Jazz Fest 2010

Vaquero continues to crow happily that finally, this year, the Times-Pic seems to be taking JazzFest seriously in terms of its coverage of the music and musicians represented.  In other years he's felt the Times-Pic tended to flinch away from this long music festival that brings so many visitors to New Orleans, as something not so much of the city, so not so much worthy of coverage.  In a sense, maybe so?  The Indians, for instance, are relatively recent additions to the local music stages.

All this by way of a terrific piece today (thanks to New Orleans Ladder for the pointer) on Donald Harrison Jr.

It's all the more heartening and soothing to broken hearts because right now, even now, I'm hearing people who should really know better say things like this: "When the hurricane struck, I was saddened by the devastation but hoped that anything worth preserving would be moved to higher ground.  No; they just keep rebuilding in the same place."  OK.  The amount, the levels of ignorance in that, I can't even begin to parse, but then, anybody who knows anything about it knows what all that ignorance is, so I don't have to.  And those who don't get it, who won't get it, even when one brings out every fact and piece of evidence about why this all wrong, well -- yanno?  FUCK 'EM.

So soon, off to way uptown to watch the third Treme episode. (no, we don't just not have HBO, we don't even have a television, so we are depending on the kindness of, well, not strangers, but friends with HBO who are willing to let us sit with them for an hour or two -- well Vaquero was in a hotel room with HBO last weekend, so that was fine -- he won't be next Sunday night though ....)  My experience watching shows like this, all one season at a time, without having to wait a week in between allows for heavier and stronger dramatic impact -- whereas you cannot make Vaquero watch television at all.  But this is the exception because we keep getting asked to talk about the program for obvious reasons (last week he had to comment on Treme for a local television program) we have to watch it (as if this is a terrible hardship -- it just takes some planning and effort!).   After tonight the screener dvd eps will all have been broadcast.  With the fourth episode is when the show is gonna get Real Good, if The Wire's progress is anything to judge by.