Weekend Two--Thursday!!

After spending most of Wednesday recovering from our evening at the Howlin' Wolf on Tuesday, I was grateful to awaken on Thursday feeling my old self again and ready for the continuation of Jazz Fest 2010!

The Fest does so many great things, and one of them is that they honor those who have given to the city and it's culture and passed on to their greater reward. This year, they unveiled a monument in their Ancestors exhibit to honor Blues Queen Miss Marva Wright, who tragically passed in March of this year.



Thursday started a little slow for me. After a little lunch, which was badly needed after my forced fast of the day before, I joined Bob to watch a Canadian folk-pop duo called Dala, who I must admit, were complete unknowns to me. The two singers, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine (thus dala) perform a combination of original and cover tunes. They were a mixed bag for me. Some of the originals (Lennon McCartney for example) really fell flat. On the other hand, their original song, "Horses" was terrific, and they did a very intriguing piano based cover of Neil Young's "Ohio", fitting given the upcoming 40th anniversary of the tragic events at Kent State. All in all, not bad and it's always good to hear some new voices!
Canadian duo Dala cover CSNY's "Ohio"

This turned out to be another of those days where I ended up staying in one spot most of the day. Next at this stage was Amanda Shaw. This Covington, Louisiana native (just across Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans) is known for her Cajun fiddle playing and has become a regular at the Fest despite being only 20 years old. She and her band, the largely misnamed Cute Boys, had the crowd on it's feet dancing for their hour-long set, and I must admit, I was one of them!


Amanda Shaw


Party at the Gentilly Stage

I'd really planted myself here at the Gentilly Stage to see a couple of performers doing shows that were a little out of their usual comfort zones.
The first was a Fest premier appearance by Steve Martin-------yes, that Steve Martin, the wild and crazy guy comedian of yore. Unknown to many, Martin also happens to be a very accomplished banjo player and Bluegrass afficianado. He has teamed up with an established Bluegrass band, The Steep Canyon Rangers, from Asheville, North Carolina and hit the road to feature songs from his 2010 Grammy Award winning (Best Bluegrass Album) record "The Crow: New Songs For The Five String Banjo". Like the record, his Jazz Fest set featured almost exclusively original songs penned by Martin. And while he didn't always seem completely at ease in front of this large crowd, his playing was impeccable and his band mates talent was undeniable! While most of the songs were serious (with the notable exception of "The Atheists Song and the unavoidable albeit faithfully Bluegrass version of his comedic hit song "King Tut") between song banter was vintage Martin self effacing comedy, making for a great mix of chuckles and music.

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers

The acappella "Atheists Song"

The other artist stretching out from his usual comfort zone was Britain's own Elvis Costello! Elvis has become a bit of a regular character on the New Orleans scene since he recorded the terrific "River In Reverse" album with Allen Toussaint after Hurricane Katrina. In recent years he's done performances with Toussaint and also with his recent backing band, The Imposters. He recently put together a new band consisting of a number of incredibly talented bluegrass and country players, including Dobro master Jerry Douglas (most famously from Alison Kraus' Union Station), Fiddle player Stuart Duncan, and Country singer/songwriter Jim Luaderdale. While some things worked better than others (I must admit the new material from the Sugarcanes record left me cold) there were magical moments like his version of "New Amsterdam" that morphed into the Beatles "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and a terrific transformation of the pop hit "Everyday I Write The Book" into a gorgeous bluegrass ballad. All in all it was a good way to close out day one of weekend two!!!
Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes.

The tween days of Jazz Fest 2010

Well, we made it through the first weekend and were now down to just the three of us again. In trying to figure out what to do on the off days before weekend two, being good all-American boys, a baseball game seemed in order. The New Orleans Zephyrs are the AAA franchise of the Florida Marlins and just happened to be in the midst of a home stand against the Nashville Sounds, who represent for Brewers organization. Two good music towns in battle on the ball field!!

The cab ride was a bit pricey, since we couldn't manage to figure out the bus schedule, but it was a bright sunny day--- picture perfect for a ball game. Ten bucks got us seats 2 rows back from the screen (inexplicably marked as row 4) behind home plate.


Now if only the Zephyrs had bothered showing up!!! Hector Luna, the Zephyrs 3rd baseman (a former Cleveland Indians draft pick) got the fun started when, after failing to cleanly field a bunted ball early in the game, stood and stared at the ball as the Sounds pitcher (who had 3 hits on the day) went from 1st to 3rd on the bunted ball. And it was all downhill from there for the home team, who lost the game 12-1.

