Juddmansee.com

On Sunday, we finally got it right. First we decided not to go out Saturday for the 1am show. Even though Trombone Shorty was tempting, the promise of a good night’s sleep and getting up to do some exploring won out. We were able to get up at a more leisurely pace, have some breakfast (fruit!! blueberries, banana, raisins and an orange!) and then walked down to the park along the Mississippi and French Quarter. After a couple hours we came back and headed over to the fair grounds. We had plenty of time to grab a snack and hit the Blues Tent (father and son playing washboards, very cool) before hitting Anders Osborne and Joss Stone. Dan claimed “he may be Swedish but the guy pisses Mississippi Delta water!” Anders did put on a great show – until during one frenetic point, he blew a fuse, which unfortunately ended the gig a bit prematurely. The sousaphone and drummer did an admirable job keeping the crowd going for about 5 minutes, in case the power came back on, but sadly that was it, only about 30 minutes of Anders.

Joss Stone was younger (and more cute) than I expected – she has a 40-something black woman’s blues voice in a 20-something British pop star’s body – but her energy and genuineness reminded me why I enjoy her music.  Despite her peace hippie image, her songs are pure blues; you can imagine her channeling a young Bonnie Raitt as she sings.
After Joss, we headed over to hear Harry Connick, but were far enough away that it was hard to hear. I chalked that one up to the sound system, but the piano was clearly less conducive to amplification than the guitar and drum acts. We ended up at the Jazz stage for a few songs before calling it a successful fest and heading out.

Dan suggested that we had time to clean up and go hear The Tin Men down on Frenchman Street at 8pm. Brian and I decided we were game to go along. We had missed Washboard Chaz earlier at the fest, but evidently he plays in multiple groups. The Tin Men call themselves “New Orleans’ Premiere Washboard Sousaphone Trio” – perhaps the only one (the vocalist plays the guitar). It was a really fun show, for only a $5 cover. After the show, we explored the neighborhood. First we saw a parading brass band – we thought they may have let out of a club and started a parade, as sometimes happens in NOLA, but it seemed like they were just about playing on the street. Then we came upon this rhythm machine and listened for a while. We smelled tasty smoked meats, and indeed a couple guys had set up their large kettle grill in a parking space on the street and were selling sausages, grilled chicken breasts, pork chops and turkey legs. Dan and I grabbed sausage sandwiches and kept walking toward the main road to pick up a cab, when I saw a sign for Nomo, the band we heard on Friday night. Turns out they were playing a hookah bar (no cover!) so we popped in to hear a few songs. It was a very different venue and a much more calm crowd than . We finally called it a night around midnight, not bad for our last Jazz Fest day.