Back Door Records · New Orleans · 1977–1989Kitchen closed · Band on
Spanking The Sauce

Friday · After the last ticket

Back Door Records presents

SpankingTheSauce

New Orleans Funk · 1977–1989

  • Six cooks
  • One dishwasher
  • No cover before the dishes are done

It never ends. It only simmers.

Kitchen closes at ten. Band starts at eleven.

Read the prep listSee the rail
Six cooks in kitchen whites playing guitar, drums, saxophone, bass and trumpet around a singer in a restaurant kitchen, steam rising from the stockpots
The kitchen, after close. The burners were off. The stockpots had not cooled.
Albums04
On the line06
Farewell dates07
Plaques00

Station 01 · Prep

Prep List

The band's history, as written up before service. Items are checked off in the order they were done.

Prep — before serviceInitials: R.F.

New Orleans, 1977. One restaurant kitchen. Six members. Played after the dinner rush.

Spanking The Sauce formed in New Orleans in 1977, in the kitchen of the restaurant where all six members worked. The band played after the dinner rush, once the last tickets were off the rail and the line was wiped down. For the first two years it played nowhere else.

Five members cooked. The sixth, Marcus Labat, washed dishes and played trumpet. The band recorded four albums between 1979 and 1989 and held a Friday-night residency at a neighborhood club for most of the 1980s. It ended in 1989, when the restaurant closed.

  1. 01After the Rush

    The band began in 1977 in the restaurant kitchen, after close. The dinner rush ended around ten. By eleven the line was clean, the burners were off and the instruments came out of the dry-storage room, where they were kept behind the flour.

    The first rehearsals were held with the hood fans running. Dewey Mahoney set his kit up between the prep tables. Marcus Labat, the dishwasher, played from the dish pit until the band asked him to come closer. He was seventeen.

  2. 02Volume

    Get Saucy was recorded in the kitchen in 1979, over two Mondays, when the restaurant was closed. The tape machine sat on the pass. The microphones hung from the pot rack.

    On the second Monday the neighbors called the police about the volume. Two officers came to the back door. Rosalie Fontenot asked them to wait until the end of the take. They waited. The take is the one on the record.

  3. 03Fridays

    From 1980 the band played Friday nights at a neighborhood club a few blocks from the restaurant. They worked the dinner service first and arrived in their whites. The first set began when the last ticket was out, which the club learned to accept.

    The residency ran for most of the decade. Extra Sauce and Don't Ask were written for it and tried out on it. The club's owner kept a stool by the stage door for Big Lou's ladle.

  4. 04Chairs Up

    The restaurant closed in 1989. The band closed with it. It played seven farewell dates across the Gulf Coast that year and released The Farewell Sauce, whose sleeve carries a single line: “It never ends. It only simmers.”

    The band's last photograph as a working kitchen was taken on the sidewalk in front of the shutters. The city has no plaque for them. They have asked.

Station 02 · The Line

The Line

Six stations. Six instruments. The board below is as it hung by the pass, in the order the band was counted in.

A woman in a bandana and apron holding a sunburst bass guitar in the screen door of a restaurant kitchen
Rosalie Fontenot at the back screen door. The drum kit is set up behind her, by the pots.

Expo

Expo · Bass

Rosalie Fontenot

On the line she called the tickets. On the bandstand she called the tempo. The band has said more than once that these were the same job.

  • “Count it from the bass.”
  • “We start when I start.”
Served
1977–1989
Since
Ran her own kitchen in the Seventh Ward from 1991 to 2014. Plays bass at church and at weddings she approves of.
  1. A heavyset bald man in an open chef's jacket singing into a microphone, a ladle raised in his other hand
    Big Lou, with the ladle.

    Grill

    Big Lou

    Louis Duplessis

    Plays: Vocals

    Sang with a ladle in his right hand. Used it to count the band in.