Still, there were up sides, like getting to shake hands with Zephyrs mascot, Boudreaux the Nutria----yes, their mascot is a big rat!!!


And as you can see, we all left with smiles on our faces!!
That evening we ate at our hotel's free dinner buffet in an attempt to save a bit of money since our trip expanded from 5 to 11 days this year. While it was no Emeril Lagasse meal, it was perfectly passable and there was free Abita Amber too!!

We had tickets this night for a very special evening show (again at The Howlin' Wolf). The drummer for the band Little Feat, Richie Hayward, has liver cancer and is in Canada now getting treatments and hoping for a chance at a transplant. As such, given Little Feat's huge presence in New Orleans through the years, several local musicians organized a benefit concert for Richie....and oh what a night it was!! The list of players who showed up was huge and included Brian Stoltz (Neville Bros and Funky Meters guitarist), The Radiator's Dave Malone, Anders Osborne, John Gros, Sonny Landreth, The Honey Island Swamp Band, Brian Blade, and 3 members of Little Feat (Paul Barrere, Kenny Gradney, and Fred Tackett) amongst others. It was an extensive 3 1/2 hour trip thru the Feat catalog. Highlights included a terrific "Easy Money" from the Swamp Band and an otherwordly guitar solo from Anders on "Fool Yourself". Nonmusical highlihts included Dave Malone calling Richie on his cell phone in the midst of the show to share the love with him in Canada!

It was also a terrific drinking night for 3 good friends from Ohio. Much Makers Mark and Abita Amber was consumed, and while it put a bit of a damper on my activities on our last day off before weekend two, it was well worth it for the great brotherhood with my two terrific friends Bob and David!!

The following are a few pics from this marvelous evening:

David and I enjoying the first (of several) beers!


Little Feat Alums Fred Tackett, Kenny Gradney, and Paul Barrere kick things off!

"Easy Money" from The Honey Island Swamp Band

Papa Grows Funk's John Gros on Keys

Brian Stoltz The Radiator's Dave Malone

Anders burns down the house!!
Brian Blade sits in on the drums.

Slide wizard Sonny Landreth!

The Dixie Chicken!

Weekend One, Day 3 and beyond

Hard to believe the first weekend was almost over---didn't we just get here???

Anyway, day 3 was one I'd truly been excited bout since the line-ups had been announced. One of my very favorites, Levon Helm, was making his first appearance at Jazz Fest since he appeared with a later version of the Band prior to our coming down here!

As is habit, the day at the grounds began with a bowl of Pheasant Gumbo, followed by some Crawfish Sushi (courtesy of the good tastes of my lovely spouse).

Cajun Sushi!


After a little chow we made our way to the Gentilly stage to catch the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They just released a terrific record to benefit the Hall and there educaton foundation. Entitled "Preservation", it features numerous guest artists and vocalists and today's set was to feature a few of those, including My Morning Jacket's Jim James, and New Orleans own Terence Blanchard, a great jazz trumpeter and composer.

Words escape me to say how much I enjoyed watching these stellar players pay homage to New Orleans unique version of Jazz. It's heartening to know that new young players are constantly stepping forward to keep this music alive and contemporary!

PHJB

Terence Blanchard and Jim James with PHJB

Despite my desire to see any number of other acts, I then decided to make camp across the fairgrounds at the Acura stage so I could assure a good spot to see Levon. We got there in time to see the last song by Louisiana Leroux, leaving me wishing we'd gotten there just a bit sooner. But my disappointment was short lived when the Voices of the Wetlands All-Stars took the stage. This is a collective of New Orleans players under the leadership of Tab Benoit, who formed the group to promote his passion for the restoration of Louisiana's wetlands. He is joined by Johnny Sansone, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, George Porter, Jr and a host of others. All the players contribute songs and take lead vocals, making for one of the finest sets of the Festival!



Big Chief with VOW All-Stars

As great as that set was, the real treat of the day was still to come! Levon Helm was the drummer and one of the three voices in the legendary group, The Band. His is the voice of "The Weight" and "Up On Cripple Creek" amongst others. That voice was nearly silenced forever when he was struck by cancer of the vocal cords in 1999. While he continued to play drums at his now famous Midnight Rambles, it wasn't until 2004 that his voice had recovered enough from the intense radiation used to cure his cancer to allow him to sing again. Even so, he has ups and downs with his singing abilities and after a couple of years on the road and at his Rambles, his on again/off again vocal abilities are a bit strained, limiting his singing. Fortunately, Levon has assembled one of the finest group of musicians I've had the pleasure to see so that it is hardly an issue! Led by Larry Campbell, who spent years on the road (as did Levon) with Bob Dylan, the group also includes Campbell's wife Teresa Williams, Helm's daughter Amy, Byron Isaacs (who is in the terrific band Ollabelle with Amy), keyboardist/vocalist Brian Mitchell, former Band guitarist Jim Weider, and a crack horn section led by the legendary Howard Johnson! In addition to all of these amazing players, the day saw guest appearances by Art Neville (who basically played the whole show), Dr John (performing "What A Night") and Allen Toussaint who did his classic number "A Certain Girl". The smile that seemed permanently glued on Levon's face all day said it all!!


