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May012004
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Jazz Fest: Take 2 |
I attended Jazz Fest again today with my dad. The weather was a lot more agreeable today. It was still rather cloudy, but reasonably dry. The sun even made brief appearances through the afternoon. We spent a couple hours in the Economy Hall tent when we got there. We saw the trailing end of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, and then Chosen Few Brass Band, and Ronnie Magri & his New Orleans Jazz Band. After those acts we went to get something to eat before moving. We saw my dad's sister working the kiosk we got lunch from. They hadn't seen each other in a few years. After we ate we moved to the Acura Stage to get a spot for Santana's performance later. We found a place to sit and listened to The Funky Meters for a while. Santana's performance started a bit early and without introduction or fanfare. There was no applause until he had done a number or two and he was announced. The number of people there to see him was pretty impressive. I could only venture a guess in the 30-40 thousand range. His set wasn't bad at all but I doubt I'll be telling my grandkids about it. Halfway through his act, thick and dark clouds moved over the grounds and a good number of people left fearing rain. We followed suit and moved to the blues tent, but soon returned when it appeared to be clearing up, if only slightly. He finished earlier than scheduled, perhaps because of the early start. We made our way out after visiting with my dad's sister Jackie for a little while. After leaving the fairgrounds we stopped by Liuzza's for a while. Clearly we were there for a little too long. It gradually starting raining pretty good and we got wet before making it back to the car. We were planning on eating and seeing some music on Frenchman St. before going home so it seemed prudent to dry off if possible. We stopped by dad's Mid-City office for a few minutes to dry our clothes as best we could. I wasn't so bad off, certainly not as bad as last week. My shoes were damp and my collared shirt was pretty damp. There wasn't much I could do about the shoes in just a few minutes, but I found an additional use for the hydrocollator. It worked better than an iron and my shirt dried rather well, and quickly. Between that and a change of socks I brought with me I was fine. We then made our way to the Marigny. We found an adequate parking space and walked down to Frenchman St. We ended up waiting for a table at The Praline Connection. We were seated after a half hour wait in outside of the cramped restaurant. The service was slow but pleasant as the kitchen and wait staff was clearly overwhelmed. I had fried catfish with macaroni & cheese and red beans. It stopped raining while we were eating, which was nice. After dinner we walked down to the Spotted Cat, our original destination. It's a rather small bar featuring live music. Linnzi Zaorski & Delta Royale was playing. It's a five member band with a female vocal lead that sung standards that you would have heard in the 40's, and in that style. Ms. Zaorski even had the appearance to match. We were there for a little while and then left during a break in the act. We walked around for a short while and then went back to the car. We drove back home, stopped for groceries along the way. Upon returning home, I wrote this long-winded entry, checked eBay, and went to bed.