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Apr262008
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Rain Soaked Jazz |
Dad gave me a ride to the fairgrounds today amid some dreary weather. I got there shortly after noon, in time for the start of The Original Last Straws in Economy Hall. They were pretty decent but I left there after about 20 minutes to see Riccardo Crespo & Sol Brasil. I watched him for a few minutes and eventually wandered over to the jazz tent to see Germaine Bazzle, seeing a glass blowing demonstration along the way. It was crowded there in the jazz tend and I didn’t stay that long.After that, I got something to eat at the food area by the crafts section. I got the trout baquet and gumbo, which was pretty decent but not the easiest thing to eat. After lunch I walked back to Economy Hall, seeing a bit of the Mahogany Brass Band along the way. I went to Economy Hall to see Tricia Boutt and the Ytre Sulens Jass-ensemble. I always like to see international acts when they play at Jazz Fest as they’re usually very good and the there is seldom an opportunity to see them ever again. This particular act was quite good. The band was foreign but the vocalist is a local who has toured with the band from Norway.I left this show about halfway through to go see Astral Project, my favorite local band, at the jazz tent. With the group today was James Singleton, their bassist who relocated to Los Angeles following Katrina. Having not seen him in previous performances of late, it was a treat to see him with the band. The rain came down hard during their performance. I got to speak with a professional photographer I believe either before or after the show. She said her name was Ellis, possibly Gloria Ellis, who was shooting with Canon film cameras, which is rather unique among the pros I see wandering at Jazz Fest. I’ve seen her pop up several times over the past few years. Frankly, she always looks a tired carrying all that gear around, but I was impressed with how pleasant she was. We spoke for a few minutes about our camera before she had to leave for anther stage.I broke out my umbrella to walk to the blues tent as I had no desire to see Billy Joel in the rain. The closing act in the blues tent was the Ponderosa Stomp Revue, which a fellow patron recommended to me. With the rain as bad as it was, the tent was very popular and extremely crowded. I stood at the barricade to the far left of the stage. I never got near the middle to shoot any good pictures. I eventually grey tired of the warmth of the close quarters so I retreated to the WWOZ hospitality tent and got a bit wet along the way, in spite of my umbrella. I sat down to relax for a while and shot some pictures of the wet passerby’s. I talked to Dad who had to pick up Andrew but had trouble due to street flooding. He was willing to pick me up but it could take a while.Eventually they started to seal up the tent and I left to go to the lagniappe stage in the grandstands. Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show played for a little while with one microphone but eventually had to stop early because the stage was flooded and the rain was still pouring. That didn’t stop a good number of people from enjoying themselves though, dancing in the rain. Eventually they started to shutter the grandstands for the night. I was sitting when a police officer informed me they were closing and politely asked me to make my way to the exit.I left the fair grounds and headed to Liuzza’s to continue to wait for Dad. I got a drink and the barbeque shrimp po-boy. It was a bit of a stretch to call it a sandwich but I’ve had worse. I was there for a good while before Dad arrived. When he did we rode out to Lakeview to get Andrew. On the way home we picked up Popeye’s for dinner although getting home was an ordeal with the street flooding as had to take a few detours around west bank streets.