May Day at Jazz Fest

Washboard Chaz, a New Orleans legend

Dancing around the New Orleans Jazz Fest was a perfect way to spend May Day. I'm still trying to schedule the belated May Day activities. But it was worth the delay.

Highlights included meeting up with a friend who works for the fest, and who got me a guest pass... getting me up closer to all the stages for the latter half of the day.

John Boutte was amazing... a great voice and a great performer. I bought a CD.
Esperanza Spalding was a bassist and amazing singer. And beautiful to boot. She held the audience captive with her voice. Unbelievable. Another CD for my collection.

There were so many great acts... I kept thinking "This is the highlight of the day." But then I'd see another act! One of the things I love about the festival is that there is so much to see and hear, and you can enjoy something for a bit, then go check out something else. "Short attention span theatre" is what my friend called it. We met a guy who said he would like to live the movie "Groundhog Day" - but during Jazz Fest. You could see all the acts. Eat all the food. It would be great, I agree.

A note about the food. When I attended my first festival I tucked an apple and a granola bar into my backpack, hoping to avoid spending a ton of money on a bad hot dog and chips. Wow, was I ever wrong. The food is as much a part of the festival as the music. That first year I passed someone carrying a bowl of delicious looking pasta, and asked what it was and where to get it. Crawfish Monica. Now I make that at home for our out of town guests (that and ettouffe). At the festival I try to eat something I've never had and/or don't make at home. On May Day I indulged in alligator pie, cochon de lait (that's the best pork sandwich you'll ever have!), and crawfish enchiladas.
The parades through the festival are always fun to catch.They must have been so hot!

One of the things I love is all the people who bring their own instruments, like this couple with the tambourines following this parade. You should have seen these 2 (in the navy shirts) getting down with those tambourines. Love it!

Seeing Tony Bennett was undeniably cool. Being up close in the guest area (about 12 feet away from Patty Griffin, who I had just seen on a different stage about 15 minutes earlier) was great. If only the onstage camera man hadn't stood right in the way half the time. Tony was excellent, and you should have seen him dance!

We tore ourselves away from him to close out the day with John Scofield, a jazz guitarist, and we danced and clapped away... the perfect ending to a great day at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

______________
Monday's Mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a post in the style of a cast list. Take a book or story or play or TV show and cast it... with fellow bloggers or your favorite actors. Play casting director for the day. This fun idea comes to you courtesy of No Mother Earth, who cast bloggers in a book she was reading.

Jazz Fest, ya'll

An afternoon at Jazz Fest was just what we needed after a funeral earlier in the day.Amanda Shaw
Tab Benoit

The videos aren't long, if you'd like a little listen. I wish I could also give you a little taste of the crawfish bisque and creole cream cheesecake with strawberries. Yum. The margarita was pretty good, too. (why they are not selling hurricanes is beyond me, but at least I had an extra strong one last weekend at the French Quarter Festival)

Tab Benoit, his mom (on the dual tamborines) and someone I don't know... but she sure knows how to use a tambourine!! Maybe I should try that in church this Sunday.



Rockin' Dopsie Jr. on the washboard. Because it is not Jazz Fest until someone plays the washboard. (And the accordian. And no way can you get out of here without a trombone, and even if you could, why would you want to?)



Here's your token trombone, and it doesn't get any better than Craig Klein with The New Orleans Nightcrawlers. A band I saw and loved at my first fest 4 years ago. Those of you who won my NOLA music CD giveaway last Mardi Gras will recognize this song, Can of Worms.



Tab and Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. together. Because they did.

(I regret that I did not get video of Amanda Shaw's Devil Went Down to Georgia)

Don't hate me because I live in New Orleans

I spent the day at Jazz Fest with the Big Guy. This is his first time ever, I've gone by myself the last 3 years (ever since we moved here). He loved it. The past 2 years I've gone on a Saturday, and going on a Friday was much nicer, crowds wise. Not as big names, perhaps, but I'm all about catching the local stuff and finding new things to listen to, so it's perfect.

We both agreed that our favorite act was Tab Benoit. We had great seats in the Blues Tent for his whole set, which was awesome. He very briefly asked everyone to go home and write their elected officials and ask them to dedicate time and resources to rebuilding New Orleans, to make sure Jazz Fest continues (also check out Tab in the great IMAX film, Hurricane on the Bayou). We bought his CD, and had him sign it. Hello! Do we look happily tired after a full day of fabulous music or what?

And can I just say that I think I have a crush on trombone players?

Oh, and the food. Yum. I had alligator pie, boudin, and a crab meat po' boy. Yum.



One of the great things about New Orleans music is that musicians play together, back each other up, hop around from band to band. So today, several hours after seeing Susan Cowsill open the festival, we saw her sing back up for Theresa Anderson. Craig Klein (trombonist extraordinaire) popped on stage for one of Susan's songs. John Gros played keyboard/organ for Anders Osborne. It's a community. You can feel it in their support of each other, in their joy on stage, and in the audiences who come to love them.

Wish you were here.