Dis Dat and D'Udder...

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.. 

New Dr. John

A new Dr. John album-"Locked Down"- produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys was released yesterday. Go HERE for NY Times interview and HERE for NPR article and interview. You can also click HERE to see recent live performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Gonna see him at BAM in a couple weeks.

Live Webcast: WWOZ My Darlin New Orleans

Tonite around 8pm EST, WWOZ, the best station in the nation, to broadcast live from the My Darlin New Orleans benefit in New Orleans. Tune in to hear Irma Thomas, Little Freddie King and Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns.

Live Webcast Tonight at Tipitinas.com

Tune in tonight around 10pm EST for the Soul and Blues review featuring Otis Clay and one of my favorites, Glen David Andrews. Should be a great show.

St. Joseph's Day...and Night

Today is St. Joseph's Day. It is a Sicilian holiday honoring St. Joseph who is believed to have provided relief to Sicily during severe famine and has been celebrated ever since. It is a holiday that is not very well known outside of the Sicilian American community, but because New Orleans has one of the largest Italian Sicilian populations in the US, it has continued to be celebrated to this day. One of the main features of the celebration is to build altars- in homes, churches, in public spaces- filled with foodstuffs, baked goods and featuring fava beans, the last of which is considered to be the "lucky" bean. In New Orleans there is typically a St. Joseph's Day parade on the weekend before the holiday (which is always on March 19th I believe) and of course the altars. Over the years there are not as many altars being built- especially in private homes- but they are still done by many communities and churches to celebrate the holiday. (See picture above of a St. Joseph's Altar I photographed a couple years ago in New Orleans; it was on Decatur Street-right across from the Central Grocery which is world famous for it's muffaletta sandwiches.) I was able to find "St. Joe Cakes" at the local Italian Deli right here in Willow Grove, PA- these are "zeppole" filled with either a sweet ricotta cheese filling or a cannolli type filling; sweet and delicious (see photos below). In an interesting cultural melange sort of way, St. Joseph's night has in New Orleans also become associated with- believe it or not- the Mardi Gras Indians. It is the only time all year that the Indians parade at night. Apparently, one explanation that I have come across (see video HERE) is that the early Sicilian immigrants to the city of New Orleans settled in neighborhoods along with the African Americans already living there and as the two groups became familiar with each others' cultures and celebrations there was a cross-pollination of these that occurred. Very unique indeed. I have not been out with the Mardi Gras Indians on St. Joseph's Night but someday would hope to be in the city for this holiday and it's related celebrations.

Uptown Super Sunday

Today in New Orleans is Mardi Gras Indian Uptown Super Sunday. This is an annual event and features all of the Uptown Mardi Gras Indian tribes in a festival and parade. I am a big fan of the Mardi Gras Indians- having discovered them initially at Jazzfest where they perform on the Jazz & Heritage Stage periodically throughout the festival. I had never seen them outside of the festival setting until a couple years ago when I had the opportunity to attend Super Sunday. It was fantastic- it was a combination of a parade, festival , second line and featured more Mardi Gras Indians in full costume than I had ever seen. If you ever get the chance you gotta get down to New Orleans for this event. Here are some photos I took of the event back a couple years ago.

St. Patrick's Day in New Orleans

The first parade with Mardi Gras size floats that I ever went to in New Orleans was on St. Patrick's Day a couple years ago. I rode my bike out St. Charles Avenue to the Garden District and joined the crowd along the parade route. In addition to the usual throws - beads, plush toys - riders on the float were also throwing some decidedly unique Irish items like little boxes of Lucky Charms cereal and bars of Irish Spring soap . For some reason there were also a lot of MoonPies being tossed but I'm thinking that was less about St. Patrick's Day and more about being in the South. The other unique items being tossed from the float were fresh vegetables including onions, potatoes ( of course) and carrots. There was also the Irish answer to the Zulu coconuts being handed off to folks from the floats: whole heads of cabbage! Apparently the idea was that you came to the parade,gathered your fresh produce, and then went home and used it to make maybe corned beef and cabbage or some other Irish delicacy (if there is such a thing in Irish cooking). Anyway I did get a couple of cabbages and other fresh food items that I handed off to folks around me who appeared to be local and collecting these particular items. After the parade went by it was pretty funny seeing the street littered with not only beads and other "regular" throws but also cabbage leaves, carrots , potatoes and such ..once again, only in New Orleans.