    • “Heard.”
    • “Behind you.”
    Served
    1977–1989
    Since
    Cooked in New Orleans until 2006. Still sings on Sundays. Still holds a ladle when he does.
  2. A young man in round glasses and a dark apron playing trumpet in a narrow dish pit beside stacks of plates
    Marcus Labat in the dish pit, between racks.

    Dish

    Marcus Labat

    Plays: Trumpet

    The dishwasher. Seventeen when the band formed. Practised in the dish pit between racks.

    • “The dish pit has the best room sound in the building.”
    Served
    1977–1989
    Since
    Played trumpet professionally from 1990. Has not washed a dish for money since. Washes them at home.

  1. Fry

    Theo Arceneaux

    Plays: Guitar

    Kept a side towel over his left shoulder on stage. It was never explained to the archive.

    Served
    1977–1989
    Since
    Teaches guitar in Gentilly. Has not worked a fry station since 1989 and does not intend to.

  2. Pantry

    Dewey Mahoney

    Plays: Drums

    Played in a paper kitchen hat at every engagement on record.

    Served
    1977–1989
    Since
    Retired. Lives in the Irish Channel. Still wears the paper hat to rehearse.

  3. Sauté

    Tran

    Hieu Tran

    Plays: Saxophone

    Worked the sauté station. Took solos the length of a ticket time: no longer than necessary.

    Served
    1977–1989
    Since
    Owns a bakery in New Orleans East. Keeps the tenor in the back office.

Station 03 · The Rail

The Rail

Four records, hung in the order they were fired. Each ticket opens to its full track list.

  1. Back Door Records

    Tbl 1979Chk 001

    Get Saucy

    The debut. Recorded in the restaurant kitchen after close, over two Mondays. The neighbors called the police about the volume. The band finished the take.

    1. 1Get Saucy4:12
    2. 1Order Up3:48
    3. 1Behind You (Hot Pan)4:05
    4. 1Eighty-Six3:30
    5. 1Walk-In Cooler5:02
    6. 1Ticket Time3:55
    7. 1Mop Bucket Strut3:20
    8. 1Last Seating4:41

    Total8 · 32:33

    FiredOpen the ticket →

  2. Back Door Records

    Tbl 1981Chk 002

    Extra Sauce

    The second album. Recorded in a studio, which the band found too quiet. Two songs were redone in the kitchen.

    1. 1Extra Sauce4:24
    2. 1Family Meal3:58
    3. 1Fire Table Six3:41
    4. 1Roux (Low and Slow)5:56
    5. 1Heard, Chef3:17
    6. 1Double Shift4:08
    7. 1Behind the Line4:33

    Total7 · 29:57

    FiredOpen the ticket →

  3. Back Door Records

    Tbl 1984Chk 003

    Don't Ask

    The third album and the longest. Written during the Friday residency and tested on the Friday crowd before it was recorded.

    1. 1Don't Ask4:49
    2. 1All Day4:01
    3. 1In the Weeds4:26
    4. 1Corner (Coming Through)3:38
    5. 1Dish Pit5:12
    6. 1Mise en Place3:54
    7. 1Friday Floor4:57
    8. 1Close the Line5:30

    Total8 · 36:27

    FiredOpen the ticket →

  4. Back Door Records

    Tbl 1989Chk 004

    The Farewell Sauce

    The last album, released the year the restaurant closed. The sleeve carries one line: “It never ends. It only simmers.”

    1. 1Last Ticket4:06
    2. 1Chairs Up4:19
    3. 1Pilot Light4:47
    4. 1Seven Dates3:51
    5. 1Lights Out on the Line5:04
    6. 1It Only Simmers6:52

    Total6 · 28:59

    FiredOpen the ticket →

Paper order tickets clipped to a steel rail in a kitchen, a handwritten set list taped beside them, a band playing out of focus
The order rail. The set list taped beside it is in Theo's hand and has not been transcribed.

Station 04 · Specials

Tonight

The chalkboard by the back door. Written up by whoever had the cleanest hands.