Levon on Mandolin

The horn section parades during "All In A Mardis Gras Day"

And while I'd initially planned to hold my spot for the Allman Brothers, who were closing out the day at the Acura stage, the sun and my weary legs got the best of me, so Kim and I took off to see what else we could find.

One of the nicest areas at the fest is a little stage set up in a courtyard around and behind the grandstand. Called the Lagniappe stage, it is set in a beautiful garden and is always a nice spot to grab a seat and take a load off (to quoteLevon) for a bit. As it happens, Susan Cowsill was winding down her set at the time. In addition to being a part of the 60's band bearing her last name (the inspiration for TV's the Partridge Family), she was also a longtime member of local favorites The Continental Drifters. We got there just in time to see her bring up guests Paul Sanchez and her brother Paul Cowsill to sing on one of my favorite Drifters numbers "The Rain Song".

Susan Cowsill

We then tried to get to the Gospel tent to see a little bit of the Blind Boys of Alabama, but the crowd was pouring out of the tent, so we went over to the Blues tent to close out the day with a couple of numbers from guitar phenom Jonny Lang.

Jonny Lang

But the fun didn't end when we left the fairgrounds on Sunday. There were tasty treats to come that night as the entire group gathered for a final meal together before the ladies and the Rock's headed back home on Monday.

We went into the Quarter in advance of our 9:45pm reservation at NOLA, Emeril's restaurant in the French Quarter. This is where we ran into Grandpa Elliott again singing on the street. We also went to the Cabildo where a public memorial service was being held in honor of Bobby Charles, local Louisianan who wrote such great songs as "See You Later Alligator" and "Walking To New Orleans". While I made the mistake of leaving the service early, several in my group saw performances in his honor by Shannon McNally and Marcia Ball.

Our appetites were certainly primed by the time we were finally seated at NOLA! Good thing too, because the serving sizes here are truly remarkable. No one goes home hungry!

Dinner at NOLA!

My meal started with a New Orleans style crab cake followed by Emeril's famous buttermilk fried chicken with bourbon smashed sweet potatoes, country ham cream gravy, and sauteed sugar snap peas. And while I truly wanted dessert, I did not want to lose any buttons on my trousers, so I managed to resist. As you can see, there was nothing but smiles from this crowd!!

Katie, Kevin, Nick, Bob, Kim, Greg, Joyce, and David at NOLA.

We managed to close down NOLA and then said our goodbyes to Katie and Kevin Rock before calling it a night and getting ready to send off Kim and Joyce and Nick the next day.

Monday is always a bittersweet day, and having the girls go was tough. I think they had a great time and we'd have loved to have kept them around. We did have some time for fun though, as their flights weren't until early evening.

As usual, we spent most of the morning doing some last minute shopping, including in the French Market where we picked up some colorful pins and earrings from one of our favorite Jazz Fest artisans, Oscar. We eventually wound our way to the Marigny where we had a traditional Monday luncheon at The Praline Connection, a local soul food mecca. Being Monday, several of us had the "wash day" special of Red Beans and Rice. Joyce had a very interesting bowl of file gumbo, complete with a whole crab!

Now that's gumbo!!

As we moved back through the Quarter after lunch, we stopped by Cafe du Monde for a little dessert of Beignets and Coffee.

Nick approves of the Beignets at Cafe du Monde!

I'll leave you now with some pics that Kim took as we strolled back to the hotel to see them off before David, Bob, and I moved to our new hotel and began preparing for the week ahead!

2010 Jazz Fest Day 2

Well day 2 did not start off very promising.

We awoke to downright alarming weather forecasts, including torrential rains, quarter sized hail, and a 20% chance of F3-5 grade tornadoes. It really looked as though the entire day was in danger of being cancelled----something that's only happened once in the last 20 years we've been coming.
My plan was to simply wait until early afternoon and see what transpired, but as the morning wore on, despite a couple of brief but heavy showers, the skies around metro New Orleans actually seemed to brighten a bit. Great news for us, but not so good for the unfortunate folks across the border in Southern Mississippi who bore the brunt of those same storms.

