JOE AND NEEN'S '98 JAZZ FEST - FIRST WEEKEND

Although Joe and I have been going to Jazz Fest since '82, this was our first time as members of the Pet de Kat Krewe. We discovered PDKK while doing some on-line Fest research, and I was instantly hooked. Before I knew it, I was spending way too many hours on the chat board, talking to folks from all over the world. The PDKK website gave us excellent nightclub grids and daytime schedules, and the Kat Chat Board gave us even more - a shared, growing anticipation that reached feverish levels by Jazz Fest time.

THURSDAY
This year we stayed at the Quality Inn in "da parrish" - Chalmette. I knew we were someplace special when I could hardly understand the desk clerk through his accent - we'd arrived in Yat Land! The hotel is attached to a working marina and each morning we woke to the smell of salt water and the cry of gulls flying over the bayou. It's about a 30-minute drive from the Fest or the quarter, but the price was right! Based on the desk clerk's recommendation, we ate our first meal at a legendary place named Rocky & Carlos's. "Rocky", who looked to be about 90 and spoke only Italian, was enthroned at the cash register, while the women served the food from behind a counter. Joe's Oyster Po-Boy must have contained at least 4 dozen oysters. I had fried shrimp fresh off the docks, with an incredibly memorable side of Mac & Cheese made from handmade, foot-long macaroni. We stuffed ourselves so completely on all of the great, homemade food, that it was all we could do to make it back to the hotel, unpack, take some Alka-Seltzer and fall into bed.

    dawn on the bayou
sunrise in Chalmette

FRIDAY
I was up with the seagulls, so while Joe slept off those oysters, I grabbed some breakfast & a paper at the 24-hour café, and took a long walk around the marina to shoot a few photos. Finally, it was time to don our Krewe T-shirts and big straw hats, and head into town. Near the fairgrounds, we located the same little lot we'd discovered last year, and were once again able to park just 3 blocks away for $10/day. My feet were barely touching ground as we danced our way into the first day of Jazz Fest.

First stop was the new Lagniappe Stage, to meet up with Steve Lamb, a fellow-Atlantan and PDKK guy, who we had met just the week before. As we walked along in front of the new grandstand, we spotted three pretty outrageous looking folks walking towards us with big grins on their faces and Krewe shirts on. Two minutes into the fest and we'd already met Alan and Steve/Miami – two of the PDKK founders, along with their "virgin" – Wanda (aka ShadyKitty). After much handshaking and mutual admiration of shirts, we moved on to the stage.

The Poor Claire's band was a great way to start the day –Celtic music with a slight edge. We never found Dr. Steve, but we hung around till the set was over, admiring the beautiful new Lagniappe stage. Set in a cool, shady oval, filled with grass and pretty yellow flowers, with real chairs to sit in – it's the perfect place to rest, recoup and escape. We knew we'd find our way back here many times over the next few days.

But for now it was time to head to the WWOZ Jazz Tent. We stopped for jambalaya, red beans & rice, and a couple of HUGE iced coffees (using the great cyber-coupons the PDKK folks told us about), and wandered over to the new location of the Jazz Tent.

     Neen at the Lagniappe Stage


Neen with Zydeco Joe and Lisa from RI   

Pony Dancer and Joe
 Overall, the new re-arrangement of tents and stages at the fairgrounds this year seemed to work well, with the noteable exception of the Jazz Tent. There was a real problem with sound-bleed from the HOB tent. It seemed to improve as the weekend went by, but some of the softer ballads in the Jazz tent were difficult to hear. We found seats for Steve Masakowski & Friends, a brilliant, fluid guitar player surrounded by top-class musicians. Joe recognized Jim Singleton on bass – the "mad scientist" looking guy, who solo-ed and jammed with abandon. It was hot, modern jazz that was right up Joe's alley! Especially moving was a lovely ballad in honor of Red Tyler, which was unfortunately a bit drowned out by the insistent bass beat wafting out from the back of the HOB stage.

We decided to see Ruth Brown next after reading the write-up in that morning's Time-Picayune. On the way to the Ray Ban stage, we met two Kats – Lisa and Zydeco Joe. We all hit it off right away, so we grabbed some bread pudding and more iced coffee, and then walked over to the Ray Ban. We arrived early enough to catch the second half of the set by Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeens. This was a "fest find" for us this year. They played excellent funk grooves that had us up and dancing . Based on a tip from the chat line, we heading to front stage right. Sure enough – we ran into a small crowd of Kats - including Pony Dancer & Marisol, who were easy to spot from their pictures on the web.

Then it was time for Ruth Brown - the "Queen Mother" of soul. It was hard to believe this energetic woman, belting out some "mean mama" blues, was really in her 70's. As Ruth herself told us, "I may be old, but I'm not cold" - as the crowd roared with love and joy. Then she sang, "If I can't sell it, I'll just sit on it, cause I sure ain't givin' it away". Joe and I were able to try out some of the new dance steps we'd been practicing. Standing there in Joe's arms, looking up at his smiling face framed by a beautiful blue sky, with colored totems flapping around our heads, I had already achieved a state of jazz fest bliss, and it was only the first morning!

Joe and I next wandered by to catch a little Galactic. The crowd at the HOB stage was a whole different scene – lots of hormones packed into a small area. Galactic was playing some pretty good groove music, but the sound was bad, so we kept on moving back to the Lagniappe Stage.


