How many times has it been? A couple of times before 2005. Once when I lived there, and once when I returned while living in Galveston. I resumed going the year before Katrina and have returned every year since. Everyone needs a thing, right? Some people have a boat, others go bowling, still others take xanax. The Jazz Festival is my thing. Don't judge me.
This year's festival looks very promising. Sadly, some great acts have already played the first weekend: Rev. Al Green, the original Beach Boys reunion, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. John, and Trombone Shorty. Al Green and Springsteen are all time favorites, and I'd have enjoyed hearing Brian Wilson live.
But the second weekend includes four days, rather than the first weekend's three, so I invariably attend the second weekend. This year's lineup includes a lot of the usual suspects: Anders Osborne, Allen Toussaint, John Boutte, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dumpstaphunk, Marcia Ball, Astral Project, the Iguanas, Bonerama, Deacon John, Feufollet, Irma Thomas, Better than Ezra, Steve Earle, Galactic, Glen David Andrews, Rebirth, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, and the Neville Brothers.
This year's headliners are pretty good too: the Eagles, Foo Fighters, Bonnie Raitt, My Morning Jacket, Herbie Hancock, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Florence and the Machine, and Jimmy Buffett. Frankly, last weekend's headliners had a little more heft, but this represents a solid offering.
I also attend the YLC Wednesday in the Square concert, a fairly new Jazz Festival tradition, a sort of "kick off" for the weekend held in Lafayette Square around 5 p.m. tomorrow. This year, as last year, Marcia Ball is playing, so it should be a really energetic, rocking time.
As long time readers know, I post on this blog every night with my thoughts on the day's events. Let me remind everyone what I try to accomplish in doing so. I had to write this last year as well after some Amanda Shaw fans apparently suffered such a horrific zipper accident reacting to my negative "review" that several of them threatened to sue me. I guess writing that you think someone isn't all that good a performer is grounds for litigation, so that showed me.
I am not a professional music critic. I haven't attended every single concert of every single performer since 1971, and I don't purport to know all there is to know about these people. I do not try to "review" any of these bands. I like music a lot, however, and like to talk and write about music. Like everyone else out at the Festival, I react to the music and the performances. I enjoy some quite a lot, others are just kind of there, and still others make me want to go for my death ray. My opinion is just my opinion, not some sort of Pauline Kael review/social commentary. I like sharing my reaction with those who care to read my blog. I also like to describe the scene for those who can't attend, and sometimes I pass along my stupid little jokes or observations as I do. If I say something like "the town of Sugar Land, Texas wants the band Sugarland to get its name out of their mouth," that's just my opinion, and not an excuse for you to flood me with comments or gang audit me. I can't be wrong if I can't stand a band, just as you can't be right if you love them. Unless you like Bon Iver, in which case you need to not be living within a 20 mile radius of me. My appreciation or scorn for any particular musician does not implicitly criticize your intelligence or character if you happen to disagree. I do, however, encourage anyone to submit a comment that disagrees with what I've written. The more opinions and reaction makes for a more interesting post. As long as your comment doesn't contain insults, threats, or other vituperative, I will allow it to be published.
In addition to posting on the blog, I will twitter from each day's shows, at least until my phone battery runs out. Please follow me to catch the updates: @chrisreeder_ATX. Maybe someone out there can tell me how I can twitter photos too? I'm far too old to learn all this social media stuff so easily; need a 14 year old kid to help me (OK, interagency law enforcement internet child pornography monitoring sting, that was not any kind of inducement). We'll just have to see how it goes. I have this feeling the battery will run out around 2:30 every day. I also will upload about a million photos every night to my Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/chrisreeder. I purchased a special VIP access badge so I can get extremely close to the three main stages (since I'm in the "1%" and all, so how does that taste, poor people?), guaranteeing some really interesting headliner photos.
So that's about it. Look for me to start posting Thursday night. I'm looking forward to this year's festival just like every year, and am also looking forward to telling you about it. Let me know what you think too, especially if you were there.
Oh, and the first one to comment who can name both of the people in the photos above wins a very special, special mystery prize!
2 comments:
Tweet, not "twitter" as the verb. :)
Don't you mean, "tweet" not "twitter" about today's shows? ;)
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