Doe, Huey Thierry (aka Cookie, of Cookie and the Cupcakes), Lloyd Price, Polka Dot Slim, Huey Smith and many more. And although my father has gone to his reward, he has left me this record collection that is summed up best by a local New Orleans superhero and swamp pop savant from the lower ninth ward, Guitar Lightnin Lee, when upon seeing my father's collection remarked: "Damn boy, where you get them records??!! You got the best damn music in town! You got a cigarette?"