By Frogg Corpse

When I think of New Orleans, the name that comes to mind first is a legendary music venue known as The Howlin’ Wolf—opened in 1988 in the Fat City section of Metairie, Louisiana by the Groetsch brothers Jack and Jeff and named after blues legend Chester Burnett. In 1990, the venue moved to a cotton warehouse in the New Orleans warehouse district, where in 1996 Ron Whitehead and Douglas Brinkley, with help from Kent Fielding, produced the poetry and music Insomniacathon: a 48-hour non-stop event headlined at the University of New Orleans and The Howlin’ Wolf. The only Insomniacathon to happen in New Orleans. It featured many important writers and musicians, including Amiri Baraka, E. Ethelbert Miller, Richard Hell, Ed Sanders, John Rechy, Rambling Jack Elliot, Robert Creeley, David Amram, Jay McInerny, and others. Many came to the infamous spot in ’96 cocooned in sleeping bags and tents, with some attendees camping out in the parking lot and on sidewalks. In 2000, the Groetsch brothers sold The Howlin’ Wolf to Howie Kaplan. In 2005, the venue relocated due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—taking residency at a site previously known as the New Orleans Music Hall. The Howlin’ Wolf has been there for the past twenty years—just a stone’s throw away from its previous site in the warehouse district.  

The Wolf has featured numerous bands since its inception: Type O Negative, Dr. John, Wu-Tang Clan, The Foo Fighters, Modest Mouse, Jimmy Buffet, Black Label Society, Garbage, Placebo, Stabbing Westward, Nonpoint, Thou, Mogwai, Behemoth, Pentagram, Harry Connick Jr. The Misfits, as well as my old buddy’s band, Hanzel Und Gretyl, which in 2004 played with Ministry during the Evil Doers Tour. Thanks to Howie Kaplan and the Groetsch brothers, a host of local and regional acts have graced the stage and thrown down in the Den for almost forty years. The current location’s exterior at 907 S Peters St., dons a mural created by artist Michalopoulos. The mural is a recreation of New Orleans neighborhood scenes that tell the story of the undeniable music history, from Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong to a second line with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, encompassing the art and the sounds of The Crescent City. The interior bar has a unique historical feature; it was made from hand-carved mahogany and was once owned by Al Capone. The bar was acquired before the Lexington Hotel’s demolition in 1995. The black theater curtains lining the inner walls were salvaged from the Orpheum Theatre prior to being gutted. The shotgun houses that flank the stage of the 1,200 capacity venue with surrounding art is a salute to the history of New Orleans and its resiliency.

 In the fall of 2024, I thought of bringing Gonzofest to The Howlin’ Wolf so that the history Kent Fielding, Ron Whitehead, and David Amram had made at the Wolf with Insomniacathon in 1996 would come full circle. So Friday evening, May 16, 2025, at The Howlin’ Wolf we will celebrate the legacy of author Hunter S. Thompson and our love of the arts with poets, musicians, and storytellers. Jeff Weddle, Chris Dean, Paige Turner, Westley Penland, Mark Lipman, Noel Mitchell, Dreamie Daze, Tommy Twilite, Frank Messina & Friends, Tommy Bays, Ron Whitehead and Zu Zu Ya Ya will take to the stage to honor a legend of the pen in a memorable show FREE to the public.

Fuel & Fervor 2025

By Frogg Corpse

We are the Animals. The lone bison in the crosshairs chewing the cud watching rabid prairie dogs on the move poking their beady little heads out of holes at the knocked scatter rounds of pepper-milled chaos. The gasoline kicks into overdrive. A fifth dimensional heatwave utters spirit talk from that weird naked indian in a loin cloth hanging with the eidolon Lizard King speaking his mantra:

“If you book them, they will come…”

Wide-eyed these bleeding pupils seared by sundogs conduct the Doom Train to go off of the rails while listening to Tom Petty play a ghost-glistening echo of one of America’s greatest highway songs ever envisioned, while the back of the ear drums. We are the rare breeds: the strays from the wandering herd in a republic of mad bastards and sycophants… Some would say we are an “𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴”, but is it to us, or to them?

– People are always wondering about what a dead man would think. Maybe, it’s high time that we tell them…