If last year\u2019s weather for French Quarter Fest was \u201camazing,\u201d as I described it then, this year\u2019s weather could only be called perfect.\u00a0 It was sunny, dry, and cool.\u00a0 This was the only New Orleans festival I can remember where I didn\u2019t go home each day a sweaty mess.\u00a0 While it was easier to be out longer, I was in my car headed home by 7:30 each day.\u00a0 This year I went on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.\u00a0 I elected to skip Thursday and go to work.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking three vacation days for the upcoming Jazz Fest during exams at the law school where I work which drew some undesired attention, and I didn\u2019t want to push my luck.<\/p>\n
I did even more wandering than I usually do at the festival this year.\u00a0 In the past I\u2019ve made elaborate plans to offset conflicts with the Jazz Fest schedule, but I never even looked at the lineups in advance of each day.\u00a0 I will probably miss my favorite local band, Astral Project, at the Jazz Fest this year, but I see them close out French Quarter Fest every year so that wasn\u2019t something I needed to think about.<\/p>\n
The highlight for me on Friday was Debauche.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen the \u201cRussian mafia band\u201d a few times before at small venues.\u00a0 Cramped clubs like Siberia are admittedly more appropriate for their take on gypsy punk, but the pleasant outdoor setting offered a less intense experience that was welcome for an aspiring party pooper like me.<\/p>\n
My mom was along with me most of Saturday.\u00a0 After we arrived we met up with my Aunt Lauren at the Jackson Square stage where Tim Laughlin was playing.\u00a0 We wandered with her for a while and ended up at the Palm Court Jazz Club where we saw Lars Edegran’s New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra and Tom McDermott and His Jazz Hellions.\u00a0 We had seats well off to the side of the stage so I didn\u2019t shoot many pictures there.\u00a0 Later after Lauren left for the day Dad joined us and we went to El Gato Negro near the Old US Mint for something to eat.\u00a0 Not long after dinner I parted company with my parents.\u00a0 I was intent on heading home for the night but I liked what I was hearing from Jackson Square and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra.\u00a0\u00a0 Terrance “Hollywood” Taplin was filling in for Delfeayo Marsalis as orchestra leader.\u00a0 It was a great set featuring some of the best brass players in town.\u00a0 Any band with a large horn section usually does it for me.\u00a0 After I got home, I went out again for a second dinner with Lindsay at Sake Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
On Sunday I made it out of bed early enough to catch John Boutte open the day at Jackson Square.\u00a0 I stuck around for Leroy Jones afterward, and then Jeremy Davenport.\u00a0 Like Saturday, I wasn\u2019t interested in braving the crowds on the riverfront and I was content with the lineup there.\u00a0 After Jeremy\u2019s set I gradually made my way towards the US Mint.\u00a0 I caught the better part of John Mooney\u2019s set before Astral Project closed out the festival.\u00a0 As always, they played an excellent show in front of an enthusiastic crowd.<\/p>\n
I was better behaved with the picture taking this year as compared to last.\u00a0 I took \u201conly\u201d 3,000 pictures over the weekend.\u00a0 I was a lot better about stopping after I thought I had the shots I wanted.\u00a0 That said I always wish I had shot more pictures of the people attending the festival instead of just the performers.\u00a0 I am looking for those shots more than I used to, but I don\u2019t often find them.\u00a0 I will have plenty of opportunity to look some more in two weeks with the 2017 Jazz Fest rolls around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If last year\u2019s weather for French Quarter Fest was \u201camazing,\u201d as I described it then, this year\u2019s weather could only be called perfect.\u00a0 It was sunny, dry, and cool.\u00a0 This was the only New Orleans festival I can remember where I didn\u2019t go home each day a sweaty mess.\u00a0 While it was easier to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1594,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbsdomain.com\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}