FANTASTIC
We enjoyed the 40th anniversary edition of the Jazz Fest very much. It was my seventh time around, and if money permits there certainly will be an eighth in two-years’ time. Biggest discovery: the Red Stick Ramblers. Biggest surprise: Doc Watson (long may he run!). Greatest regret: that I missed a John Boutté performance. Biggest disappointment: the music/CD tent—a really poor selection. Finally this: the new venue for the Rock ’n’ Bowl is fantastic, if you haven’t visited yet—go visit!
—Jules Deprez Lekanne, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
JAZZ FEST ALL YEAR
This last Jazz Fest was one of the best ones we have ever been to, and we have been coming since 1993. My new goal is to retire in New Orleans when I’m 63. I can start Social Security and work part time as a Walmart greeter. I was the guy at Jazz Fest wearing the T-shirt that said, “I don’t live in New Orleans, but New Orleans lives in me.” I mean that, and it breaks my heart to see and hear about all the corruption in town.
We need a Jazz Fest mentality all year long. The food, the culture, the history, the people who make this all happen. Let’s find out how to get that stimulus package and get rid of crooked cops and crooked politicians.
—Steve “Sonny” Romick, Cleveland, OH
CROWD BEHAVIOR
At the 2008 Jazz Fest, our little campsite at the Acura Stage went completely undisturbed, day after day, for both weekends, with the exception of during/after the Tim McGraw concert. None of our group had stayed to watch the Tim McGraw concert, preferring other acts. When we returned to get our stuff, the place was a wasteland. Chairs and tarps at everyone’s campsite were torn up, or just plain gone. It was the first time in our many, many years of attendance at Jazz Fest that some of our chairs got stolen.
Is the answer to this phenomenon to ban the Bon Jovi’s and Tim McGraws of the world? Probably not. While that kind of music is not why I go to Jazz Fest, I do respect that others (obviously) do want to hear this kind of music. Aside from maybe moving the kinds of acts that might generate a rowdier audience to a particular stage (let them duke it out with themselves), I don’t think we should expect the Festival organizers to ban certain artists, or types of artists.
In the future, I will note who is playing over the entire course of the day, before choosing to set up my chairs at a certain stage.
—Warren Mays, Portland, OR
BAD INFLUENCE?
Whoever reviewed the performance of the Robert Cray Band on the Gentilly Stage [Jeff Hannusch] totally missed the name of the song and meaning of the lyric. The song was called “Bad Influence” and didn’t have anything to do with the sound mix. I remember my first beer too.
—Bob White, Vancouver, WA
WHAT HAPPENED TO JAZZ?
As a “mouldy fygg” who faithfully attended Jazz Fest from its beginning in Congo Square until sometime in the late 1980s, I carefully read in the June issue “The Rest of the Fest.” I was impressed with the progress the fest has made pertaining to attendance and popular appeal. Much of the article was devoted to Bon Jovi and others who have nothing to do with jazz or New Orleans. In the nine pages, I recognized maybe 12 names.
I do not claim to have much expertise about festivals. When Quint Davis told me years ago, “Don, we are moving the festival to the Fair Grounds,” my observation was, “Quint, nobody will go all the way out there.” In the early days at the Fair Grounds, there was still a decision that could be made between four or five stages with traditional New Orleans jazz. My first clue that things were changing was when I spotted Ed “Montudie” Garland, age 88 and who had played with Buddy Bolden, lugging his string bass all the way across the infield by himself. A short while later, New Yorker Sonny Stitt, was delivered to his stage in a limousine.
It is not my intention to knock the fest. I just wonder what happened to New Orleans and jazz.
—Don Marquis, New Orleans, LA
SHELL GAME
My sense of humanity is very strong. I’ve found it an identity crises attending an event sponsored by an organization, Shell, whose human rights record in Africa is an anathema to the historical and contemporary development of Black culture, especially as it relates to my dearly beloved New Orleans. (Indeed, we can also talk about how our country has turned its back on our own struggling Black population.)
It would do my heart well to see Jazz Fest underwritten by a more socially and environmentally conscious organization.
—Russ Layne, Chester, NY
BYWATER GEM
Thanks for featuring the Sound Café in June’s “The Spot” section. Though I do love it as a funky breakfast stop, I’d like to let your readers know a little more about what makes the Sound Café so special. Owner Baty Landis, along with neighbors and friends, started the non-profit Silence is Violence in response to the senseless killings of Dinerral Shavers and Helen Hill. At the café, they sponsor free youth music clinics, empowerment programs, and other live performances throughout the year. The sign at the door that reads “The Ya/Ya Spot” refers to another non-profit, Ya/Ya Inc (Young Aspirations/Young Artists). They hold after school and summer outreach programs that help cultivate the creativity and self expression of inner city youth through visual arts.
So you see, even if they didn’t have free trade coffee beans, I’d still be proud of this gem in the Bywater.
—Margie Perez, New Orleans, LA
UNCLE LIONEL
Several letters were received in response to the mugging of “Uncle Lionel” Batiste as reported in the Weekly Beat, here are some.—Ed.
God Bless my buddy Mr. “Uncle Lionel” Batiste. How could anybody be so mean? The New Orleans music community will not stand for this. He is everybody’s friend and teacher of goodwill. Uncle Lionel, my prayers are with you.
—Ready Teddy McQuiston
This city is not focused on protecting its citizens; all it cares about is making money. The cameras at the red lights, the fines on bars for allowing smoking, etc., when they could be pumping these funds into more specific training for the police force, ways to identify criminals and their behaviors and movement throughout the city, more strict standards for investigations of crimes and victims. I am more afraid of the police than I am the criminals. May God be with us as we all push through this insanity! (And I do not even consider myself religious!)
—Sarah Hampton Portera, New Orleans, LA
David Rebeck, the fine violist and violinist with the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, was mugged at shotgun-point near the Christopher Inn apartments (Uncle Lionel’s home) about two years ago, at four in the afternoon, by a 12-year-old kid. This shit is totally out of control and we need a police force two times its current size and schools with ten times as much funding.
—Alex McMurray, New Orleans, LA
We need some new thinking about an issue that is out of control in New Orleans.
How about we make the NOPD part of the DA’s office? The police chief reports to the DA.
—George Brown, New Orleans, LA
HOME OF MY HEART
It seems strange to be homesick for a place that you’ve never lived in, but I do feel that New Orleans is the home of my heart. I am planning on spending part of this weekend with my feet up, drinking a pot of Community Coffee that I bought during Jazz Fest and reading the Jazz Fest Bible.
—Joan Moore, Staten Island, NY
