Wednesday: 4pm - Left work early to go home and see Dill before I left. Packed. 7pm - Picked Dan up from the airport and went to his place to inventory his emergency drawer and pack. He finds boomers and 3 different kibbers bueno. 9:30pm - We're on the road. Thursday: 8:30am - Roll into rush hour traffic in New Orleans. 9am - Crash until 11am. 12pm - Get peeled back with Joe and his dogs in the jeep as he dropped us off. 1:30pm - Good Omen: Shook hands with Michael Kang (mandolin/violinist from SCI) walking thru the turn-stile in front of me going into the Fest. He was just taking in all the magic down there like me. 1:45pm - Walked straight to the air-conditioned grand-stand where we had just missed Bela Fleck playing solo to about 50 people. We said, 'hey.' 2pm - Got crawfish bread and drinks. 2:25pm - Watched Big Bad Voo-Doo Daddy on the big stage. Pretty fun. 3pm - Met Joe . Kicked a tire. Discussed the astounding amount of cleverly-clad women in close proximity. 3:55pm - Watched Bela Fleck & the Flecktones get ridiculous on the big stage. Victor molested his bass in plain site of women and children. 5pm - Got more beers. 5:30pm - Walked back a bit and met Joe's doctor buddies while Better Than Ezra assaulted our spoiled ears. 6pm - Returned home for dinner, cheaper beers and a shower. Repacked back-pack for OYSTERHEAD!! All team members are psyched. We discuss an article in the New Orleans newspaper which says, "going to be the greatest show of the fest which no one will see." 7:45pm - Marilyn drops the three of us down at the Saenger Theatre. Mayhem ensues. A billion people looking for tickets. We get in line. There is a New Orleans Funeral/Dixieland Jazz/Brass Band playing on the street adding to the party. The excitement is building. 8:30pm - The doors open. We have balcony seats. We rush upstairs and get middle seats about 10 rows deap. This theatre is beautiful. Roman statues above us. No symmetry in the main hall, the walls on both sides look like the sides of two different, but very cool, buildings. 8:45pm - Get multiple brews. We think the reason we were able to get such sweet seats even though being so far back in the line, is the fact that the Poster & T-shirt tables are craziness. 9pm - Start talking to this dude, Jeff, behind me. He asks if I would like fresh breath. I agree that that would be cool. He drops a single droplet of FreshBreath on my palm. I lick it and start getting very psyched for the show. Jeff is amicable, easy-going and works for a candy company. Kind of funny. 9:05pm - A gentlemen comes to sit down next to Jeff. Lo and Behold its none other than LAWNBOY!! (albeit in his civilian garb) He promptly gives me a high-five and a Jolly Rancher. Sid says hello. 9:15pm - I turn to say something to Jeff. Who is crouched, talking, next to him? A very long-haired Gadiel. I barely recognized him. I say hello and reintroduce myself. I ask him if Ted is near us and he points to our row and there is TK, 12 people down from me. Fully bearded and sort of fro-y. He's talking to the woman next to him so I drink beer and discuss people-watching with Joe. 9:40pm - Garage-a-Trois takes the stage. Stanton Moore [drummer for Galactic], Charlie Hunter [8 string guitar], Skerik [sax for Astral Project] and Michael Dillon [a special guest on miscellaneous percussion] played a very intense jazz-jam fusion. They smoked beautifully. Now Sid was watching the show with me. Hilarious to be in his company after so long. These guys alone were worth the price of admission and the journey down to the Bayou for me. Wow. 10:50pm - The guys finish up and I look down the row and lock eyes with Ted. His woolly ass comes over and delivers a bear hug. (very special when feeling so great) We have time only to say hello before the lights go down again and the roar from the crowd says all that needs said between us as we promptly return to our respective seats. 