April 2009


Afternoon at the Jazz Tent

I caught a cab to the fairgrounds this morning and arrived perhaps around 11:30 after the NOCCA Jazz Ensemble began in the Jazz Tent. The creative arts school has some respectable jazz talents in spite of their high school ages. I’ve been catching NOCCA at Jazz Fest largely out of curiosity as their students are indeed “the future.” The music was decent although it is rather hard to keep track of who’s on stage since they feature quite a few students in various sections.After NOCCA finished I stuck around the Jazz tent to hold a front row seat for the next act, Leah Chase. The local jazz vocalist is always a treat to hear as well as photograph. She had a sizable ensemble with her this year. Three students from NOCCA performed including sax player Stephen Gladney. After Leah Chase I went to get some lunch. The couple I was sitting next to was willing to hold my seat until I got back. I had the barbeque ribs, white beans and coleslaw. The food was good but it was a bit of an adventure trying to eat it without a table or napkin dispenser.Shortly after I finished eating, Astral Project began their set in the jazz tent. As always they put on a great show. They played some songs from their latest CD as well as some older stuff. Following the set I walked over to the Borders tent where they sell CDs from the fest performers. Astral Project was doing a CD signing after their set and I decided that was as good a time as any to pick up their new album. While I was waiting, one of the mardi gras Indian parades passed by. With my autographs in hand I walked over to Economy Hall for Pete Fountain. I got there a good while before the show started and managed to get a half decent seat. As always, Fountain drew a pretty large crowd. While I was waiting to spoke to a couple from New Jersey that was sitting next to me. We got to talking about New Orleans and the goings on here. They were curious as they are contemplating a move here. Pete’s performance was great as always with the help of the nice ensemble he puts together.After Pete Fountain, I walked over to the jazz tent where the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis was performing. The tent was packed and I only stayed for a little while before leaving the fairgrounds.This late evening was much like yesterday. I didn’t have too much trouble getting home and I spent the better part of the night sorting through pictures.

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Etta James

I was up and about early enough to get to the fairgrounds around 11 this morning. If I remember right, this was the day Elliot was the driver that picked me up. Unlike Saturday, I did a good bit more walking around at the fairgrounds today. The first set I saw was the Loyola University Jazz Ensemble. I saw them last year on a smaller stage but they were the opening act in the jazz tent this morning. The crowd was light so I had no trouble getting a good seat. They played a pretty good set and featured a few impressive solo performances from the students. As the performers were three rows deep it was nearly impossible to photograph most of them.

Following the Loyola set I walked over to Economy Hall, stopping to get something to eat along the way. I got a fried pork chop sandwich which was somewhat problematic as it still had the bone in it. When I got to the Economy Hall tent I saw the same couple from New Jersey I met yesterday. The start of the next act caught me a bit by surprise. Rather than take the stage, the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble began by parading back and forth in front of the stage. The music was pretty good, mostly traditional brass band jazz. I stayed for the whole set which was about an hour.

Afterward, I made it to the Jazz Tent early so I could get a front row seat for Germaine Bazzle. Her accompanying musicians started first to warm up the crowd. Miss Bazzle took the stage after a couple numbers by her accompanying musicians. Her unassuming appearance and personal modesty contrast starkly with commanding stage presence. She owned the crowd after two bars.

I make sure to enjoy the music at Jazz Fest and not just shoot pictures. There is always a mad rush to the front when a performer takes the stage but I like to sit back and enjoy the music while the camera-wielding mob does its thing. My favorite song of her performance was her rendition of What a Diff’rence a Day Made.

After a couple of songs I started taking pictures. More often than not I was shooting during up-tempo tunes. My hobby has had me shooting live music for quite some time but the exhilaration I felt photographing Miss Bazzle was a first time experience for me. Not only did I have a lively, fascinating subject and respectable vantage point, I knew I was getting good pictures. Having interesting people to photograph is not unusual but capturing them with confidence was a new and awesome feeling.

After her performance I had the opportunity to introduce myself to Germaine and complement her both on her performance and her photogenic nature. I also told her my little story from last year and remarked that she was the most interesting person I have ever photographed at the Fest. She was reluctant to accept the compliment but it was indeed a true statement.

