Packin' Brushes
I have a trio of New Yorkers and a solitary Californian visiting me here on Rocheblave for the first Jazzfest weekend and last night they took me out for cheeseburgers with all the way baked potato at Port O' Call. I wanted them to go hear without me Southern Culture on the Skids but it was their travel day and they were pretty tired and retired early. They said tomorrow they wanted to do some painting on the Dumaine house so I left them the key and said, paint and ladders are up in there, have at it. I snuck out the back way at 6:30 this morning as they slept on air mattress in the front two rooms.
I've been taking Fridays off recently so I can have three day weekends to work on side projects, like the Dumaine house, and my other favorite side project--laying about doing not a damn thing. Me and the boss always took off early on Fridays anyway. And this week, my boss said he was going to take off Friday too, so today, Thursday, was our Friday and we took off early.
Passing by the Dumaine house on the way over here to Rocheblave I expected to see my Friends just getting back from a late breakfast, and probably overwhelmed by the cumulative cosmic slacker dynamic of the hood, loitering about on turned over five gallon buckets, cat-calling at the now infrequent passing gangbanger.
But glancing over as I passed by on N. Broad and I could see they had completed their assigned task of priming with exterior oil base paint the power sanded bare wood spots on the front of the house, and I thought, holy sheeit, these some kickass, sumabitch, worker guests.
Tomorrow I know they want to hit first day of Jazzfest, see Dylan for sure, but Ima see if I can get them to put on that new roof before they go.
Betsy's has just re-opened. Grits for everyone.
He didn't say a word beyond introducing his band. But he sang the baleful "High Water" and the not-so-carefree "Watching the River Flow"; he sang "Lonesome Day Blues," with lines like "The road's washed out — weather not fit for man or beast." When he sang "Positively Fourth Street," it sounded like an indictment of the government's response to the hurricane; when he closed his set with "All Along the Watchtower," his band played power chords like warnings of the apocalypse.
Mr. Dylan, who recorded his album "Oh Mercy" in New Orleans in 1989, wrote about the city in "Chronicles, Volume One," his autobiographical book. "There are a lot of places I like," he wrote, "but I like New Orleans better. There's a thousand different angles at any moment." He added that it was "a great place to really hit on things."
too obvious, and inappropriate? how bout this one?
They must have had lyric sheets in the "Big Chief" VIP seating section, 'cuz out in binocular range not all the words were entirely distinct.
He gave the band lots of room to play. With two guitars, and a steel pedal guitar in addition to bass and drums, there was a fair amount of jamming. Mr. Dylan worked a keyboard and harmonica.
I would have wanted to hear Hard Rain's Gonna Fall but not an avid Jazzfest attendee I wasn't actually there to hear whether he did or not. Did he play Hard Rain's Gonna Fall? I asked, and they, those that actually attended, said, no.
Didn't hear it - we were disappointed in Dylan - a lot of honky tonk in the early part, left and missed the last part (lactation obligations) - I'm a huge fan of OLD stuff and Out of Mind is like one of my all time favorites - Chrissie was more disappointed than I was. I don't know about other people, but Jazz Fest needs to figure out what to do about these big crowds, artists and stages, because live NO music is about seeing the artist. At Jazz Fest, that is increasingly impossible - even with a RELATIVELY less well known artist, the crowds detract from the experience. Anyway, like they say, to wear sack cloth in New Orleans is preferable to own the whole state of Ohio.
Made up for it today - Betsy McGovern was a good set, as was Galactic - heard most of the Tom Piazza interview (excellent - he likes to hear himself talk, but he's sensitive to reality in a way which lets you forgive him) and a little bit of Herbie Hancock (crowd out into the fence).
That's the thing for me too, the crowd, would have loved to see Herbie Hancock, but like you say, I wouldn't actually SEE him.
