AUDITORY PUMMELING
I spend a large proportion of my vacation days visiting New Orleans. Our primary draw is the music, especially traditional jazz.
I attended my eighth French Quarter Festival (FQF) this past April. As usual, we had a great experience. Overall, the music was superb. We also love the food, history, and culture.
Our biggest disappointment was the brass band stage near the Aquarium (one of our favorite FQF venues over the years). The same brass bands that played beautifully in years past seemed to be in a blasting contest this year. Overblown horns, amped painfully loudly. We do not travel to New Orleans for auditory pummeling. Any electric guitar band anywhere can do that with simple twists of amplifier knobs.
I would like to know which brass bands in New Orleans still play in the sweet, melodic tradition, with its full range of emotions (rather than manic, blaring excitement 100 percent of the time). Otherwise, we will hesitate to return to the FQF brass band stage.
—Kim Michael Oren, St. Joseph, MN
The following letters are in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post “Filthy Lucre” criticizing the reduced handicapped areas at Jazz Fest.
MOVING SLOWER
I definitely agree this “class” system has gotten out of hand, not just at Jazz Fest but at other events. Just look at all of the pre-sales for concerts so that on the sale day, there is nothing left but back row seats.
I’ve become deathly afraid of how the children of the “me” generation will take care of us “baby boomers” as we age. The fact that they left no space for those in scooters to access is appalling with me. It’s always the tall trees in front that have no respect for short people.
I’d rather come to New Orleans on a normal weekend, walk the streets, enjoy music and food as it comes and miss the crowds that Jazz Fest and, unfortunately, French Quarter Fest has brought.
We’ll be back there in the summer or fall because I can’t go too long without my New Orleans fix.
—Sandy Kuehl, Houston, TX
ELITIST POLICY
I attended the Jazz Fest several years in a row during the 1970s, the festival’s first decade, when I still lived in the South. Aside from the music itself, the great thing about the fest was the sense of community it created. There was only one admission price to the Fair Grounds in those days, and it was really cheap. Also, there were only regional acts, mostly from Louisiana. The biggest “name” draw was B.B. King. Aside from the music itself, that sense of community, the fact that everyone from rich to poor could attend, is what made Jazz Fest great. Now the Fest seems to have descended into a pre-French Revolution mentality like we see at Mardi Gras, where the Boston Club and others have their elite seating, and while a commoner might be able to buy a ticket to the Rex Ball, he or she could only sit in the balcony and watch. I did that once only. This elitist policy of selling different levels of premium seating may be wildly profitable, but it definitely takes away from the original appeal that helped make Jazz Fest great. Of course, with those attendance figures, Quint Davis is laughing all the way to the bank. As for me, the next time I attend Jazz Fest, I will skip the Fair Grounds and just hit the clubs, which are plenty good enough for this music lover!
—Joseph Scanlon, Oakland, CA
BIG GIMP TICKET
You failed to mention the $50 fee for parking in the handicap lot. I had a transplant and may not look handicapped, but due to anti-rejection drugs, I am severely limited in walking distance and fatigue quickly. After 38 years of Jazz Fest, I find myself wondering if I can make it next year. I was very disappointed that no concessions are made for us with limited mobility. It seems the fest has given in to greed and cramming in more people every year. All that made it the best place to be on earth is slowly giving away to a huge mosh pit of the haves and have nots. I am in for the Big Gimp ticket next year!
—Kim M. Strother, Satellite Beach, FL
DANGEROUS CROWD
I am so happy that Jazz Fest is a major attraction for New Orleans, and that it brings great revenue at a time when the city can really use it.
However, after having to stand in the Acura Stage crowds the first weekend, I couldn’t help but feel like greed had found its way into the planning. There has got to be a cap on the amount of people they allow into the festival. The safety of the attendees is now being compromised.
I felt like I was in a very dangerous crowd situation while I was trying to enjoy even 10 minutes of Tom Petty. Not only could I not see a screen (let alone the stage); all I could really hear was people around me singing. I was forced to stand close enough to another human being to hear them blink. I have had more comfortable stands in a packed Japanese commuter train. If anyone around me had needed any sort of medical attention, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible to get that. Oddly enough, as my friend and I literally pushed, shimmied and stretched our way through the mass, we came upon a struggling person in a wheelchair that had gotten caught up in the crowd and was trying to get out of the standing mass. We were able to form a single line train behind the chair and baby step out of the situation. I felt horrible for that woman in the chair and grateful at the same time for being able to move out of there right behind her.
I couldn’t help but think that it might actually take a fatality or tragedy of some type to create change for the crowd control, or lack of it.