I stuck around at the jazz tent to wait for the next act as there was nothing on the schedule that struck me. At 2:35, Herlin Riley took the stage. The drummer often appears with other musicians but he earned his own stop on the schedule this year. I was there for about 20 minutes before I decided to take a walk. I ended up with an ice cream cone in Economy Hall as Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders were wrapping up.

The next band was Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band. This was one of the few acts on the today’s schedule I had been planning to see. I’ve seen this group a few times before and like previously they put on a great show.

Following Dr. Michael White I walked to the Gentilly Stage and found a place at the front. There was a tough choice to make in deciding which final act of the evening to see. Dave Matthews, Etta James and Earth, Wind & Fire were playing concurrently. I decided to see Etta James as I saw Dave Matthews Band a couple years ago. For someone her age who spends most of her time seated, she has quite an impressive stage presence. The set was very entertaining and she owned the crowd. Considering my distance from the stage I managed to get a few decent pictures. A gentleman I was standing next to took an interest in my camera and I got to talking to his for a little while after the fest ended for the day. After we parted ways I got a look at the disturbingly long cab line at Stallings Playground. I decided to walk to Broad Avenue and catch a cab from there. Like the last two evenings, I spent a good deal of time going through the day’s pictures.

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40th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Like last year, Jazz Fest came and went before I got around to writing any log entries. Luckily I am only a couple days removed from the end of the second weekend of the festival. My memories are reasonably intact and for the moment I have the will to write.

I bought a brass pass again this year and rented two lenses for both weekends. I got the EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 and the famous EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS lens.

On Friday, Dad have me a ride to the fairgrounds. I got there early enough to see the start of the first act of the day. I saw the duration of the Xavier University Jazz Ensemble performance. I generally like strong horn sections so this act was a treat. After the performance I got something to eat, the crawfish sack/beignets and oyster patties combo. I took It to the grandstands and saw the 19th Street Red Blues Band while I ate. I’m not a huge blues fan but it was nice background for my meal.

After lunch I stopped by the WWOZ tent and then on to Economy Hall for Fred Dupin’s New Bumpers Revival Jazz Band. I was not familiar with them but I like to check out international acts when the opportunity presents itself. Their performance was centered around a French jazz composer named Jacques Gauthe with a good portion of their numbers written by him.

The next item today was the Johnny Vidocovich interview by Bruce Raeburn. Vidocovich is the longtime drummer of my favorite local band, Astral Project. He’s a pretty amusing character so I was sure this interview would be a treat. Mr. Raeburn spend most of his time talking with Johnny about growing up in mid city, his start in the music business and his work in the seventies including an extended trip to Europe. Overall it was a very interesting interview and very insightful as I knew very little about Johnny before this.

Following the interview I took the short walk to the gospel tent. In years past and more recently I have heard good things about the Tribute to Mahalia Jackson that takes place there and with no overlapping must-see acts I decided to check it out. It was a fine performance featuring Mavis Staples and Irma Thomas. It was a good show to hear but a hard one to photograph as the security folks were not allowing people to approach the railing.

I left a few minutes early hoping to get a good seat for Tab Benoit but there were a lot of people considerably more dedicated than myself. I ended up with a chair towards the back. I was unfamiliar with Benoit but I heard good things so I decided to check him out. To be frank, I wasn’t especially impressed with his music and I lousy seat did not help in convincing me to stay long. I ended up staying for two or three songs, shooting a handful of pictures and leaving the festival for the day early around six.

Since I did leave early I had no trouble catching a cab home. That evening I spent a good deal of time culling my pictures and getting them on the website.

