Last week was
French Quarter Fest (FQF) in New Orleans. I had planned on listening to the WWOZ Live Broadcast but on Wednesday for some reason the broadcast schedule disappeared without explanation from their website- bummer. I ended up emailing the station and only just heard back on Monday that apparently there were technical problems with getting AT&T to install the necessary line to allow for their remote broadcast- just another reason to hate AT&T so add it to the list. So instead of listening I had to resort to reading about fest and looking at photos posted during the 4 days of the festival. I have never been to this festival- and -I can't believe I'm saying this- I'm not sure I would want to go to it. Let me explain. I have been to
Jazzfest a bunch of times. Even when jazz fest sets records for crowds, it somehow doesnt feel crowded. I think it's because the grounds are more spread out and especially the stages and major tents are placed in such a way that you dont feel like you are jammed into the middle of a huge crowd. Granted, at the major stages for the major acts it does get crowded, but you always have an option to go to a less crowded area or venue to see some music. You can also move relatively easily from stage to stage which is one of my favorite things to do at JazzFest. From what I read and understand about the FQF-especially in the past 2-3 years- it has maybe gotten too big for it's own good. This year I believe there were 20+ stages spread across the quarter and down to the river that hosted 200+ artists over the 4 days. I also just read that estimates were that there were 574,000 people at the festival over the 4 days. Wow!. I remember reading last year that it was difficult to move from stage to stage and that even the musicians were finding it difficult to navigate the crowds in order to get from gig to gig. It seems to me, that to "do" this festival, you would have to maybe pick a stage or general area and stay there all day b/c trying to do a JazzFest-like stage hopping thing would be almost impossible or just too much of a hassle. Talking to my sister seemed to bear that out- she said she went down to the festival on Saturday for a bit, but left after a while bc too crowded and then didnt even bother to go back on Sunday because of the crowds. Sounds like the festival promoters are going to have to address this soon- its great that its in the Quarter and that it is FREE (!) but at some point it is going to start to have diminishing returns.
On another note, last weekend my wife and I drove up to NYC, actually Brooklyn to be exact, to see the last show of Dr. John's 3 week residency at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). We met up with some of our NYC/NJ New Orleanianophile (is that a word?) friends for dinner before the show at The Smoke Joint which is right near the venue. Company was great- barbecue was just ok (for my money, in NYC, there are 2 really good places for bbq- Blue Smoke and my number one pick Daisy Mays, but thats for a different blog). Anyway, the show was excellent. Dr. John was in fine form-playing piano the whole show and also was in very strong voice- and looked sharp in one of his signature suits-this one red-and hat. He even surprised the audience at the beginning by starting the show from the back of the theater and leading some musicians, singers and dancers in a parade down the center aisle to the stage-he's still got some moves. Once on stage, a steady stream of big name New Orleans musicians joined Dr John and his band for different segments of the show. Guests included the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Irma Thomas, Nicholas Payton, Donald Harrison, Davell Crawford and vocalist Tami Lynn. (Personally, I was not a big fan of Ms Lynn's vocals nor Mr. Crawford's singing and piano playing but thats just me). Anyway, highlights for me were Nicholas Paytons trumpet playing , numbers featuring the Dirty Dozen, Irma Thomas' singing and the numbers featuring Dr. John along with Donald Harrison on saxophone-especially the Mardi Gras Indian stuff-the song Indian Red being one of my favorites in particular. After hearing that song, when I woke up the next day I had to dig out my copy of Dr. John's 1992 release Goin Back to New Orleans which is -after Gumbo-probably my favorite Dr. John album. Yeah you right..
