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Apr252008
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39th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival |
I had the day off of work today to attend the first day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Dad dropped me off near the fairgrounds on his way to the office this morning. I arrived there at about 10 so I had time to kill before getting in line. I bought some lemonade and shot a few pictures by Liuzza’s. Speaking of which, I should mention the camera gear I had with me this weekend. I rented the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens for the first weekend. A few weeks ago I bought a Lowepro Toploader 70 AW case, which really only accommodates just the zoom lens. I did manage to stuff the kit lens in one of the pockets for wide shots though. I don’t really care for the case but it’s all I have until another case I ordered arrives.My first stop after getting though the gate today was Economy Hall. June Gardner & The Fellas was the opening act. I can’t remember why I highlighted them on my schedule. It may have been because I remembered seeing him last year. They put on a good show of reasonably traditional jazz music. I left there early to catch a few minutes of Jonno Frishberg & Bayou Deville, who I saw at the French Quarter festival and enjoyed.After leaving the clubhouse I went to pick out something for lunch. I got a Cajun duck po-boy and some crawfish bread. I was quite dismayed when I went to get a drink. Pepsi is the drink sponsor of Jazz Fest this year and there is no Coke to be found at the fairgrounds. Frankly, I can’t think of any other singular action that could fuck up Jazz Fest more than trading Pepsi for Coke. Anyway, the po-boy was good but kind of messy to eat so I couldn’t really recommend it.I took my lunch to congo square where Otra played 12:45. I saw them at the French Quarter Festival a couple weeks ago. Today they had their regular piano player with them and they put on a great show as always. I did leave the set early to go to the gospel tent. On the way here this morning Dad suggested I go see Rosalie “Lady Tambourine” Washington. I had never heard of this lady although thinking back I’ve probably seen her before. Her impromptu appearances with other bands are somewhat infamous in New Orleans. She was backed by a gospel choir. The performance started without her and when she came on I immediately understood what Dad mean when referring to her show-stealing. It was really something to see, a very enjoyable performance.After Lady Tambourine I walked to the Jazz Tent to get a spot for Leah Chase, a local jazz voacalist. I saw her at Jazz Fest last year where she put on a great show. She’s also an interesting photographic subject. She out on a great show this year too and I stayed for the duration.When she was finished I walked to Economy Hall to see Kustbandet of Sweden. When I can I try to see international acts at the Fest. They were pretty decent but I didn’t stay terribly long because I wanted to catch Ellis Marsalis, who was playing at the same time back at the jazz tent.Later in the afternoon after Ellis I eventually met up with Patrick and his friend Jenna after wandering around the Acura stage for a bit. Sheryl Crow was playing, the last act of the evening there. After a few minutes of conversation and Patrick getting a good look at my camera, we walked over to congo square where some of Jenna’s friends were. We hung around there until the last act of the day finished at 7. We parted ways after we walked out the gate at the end of the evening. I walked to the cab stand at a nearby playground where it looked like some 500 people were waiting for a cab. I walked to another cab stand near Mystery Street where there was a much shorter line. It took be just under 20 minutes to get a cab. I got in a cab by myself unlike how most people were doing it. I don’t think the cabbie was thrilled about going all the way to the west bank.Later that evening I went through all my pictures and got the best ones online. This year I’ve resolved to get my pictures sorted the evening after the event rather than waiting months to get around to it. This is also helped by the fact that I’m shooting RAW this year so necessity and an increased deliberate nature to my picture taking will the number of shots per day.