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Saint-Saens and Last Rumba

I probably should have covered Monday through Wednesday in an earlier post but I suppose now is fine. Monday was a big non-event as we didn’t go to the office and I didn’t have class either.My final Ethical Issues in Media class was held this Tuesday evening. Mr. Greenberg has an engagement next week so this was the last session. There was a short lecture on the ethics of news reporting and the take home final exam was distributed.I didn’t have an actual class on Wednesday. Instead, the writing teacher scheduled individual conferences with students regarding their final papers. I’m reasonably confident in my topic and the instructor was generally happy with the outline I showed him.With that out of the way I can talk about today. I wasn’t sure when or if I would make it to the office this evening. I had to wait for the second delivery attempt of the lenses I rented for Jazz Fest. Dad didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get to work and he was content to wait with me for a while. Luckily they showed up at 12:45 so only a little bit of the afternoon was lost.I just had a test scheduled for this evening and there was an orchestra and concert band performance at Dixon Hall this evening so I decided to take my camera gear with me instead of my laptop. I figured some picture taking at the concert would be a nice warm up for the next two weekends.Before class started this evening I was confused about the conclusion of my business law class. Mr. Whittington thought we had another lecture before the final exam but I showed him the academic calendar which showed classes ending next Tuesday. Consequently some alterations to his plans were necessary. We were supposed to have a test on contracts tonight but we decided to instead hear the lecture on breach of contract remedies he was expecting to give next week. The exam he was planning for tonight would be amended to include tonight’s material and we will take the test next week. I guess I might have to leave Jazz Fest early next Thursday.I left class at the break at 7:20. I was expecting to be done with class in short order since there was supposed to be a test this evening. I made it to Dixon Hall a few minutes before the concert started. I picked a seat up front to the left right next to Jessie and Ella.The concert band performed first. They opened with selections from the Harry Potter Suite and also played Clarinet Candy by Anderson as well as selections from West Side Story.After an intermission in which two pianos were rolled out, the Tulane University Orchestra took the stage. They began with a performance of Carnival of Animals by Carmille Saint-Saens complete with the poetic narration. After that a vocalist, Lauren Elens, took the stage to perform Steal Me, Sweet Thief from Old Maid and a Thief. Her rendition was quite impressive. The orchestra concluded with selection from Star Wars, no doubt a crowd pleaser.Immediately after the show I walked with Jessie to the Reily Center. We were about 15 minutes late for ballroom this evening. Tonight was the last session of the semester. My tardiness really threw me off although I managed to muddle through. Afterward we all took a few group pictures which turned out reasonably well although I looked even fatter than I actually am.During ballroom I asked Ellie about the computer problems she mentioned to me a while back. She said they had not been fixed yet and I offered to take a look at her laptop after the session ended. I followed her around for a little while and we eventually ended up at the LBC. Cristina, Megan and eventually Caroline were there as well. I picked at the laptop for a couple hours but I didn’t have much luck. It was running quite slowly and there were some error messages to deal with. The conversation was a lot more interesting than my apparent technological prowess. I finally departed at about one in the morning. I should have gone right to bed but I decided to sort and upload the pictures from the concert so I didn’t actually turn out the lights until after three.

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Fine Sunday Weather

My lofty goal of getting up early enough to catch the start of the final day of the French Quarter Festival was not to be. I was going to call a cab this morning but dad agreed to drop me at the ferry landing. I made it to Jackson Square at around 12:30 as Dukes of Dixieland was wrapping up. When the finished I decided to just hang around the stage and wait for Jeremy Davenport to begin at one. He was a bit late getting started as their drummer was tardy. Once they did get started, Davenport and the band put on a good show. He brought some of his club banter to the stage with lines like “If you feel like singing along, don’t. It makes me nervous.” He also got a little jab in at the drummer for being late. At around two, I left the stage and got some lunch. I decided on the barbeque shrimp pasta from The Alibi booth. After I ate I walked to the Royal Sonesta Hotel where there was at a bar in the hotel, recently rebranded at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse. The schedule had the Mario Abney Quintet as the performer but it was in fast the Ashlin Parker Quintet with Jesse McBride at the piano. The ensemble was quite impressive and sounded great, especially in the small venue which required no amplification. Before they took a break, Ashlin Parker invited Irvin Mayfield on stage for an impromptu performance and he sounded incredible.During a break in the music I had a chance to speak with a gentleman from Manchester, England who was visiting New Orleans for the festival. I was quite impressed with his knowledge of the local music scene. It’s not often I hear a tourist even mention Frenchman Street much less speak with authority about the venues there.I remained at the Royal Cenesta until the set concluded at four. I took a walk down Royal, slowly heading back to Jackson Square. As I was walking I ran into Nicole who was with a friend. We spoke for a couple minutes before I continued on to the 400 block stage where Anasis St. John and the Harry Mayronne Trio were performing. I stuck around for a few numbers and shot some pictures. I also saw a wee bit of the Washboard Chaz Blues Trio which drew quite a crowd for a street stage.When I made it to Jackson Square, Irvin Mayfield was performing. I was in no hurry to get to the stage so I got something to eat and found a shady spot to sit. I got some seafood pasta and pecan pie. While I was eating I noticed a boy doing some sort of juggling act and after I finished I moved closer to get some pictures. While I was sitting there I got to talking to a man who was lamenting the sort of jazz Mayfield was playing at the moment. He got to talking about the jazz scene in New York City in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Later on I moved up to the stage so I could get some pictures. It was crowded up front but a second line spawned in front of the stage and eventually Irvin invited some of the people on stage to show the crowd how it’s done. It was quite awesome and a great photo opportunity.As Irvin Mayfield was finishing I took my leave to get one more shot of a crowded Jackson Square. The music ended at seven this evening and I decided to go home as nothing could top Irvin’s performance and the enthusiastic crowd. I walked to Harrah’s casino to get a cab and went home. After relaxing for a while and watching the St. Louis Blues game, I combed through the day’s pictures which I was very pleased with.

