Left Houma Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. (the plan was to leave for 10). After numerous stops in New Orleans and after a red beans and rice with a smothered porkchop lunch at the praine connection we finally hit the road for Manchester, Tennesse for the 8th Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.(the plan was 12:00 p.m.)
In their continuing effort to promote continued awareness of the rebuilding of New Orleans, festival organizers Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment created the “Somethin’ Else – New Orleans” tent at the 2008 event. The money raised from these donations will be part of the gift that the festival is making.
On Wednesday May 27th, from 9 until 11 am, the Jazz Roots Show will present a special 100th birthday salute to Benny Goodman. We'll take a look at the first twenty years of Goodman's career and feature some of the many greats that recorded with him during this time.
The Taliban represent a brutal, primitive and uncivilized culture from the other side of the globe but their goofy ideas about women are also well represented in Americana roots music. This Saturday night, we'll play great music despoiled by lyrics that make even throwbacks cringe. To make it a challenge, we'll avoid the treasure trove of country music's large catalog of regressive lyrics.
On Wednesday May 13 and May 20, the Radio Wave Scientists on Jazz Lunatique will celebrate 16 (YES, THAT'S RIGHT!) years on the air in New Orleans on WWOZ FM New Orleans proud to crawl home. The exact date has been lost in the shifting sand, mold, mud, and lost brain cells of time, but sometime back in May 1993, Jazz Lunatique was born. That's 16 years of late night craziness.
At least a half hour before Young arrived and as the rain was at its worst, over at the Acura stage there was a thin crowd screaming in anticipation for the Neville Brothers. The rain subsided and the crowd filled up to numbers that the New Orleans favorites deserved.
As much as I enjoy a local-heavy Jazz Fest, I couldn't turn down an opportunity to see Neil Young performing at the Fairgrounds for the first time ever. When I heard the electric buzz of just the first few chords, I got goosebumps.
Conspiracy theorists unite!
This Saturday night, we will broadcast audio and music that ties Bill O'Reilly, Dick Cheney and Ray Nagin to a common missing link. Audio snippets from Voldemort, Darth Vader, Butterfly McQueen, Paul Harvey, Marlon Brando (Kurtz), Secret Squirrel, Cleavon Little, etc. provides the evidence between the usual mix of roots music I personally looted from New Orleans homes after Katrina. Tune in for the conspiracy or to hear music you once owned. Saturday midnight to Sunday at 3am (May 9-ish) on the worst show to ever modulate the electromagnetic bandwidth of 90.7 MHz.
Jamie
The words seem strange as I type them, but Sunday you could really catch some of the best this festival has to offer without moving from the Acura stage. Example: Allen Toussaint sat himself at the piano and belted out a string of classics from the nearly endless collection of songs he wrote, including some great Lee Dorsey and Ernie K-Doe tunes.
With everything going on it had been a while since I visited my dependable fallback the Gospel Tent. I was greeted by the Voices of Distinction, an all-female quartet studded in sparkly green dresses. Their foot-stomping soul was an absolute blast, and it felt good to know that my faith in the Gospel Tent pulled through.
