she produced
and recorded in
2002. Backing
her vocals and
guitar work
was a fivepiece
band
that included
keyboardist
John “Papa” Gros, marking the beginning
of a long, fruitful association with the
former namesake leader of the popular
funk band, Papa Grows Funk.
Following the CD’s release, Nicole and
her band began playing the coffeehouse
circuit in the New Orleans area. “At that
time New Orleans was more into an R&B
and funk kind of thing,” she said. “Not
really that much folk music and that’s
pretty much what the first CD is about.”
Nicole, who was taking guitar lessons
from John Rankin at the time, said, with
a soft laugh, “My first CD is all originals
because back then I thought you were
cheating if you covered other people’s
stuff. Then I got wise and realized that
nearly everybody else does it.
“So I said to myself, ‘Why am I
killing myself trying to write all these
songs? I can kill myself a little bit
and cover other people’s songs too.’
So that’s what I did with the second
CD,” she added.
However, that second CD
turned out to be a long time in
coming. When Hurricane Katrina
hit New Orleans in 2005 several
key members of her band left town.
But, before they did, she told them,
“Before you leave we need to go and
record some more.
“So we went to the Music Shed and
recorded half the CD there,” she continued.
“I had those songs in the can for
the longest time but I wasn’t able to do
anything with them.”
Contacting Gros, she asked if he would
do a session with her and he readily agreed.
“So I put him and some other people
together and got some songs together to
record,” she said. “I was trying to write
songs that were happy because everyone
was going through some rough times. I
lost both of my parents and so I was
trying to make myself happy as well.”
After all the songs were recorded,
another long gap followed before a
finished CD could be produced and
released. The appropriately titled
“Something out of Nothing” was finally
released in October 2017. Nine of the
14 songs are originals with five covers,
including “Ave Maria,” which she dedicated
to her mother who died while the
CD was in the works.
In order to make the CD “really
special,” Nicole said she came up with
the idea of decorating it with her artwork.
Her self-portrait appears on the cover and
her guitarist, Don Williams, is on the
back. On the inside is Adam Coolsaet,
her drummer.
“And that’s when I decided I’d paint
more of the other people who were
involved (in the local music scene),”
she said. “So that’s how all those other
portraits came about.”
One of her first portraits was of Gros,
followed by pianist Monty Banks, guitarists
Brian Stoltz and Brad Hallenbeck,
bassist George Porter, music lover and
writer Pat Jolly
and various
non-musicians
who captured
her interest. In
the works are
guitarists Leo
Nocentelli,
Billy Iuso and
Dave Jordan.
On permanent display – and for sale –
are giclee (digital) prints of her work on the
walls of Jefferson Financial on Jefferson
Highway. The bank is directly across from
the Ochsner Medical Complex where
she works at
her day job,
overseeing the
gift shop there
and at three
other Ochsner
campuses.
“So, that’s my
day job, which takes up a lot of time,”
Nicole said. “But it still gives me time to
paint and do my music. It’s always my
dream to make a good living at my art.”
Follow Nicole on Facebook at Nicole
Ockmond Music & Art, on Instagram at
Instagram @nicoleockmondmusic or on her
website at www.nicoleockmond.com
��
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICOLE OCKMOND
MARC H / A P R I L 2 0 1 9 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 13
/www.nicoleockmond.com
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