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Saturday at FQF

Mom wasn’t up to going to the French Quarter Festival today but she gave Lauren and me a ride to the Algiers ferry. We made it over the river at about 11:30. I walked to Jackson Square to see some of Tim Laughlin. I only caught a couple songs before he took a break. Since there were other acts I wanted to see I took a walk to Royal Street and saw a few minutes of Bamboola 2000. I then went over to the Historic New Orleans Collection on Chartres Street where there was a classical music venue. I went to see Opera a la Carte. I saw it last year and it was pretty interesting. This year was less entertaining. There were only two performers this year and their routine was centered on teaching the audience about opera. Apparently this routine is performed for elementary school students.After the performance I walked to the riverfront to get some lunch. I had the shrimp etouffee and bananas foster from the GW Fins booth. I ate near the pavilion stage which had a big crowd for Marva Wright.When I finished lunch I took a walk down Royal and saw a few minutes of Hot Club of New Orleans. I’ve seen them at Jazz Fest in the past and they put on a great show. I then walked to 300 Bourbon Street where Jimmy Larocca & The Original Dixieland Band was just getting started at the Jazz Legends Park. This venue is part of a bar and there are tables and chairs so it’s a great place to relax and enjoy the music. I remained there for about an hour until about 4:15 when I left to walk to the riverfront. I wanted to check out the Treme Brass Band. It seemed that they had very few of their regular members in attendance which was rather disappointing. Their appearance at Jazz Fest will be a lot more interesting.With no particular interest in seeing half of Treme I walked across the Quarter to the US Mint where Astral Project was scheduled to perform at 5:45. I got there just before Ingrid Lucia finished her set. I used the time between sets to get something to eat. I had the Crawfish Ravioli and Tiramisu from the Bravo! booth.Astral Project’s bass player, James Singleton, was in town so all four members were in attendance for this evening’s performance. As always they were excellent. They played a couple songs from their new CD which I didn’t know existed until this evening. I stayed through the end of the set at 7 o’clock. I talked to Lauren after and we met at the ferry landing before eight. On the way I saw a couple minutes of The Renard Poche Band.Mom picked us up again tonight. This evening was much like last night. I spend a good deal of time combing through the day’s pictures. Aunt Lauren departed this evening. She’ll be spending the remainder of her stay at a friend’s house.

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26th Annual French Quarter Festival

