Part II

Benevento Russo Duo>Shopping>JBT>Rest>UM>rest>Trey>rest>Dinner>Home

Originally I had planned to detail the exploits of Pirate Prentice, Cracklin Rosey, LP Goddess, and myself. But I got tires of writing it after post I. Now I look back, and I wish I would have just wrapped it all up in one post, but I didn’t. So now I need to conclude this somehow, hence, post II.

A quick wrap up for those who have forgotten; we are in New Orleans.
Anyway, We have headed down to the French quarter, bought our tickets, had some coffee, and now we head back to the show. Benevento and Russo. What to say about these guys. They are part of the Neo Jazz movement, if there is such a thing. They play keys and drums respectively. Russo has some midi hooked to his drums as well, and he programs break beats and similar distractions while drumming.

The show began at 2:00am. Small room, the upstairs of the house of blues. We had a few drinks, and promptly at two the boys came out. They started right in, playing Becky (maybe) right off the bat. They didn’t let up for the next 80 minutes, balls to the wall drumming, loud as can be. It was great. The second set went on for another 90 minutes, and included a few special guests (Stanton Moore, Scott Metzger, the guitarist from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band), and came to a close around 5:30am. The set ended with a Zeppelin medley with Metzger on guitar and Moore on drums, it was a really great show, and I would miss the chance to see them again, especially if the wise on Mr. Mike Gordon is sitting in with them, which he occasionally does.

Wandering out of the show and back into the French Quarter at 5:45 was amusing. People buzzing about from the show, hookers walking the path, strangers hitting on my sister. Whatever, it was Saturday, only hours until the Umphrey’s Mcgee show. We took a taxi back to the hotel and caught a few precious hours of shut eye before awaking again to venture into the city. Back in the French quarter we ate some great food ( I had the seafood Jambalaya, and it was good, and a wonderful baked potato). After lunch we stumbled across an honest to goodness new orleans parade. It was short but fun, and got us in the mood for...some shopping. At one point, Prentice and myself wandered into Tower records, only to find the John Butler Trio set up and jamming, what a nice surprise, it had been ten hours since we experienced live music, and I was going through withdrawal. I ran back to the store we were at and grabbed CR and LPG, and we caught the rest of the John butler trio performance. I was impressed. Enough to try and catch them again anyway. Some more shopping and sightseeing, and back to the hotel for a little rest.

Back at the hotel CR and LPG grabbed a little shut eye, while Prentice and myself drank beers all over the hotel. One in front of our room. One down the hall. One by the pool. One by the cop. One by the front desk. Catch a buzz, back to the room. We decide to drive down to the Umphrey’s show. This show is at Tipitinas, and NOT in the French Quarter. We head out around midnight, and find Tipitinas around 12:30. There is a small crowd building outside, and we jump on the line waiting to be left in. As far as I can tell they let us in around 1:20. We had met some cats on line who we wer chatting with and the time jogged by. The crowd was building outside, the show was sold out, it was the first time I saw fingers in the air at an Umphrey’s show. Young kids trying to make their dreams come true. Anyway, the band came out at around 2:30, and didn’t disappoint. The started off with a mellow Jam, into a Kabump, and then a stewart, and finally into a Resolution that REALLY began the night. What to say??? The took a short (like maybe 20 minutes) break, at which point Gabby La LA came out to play some sitar, and sing and dance, and…well…she was interesting. Halfway through her little performance UM came back out and jammed with her until she left the stage and they took right back over, playing until 7:15.

The show was phenomenal, not enough can be said, but the whole trip was great, so words begin to lose their meaning. All I can say is if you like music, especially rock, see this band soon. After the UM show it was back to the hotel again, more rest, and up again and back out to see my good friend Trey Antipasto..err…I mean Anastatio. Trey was playing at the ACTUAL Jazzfest. For those who have never been, there is Jazz Fest, and then there are all the other shows that go on around the city. JazzFest takes place at the fairgrounds, all the other shows litter the city, it is truly amazing how many shows are going on at any given time.

The Trey show was good, more solid than I had expected. It was a day show, and short. They only gave him like 70 minutes, so it was kind of abbreviated. A good show though. We caught a few other moments of genius at the festival, including a crazy African drum jam, that ended with a stilt dancer. It was cool to say the least.We were all pretty understandably tired, and we ended up calling it an early day at the JazzFest (not before LPG meet up with everyone’s favorite bassist, one Mr. Mike Gordon, at the Dove ice cream stand though)

From Jazzfest back to the hotel, and then back down to the French Quarter for one more meal. At dinner, we spotted a rat under our neighbors table. I decided to politely inform them it was their, they were not to happy, but I told them he was handsome, and it seemed to calm them. All in all the last restaurant was not the best, but we were to tired to care. I ended up passing out in the car on the way back to the hotel. To wrap it all up, we drove home on Monday. A great trip once again. I would like to thank my travel partners for being so wonderful, and hopefully we can all do it again.


from the private archives of pidibi