@ZackTeibloom Never underestimate my Jack White obsession. Why would you? We ran a contest to see how much I’d end up seeing of The Dead Weather show despite the intriguing Van Morrison conflict. Van was scheduled to start at 3:35. Jack, I mean The Dead Weather, at 3:45. Two stages on the complete opposite side of the festival with a swarming crowd. And it had just started to rain.

Either way, I was wearing White Stripes hunting tartan socks*. I was going to catch some Jack. It was just a matter of how much. My biggest fear was Van running late, but he was off and running by 3:32. Well, off and something. I knew I’d be able to tell after a few songs whether we were in store for a classic set or a nostalgia one. By the time “Brown Eyed Girl” was over, I knew. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom I’m using costumes now. It was inevitable I guess. After  I tried the kick-off return for forty five minutes, but the defense was impenetrable. Trust me, I tried. The entrance all the way left was double teamed. The check in line on the right had a 400-pound guard who wouldn’t leave his post. I even sunk so low as to walk out to consider offering someone $20 for their ticket. I shouldn’t even admit that.

Quick tangent: I saw an old, probably homeless man with no teeth, (who seemed like he’d had no teeth for a while, because his lip had curled into his mouth pretty extensively) standing in front of the gates. He looked beyond confused, as if he knew other homeless guys were there to scalp tickets, but he didn’t know where to begin. As I started to announce I needed an extra, a group of guys approached and gave the homeless man their extra. He seemed stunned. He looked to me and wanted me to go with him so I went to the gate and pretended I was his grandson. It happened so fast I wasn’t sure what was really happening, but he went stumbling into the festival. I’m telling you this, you’d pay good money to see what happened to that guy the rest of the day. He had no idea where he was. Regardless, it was time to get extreme. I had to garbage-suit up! Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Jazz Fest 2010 was a doozy. It constantly felt like it was going to storm, but didn’t come down until the battle between Van Morrison and The Dead Weather as Van sang “days when the rain came” from “Brown Eyed Girl” to cheers. Jeff Beck was the ultimate highlight, but the weekend was full of gems. Steve Martin and Elvis Costello opened a whole new audience to Bluegrass on Thursday and made it cool. Stanley Clarke fully made us forget Aretha canceled on Friday and made Earth Wind and Fire feel like lightweights. Jack White proved he is in fact possessed by the devil as he lept into the air with complete abandon before absolutely annihilating a solo on “Will There Be Enough Water?” in the pouring rain. A song that has proven to be the best rock performance on any given night by any rock band around.

It wasn’t just the headliners. Jazz Ladies sing the blues was divine, Dr. Klaw was a surprising super group, Buckwheat Zydeco got the day started right Friday, the subdudes and Kermit Ruffins kept it going and Rebirth Bras Band and Irma Thomas made it clear they’re worth seeing any time they’re in town. It was a fest where Band of Horses was an afterthought, but you had to wonder why. Those loud/quiet melodies have them sounding like a power indie-rock band, but it just wasn’t their spot. So how to sum up Jazz Fest before I hit the road and can write-up all these stories? Let’s put it in numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Looking at the 11 or so Jazz Fest guards in purple jerseys, I felt like I was trying to return a kick against the Minnesota Vikings. Fine, fine I’ll be Devin Hester in this example. The first line of defense was the 7 guards scanning tickets. Behind them a roaming 3-4-man walkie-talkie unit and occasionally a couple cops to … throw a flag? It hasn’t come to that yet.  I tried my hand at recreating Successful Crash #30, but the defense had a zone shifted that way and I didn’t have enough blockers.

That’s the key to the kick0ff return. You have to follow your blockers. It’s an odd game when neither your blockers nor the defenders know you’re playing, but it just means you have to be extra perceptive. Let’s start with the basics. You want a big rush of blockers, but it’s not just important that they’re there. They need to make a skinny block where they block the attention of the ticket scanner, but they need to leave enough room between you and the other guard so that you can hit the hole and take it to the house. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom The Van Morrison- Dead Weather conflict has been keeping me up at night. I’ve always wanted to see Van. I can’t miss Jack White picking up a guitar for almost any reason. Even if he only plays it once or twice. Bryn will kill me if I can’t report fully on Van. I’ll kill myself to know Jack is performing on the other side of the field and I’m not there. It’s Van! It’s Jack! It’s time for a contest.