11pm - Very spooky music starts playing over the PA. Sid!! Trey, Les and Stewart come walking out wearing all white. Les and Trey wearing matching coveralls. Stewart wearing a white tank top, white gloves and white pants. From here on out they play original material. No one had ever heard any of it before and it may never be played again. The words revolved around the mysterious Mr. Oysterhead. Apparently, he inspires. (to quote one of the refrains) Les Claypool [vocalist and bassist for Primus was hilarious] was funking around continuously and providing commentary on his own excitement about what was going on. Several times he stopped and spoke. "Trey, where the hell did you come from again?!" (I thought it was kind of ignorant, but Trey was having a ball.) Later he came over from talking to Trey and said, "Trey is really amazing to work with. We can be totally rocking but he's not afraid to say, "Les, you're in the wrong fucking key.'" You could tell that Stewart Copeland [former drummer for The Police] was psyched. He was playing a TON of drums. For never having improvved before, he was great. I kept thinking how amazed he must be by Trey and the scene. Being a famous musician for 20 years and then discovering a whole other HUGE genre of rock n'roll may make him want to have Trey's child. After the end of the set he jumped on Trey and looked like he wanted to start a world tour on the spot. Trey dedicated a new song he wrote to Fish. It was called, "The Man Who Used to be the Owner the World." It was cool. At the end, Fish actually ran out onto stage and took a bow. They finished the show with a string of poignant covers. [setlist] Encore1 - The Immigrant Song [Led Zepplein], The Israelites [Desmond Dekker], All Day and All Of The Night [The Kinks] Encore2 - House Of The Rising Sun [?, but you know the song, "a house in New Orleans..."] 1:30am - The show was over, we traversed the 4 blocks over to the Quarter. WOAH. I was freaked OUT. We'd landed on Planet Blind-Drunk and I think we were in the Planet's largest public restroom. 1:35am - We got some beers. And then walked from one end of Bourbon St. to the other. 2am - We went into Troplicle Isle and sat up on the balcony and checked shit out. This helped calm my nerves a bit. We got giant Hurricanes. At the bar upstairs was the hooked-nose shit-disturber from Real World- Hawaii. I was angry with him. The lime green paint that pervaded the decor, made me want to take a dump in the middle of this f-ed up movie. I went back downstairs where there was an 18 yr-old tall very fat guy who was pulling his shirt up and showing his caved nipples to me. I thanked him. Back up on the balcony, things were cool again. Joe began telling us gross-out Emergency Room stories and things began to get uglier. He handed me a giant beer to get the hating-life look off my face. It agreed with me. 2:30am - With a fresh outlook and a spring in our step, we were leaving Tropicle Isle and we headed out thru the downstairs bar. I spotted the big guy squeezing one of his 11-yr-old looking pepperonis at a friend. Again, I thanked him and my vigilant eyes. 3am - We got giant Hurricanes and walked some more. 3:15am - We made our way to Pat O'Briens' which was very cool. Joe said we should be able to say we went there and now I will... 3:30am - We got giant-er Hurricanes and asked the bartender not be such a pussy with the shit that makes me grimace. I thanked him and myself thru bitter-beer face. We gaped at the blue flames that blazed out of the pretty fountain in the beer garden and remembered that the witching hour was nearly upon us. Hurricanes are funny. 4am - We walked and debated the cover charge at a bar called The Dungeon. Joe said it was worth it and we went. There was no cover. Go to The Dungeon. Drink heavily. Check shit out. Enough said. Dan took some pictures despite the numerous threats from Damian Van Winkle who kept rising out of the floor to put a hand over Dan's lens. 4:20am - We found ourselves on a side street breathing Northern Lights in sacrifice to a discarded tradition. 4:30am - Righteously, we came upon the George Rodrigue gallery. He paints all of the blue dog paintings. (including those for Jazzfest each year) Its bright works complimented my perma-grin. 5:15am - We were growing weary and hungry. We looked for a cab. Found one. 5:30am - Victory smarr. Ate a pizza. Slept with Dan. Not exactly a glorious finale, but Dan is a fairly quiet sleeper. To be continued.... |
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