Carl Mack is leading personality in the music and theater scene of New Orleans.  In 1984 he created “Mr. Xylophone Man” for the World’s Fair and became a much loved character of the French Quarter with a decade of street performing.  In 1989 his “New Vaudeville Show” appeared on community television and from there he launched his talent agency: Carl Mack Presents.  For over three decades his company grew into the largest entertainment provider in New Orleans and boasts the largest costume collection in town as well.  Five years ago he opened The Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture using the costumes from his collection to tell the story of Mardi Gras in a fun family attraction in the French Quarter. 

 

 In 1991, Carl and a friend staged “An evening with Spike Jones and His City Slickers” at the Contemporary Arts Center and from there Mack has appeared twice with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra as Spike Jones.  Recreating the instrumentation of the acclaimed band leader Spike Jones, Mack plays tuned cowbells, bulb horns, scrub boards, pistols, buzzers, bells etc. — all the sound effects that Spike utilized in his recordings.  The cowbells that Mack plays in this performance are a set of tuned cowbells actually owned by bandleader Spike Jones.