Here goes. It’s Monday now and I have three great days of Quarter Fest to write about. I will probably tire of this and before I finish it all but I will press on. Jazz Fest is next week and I can’t leave this hanging over my head.After the usual morning routine, prepping my camera and making sure I my cargo shorts were filled with all the little do-dads I needed, Mom, Aunt Lauren and myself left before 11 to go to the French Quarter Festival, a free, three day event featuring live, local music and food all over the quarter. Mom drove down Decatur hoping to land a spot on one of the riverfront parking lots but they were all full. I did the selfish thing and got out of the car near the French Market. I walked down to Jackson Square where Connie Jones and the French Quarter Festival All Stars were playing. I recognized most of the musicians on stage including Tim Laughlin. I listened to the music in front of the stage for about an hour before I decided to get lunch. I got the Cajun Jambalaya and bread pudding whiskey sauce from the Desire Oyster Bar booth.After lunch I walked to the French Market where there was a traditional jazz stage. I got there before Lionel Ferbos and the Louisiana Shakers got started. At 97, Mr. Ferbos is the oldest active jazz musician in New Orleans. He can still play with the best of them after all these years and they put on a great show. I left after about an hour to walk to the zydeco stage Old US Mint where Jonno and Bayou Deville were playing. I only stayed for a few songs before deciding to take a walk to the river front. I thought I might see Lauren at the Abita stage near the aquarium where Freddy Omar was playing but I didn’t see her.After Freddy Omar finished I walked back to the Mint where Feufollet was playing. They drew a large crowd of spectators and dancers. I saw about an hour of their set. Mom and Lauren caught up with me there. The windy weather was bothering Mom and she was a ready to go so I walked her back to the car which was parked in the Marigny.Mom drove me back to the Mint and I strolled from there to Jackson Square where The Nobles were getting started although I didn’t really care for what I was hearing so I continued on to the riverfront where The Zydepunks were just getting started at the pavilion stage. I think this was one of the bands Lauren mentioned she was going to see so I decided to check it out. Suffice it to say, their music was pretty interesting. I would say the group is appropriately named.After about a half hour, the wind was starting to bother me. The wind has been blowing pretty swiftly throughout the day. As it was overcast it was starting to feel downright cold. I went to the Jax Brewery to relax indoors for a while. I got something to eat from the food court while I was there.Feeling sufficiently refreshed, I walked back out to the pavilion stage where The Zydepunks has just finished. I got myself a ‘front row’ seat for Otra which started at 7:30. I got to talking to a lady next to me who was apparently acquainted with their sax player, Brent Ross. The wind was still howling during their performance and they didn’t have enough foam covers for all the microphones so the wind was carrying over the speakers which detracted a bit from the music which was otherwise excellent.Before the show started I saw Lauren and we agreed to take a ferry after 8:30 so I walked to the ferry landing and met up with Lauren at about quarter past. The ferry departed at 8:45. Mom was waiting to pick us up on the other side. Later that evening I spent a couple hours going through the 1,200 pictures I took over the course of the afternoon. I bought 12 gigabytes worth of memory cards with me so I was shooting with reckless abandon. I was reasonably pleased with my pictures. I rented the 24-105mm F/4L IS lens for the festival which was a pleasure to use although there were times when I could have used more reach. The simplicity of a one-lens solution was a reasonable compromise though. I did not have a desire to make picture taking the priority I do when I go to Jazz Fest.

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Free Ride on Thursday

Dad and I didn’t get to work until 12:30 this afternoon. I had a few reports to work on this afternoon although pizza for lunch was the highlight. I took the shuttle to campus for class this evening. Tonight’s business law class continued an ongoing discussion of contracts. There was also a review for the test next week.After class I went to Reily for ballroom this evening. Tonight was the second to last session of the semester. I didn’t have any trouble remember the steps from the past two weeks although the new stuff introduced tonight was somewhat perplexing.Following ballroom, Dad picked me up in front of the LBC. He went to the airport earlier to pick up Aunt Lauren who flew in this weekend for the French Quarter Festival. We got to visit for a while after we got home. Later in the evening I tried to fix a USB problem with Lauren’s laptop and talked to Krystle on the phone.

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Tuesday & Wednesday

After a rather uninteresting four day weekend, I was back to work and school on Tuesday. I don’t recall anything interesting happening at work. Tuesday’s night media ethics class was about ethics in advertising. The evening’s case study was about a Superbowl ad from a few years ago that featured Christopher Reeve walking with the aid of CGI. Later that evening I watched The Final Countdown.I had enough work to do on Wednesday although I don’t remember much. This evening’s writing class featured a short discussion of the most recent cryptic reading assignment and a Simpsons episode. I don’t recall anything interesting happening later this evening.

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Easter Break

Between skipping class on Monday and the Easter break this past weekend, the work week was a short one for me. We didn’t go to the office on Monday as Dad had things to work on at home. Tuesday was rather normal.After a nice break from my writing class I returned for the Wednesday session after the class watched the movie Network over two days. As I reluctantly suspected, the discussion of the movie completely overlooked the film’s significance and instead focused on character relationships rather than the prophetic nature of the screenplay.Thursday’s business law class was a continuation of the discussion of contracts. There were about a dozen people on hand for the second week on Rumba this evening. A lot of them were a bit late so the crowd seemed pretty thin at nine. Afterward I ended up sharing a cab again when I was picked up by a cabbie who already had a fare.The office was closed for Good Friday so I was at home all day. The lens I rented for the French Quarter Festival arrived today so I got to play with it for a while. Saturday evening, I drained my waterbed to fix a supporting board that fell over. The same thing happened last September. This time I braced it hoping to prevent the issue in the future. Patrick invited me to go out that evening but I was still working on it when he called.After church on Sunday, I watched the final round of the Masters Tournament for no particular reason. On Monday, we again didn’t go to the office. I was still on break for Easter so there was no class. This afternoon I had my car towed to a repair shop as it had been marked as abandoned. That evening I watched Battle of Britain.