How long will I spend at The Dead Weather show? Whoever gets closest wins a “Die by the Drop” 7″ vinyl 45 courtesy of our friends at Filter. Here’s how the contest works: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Jeff Beck came to blow our minds. Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis introduced Beck by calling him the greatest guitarist to come out of and emerge from Rock n’ Roll. It’s a lot to live up to. Beck had no problem living up to the hype.

With white high-top wrestling shoes, a cut-off white t-shirt, stylishly coifed hair and thick silver jewelry on his wrists and left bicep, there was nothing subtle about his look or his playing. It was jaw-dropping from the first notes. Beck achieves a tone on his guitar that you just don’t hear from anyone else. He came out blazing with three fast jazz-fusion guitar jaunts with no vocals. It took a bit to register that no one sang most of the time. Beck’s guitar sings enough on its own. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom “Without guys like Stanley Clarke, there wouldn’t be Vic Wooten,” Kappel told me. Would you need anything else to convince you to make sure you saw this guy? I sure didn’t. We woke up Friday to find out Aretha Franklin had canceled and Earth Wind and Fire had taken her place. I can’t pretend it wasn’t distressing.

How her voice would sound was a wild card after a couple shaky recent performances. What we didn’t know was that neither Aretha, nor her replacement of Earth Wind and fire would have been a factor. Earth Wind and Fire was fun, but neither they or Aretha could have hoped to come close to the virtuosic performances from Stanley Clarke. I said “Aretha who?” after the set and no one disagreed. Maybe it was better this way. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Thursday of the second weekend at Jazz Fest is always the least crowded. It’s great for getting from stage to stage, but makes crashing a lot harder. I got to the entrance a little before noon and noticed there were about 8 ticket takers and none seemed overwhelmed in the half hour I was scoping them out. I mention this, because usually you can waltz through the out door with no one paying attention, but so few people were going in the fest that I had to sidle my way in.

I leaned against the fence and pretended to be on my phone. OK I was actually on the phone, tweeteing “The moment right before a crash and getting pulled over by a cop feel identical. One happening this second. One happened last night…” The only difference is getting pulled over by a cop is torture and the moment before a crash is an absolute thrill. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Grammy Award winner for Bluegrass album of the year Steve Martin wants to be taken seriously as a musician. And with good reason. Sure, he gets the attention because of his comedy, and it is a part of his act, but it’s music first. Even if the music is a funny song about how Atheists have no songs (the Jews have Havana Nagila.)

Martin is backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers, a tight group of guys comprised of an upright bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, another banjo and harmonies. It may be tongue in cheek some of the time, but it’s a tight band playing real bluegrass. But he’s Steve Martin. As Andy might phrase it, “he can’t not tell jokes.” And most of them were dryer than my mouth after chomping a bunch of crawfish.  Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom I’m in full Jazz Fest Hype mode. I’m leaving straight from work. The car is packed up with a full tank of gas and a fresh oil change, I’ve got a care package full of Sun Chips,* more than enough sandwiches, downloaded the Jazz Fest App and have my conflicts resolved. Last night I left Kappel a voice mail where I said HYPE approximately 35 times. In my mind, I’m already there.

I’ll get to cross a few legends off my list (I’m lookin’ at you Aretha, Van and Jeff Beck) throw down some crawfish, find some new favorite artists and go festivaling with two of my favorites. Sami is a festival goddess and I’m lucky to be crashing at her place again, while Kappel is a festival legend who I’ve yet to see more than a show with. A whole weekend with them is so promising I can’t sit still. Much like all festivals this year, I am going without a ticket or pass. It’s festival crashing time.

Read the rest of this entry »