—Sue Kolat, Saginaw, MI
STILL A BARGAIN
I have been going to Jazz Fest since 1978. I have never tried to get really close because it’s always too crowded. I can’t talk about the cost of the Big Chief and other tickets. I think it is ridiculous to pay that kind of money. However, $50 a day for Jazz Fest is a bargain in this country! Check out the price of other festivals like Bonnaroo. It’s much more. Those that can’t afford it or don’t want to can go to French Quarter Fest or one of the other free festivals. I go from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. I need to have a chair. The sun is hot and you need a rest. The chair section is back a ways and that is okay with me. I was born in New Orleans and spent the first 34 years in the city. New Orleans is in my blood and so is Jazz Fest.
—John Ariatti, Hendersonville, NC
SGT. JAFFE’S FLOATING HEARTS CLUB BAND
Thanks for a terrific cover illustration. Hats off to Molly Magwire for coming up with an absolutely delightful idea I never would have thought of in a million years. I told Ben Jaffe that a caption for it could read: Sgt. Jaffe’s Floating Hearts Club Band.
—Roger Hahn, New Orleans, LA
VITAL
I would just like to say how vital your magazine is to me when I visit the Jazz Fest. This is the third straight year I have attended and the OffBeat Jazz Fest Bible helps me, not only to schedule which bands I want to hear, but to understand just what I am listening to and experiencing.
Thanks so much. You guys should be getting paid by the City for the service you provide to all NOLA visitors.
—Stephen Hartwell, Easthampton, MA
KICK ASS
I want to thank OffBeat for your support in print for our documentary film, By and By: New Orleans Gospel at the Crossroads.
Michael Patrick Welch did a terrific job on the feature “Holy Different” in the Jazz Fest Bible, and we are most grateful to your coverage of the Electrifying Crown Seekers, a New Orleans institution of 47 years standing. I must say, Mr. Williams was hesitant to share the article with his church-going followers due to the reference to “kicking ass for God,” but the churchgoers subsequently brought it to him as a matter of some considerable pride. I kept telling him that it was alright to “kick ass” for God once a year! Their performance opening the Fest April 27 indicated to me (and Steve Armbruster, with whom I discussed it yesterday) that the band has gotten even more powerful in its stage presence.
I can’t tell you how appreciative I was of the email shout out to the Kickstarter project; it was most gratifying. We are currently struggling with that effort but are following up numerous avenues to reach our goals. The support of OffBeat has been most gratifying and professional and we at Monterey Productions look forward to its continuance.
—Joe Compton, Baltimore, MD
MORE GRAVES
Are Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery and Metairie Cemetery, one and the same?
—David Butters, Goosnargh, Preston, UK
Metairie Cemetery and Lake Lawn Cemetery are two different properties under the same administrator separated by the funeral home. Metairie Cemetery is the older of the two. Both are located in New Orleans and are named Metairie Cemetery because they are bordered by Metairie Road.
For those interested in musicians’ graves, here are some more musicians and their final resting places: Isidore Barbarin: St. Louis Cemetery No. 1; Paul Barbarin: St. Louis Cemetery No. 2; Larry Shields: St. Joseph Cemetery No. 1; Emile “Stalebread” Lacoume: St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1; Buddy Bolden: Holt Cemetery; Nick LaRocca: Greenwood Cemetery.—ED.
BRASS-A-HOLICS TWICE
I just wanted to thank you [Jan Ramsey] again for your time when my father-in-law Anton and I dropped in to see you and Joseph [Irrera] on the Monday during Jazz Fest.
The Obama event was a night for the ages with one great performance after another, capped off by 3/4 of the Meters, half of the Nevilles, Dr. John and Big Sam all sharing the stage.
We also had a great night at Instruments a Comin’, which we thought was even better than previous years. Saw Kermit and the Iguanas at Rock ’n’ Bowl which was great fun. Kermit’s keyboard player is unbelievable! Lil Band ’O Gold are a favorite of ours and we caught them a couple of times. Also, of course, had a great time at the Fest and Glen David Andrews managed to steal the show again on the last day.
The find of the trip this year was the Brass-a-Holics. We ended up seeing them twice at the 12 Bar, as well as at the Obama event. They are a great young band that seems to be focused and hungry. We hope for big things for them, including a slot at Jazz Fest next year.
—Marcus Woodfield, Robina, Australia
CRAZY GOOD
I heard you [Jan Ramsey] speak last night about Carol Fran and the [Slim Harpo] Awards in general.
I was inspired by your theme of the “common thread” that holds society together—music, especially the roots of music. To be completely honest, as soon as I heard the blues, I knew there was something about it that wouldn’t leave my soul. I’m from Mississippi and have been listening to R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and others from the North Mississippi Hill Country for quite some time now.
Sure, I catch flack from my peers because they just don’t seem to understand the impact the music has had on me. I decided to buy tickets for my mom and me on a whim to the awards last night as I was reading about Baton Rouge Blues Week. She leaned over to me after you introduced yourself and said, “You should subscribe to that magazine. It’s crazy good.”
So here I am telling you that your words resonated with me. I feel that one can never stop being inspired, and last night was a simple example of that.
—Erin Kenna, Baton Rouge, LA
