Guess who’s at Jazz Fest? Think I’ve changed since 1994?
Well, chunkier and older for sure, and my hair got a lot more red, a little wiser, a lot deeper in debt, but I still enjoy Jazz Fest just as much as I did 20 years ago.
Jan Ramsey at the 1994 Jazz Fest. Love those huge sunglasses! (Photo: John Glenn)
I found this photo one night a few years ago when I was looking online; lo and behold, it was taken by my longtime friend John Glenn (no, not the astronaut), whom I met when he was the photo editor at USA Today.
We feature just a few of John’s many glorious Jazz Fest photos in his years of covering Jazz Fest in our May “Jazz Fest Bible” issue.
John is a fantastic photographer and a truly good friend. That’s what Jazz Fest is about, in a way: making new friends whose interests are the same as yours, and keeping them for decades. So many traditions have sprung up around Jazz Fest (read about them here and here, too, in our current issue.
USA Today started covering Jazz Fest around that time, and if my memory serves, that’s when Jazz Fest really took off as an international destination. Of course, that was before there were festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella, Telluride, Lollapalooza, etc. Jazz Fest was the, THE music festival.
It’s certainly the most renowned, and it turns 45 this year (I thought 25 was old, two decades ago!).
We’re getting ready to hand out those Jazz Fest Bibles outside the Fair Grounds. If you are craving one really badly, hit the Seahorse Saloon on the corner of Gentilly Boulevard and Fortine Avenue, just across from the main entrance to the Festival. We have a big stash of “Bibles” there for your reading pleasure, and hope you enjoy our latest issue.
It’s really impossible to list all the great nighttime shows that are presented in our music clubs and in venues all over town during the 10 days of Jazz Fest; suffice it to say that it’s virtually an orgy of great music that continues until the wee hours, and sometimes until the sun comes up. Our listings and our mobile app have all the info you need to plan your evening post-Fest.
We’re looking forward to this year’s Fest here on the second floor of 421 Frenchmen, even more so because our new neighbors, the Louisiana Music Factory on the first floor has a stellar series of in-stores planned, and because Tami Curtis—the local artist who created out Jazz Fest Bible cover of Rebirth Brass Band, has just opened her gallery on the first floor as well.
It’s going to be a good one. See ya out there!