We stretched out on the cool grass and settled in to see Osvoldo Ayala Y Su Grupo of Panama. This hot Panamanian band was the "find of the fest" for many reasons. The music was infectious and the band was tight. Osvaldo was smokin' on the accordion and they kept kicking the tempo up a notch until they had us all on our feet dancing. Two women and two men in traditional Panamanian garb danced in the little dance floor area beside the stage – with each other, and with any willing audience members.

And then of course there were - LAS CHICAS! Two luscious, creamy young women in body-hugging stretch mini dresses, dancing and singing backup. They looked like twins – and to most of the male Kats we met over the days of the fest – they were apparently a wet dream come true! Whenever we met a new Kat, and Joe mentioned "Osvaldo" to them, their eyes would get this glassy look and they would say – Oh Yeah, I caught that act SEVERAL times! Joe took the camera down front for some up-close shots. When he came back, I was asking him something about the rub-board type instrument one of the guys on stage was playing and he said "What, there's guys on stage?" But the band really was good – here's hoping the whole ensemble comes back for future fests!
 Osvaldo and Las Chicas

We started wandering towards the Polaroid stage. Ran into BluKat & KinderKitti who were heading over to Dr. John, said a quick hello and kept moving on to see Anders Osborne. Joe and I had never heard of this band, but decided to check them out because the Kats gave them a rave review. We got there as the band was groovin' on some funky, Little Feat-like syncopation. We never got to hear Theresa play her fiddle – but she sure could sing and scat and shake. Thanks for the recommendation Kats – this was a good one!

Al Grey (with Nicholas Payton and Friends    
 Next stop was the Fais Do-Do stage for Nathan & The Zydeco Cha-Chas. We arrived mid-set, just as the energy level in the band was whipping the crowd into a wild dancing frenzy. The fest really inspired these guys – it was hard-ass zydeco craziness. We jumped in and boogied till it hurt. We also met a couple more Kats - Heavy D & Little J (Dennis & Joyce), who we would wind up partying with every night at Liuzza's.

Out of breath, hot & sweaty, Joe made a beeline for the nearby snowball booth, while I picked up an infamous Mango freeze. Then it was on to the Economy Hall tent for Al Grey with Nicholas Payton & Friends. What a perfect way to end the first day! Nicholas Payton is a young trumpet player with an incredible sound, and he was on stage with a collection of old "masters". They played several songs in tribute to Doc Cheatham. It was a set of classic, New Orleans jazz, including one of the most mournful versions of St. James Infirmary we'd ever heard. Al Grey (aged 72) played the trombone on that song with obvious feelings, having just come out of the hospital to make this gig.


With the fest over, it was time to head to Liuzza's for the PDKK Happy Hour. That first Friday Happy Hour was filled with a sense of unreality for me. Standing outside in the warm New Orleans evening, in the middle of a HUGE street party, with total strangers coming up and introducing themselves and taking pictures - - - it was a surreal PDKK cocktail party.

Joe, Little J, Heavy D and Neen


I met so many folks, I can hardly remember them all: Banzai Bill from Mobile, Frangipanni from Dubai, George from VA, Homer & Mike from Baltimore, Phyllis & Pete from Maryland, Robert the Postman from N.O., and even Alice the Doll. A Kat named Alice from Canada couldn't make the Fest this year, so she's sent a voodoo doll in her place, hoping to vicariously experience all the fun she was missing. KinderKitti was showing Alice around Liuzza's that night, and introducing her to all the Kats.

Gentleman George from VA was handing out his signature sunglass stickers for everyone's party hats. Pony Dancer passed us a nice lagniappe – a coin from his Mardi Gras krewe. Joe and I settled in to "doing our good work" on the crowd. . We all partied so hard, we actually blew out the power on the whole corner. And we even finally ran into Dr. Steve from Atlanta, who gave us the "quote of the day"! When we asked him why we never saw his Mystic Knights totem at any of the places he'd said they would be, Steve shook his head sadly and said, "My Flag Boy let me down".

We finally headed out with Atlanta Steve and Homer & Mike. First stop was Steve's hotel, out near the Rock N Bowl. We were tooling along the highway, chattering away, comparing notes in excited voices, when Joe turned the car onto the street by the London Lodge hotel, and we all fell silent. Finally we had to say it - - "Steve, this place is a total dive!" We were all laughing so hard, I'm afraid we may have hurt Steve's feelings. We circled the block, and the whole hotel was like a "compound" surrounded by high cinderblock walls topped with concertina wire. But in afterthought, it was probably just the hotel's way of keeping their guests safe. And Steve had the last laugh, because he had the best room rate at the fest!
     KinderKitti with Alice the Doll

After dropping Steve off, the four of us headed to the quarter to check out the Port Of Call, which Homer said has "the best burgers on earth". But by the time we got there, there was a huge line out on the street, and it was late, and I was pretty wasted, so we decided to call it a night. We dropped Homer & Mike off and drove the 40 minute ride back out to Chalmette (where we'd left over 12 hours earlier). We grabbed a late night breakfast in the 24-hour café and hit the sack by 1:00.

Kats at Liuzza's

First Weekend Kats
Front row - GeorgeVa, Robert N.O., Banzai Bill
Second row - Steve Atl, ShadyKitty, Cajun Angel, Neen, Lil J, KinderKitti
Third row - Mike, ? , Blukat's head, Phyllis, Joe, Pony Dancer, Homer, Heavy D, ?, ?, Steve Miami


DAY 2     

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