I went once (I think it was 1990), and I had a great time, saw a lot of fantastic music, and ate like a horse (sorry, but I don't drink)! Just being able to see the blind bluesman Snooks Eaglin, who doesn't play outside of N.O., was worth it alone. Also old-time rock & rollers like Frankie Ford and Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Carribean flavor from Toots & The Maytals, jazz from Ramsey Lewis, vocals by (the now late) great Johnny Adams, funk with The Meters, brass band from The Dirty Dozen, and lots of cajun and zydeco music (and we didn't even try to attend SRV!) - and that's not including the stuff we saw in the clubs and bars at night! (The name "Jazz and Heritage Festival" can be a little misleading, though - there's not a special emphasis on jazz.) Got to get back one of these years...
How About that Jazz Fest down in New Orleans....
Ok, gotta ask -- now that I've been down for this thing three years in a row and consider myself officially addicted, how many of the rest of you are hooked by this pilgrimage? Between the food, the Fest, the shows at the fairgrounds, the GOSPEL TENT, and all of the amazing music and tomfoolery that happens in and about town 'till dawn - this strikes me as god's answer to Disney Land for the rougishly musically inclined. All the glorious, expensive hardware aside, for my money, for music it's spots like the Fest were the proverbial rubber hits the road -- in a wonderously sticky, week-long musical orgy -- and Music happens. (Sure, wouldn't sit down and listen at home to half of the folks I danced to 'till dawn - though half I do - but that's not the point, or, more to the point, maybe it is...were're talking music as celebration, here, not the sterilized, engineered, packaged kind handed out on little plastic waffers. And, yes, though I'm only getting warmed up, I've already gone too far...).
Are you with me?
Are you with me?
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