Road-Show Mardi Gras From Ernie K-Doe

Best known for his 1961 hit “Mother-In-Law,” veteran New Orleans vocalist Ernie K-Doe headlined what amounted to a road-show version of Mardi Gras on Friday at Club Lingerie. Sporting an eyeball-blasting purple ‘n’ green checked suit, K-Doe gave the half-filled room his big hit as well as his best cult jam, “A Certain Girl,” an ultra-kozmik voodoo-that-you-do groove written (like the hit) by Allen Toussaint and later recorded by both the Yardbirds and Warren Zevon.

That tune and the presence of longtime L.A. sessionmaster and Crescent City native Earl Palmer, who conducted a drum clinic in his rockin’ role as a member of the evening’s backing band, were the night’s highlights. K-Doe spent the rest of the set tossing off mostly medleys of N’awlins R&B; favorites, soul standards, country songs, pop tunes, you name it, all sung in a style that was too mannered to take seriously--not-so-mute testimony to Toussaint’s skills as a songwriter and producer.