The first weekend of the 37th annua New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival ended with a rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In." When the familiar chorus arrived, the white handkerchiefs New Orleanians seem to keep handy on all occasions were waved high. Yet it wasn't the jaunty, clichéd jazz version. Bruce Springsteen played "Saints" as nothing less than a hymn, and he sang a rarely noticed final verse: "Some say this world of trouble is the only world we'll ever see/But I'm waiting for that morning when the new world is revealed."
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I have a trio of New Yorkers and a solitary Californian visiting me here on Rocheblave for the first Jazzfest weekend and last night they took me out for cheeseburgers with all the way baked potato at Port O' Call. I wanted them to go hear without me Southern Culture on the Skids but it was their travel day and they were pretty tired and retired early. They said tomorrow they wanted to do some painting on the Dumaine house so I left them the key and said, paint and ladders are up in there, have at it. I snuck out the back way at 6:30 this morning as they slept on air mattress in the front two rooms.
I've been taking Fridays off recently so I can have three day weekends to work on side projects, like the Dumaine house, and my other favorite side project--laying about doing not a damn thing. Me and the boss always took off early on Fridays anyway. And this week, my boss said he was going to take off Friday too, so today, Thursday, was our Friday and we took off early.
Passing by the Dumaine house on the way over here to Rocheblave I expected to see my Friends just getting back from a late breakfast, and probably overwhelmed by the cumulative cosmic slacker dynamic of the hood, loitering about on turned over five gallon buckets, cat-calling at the now infrequent passing gangbanger.
But glancing over as I passed by on N. Broad and I could see they had completed their assigned task of priming with exterior oil base paint the power sanded bare wood spots on the front of the house, and I thought, holy sheeit, these some kickass, sumabitch, worker guests.
Tomorrow I know they want to hit first day of Jazzfest, see Dylan for sure, but Ima see if I can get them to put on that new roof before they go.
- jimlouis 4-27-2006 11:54 pm
Betsy's has just re-opened. Grits for everyone.
- mark 4-28-2006 8:35 pm [add a comment]
- bill 4-29-2006 1:45 pm [add a comment]
too obvious, and inappropriate? how bout this one?
- dave 4-29-2006 3:46 pm [add a comment]
They must have had lyric sheets in the "Big Chief" VIP seating section, 'cuz out in binocular range not all the words were entirely distinct.
He gave the band lots of room to play. With two guitars, and a steel pedal guitar in addition to bass and drums, there was a fair amount of jamming. Mr. Dylan worked a keyboard and harmonica.
- mark 4-29-2006 8:10 pm [add a comment]
I would have wanted to hear Hard Rain's Gonna Fall but not an avid Jazzfest attendee I wasn't actually there to hear whether he did or not. Did he play Hard Rain's Gonna Fall? I asked, and they, those that actually attended, said, no.
- jimlouis 4-30-2006 1:21 am [add a comment]
Didn't hear it - we were disappointed in Dylan - a lot of honky tonk in the early part, left and missed the last part (lactation obligations) - I'm a huge fan of OLD stuff and Out of Mind is like one of my all time favorites - Chrissie was more disappointed than I was. I don't know about other people, but Jazz Fest needs to figure out what to do about these big crowds, artists and stages, because live NO music is about seeing the artist. At Jazz Fest, that is increasingly impossible - even with a RELATIVELY less well known artist, the crowds detract from the experience. Anyway, like they say, to wear sack cloth in New Orleans is preferable to own the whole state of Ohio.
Made up for it today - Betsy McGovern was a good set, as was Galactic - heard most of the Tom Piazza interview (excellent - he likes to hear himself talk, but he's sensitive to reality in a way which lets you forgive him) and a little bit of Herbie Hancock (crowd out into the fence).
- anonymous (guest) 4-30-2006 3:48 am [1 comment]
That's the thing for me too, the crowd, would have loved to see Herbie Hancock, but like you say, I wouldn't actually SEE him.
- jimlouis 4-30-2006 4:45 am [add a comment]
- bill 5-01-2006 12:20 pm [1 comment]