LET THE SUNSHINE IN (FLEETINGLY)....

The Sabbath brings glorious sunshine and a smelly, claggy fairground, but who cares. 'cos we're in Nawlinz, it's JazzFest and there's a great crowd.

Jon Cleary continued on from where he left off on Friday night and was, as usual, immaculate.

Jon Cleary (archive)

"Big D" (archive - but he's still the same size).

Don L decided to spend some time in the Blues Tent watching the Little Freddie King Blues Band - good, not great, a description that fits a lot of artists, especially in the wake of yesterday's Who performance.

Next up was slide guitarist John Mooney and Bluesiana, who delivered a top notch set. I was about to leave when he introduced a guest, none other than Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere, and so for the final twenty minutes they traded slide licks - awesome stuff.

Paul Barrere

Keyboard guru Bob Andrews (remember Graham Parker & The Rumour?)

Angelique Kidjo was performing on the "black hole stage", aka Congo Square, and was marvellous. She sang in French, jumped into the audience and dragged 30 punters up on stage to dance the rest of the show away. Infectious and a genuine lover of people, if you're unfamiliar with 'world' music then she's a great place to start. Next door was the Fais Do-Do stage, and here was witnessed one of the best shows of the festival. Bela Fleck is a banjo virtuoso and spouse Abigail Washington (resplendent in a cream vintage dress) is right up there with him. Together they produced the most beautiful country/bluegrass music you could wish to hear, there was no sign of Burt Reynolds or anyone else from Deliverance in the crowd, and it was a real highlight - grab their self-titled album if you can.

Delbert McClinton has been a Don L hero for 40 years and to see him interviewed was a real treat. In his mid-70's, he has flown under the radar for most of his career, such that even many of his fans struggle to know what he looks like. The lady sitting next to Tinno turns and asks: "Is that Delbert?". With an affirmative response, she then leaves Mark speechless with: "Huh, I always thought he was black!" Delbert sang a bit, put a line through being called an Americana artist ("that's not what I am!"), and cleared up the myth surrounding The Beatles (in particular John Lennon's harmonica lessons - sorry to disillusion you but it didn't happen folks!!). I love Delbert McClinton.

He sure sounds black when he sings!

The headline acts (apart from Delbert and I'd already seen him interviewed) held no interest - Pitbull (ridiculous programming), Jimmy Buffett (yawn), and Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. We stopped to watch a bit of Bennett/Gaga and wished we hadn't. Little Tony was actually OK, but the diminutive one was waaay out of her depth. Presumably, the pop career has hit the wall and she's trying to reinvent herself as a jazz crooner, but to perform this stuff you have to be able to actually sing, and she was ABYSMAL. Back to the IOU and into the jacuzzi for a nice relax.

About as close as you wanna get to Tony and Gaga

JazzFest isn't just about the music, there's the cultural exhibits, the Mardi Gras injuns, and...the FOOD! Tinno has a WWOZ Brass Pass which gets him (and me and JJ!!) into the hospitality tent where there are  mountains of freshly cut fruit and, best of all, hickory flavoured iced coffee. 

Ritual visits are made to the tent to re-hydrate oneself, and you just never know who you'll bump into. Shawn from WWOZ rubbed shoulders with greatness, and Anat the pint-sized, seriously crazy dancing girl from San Francisco was there and renewed acquaintances before heading out to dance the day away - she's one "out there" chica.

Hard to believe that Shawn shaved the day before!

Anat - as insane as she is short.

Then there's the cuisine, dozens of stalls selling Louisiana's finest food such as alligator pie, po' boys stuffed with crab or shrimp, seafood gumbo,cochon de lait (they don't know how to pronounce ANYTHING written in French but at least they hang on to the tradition), crawfish sacks, crawfish bread, beignets, poulet fricassee (i.e. chicken on a stick!).

Conjures up all sorts of images...

....as does this!

Soft shell crab po' boy

But it's the 'Holy Trinity' that is a non-negotiable for each day - mouth watering Crawfish Monica (a bargain at $7, only sold at JazzFest, and at least two portions are needed every day), brain freezing Mango Freeze, and washed down with freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade...

Crawfish Monica

Mango Freeze at the double

I'm drooling on the keyboard just thinking about it. Standing with great friends watching great music and dining on great food - the true magic of JazzFest.

From tomorrow it's time to catch the breath, three days of rest and recuperation - not likely, we're on a mission!