So off we went for what turned out to be a rain-free festival day!

After morning gumbo and a nice crawfish po boy, Kim and I made the move to the Blues tent to see local street musician Grandpa Elliott's Jazz Fest debut. For those of you who haven't seen it, go to You Tube and check out the Playing For Change "Stand By Me" video to be introduced to Grandpa Elliott. This video, of street performers across the world performing this song, went viral and led to a CD and overdue noteriety for some of these musicians, including Grandpa Elliott. His sincerity is only matched by his sweet voice. You won't regret a few minutes watching him perform. And if you missed him at the Fest, check out the corner of Royal and Toulouse where he can still be regularly found playing for spare change.

Grandpa Elliott's Jazz Fest debut

Playing For Change

After Grandpa, we moved closer to the stage and settled in for a Jazz Fest tribute to the the late Marva Wright, the Blues Queen of New Orleans! Marva passed in March of 2010 after suffering a series of strokes. Marva and her crack band, The BMW's, were a jazz fest staple, which is where I was first introduced to her big, beautiful voice. Today, The BMW's were on hand with other local musicians such as Papa Grows Funk and Davell Crawford. Marva's sax player tore the roof off the place with a stunning instrumental version of a love song Marva had written for her husband. The show culminated with BMW's background singer Tara Peterson doing a couple of Gospel numbers in Marva's honor, followed by a city council proclamation declaring it Marva Wright Day in New Orleans. Gonna miss seeing this wonderful lady here, but I hope Miss Peterson takes the BMW's forward, cause she and they can really cook!!

Davell Crawford sings in tribute to Marva Wright backed by the BMW horns and members of Papa Grows Funk

At this point, I was so taken with Mr. Crawford's performance at the Marva tribute that I decided to keep my good seat here in the Blues tent and stay for his set, which was billed as Davell Crawford with special guests Dr. John and Jon Cleary. But first I got treated to a sweet set of pure blues by the Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band. Sinegal is a jazz fest staple and has played in some of the great Cajun Zydeco bands, including a 14 year stent with zydeco legend Clifton Chenier and time with Buckwheat Zydeco.
Towards the end of Lil' Buck's set Kim noticed a commotion at the rear of the stage area, near where we were sitting. When I got up to investigate, it turned out to be the arrival of the one and only Mac Rebbenack, better known as the legendary Dr. John!!! Fortunately, I had my camera with me and managed to get a couple of nice shots of the good doctor, who gave me yet another jazz fest thrill when he walked over and gave me a quick hand slap and finger point!!
Dr. John arrives at Jazz Fest

Next up was the aforementioned Davell Crawford, dubbed the Prince Of New Orleans by former mayor Marc Morial. His set included blues, gospel and everything in between. Probably the highlight for me (before he brought out his guests) was a gorgeous, soulful gospel-inflected take on Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927".
Davell sings the Blues

But the real fun started after he brought out Jon Cleary, another New Orleans (via his homeland of England) piano great who, besides his own career makes a steady living playing in Bonnie Raitt's band. This was followed shortly thereafter by the appearance of Dr. John who kicked it off with his version of Iko Iko. During the Drs. numbers Mr Cleary picked up the guitar, something I'd never seen him do. The whole thing came to a head with Craford, Cleary, and Dr John all playing the last bars of Professor Longhairs "Tipitina" on a single piano!!!

3 Men and a Piano!
Dr John, Davell Crawford, and Jon Cleary.

At this point it was time to take a break and do some strolling around the Fairgrounds to do a little shopping and stretch the legs. As we strolled we did manage to catch a little bluegrass from Sam Bush at the Fais Do-Do stage. Our intention was to approach the big stage from the back to see the day's big headliner Simon and Garfunkel, but by the time we tried to get there, it was a virtual sea of people and we chose to simply call it a day and head for the buses! This did give us the chance to hear a couple of songs by up and comers, My Morning Jacket as we exited on to Gentilly.

The night time brought another terrific meal at the recently reopened Mike's On The Avenue. This was the site of one of our best meals about 10 years ago and then Mike relocated to San Francisco and later Hawaii before returning to New Orleans earlier this year. While the service was a bit sketchy, the food did not disappoint. I started off with the Crawfish Spring Rolls with Chili-Lime sauce and then had the Crispy Duck for dinner. Dessert was the Creme Brulee, which while not as wondrous as I remembered it from before, was just fine for that night!!

All in all not a bad day at all, and amazingly, we didn't get wet one time!!