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Akitabare

This afternoon, I went out with Mom and Andrew to visit Aunt Doris and Aunt Dionne in Metairie. My folks never visited them for Christmas so we finally brought their gifts to them. After visiting with Aunt Doris we went over to Aunt Dionne’s house. They are in the middle of some home renovations. They are adding a laundry room to the back of the house to replace a shed they were using.This evening I met Andrey and Patrick at d.b.a. for a night out precipitated by Patrick’s recent change in availability. I arrived earlier than them and got to talking to an older lady there. My friend arrived at about 10:15 and Little Freddie King started his set not long after that.Later we left d.b.a. and went down the street a bit to Yuki Izakaya for a bottle of sake and some of their food offerings. I think we ordered a bottle of Akitabare “Koshiki Junzukuri” but I’m not sure. Andrey had to drive so I think Patrick and I drank most of it. We also sampled some of their small portioned food items like edamame, onigiri, kimchi and something else I’m sure I wouldn’t have tried were it not for the adult beverages… it was grilled, and green.If I remember right we left there sometime after midnight, maybe closer to one. We went back to Andrey’s house, stopping at Rally’s for the traditional fries and a coke. We also picked up David from his house. After hanging out there for about an hour I called a cab at about two to go home.

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Fast & Furious

General’s chicken from Five Happiness was the high point of the workday. Later in the afternoon I got a message from Andrey inviting me to join a bunch of friends to see Fast & Furious. I knew the movie was not worth my money but it was still more appealing than staying home.I called a cab to meet Andrey uptown and ended up waiting for him at the Popeye’s on Carrollton. He picked me up from there and we drove to the Elmwood palace theater. Veronica, David and Kerry were with him. We arrived at the theater around nine, a half hours before the previews started. I probably shouldn’t have been but I was surprised to see how crowded the theater was, even though this was opening night. The showing must have been sold out. After we arrived we were joined by a few more of Andrey’s friends who I am not acquainted with.As for the movie itself, the consensus of reviews are correct. It’s got fast cars, explosions, hot chicks and a pathetic excuse for a plot. It was marginally entertaining, even if it had absolutely no regard for the laws of physics.After the movie they drove back to Tulane and I caught a cab home from there. I got home after 11 and talked to Krystle on the phone before bed.

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Bucktown All-Stars

Tuesday went by just fine. Yesterday evening’s ethics class went well, although Mr. Greenberg did not collect the homework because he did not recall assigning it.There was no class today. I left the office at 4:30 to take the streetcar downtown for the first Wednesday at the Square concert of 2009. It was my first time riding the red Canal Street cars since Katrina. I made it to Lafayette Square before the music started this evening. As I was looking around I saw Nicole, who I met a couple weeks ago at the BSG meetup.I brought my camera with me to get some pictures. The opening act this evening was the Soul Rebels Brass Band. I’m sure I’ve seen them before although I don’t recall when. They put on a nice show and the crowd seemed to like it. As they were wrapping up I got something to eat and tried my hand at photographing the crowd. New Orleans Saints’ mascot “Gumbo” was mingling with people.Later on after six, the main event started. The Bucktown All-Stars, a nine-member ensemble put on a lively performance. Unfortunately I only saw about a half hour of it before my ride arrived. The band was very engaging and easy to photograph.Later this evening I spent a good deal of time looking through my pictures. As usual, taking the pictures was much more fun than combing through the results. It was overcast this afternoon so my F/4 telephoto lens didn’t have quite enough light to work with. I bumped my camera up to ISO 800 but it wasn’t enough for viable handheld speeds so a lot my pictures were a bit blurry. I ended up keeping 59 of the 633 I took. Later this evening after I had my pictures online and spoke to Krystle on the phone and watched 28 Days Later.

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