Food and Music

The food here is incredible! The plate on the right is a combo plate with oysters on a biscuit, crawfish in a bag of deep-fried filo-type dough, and some spicy hush puppy-like things. The other plate is just straight, boiled crawfish. I haven't sampled all of the food available at the fest, but I'm working on it.

The highlight of the first day was Van Morrison. I've been a fan of his forever, and it was great to see him live. He did a lot of stuff I wasn't totally familiar with, but he also did an incredible version of Moon Dance. The second day all-star was Mose Allison. I had heard of him (mainly though a Greg Brown song), but I'd never heard his music. He's 80 years old, plays fabulous piano (I think he must be classically trained), and sings great little story books of songs. I can see his influence on Greg Brown's music.

There was a lot of good music on yesterday, with The New Orleans Social Club (a group of Katrina musician refugees who evacuated to Austin), George Thorogood, and Gillian Welch. The prize has to go to Gillian Welch, who has never diappointed me. I was tempted to give George the nod, just because everyone seems to totally dismiss his musical talent. Whatever he has, he still has it, and can sure get a crowd up and dancing to the same stuff he's been doing for 30 years. Last night we went and saw a trio called the Tin Man. They consist of a guitar/lead singer, a sousaphone, and washboard player. The combination works! Who'd a thunk it?!! Very entertaining, even though they kept me up past 3AM!

I've decided to stay here in New Orleans for this week rather than traveling to Houston or Jackson, MS. I want to do some exploring in the bayous, maybe wrestle an alligator or two, and see how some of the worst-hit areas in New Orleans are doing. My first impressions are still holding. There's been a lot of at least cosmetic progress since I was here last.