we went to the annual 'big easy festival' in sparks saturday. they set up a few stages, they sell cheap beads, overpriced jambalya and the standard crafts junk. they tell us it's like a piece of new orleans in northern nevada. i don't know about that, but it was pretty fun and they do have some good music.
but reno ain't new orleans, it's too hot, (103 degrees), and no muggy, (love the muggy). and after working too many fests in the easy, i felt i needed to help these misguided promoters fix the stuff that needed fixin'. the lack of music, the food was lackluster, expensive and minimal. and that is just a bit of it. (s.a. convinced me to just walk around and play my harmonica subver-silly). still, i am really surprised they have gotten away with the thing for a few years now.
one band we did enjoy was 'gumbo'. the paint job on their van read . . . 'from crowley la. and oakland, ca.' i just found this profoundly funny, what a fuckin' commute.
i asked a few of the guys hanging with the band, (it was easy to figure out, they were of the black persuasion), what was up with that. i was told they had moved to the bay area to make a new start. good enuff. they had the crowd rockin' with such cajun faves as 'hello dolly' and 'mack the knife' . . . jeesh!
the locals sucked it up, hell, most of them are dissilute cali throw-aways trying to get away from the monster that cali has become, (this town now reeks of cali ex-patriots, all the time trying to make reno a bit 'o cali, go figure).
we actually almost made it 'til they end, but the nighttime heat was still oppresive, and i just wanted to get home to listen to some real new orleans music, get some wine, get stoned and count the days 'til i get the real thing!
sorry, no music tonite. it is kimmy's birthday, she got a i-pod shuffle and we found a bunch of new stuff i need to go thru, (the strokes and husker du cds, and elvis c. and hendrix dvds, whew!), so i need to absorb some stuff then absorb more. . . peas, out!
6 comments:
Ya love the muggy? Arrrrrgh!
My newest CDs:
The Equatorial Stars - Fripp and Eno
Minimum-Maximum - Kraftwerk
Live at the Apollo 1962 - James Brown
The Cure - Pornography (expanded)
several CDs by Yo La Tengo
several CDs by Todd Rundgren
yeah buddy, after living in it for so long then moving out here to the high and dry sierras, i really miss the muggy!
(it's a southern thing ya know)
nice bunch of cds ya got there. which todd cds did ya get?
Yeah, M.A. we have one of these in Michigan too. It's called, get this, the JAM-balaya festival, the only thing more nauseating than the name is some of the food the restaurants are passing off as Creole & Cajun.
yeah danno, when i traveled all the time i noticed most major cities have some sorta new orleans-style fest. they pretty much are lame for the most part, both fodd-wise and musically. but it still cool to get a piece of the easy somewhere else. still, i don't see new orleans hosting a reno-like rodeo week, or or boston lobster fest. not many cities transfer like new orleans i guess . . .
(oh yeah i dig the nola cuisine site, very smart looking, way-to-go danno!)
I feel your pain. We're close enough to Louisiana that the food and music here are fabulous. I would hate living any further away from New Orleans. Three and a half hours is too far as it is but luckily, Beaumont ain't half bad and it's getting better here all the time.
the pain is gonna be short lived, we are almost home! i can smell the muggy from here. . . you are welcome to our 1st mardi gras blow-out. next year we are gonna be blocks from the action. let's have a blast! no more psuedo feaux lacksadaisy partying for this po-boy! you and yours have a spot in front of the floats.. . .
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