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Apr182007
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French Quarter Festival 2007 |
This weekend, I attended all three days of the French Quarter Festival.Friday:I left work early and took the streetcar down to the quarter. I got off on Bourbon Street and wandered around for a while, sampling a number of bands at the several different stages. I eventually made my way to the river front stages and got something to eat. I think I had some jambalaya. While I was eating I listened to the Michael Foster Project.Later on, I walked over to the U.S. Mint to see Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys. Her name has been dropped in our house on a few occasions but I’d never seen her play so I decided to watch the set. She’s a pretty impressive talent for someone so young. At about 4:30 I arranged a ride home with Dad and he picked my up in front of the Hilton downtown.Later that evening, I was on the computer for a while and I started watching Judgment at Nuremburg, but I only got about a third of the way in before going to bed.Saturday:The weather was more than somewhat disagreeable on Saturday. It was overcast all day and it rained sporadically, especially in the morning and early afternoon. I got up to late to ride downtown with Mom and Dad, who went to the festival this morning. I took my time getting ready and got a cab downtown around noon. I borrowed an umbrella from Andrew, which served me well for a good while.When I got downtown I walked over to Jackson Square, where I presumed my parents were, seeing the Dukes of Dixieland. When I got a call from them after I arrived I figured they spotted me but they were elsewhere, apparently on the way out, leaving because of the rain.I can’t remember much about what I did between the end of the Dukes and two o’clock, although I do remember getting some lunch, a turkey leg just felt like it. I probably heard some of the Pin Stripe Brass Band while I was eating.The main reason I didn’t care about the rain today was because I wanted to see Astral Project. They played on the riverfront at two this afternoon. Although it was raining before they started, the rain stopped when their set began and it didn’t rain again the rest of the day the sun even almost showed itself. My favorite local band never disappoints and they didn’t start today. They always put on a great show with great music. The audience was also treated to one of Johnny’s amusing monologues.After Astral Project’s set, I wandered around the quarter for a couple hours, sampling a number of bands. After wandering around for a couple hours, Mom and Dad picked me up at the Hilton again. Sunday:On Easter Sunday, Dad and I went straight from church out to the Quarter. The weather was much better today. The sun was shining but there was a rather stiff breeze. The main motivation for going out to day was Otra, an awesome local, afro-cuban band that doesn’t play very often. I didn’t want to miss what is a sadly rare opportunity. I think their set had already started when we arrived. As expected, the performance was awesome and quite enjoyable. I’m not a music critic so I don’t have any five dollar words to describe them. I would say, however, their music has a very clean and rich sound to it, like most Cuban music untainted by the pop shit that comes out of America.After Otra, I believe we stayed around the mint and saw some of Ricardo Crespo and Bayou Deville. I would have figured we’d go see Tim Laughlin but we’ll see him at Jazz Fest. We eventually walked over to Jackson Square, where Al Belletto Big Jazz Band was playing. Like just about everyone that plays the FQF, they were pretty decent. I walked around and took a bunch of pictures, none of any particular merit I’d guess.Dad and I then walked back to the mint where Freddy Omar con su Banda played at 5:30. This local band is a reasonably popular latin jazz band. They play Frenchman Street weekly and I’ve seen them at a couple school functions. Although they didn’t have a large stage to play, they drew an impressive crowd, and Freddy Omar is a pretty decent vocalist and he had a strong band behind him. At about 6:30, we made our way back to the car and home. Later that evening, I watched another hour or so of the Nuremburg movie. Before getting to bed I talked to Krystle on the phone for about an hour and a half.