Jazz Fest Trip - Day 14

We left for the Jazz Fest about 10:30 am on a shuttle from the RV park. We walked a few blocks from the drop-off point to one of the entrances to the event, which is held at the fairgrounds and race track about 4 miles from where we are staying.  Our first stop was at the "VIP" lounge where we had complimentary snacks and beverages and got oriented to the locations of the different performance stages and schedules. 

The performances started at 11:00 am on 12 different stages.  Needless to say, there is no way to see everything so you have to decide what you want to see and either watch the whole performance (usually about an hour each) or watch some of the performance and go to another venue to see something else.  There are a lot of performers we have never heard before, so we moved around a lot today sampling a variety of music.  The stages are also somewhat categorized by the type of music played (e.g. traditional jazz, modern jazz, cajun, blues, etc.)

The performers we saw today, in all or in part included:

1. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes -"Swamp" Rock 
2. Lucinda Williams - Female Vocal
3. Wilco - Alternative Rock
4. Gail Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue - Country Rock/Female Vocal
5. The New Orleans Bingo Show - Show Band
6. Cyndi Lauper - Female Vocal
7. BRW - Rap
8. Christian Scott - Modern Jazz
9. James Booker Piano Tribute - Various Piano Players
10. Belton Richards and the Musical Aces - Cajun
11. Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys - Cajun
12. The Iguanas - Cajun Rock
13. Lisa Knowles and the Brown Sisters - Gospel
14. Paulin Brothers Brass Band - Traditional Jazz
15. Stooges Brass Band - Traditional Jazz

Some of the groups were better than others and the amount of time we spent at each performance  varied.

 In addition to the music, there are also a lot of craft vendors, food booths, and various things going on throughout the day.  Several traditional New Orleans marching group (Indians)  regularly paraded around the grounds along with marching school bands.  The Jazz Fest is also featuring the culture of Haiti this year, with a Hatian Culture Booth displaying Haitian crafts, art work, and Voodo shrines.  There is also a daily Voodo ceremony.  We missed the one today but may see one before its over. We don't think they will be sacrificing a chicken as part of the ceremony however.

The food booths all feature local and regional foods. We ate both lunch and dinner on the grounds and everything we had was excellent.

The shuttle picked us up at 7:00 pm as the fest was closing for the day and we were shortly back in the RV.  This does not mean that jazz in New Orleans is done for the evening.  The program for the Jazz Fest lists 37 clubs in town where live jazz oriented music is played each night after the Jazz Fest closes and continues well into the early hours of the morning.

The experience continues at the same time tomorrow.  We are also attempting to save a little time in Blogger by including the pictures in a Picasa picture web album (also by Google).

Here is the link to today's pictures,  please let us know if it  doesn't work.

Jazz Fest - Thursday Pictures

You can click on the slide show feature and go through them fairly quickly.