Twice a month, a 6-year-old rescue dog named Skinny naps through most of a happy hour set at the AllWays Lounge & Cabaret in the Marigny, then wakes up long enough to howl, shockingly on-key, whenever a melodica or saxophone catches his ear. He shares the stage with an 82-year-old pianist who spent four decades dazzling tourists on Bourbon Street, a professional upright bassist with deep roots in New Orleans music, a saxophonist, and a burlesque dancer who doubles on washboard.
A Chance Meeting Sparks a New Show
The recurring gig came together after pianist Henrietta Alves met bassist Stoo Odom while he was performing during a brunch trip, and, as NOLA.com reports, she persuaded him to give her his phone number within about an hour of also recruiting a burlesque dancer for her act. Alves was seeking bandmates for what she describes as a bawdy brothel singalong aesthetic, and according to the outlet's reporting, AllWays Lounge owner Zalia Beville created a performance slot for her after catching Alves perform at Holy Diver in the 7th Ward. That slot became a twice-monthly show, held on the first and third Friday of each month from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., that now features Alves, Odom, Skinny, saxophonist Connor Bigelow, and burlesque dancer and washboard player Vixi Vale.
Alves plays keys with the band, performing with what the same report calls soulful vocals and a bubbly stage presence, running through songs including Sweet Painted Lady by Elton John and Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot. She is an 82-year-old New Orleans musical veteran who has performed across the region for over 40 years, and her personal history adds real weight to the new gig — she and her late husband, bandleader Edu, were the first couple ever married on stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1982, according to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Forty Years of Dueling Pianos on Bourbon Street
Alves worked as a dueling pianist at Pat O'Brien's for 40 years, per the report, playing at twin copper-topped grand pianos where two performers trade off audience requests and leads, a format WWNO describes as one of the French Quarter's signature entertainment traditions. During her 35-year stint on Bourbon Street, she experienced numerous dramatic quarter-hour events, including once chasing an armed gunwoman down the street, according to a feature in ANTIGRAVITY Magazine. Alves lost her dueling-pianist career during the COVID-19 pandemic and now survives largely on Social Security, the outlet's reporting notes.
She says she talks to every person who attends her shows and wants attendees to know she sees and appreciates them, according to the original report. Her aim, in her own words relayed by the outlet, is to make people happy and help them feel better — a mission that now extends to sharing the stage with a dog.
From Malnourished Stray to Stage Star
Skinny was born a pandemic puppy and was reportedly abandoned outside during Hurricane Ida, which hit the region in August 2021, according to NOLA.com's account. Zeus' Rescue provided his foster placement, and the outlet describes him as malnourished and mean when he was first rescued. Zeus' Rescues, a private no-kill shelter on Napoleon Avenue that takes in pets from local municipal shelters to reduce overpopulation euthanasia, operates within a regional rescue network that has been under strain for years — WWL-TV reported that New Orleans rescue groups were fielding up to 20 pet surrender requests a day in 2023 amid post-pandemic economic pressures and Ida-related displacement.
Stoo Odom adopted Skinny, and the dog first sang with a melodica around 2022, not long after joining Odom's household. Skinny has since performed on stage at a blues club in Biloxi and been featured on multiple recorded albums, according to the NOLA.com report. Odom, who plays upright bass with the band, uses a melodica to encourage Skinny to sing and has publicly declared that Skinny is an artist. Skinny is an untrained, improvisational performer who experiments with saxophones, pianos, and human vocalists, though he clearly prefers the melodica and likes harmonicas and accordions, per the outlet's account. During shows, Skinny howled in response to Alves' music and became the star of the show; one audience member gave him a stack of dollar bills, and Odom placed the tips directly into Skinny's harness.
Deep Roots in the New Orleans Music Scene
Odom's presence on stage carries its own lineage. He returned to New Orleans in 2013 after nearly two decades in San Francisco, continuing a family legacy that includes his father, William “Bill” Odom, co-founding the Oak Street venue The Maple Leaf Bar, a premier Uptown live-music hub since the 1970s, according to OffBeat Magazine. Beyond ensemble work, Odom released a 2020 solo album titled Indefensible, performing original songs with only his upright bass and obscure electronic effects pedals, the magazine has separately reported, underscoring an experimental streak that may explain his patience for coaxing a dog into a duet.
A Longtime Marigny Stage for Offbeat Acts
The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret sits at 2240 St. Claude Ave. on the arts corridor bordering the Marigny, and owner Zalia Beville has run it for more than 16 years as a community-driven venue hosting three to five burlesque, drag, and music shows nightly, according to Batch. Before its current incarnation, the building operated for nearly a decade as the Marigny Theatre, a primary stage for local LGBT theater productions, per FrenchQuarter.com. The early-evening happy hour slot fits within city rules governing live entertainment as a secondary use in mixed-use commercial districts, which set permitted performance hours and noise limits for venues like the AllWays Lounge, according to the City of New Orleans.
For now, the singing dog and his bandmates plan to keep the momentum going, with the group's next performance set for August 21. Whether Skinny sticks to the melodica or branches out to a saxophone solo remains, fittingly, up to him.
