The Horrible Esthete Wrote:I think every American music lover (or any music lover who can swing it, for that matter) should hit up Jazzfest at least once in their lifetime...
Did it in '03.
Company sent me down to NOLA on a Society of Mechanical Engineers conference that same fall, in October.
The late night is where it's at...after shows at different clubs. Remember crawling back to the hotel at 5am after seeing "The Deepest End" at the Sanger on Sunday morning, first weekend in '03. Saturday morning, 4 transvestite hookers tried to roll me after coming out of Tipitina's after seeing MoFro at 5am. NOLA don't sleep, and its reputation as a dangerous city is well deserved. Wake up at noon, hit the fairgrounds and have a beer and some gumbo for breakfast. The thing is, you have to audition to sell food at the fairgrounds. Many know NOLA for its music, but to me, it is the culinary cutting edge of North America. Some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life was in New Orleans.
The Hip really should play there this year. It will be the year that Jazzfest is really noticed...that people start to understand that the two weekends at the end of April and the beginning of May really are the greatest music and food you can see and eat all in one place in North America.
I'm going this year to see what happend down there...I've walked from Jacamo's in the Garden District to the French Quarter, wandering into the grave yards and seeing the city. I want to see what has happend...I want to drive out of the city and see lake Pontrachain and the gulf coast.
As an aside, when I drove down to Nawlins from St. Louis in '03 it took about 8 hours...500 miles. Was done and checked out of the hotel by 10am on Monday and was driving north through Mississippi and had hit Memphis and was going to take the interstate back across the Big Muddy and up through Arkansas, but decided to go off route and drive up the western side of Tennessee. About an hour north of Memphis, the NWS alert interupted the radio and the local air raid sirens started going off...the area had been hit by tornadoes the day before. Spent 4 hours under an overpass with families that lost their homes the night before. We huddled together under the I-Beams of the overpass as 100 MPH winds whipped through and an F4 passed less than a mile away. Nature seems to have its way.
Anyway,
Pick of the festival:
Allen Toussaint and Elvis Costello.
You've heard many Allen Toussaint songs, you just don't know it.
Same weekend: Bruce Spingsteen, Bob Dylan, Ani DeFranco, Keb Mo, Etta James (Always!), Sonny Landreth, Dave Matthews (yeah, like in '03 all the kiddies came to see WideSpreadPanic...I was in the Jazz tent seeing Herbbie Mann's last live performance), Herbbie Hancock,
Pick of the late nights:
Tab Benoit, Mid City Rock-n-Bowl Sunday. 30th.
If you've never been to Jazzfest and you have an opportunity to go this year...or you can create one...go. You will never in your life regret it.
![[Image: standard.jpg]](http://www.fototime.com/CA9E1638C75769A/standard.jpg)
![[Image: d123170.jpg]](http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/gallery/abb/onstage/duane/d123170.jpg)
![[Image: The%20Warehouse%2012-31-70%207.jpg]](http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/gallery/abb/onstage/duane/The%20Warehouse%2012-31-70%207.jpg)
