JAZZ FEST 1999
SATURDAY - APRIL 25


My notes get sketchier as the week wears on - I wonder why? (G)

Saturday morning we finally meet up with Kinderkitti - it's so wonderful to see my glitter girlfriend again. And we see Beach Bob and Linda at the LaSalle too. We put the three of them into the car with us and head out early to the Fest and a rendezvous outside the Gospel tent. What a great way to start the morning off, dancing and chatting and taking trips to Denver outside the Gospel tent with Maggie (finally!), Kinderkitti, Katlanta and Crispy. To top it all off, Pete and Phyllis stroll up, so it's more Kat love!

The day is insanely hot though, it gets worse and worse as the hours pass. Joe and I take lots of breaks inside the air conditioned grandstand. At one point as we sit inside watching the tired, hot, sweaty people shuffle around the fairgrounds, Joe says, "Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen" . . .

The Spray Bottle Tribe is out in full force, and verrrrry popular with the crowds. KindeKitti showed us a top-secret bathroom in the grandstand, a gift for which I am eternally grateful. I stop in frequently to put my head under the cold water tap to try to cool off. Poor KK slips and falls on the steep grandstand steps at one point and has to get some first aid.
        
       Beach Bob & Linda
       in Bethesda Boy's room
       at the LaSalle Hotel
       photo by KinderKitti


       
Big Joe, Crispy
Katlanta, Kinderkitti, Maggalicious

Lining up for
a parade through the fest



Crispy & Katlanta
dancing outside
the gospel tent
        
'Lanna Kats!
Katlanta, Crispy, Neen & Big Joe
photo by KinderKitti



It's too hot to eat very much - we try the blackened chicken pasta (yummy) and crawfish beignets for breakfast, along with the ubiquitous iced coffees (I unfortunately spilled one all over myself first thing, not a great omen for the day). Later in the day we had the fried turkey Po' boy, bread pudding w/praline sauce and some snowballs to cool us off. Here's my music notes:

Paky Saavedra's Bandido at Fox - The music draws us over as we enter the fairgrounds. The band plays crowd pleasers like "Day-O" and "La Bamba" and it is a happy, light-hearted set. We can only stay for half the set, because we have to make our rendezvous.

Luke AME Gospel Choir at Gospel Tent - This is our meeting place and the music is perfect for early morning. We listen from outside where we cand visit and Julie and Chris find plenty of room to dance. We also watch the Young Hunter and Yellow Jacket Indians lining up for a parade through the fairgrounds, and get lots of good pictures.

Casa Samba at Ray Ban - Joe and I walk over to the big stage, and heading to front stage right to watch this act awhile. It is composed of non-professional percussionists and dancers from a local samba school. They are all dressed up in beautiful, colored costumes and it is a lot of fun to watch how much fun THEY are all having on stage. Since Joe's been playing a lot of latin jazz lately, we wind up catching lots of latin influenced music all week, it seems.



Mad Kats in the midday sun
Katlanta, Crispy, Lisa-RI and Kinderkitti
photo by Lisa-RI

Charmaine Nevlille Band w/Reggie Houston & Amasa Miller at Fox - Joe and I have fond memories of catching a really memorable show by Charmaine many years ago at the Maple Leaf. She was doing straight-ahead jazz, with most of the Nevilles making surprise appearances during her set. Unfortunately, this Fest set is not as magical, so we don't linger . . .

Regis Gizavo of Madagascar at Fais Do Dos - Very pretty music, mostly accordion and drums.

Mahogany Brass Band at Lagniappe - very traditional brass band, perfect for Lagniappe stage.

Charles Neville at Jazz Tent - it feels like seeing an old friend. We've been seeing Charles, as well as The Neville Brothers, for over 20 years. It is strange seeing how gray his hair has become. He plays straight-up jazz to a huge, overflowing crowd. We can't stay long because of the heat. Unfortunate that the changes in the stage layouts resulted in one whole side of the Jazz Tent being blocked by trailers this year. It caused my favorite stage to become unbearably hot with absolutely no breeze. But by this time, we're heading back to the a/c in the grandstand after each foray out into the sun anyway.

       
Charles Neville
Getting better with age
Acoustic Swiftness at Lagniappe - Decent fusion, but more importantly - seats in the shade!

We sit there and sucked down some iced teas and decide that there was no one left that we absolutely have to see, and we're not having much fun at this point, so we say the hell with it around 3:30 pm, and head back to our air-conditioned room. We drive back listening to C.J. Chenier's set broadcast live on WWOZ, stop into the Popeye's on the corner for a take-out snack, have nice cool showers and time for lots of indoor fireworks in our cool room.

Later, we drive over to the Fauburg Marigny and have wonderful parking karma again - a spot directly in front of Snug Harbor. We leave the car there and stroll over for dinner at Mona Lisa's in the lower quarter area. This restaurant was a wonderful recommendation from several different kats. While every other restaurant we see on this Saturday night has lines out the door, at Mona Lisa's we are able to walk in and be seated within 5 minutes. The service is fast and friendly and the italian food is a delicious contrast after two full days of solid cajun/creole fare. We drink a nice chianti with dinner and then head back to the Fauburg Marigny to walk around.

We stop in at the Dragon's Den to catch Mas Mamones, but the room upstairs is stifling hot and miserably crowded (the a/c was on the fritz, they tell us) so we change our minds. On the way out, we stop downstairs at Café Siam to visit with a bunch of kats still eating dinner there - DJGriff, Bethesda Boy, Homer, Mike, Juls, and Xrisma. They say their dinner was deliscious but it took them hours and hours from start to finish. Outside, we run into Mary and Willie, The Gonzos, Maggie, Phyllis & Pete. Phyllis tries to convince us to join them for oyster shots, but we decide to pass. (After hearing of the adventures of Maggie, Phyllis & Pete later that night, I'm thinking we should have gone with them after all - GRIN).

So we wander over to Café Brazil. It's after 9 pm and the place is still pretty empty, well air-conditioned, and the cover charge is only $10. So we go inside for drinks at the bar. We thought we'd stay and see Kermit Ruffins, who is scheduled to start at 9:30. But of course, this was New Orleans, and starting times are a joke. We do get to see the Little Rascals Brass Band, who finally come out around 10:30 or 11:00. It is a fun band - the place isn't very crowded, so there is lots of room for some wild dancing. The band members seem to revolve on and off the stage, with different players all evening. After an couple of hours, we head outside to walk around. We peek in at the Rads show going strong at Dream Palace, and eventually stroll down Decatur to the Du Monde for coffee & beignets, followed by a romantic stroll on the moonwalk under the late night moon. Then it's back to the hotel to sleep.


      
Mas Mamones at Storyville
Mas Mamones





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