The Levee Dawgs
Jim (Drums)
Jim began playing drums (self taught) right after the Beatles’ U.S. debut on Ed Sullivan in February 1964, and played in grammar school (The Malibus); high school (Achilles); and various traditional rock bands in college. Jim grew up in Mid-City New Orleans and provided his neighbors with countless hours of entertainment by drum practice. Having interrupted his drumming in 1976, he picked up sticks again in 1993 with local group KGB, after an almost 20-year hiatus, and since then has played for the last 15 years as drummer for Tic Doloureux. Favorites include Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Who, Kinks, and other hard rock (mostly British) groups. Stones covers are his absolute favorites, both vocally and on drums. Jim’s most compelling influences come from Jimi Hendrix’s late drummer Mitch Mitchell.
George Fagan (guitar)
George grew up in New Orleans with his father's piano playing and the sounds of Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Herb Albert and the like on his parents' stereo. He soon found out about rock n' roll music. Armed with a Fender Mustang and a Sears Silvertone Twin amp, he started the noisy and very short-lived Bitter End Band as a seventh grader. Since then, George has played in a variety of bands and with numerous other musicians. He discovered Little Feat, Ry Cooder, David Grisman (the original "Dawg" named by Jerry Garcia), old time music and the blues while playing in bands in college, which merged with the Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Allman Bothers, Bruce Springsteen and other influences from his high school band days. He started playing with Tic Doloureux around 1990 and continued for many years. George is a successful lawyer. George has also written and composed several original songs. They are listed on the Levee Dawgs music page. Go check it out!
John Casbon (Harmonica)
John is a hugely successful business executive who discovered and then achieved wide recognition for another passion - playing the harmonica. John has evolved into a highly respected harp player who holds his own in New Orleans, the birthplace and home town for blues, jazz and countless other musical genres. The Rolling Stones music has had the greatest influence with John. Over the years, John has honed his skills by playing the harmonica with many bands. In 2011, he made multiple appearances as a guest musician at both the French Quarter Fest and the Jazz and Heritage Festival. After playing with George and Jim a few times, he became one of the founders of The Levee Dawgs in the Fall of 2010. John's blues-laced harp playing is a cornerstone of the Dawg Pound Sound.
Jack Coiron (Bass Guitar)
Jack is a General Contractor. When in high school, (De La Salle), Jack wanted to play guitar. His friend Bill encouraged him to play bass. Jack has been playing ever since. He was also bitten by the music of the British Invasion, became a founding band member of The Fifths, along with Bill, in 1965. The Fifths had a name change to The Passport to Nowhere 1966-2011. Jack could not take any downtime from playing bass, so he is also a band member of Flambeaux. Jack went to the Dawg Pound to fill in for fun and well, you guessed it, he is a fully fledged member of the pack of The Levee Dawgs as of the Fall of 2010. Jack adds a huge bounce to the Dawg Pound sound.
Bill Provensal (Guitar & Keyboard)
Bill is a professional consultant with all the acronyms to prove it (CPA, CLM, MBA, and MSTAX). While in high school (De La Salle) Bill was bitten by the music of the British Invasion. He begged his parents to let him buy a guitar. Bill bought his first guitar in 1964. In 1965 he founded a band The Fifths along with Jack. The Fifths were not able to promote themselves as a serious band; they were told it sounded too much like an alcoholic beverage. They had expanded to 6 band members, so that mitigated the name anyway. Without missing a beat, The Fifths renamed themselves as The Passport to Nowhere in 1966 and have performed countless shows and gigs through 2011. Bill started playing Keyboard in 1985 and claims he is still faking it, Violin was added later in life and Blues Brother Harmonica player. Bill has played over 820 performances before a combined audience of 720,000 spanning his 32 years as a musician. As a song writer and recording artist, Bill has over 250 hours in professional studios. Bill is equally passionate about racing his 48’ sailboat TIARE. Once Bill jammed in the Dawg Pound, and had fun with the pack, he joined the Levee Dawgs in Summer of 2011.
How did those Dawgs start pounding…?
Jim and George have long had Tic Doloureux as a connection; both also graduated from De La Salle High School. When Tic Doloureux was asked to play for De La Salle’s Alumni reunion, the band’s DLS alums joined together along with Passport’s DLS alums to form a conglomerate group. This event was a “banding” of old dawgs who just wanted to play music. The seed for the Dawgs was planted.
After the first and then the second DLS gig, Jim and George would see one another and talked about getting together to play music anytime, not just at gigs. Neither one thought of playing music as “practice”. Finally, in the Fall of 2010, Jim and George started getting together to jam in the Dawg Pound with other “band” friends (including John) who wanted to join in. Then, after Jack started playing with the guys, The Levee Dawgs formed in the Summer of 2011 and were soon joined by Bill.