Friday

Standing order

Friday nights, from 1980. A neighborhood club a few blocks from the restaurant. First set when the last ticket is out.

On the board

  • The ladleBig Lou's ladle was a twelve-ounce stainless ladle from the restaurant's soup station. He sang with it in his right hand at every engagement. It was returned to the soup station after each one.
  • The paper hatDewey Mahoney wore a folded paper kitchen hat to play. The restaurant bought them by the case. He went through roughly one a week.
  • WhitesThe band played in kitchen whites from the first rehearsal to the last date. It owned no other stage clothes.
  • Count-inEvery song began with Rosalie Fontenot. The band did not play until the bass did.

Off the menu

  • Staff Meal (Kitchen Rehearsal)
  • Backup on the Dish Machine
  • Friday, After

Titles on file. Not placed on any record.

The band in kitchen whites and aprons on a small wooden club stage before a packed, dancing crowd
A Friday at the club. The band arrived from the dinner service and did not change.

Station 05 · The Log

Manager's Log

Entries from the kitchen log that concern the band. Entered as written.

  1. Entry 01 · 1979

    The Volume Complaint

    Where: The restaurant kitchen, back door

    Neighbors called the police during the recording of Get Saucy. The officers waited for the end of the take.

    Full entry

    The call came in at about half past midnight on a Monday. Two officers knocked at the kitchen's back door. Rosalie Fontenot answered, bass on, and asked them to wait four minutes. The band finished the take and turned the amplifiers down by a third. No citation was issued. The neighbors were sent a tray of bread pudding the following day.

  2. Entry 02 · 1983

    The Inspection

    Where: The restaurant kitchen

    A city health inspector arrived during a Saturday-afternoon rehearsal. The kitchen passed.

    Full entry

    The inspector arrived unannounced. The band was rehearsing between the prep tables. It stopped, stood at its stations and was inspected. The walk-in was at temperature. The sanitizer buckets were at strength. The inspector noted that the drum kit was more than six feet from any food-contact surface and left. The band resumed at the bridge.

  3. Entry 03 · 1986

    The Dish Machine

    Where: The restaurant dish pit

    The dish machine failed on a Friday. Marcus Labat washed the dinner service by hand and made the first set.

    Full entry

    The dish machine stopped at seven o'clock on a Friday with the dining room full. Marcus Labat washed the rest of the service by hand in the three-compartment sink. The band waited for him at the club. He arrived at a quarter past midnight, still in his apron, and played the first set in it.

Station 06 · Farewell

Chairs Up

The restaurant closed in 1989. The band played seven dates and closed with it.

One time only

Spanking The Sauce

Farewell

Seven dates · 1989

  1. 01New Orleans, LAOpening night
  2. 02Baton Rouge, LA
  3. 03Lafayette, LA
  4. 04Houma, LA
  5. 05Biloxi, MS
  6. 06Mobile, AL
  7. 07New Orleans, LAClosing night

In their whites · As always

Six cooks in kitchen whites posed arm in arm on a sidewalk at night in front of a restaurant's closed steel shutters
1989. In front of the shutters, the night they came down.

Comment cards

Left on the tables. Entered without correction.

  • How was everything?

    ●●●●●

    I worked a Friday dinner service and went to see them after. They had worked the same service. They played better than I could stand up.

    D. Guillory · New Orleans, LA

  • How was everything?

    ●●●●●

    Get Saucy was recorded in a kitchen and you can hear the hood fans. I would not want it any other way.

    C. Theriot · Thibodaux, LA

  • How was everything?

    ●●●●●

    Saw the farewell date in Biloxi. The trumpet player was still in his apron. Nobody asked him about it.

    R. Nguyen · Biloxi, MS

No plaque on file

The plaque

The city has no plaque for them. They have asked.

Back door

The back door is open.

Shirts, aprons and printed matter are issued through the Sideband Label store. Each item is checked before it leaves the pass.

Go to the store

Orders are fired in the order received.