May 3rd, 2008
Live from Jazz Fest: Local musicians share spotlight
Menacing storm clouds prowled across the sky for much of the afternoon but mostly kept from delivering downpours akin to the previous weekend’s washouts. Only toward the end of the eight-hour day did heavy showers sweep through the fairgrounds, drenching attendees but not affecting the shows.
The lineup again was a mix of marquee acts and lesser-known groups. The Lee Brothers, from Miami, rocked the blues tent with their rollicking You’ve Got to Move. The song started slow and low but steadily picked up pace, taking on the feel and sound of a runaway train. As guitarist Roosevelt Collier plucked at his pedal steel guitar, an electric guitar mounted on a stand and played from a sitting position, audience members danced in the aisles, jumped up and down and waved their arms to the mounting melody.
Outside at the traditional jazz stage, Glen David Andrews and the Lazy Six brass band brought the traditions of a New Orleans impromptu street party to several hundred spectators. After belting out standards such as Mardi Gras and I’ll Fly Away, Andrews, dressed in a dark pinstripe suit and designer sunglasses, jumped into the crowd and led them in street-parade-style dancing.
He was later joined onstage by members of the Old & Nu Style Fellas Social Aid & Pleasure Club, who waved fans and feathers and danced to the tunes.
Food vendors continued to be a main attraction. Some of the star offerings: fried soft-shell crab po’ boys, crawfish bread, pecan catfish meuniere, oyster Rockefeller bisque and jambalaya.
Jason Smith, 35, of Atlanta, said he dashes from one food booth to the next between musical sets. “It’s as much a food festival as a musical festival,” he said, finishing a fried shrimp po’ boy.
Art Neville thrilled the crowds with a rare solo performance. Then he thrilled them some more when he called out brother Aaron to join in for a few final songs. The duets were a glimpse of what’s expected for Sunday, when the Neville Brothers, New Orleans’s “first family of funk,” play together at Jazz Fest for the first time since Katrina.
Tags: new, orleans, weather
15 Responses to “Live from Jazz Fest: Local musicians share spotlight”
The article says it. She did it because it was the only way to get a job as an jazz musician at the time.
More photos here:http://www.jazzitalia.net/articoli/BillyTipton.asp
Actually, we’ll never know.
Okay, fair enough!
Yeah but The Billy Tipton Story (in light of Boys Don’t Cry) is bereft of the kind of conflict that makes movies work. I think TBTS is probably better suited to movie of the week status - that’s not to say it’s good, just not really “movie movie” material.
That Billy Tipton story has always intrigued me.
Even if it were, which it isn’t, since when does that matter to Hollywood? Have you heard of “Movie Sequels?”
The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet is a seattle area saxophone group. All women. all saxophone. If you listen to morning addition on NPR you have heard them play the theme music.The did something called the “bus horn symphony” written for four saxophones and four city buses. It was very interesting and surprisingly good. The busses were well utilized.
She was was a jazz musician. She was female. And she lived as a man. Any other questions?
I’ve always been confused over if she was transgendered and wanted to be a “he” or if she just dressed the part for her career and was a lesbian.
Wasn’t “Boys Don’t Cry” a pretty comparable movie? They even used the same method of concealing their gender.
Jill Sobule made it into a bittersweet song.
Again, since when does that stop Hollywood? They’ll make something up.Personally, I hope it’s zombies.
Yeah, but as someone who spends most of her day assessing material for Hollywood feature films for a job, I can pretty safely say this is MOW material, rather than a full on movie. Who knows, maybe someone will find a way in to the material, but the way this town ACTUALLY thinks (as opposed to how it’s perceived to think), means that’s not likely.