Sunday morning, we packed the car with Beach Bob & Linda, Kinderkitti and Xrisma and got to the Fest early once again. This turned out to be a wonderful Fest day for us! The weather was slightly cooler and we were finally getting more acclimated. I spent the day handing out more shaker eggs, and Joe clipped everyone we met with catclips and feathers. Whenever it got too hot, we just ate lots of spicy crawfish which made us sweat more and cooled us down. During the day, we ate some of the best food of the week. The Sunday chow list included crawfish bread and fresh squeezed lemonade, boiled crawfish & taters, shrimp po boy, orange iced tea, a Vietnamese dish with shrimp vermicelli and stuffed crab claws (cool and delicious on a hot day!), snowballs, iced Café Au Lait, pink lemonades, and mini-pies to take back to the hotel - coconut, sweet potato and pecan. Here's the music notes from the day: Hobo Clowns Parade - We walked right into this group and strolled along with the parade. Very interesting "hobo" patchwork costumes. Germaine Bazzle at Jazz Tent - We had never seen this incredible local jazz vocalist, and had made plans to be sure to catch her set. We grabbed great seats in the corner bleachers of the tent, where we had a good view, a nice cross breeze, and other kats around us sharing Sunday morning food & music - Lisa/RI and Zydeco Joe, along with Mudbuggy and Polkaholic Dan.

Big Joe, Neen, Zydeco Joe & Polky      Sunday morning with      Germaine Bazzle and Kats

Jambalya Cajun Band at Fais Do Do - This was the stage that Julie & Chris picked to meet up with us today. We got there early and caught good portion of their mainstream cajun set, until Julie and Chris finally danced up to us.

Eddie Bo at Ray Ban - Next stop was to catch this legendary pianist at the big stage. We did a lot of strolling around on this day, catching parts of many different sets and wandering in and out of Kat gatherings everywhere we went!

The Revealers at FOX - Decent reggae and fun to dance along with. Fais Do Do in full swing!

Pony Dancer & DJGriff by Congo Square

Cassandra Wilson at Jazz Tent - We had high hopes for this act, having heard so much about her. But the gospel tent was really screwed up this year. One whole side of the tent was completely blocked by trailers. So it meant there was no possibility of cross-breeze flowing through. Joe and I got seats up in the bleachers, but it was stifling hot and I wound up with a serious claustrophic attack, had to claw my way out of the thick, thick crowds to get some air. We'll catch her at a club eventually . . .

Joe brought me over to the grandstand to cool off and regroup. We ran into the Furious Five and Original Four SAPC (marching club), with the Hot 8 Brass band parading by, and that lifted my spirits right back up. After we washed up and cooled off, we headed over to Ray Ban for Dr. John. Unfortunately, we had missed most of his set and only caught the last few songs, which were great.

SteveMiami, DJGriff, George and Big Joe

SteveMiami, DJGriff & Pony Dancer

Plane Boys SteveMiami & Beach Bob photo by KinderKitti

Phyllis & Pete! photo by KinderKitti

Angelique Kidjo at Congo - Next stop was the Congo stage to hear this incredible, ethereal singer from Africa, on recommendation of many different kats. We brought a large order of spicy boiled crawfish and taters with us, and sat in the afternoon sun, eating and sweating and being transported by this amazing music. Definitely the highlight of the day.

Neen dancing to Angelique

Joe the Crawfish Man

Watching Angelique - Mudbuggy Big Joe, Polky and Maggie

Zydeco Bonnie, Mudbuggy and Polkaholic

Louisana Repertory Jazz Ensemble at Economy - We caught a small portion of this classic set.

La Bottine Souriante de Montreal at Fais Do Do - The Artic kats had told us to be sure to catch this group, so we headed that way and ran into Maggie, Mudbuggy, Polkaholic and Zybon. We danced with them for awhile, then moved back under a shady tree to watch the rest of the set. This was the other highlight of the day - traditional folk music from Montreal that sounded amazingly similar to New Orleans music, with a tough of polka thrown in. The crowd loved them and the band seemed to be feeding off the crowd engery.

We hung around the Fais Do Do stage for awhile, to catch the traditional Sunday afternoon Watermelon Sacrifice. Lots of other kats strolled up to watch and participate and take pictures. Then Joe and I started strolling around again. We walked slowly around the Fox stage listening to a few songs by Cowboy Mouth - great vocals and huge crowds. Then it was time to head over to the Jazz Tent for the final act of the day.

Watermelon Sacrifice begins!

Sniff! Is it funky enough yet?

Annointing the melon

It's almost ready to fly!

After the melon Gonzo, Willie, Big Joe, FOC Mary

Lovely Wanda with Mango Freeze

Nicholas Payton Quintet at Jazz Tent - we chose to end the day with Nicholas Payton, who had really wowed us last year. It was a treat to hear him playing more modern jazz, in comparison with the traditional music he performed last year with Al Grey. We laid outside the edge of the Jazz tent for awhile, listening to his heavenly trumpet playing, eating Po'boys and pies for dinner. We watched the crowds of people slowly heading for the exits at the end of the day. At one point, one of the Fest workers drover over in her golf cart to share the small shady spot we had discovered. Her name was Wanda and she was indulging in a Mango Freeze to celebrate the end of another successful working day. We sat and chatted with her for a long while, and took her picture which we promised to send to her later.