I was invited to accompany my new crazy cat neighbor/aging hippie and full-time writer Beth--a truly wonderful person--and her friend Lolly. (And no, she had no adverbs with her. You know I had to ask anyone named Lolly.) Lolly was from New Jersey, and I scored extra bonus points when she told me this by asking "which exit?"
But we made the quick drive up to the Fairgrounds under clouds which promised a serious soaking...and they did deliver.
Add food, t-shirts, booze and rain/mud and you've got Jazz Fest.
Seventy-five bucks a day for tickets. And hundreds of thousands of people pay it during the two week-ends that this event goes on.
The rain first drove us into the Gospel Tent, where we heard the Jones Sisters rocking it out.
After a while, the rain stopped, so we wandered a bit. Then Beth and Lolly popped into one hall to hear a band that Beth knew and I went off to get more food and beer. Then the clouds opened up again and I got so wet that I could have jumped in the river to dry off. But on the plus side, the beer line got real short so I loaded up my cargo pants pockets with cans of beer and I was happy for a while.
I listened to a brass band for a while, out in the rain, because...well hell, I was already at my saturation point. Why not?
Back in the hall, a jazz band played, and an impromptu Second Line dance broke out.
It's all fun and games until someone breaks a hip.
And yeah, we joined in.
More wanderings...more music. And I had my beer.
It was more than a little muddy, but that didn't really seem to stop these folks.
All ages got into it.
A bit more wandering put us in Prime view of some Mardi Gras indians.
Some of these costumes can weigh over a hundred pounds and cost thousands of dollars to make--and they're all hand-made.
We wandered more. Drank more, got rained on a bit more...it was great.
Finally we wound up at the Acura stage to catch Susan Tedeschi and the Tedeschi Truck Band, who made a great finale for our day.
More mud.
The way to dress for Jazz Fest...See the Jazz Fest boots?
Although that was not a bad look either...little black dress, jazz boots, beer, and a hat that says "Keep calm and kill zombies".
Looking forward to next year already.
Now that looks like it was fun!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great day inspite of the rain/
ReplyDeleteJazz Fest is a blast! :-)
ReplyDeletePlease tell me you ate some Crawfish Monica. Best part of Jazz Fest for me!!
ReplyDeleteI did not find that, but I did partake of the Cochon de lait and I'm still savoring that today. Oh!
DeleteGood to see you're enjoying yourself and making some friends!
ReplyDeleteI only got jealous when I saw the Tedeschi-Trucks band was there. I love those two. Derek is one of the greatest slide guitar players working these days, but they're both great musicians.
ReplyDeleteMurphy,
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the Jazz fest, of course beer makes most anything better.
We have our own Jazz fest here in Denton, Tx, starts today in fact. Univ of N Texas (I graduated many moons ago) has the top jazz program in the US. Has had numerous Grammy nominations. I'll be helping with the beer inventory (depleting it) later today.
You are a man of eclectic tastes. I wouldn't go near something like that on a bet!
ReplyDeleteWe did miss going to Jazzfest and the Zurich Classic. Cochon de Lait is the BEST! (I have a Crawfish Monica recipe that was in the Times-Pic a few years back, but no Cpchon de Lait recipe!). We learned always to carry a fold up poncho because there WILL be mud at some point. I loved seeing the pics on the WWL app of people using make-shift rafts to head to the gates! Be sure to check for the advance, cheap(er) tickets next year. Glad you got in the spirit and had a blast!!
ReplyDelete