Jazz Fest 2010-- 1st weekend/day 1

Hello my friends!

It's that time of year again and this year it's even better than ever.

In honor of my traveling companions 20th anniversary here at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (my 18th), we came down for both weekends this year and I even convinced my lovely wife Kim to join us. David's wife Joyce also came along. And our friend Kevin Rock
(from Los Angeles) brought his wife Katie along too. It certainly made for a much better looking group of travelers than usual! We also brought along a delightful 18 year old kid, Nick Kotz. Nick is the son of some good friends of David's (and ours) who truly loves music and has gone through some recent rough times. No better place to ease your woes and heal your soul than New Orleans!!

Our flight was bright and early on Friday morning, getting us into the Crescent City just in time to drop our bags at the hotel, change into shorts, and trot to the buses for the Fest.

The first day was, at best, a bit soggy. The sky was pretty grey as we had the traditional first Gumbo at the Prejean's booth.

Joyce, David, Nick, Bob, and I eat first gumbo


Kim and I decided to run over and see a little of New Orleans singer-songwriter David Egan's opening set on the large Acura stage to start things off. David isn't well known outside of Louisiana, but has written a lot of songs recorded by folks such as Joe Cocker, Irma Thomas, Marcia Ball, and many others. He also played for a time in the Cajun band File' and with New Orleans collective Lil' Band O' Gold.


David Egan opens Jazz Fest



Opening sets always draw a few interesting characters and today was no exception:


The dancing wasn't to last for long though! As it sometimes goes in New Orleans, the weather doesn't always cooperate like we'd wish it would. Fortunately, the grandstand provides not only shelter from the elements, but also the Allison Miner interview stage. Allison Miner was one of Jazz Fest's early treasures. She was involved from the beginning and is credited with originating the Fests archives which collected and store photos, videos, interviews, etc from Fests past. After her untimely death in 1995 the Interview stage was named for her and has served as a venue for musicians to come and share their own stories and pay tribute to those who've come before.
While taking our shelter from the storm, we managed to hear interviews with early funk and soul musicians Chocolate Milk and the legendary and hilarious mastermind of Parliament/Funkadelic, Mr. George Clinton.

P-FUNK!

This managed to keep us occupied till around 3:00. Plans to see Dr. John and The Black Crowes got washed out, but nothing was going to keep me away from the Jazz tent to see my friend Miss Leah Chase work her magic. As prior blog readers know, Leah is the daughter and namesake of the chef of the famed New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase. While very few people outside of the city know her, she is considered one of the great female voices in this city. I heard her at my first fest 18 years ago and would not miss her come hell or (in today's case) high water! Her set is always varied and contains a few surprises. This year's highlight for me was a very moving version of Randy Newman's heartbreaking ballad "Marie".

Miss Leah Chase


Unfortunately, the poor weather conditions and a 6:30 dinner reservation/night show led to an early departure on day one----- not a perfect day, but hey, I'm in New Orleans, so how bad can it be!!

Dinner was a typical amazing Emeril Lagasse meal at his Delmonico Steak House off of Lee Circle. It started with the Peppadew Peppers stuffed with house made sausage, followed by the most amazing entree of Pork Shoulder sitting on a bed of Vidalia Onion Hash. And if that's not good enough, they threw a fried egg on top of it all just for grins!!! My cholesterol will pay the price, but my taste buds were simply delighted!! And of course, you can't leave without dessert, and what could be better than a tableside flambe' of Banana's Foster. Okay, so my cholesterol was eclipsed by my blood sugar,but who's counting??

Now you'd think we'd have the good sense to call it a night and head home after this gluttonous meal, but no...... there's more fun to be had at the Howlin' Wolf!!

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings were one of the early soul revival bands of the early 2000's, gaining a modicum of fame with their 2006 record "100 Days, 100 Nights". Sharons backing band, The Dap Kings, were also the uncredited backing band for Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" record from the same year. To say that they are stellar players would be an understatement and to say that Miss Jones is an energetic performer would be woefully inadequate. Despite being stranded for several days in England by the volcano eruption in Iceland, they made it to town in time to put the Howlin' Wolf crowd through the paces!! This woman never stopped moving the whole night and just wore our tired asses out with their hour and a half soul set!

Sharon Jones with Dap King's bassist Bosco Mann

At this point, despite the fact that Dumpstafunk was yet to come, we deiced that a 20 hour day was all we old folks could handle and so we called it a night and crawled back to the Queen and Crescent for a few hours of well earned sleep before embarking on day two!

To be continued.......