[Dixielandjazz] RE; The F2F at French Quarter Festival

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

DJML F2F?

Guess it never happened,  I even stopped by Don Gumpert's hotel and left a 
message for him a couple of times, which I do not know if he ever got it.

I did meet Karl Wetlaufer, at the Satchmo Stage on Sunday Morning, and we had 
a nice chat,  caught up with Brian Towers and his wife on Bourbon Street for 
a chat in between his autograph session with adoring  International fans , and 
Tom Saunders and his Jazz Vipers were a delight.  Clive Wilson, Al Rapone & 
Zydeco Express, Jimmy Thibodeaux, Bucktown Allstars, Lynn Drury, Eric Lindell, 
Samirah Evans, Joe Krown, Olympia Brass Band, Lenny McDaniel.  And a few 
others in passing

I spent most of my time when not walking back and forth ha ha!  at the 
Satchmo Stage and the Cajun Zydeco stage, must be at least a mile apart at opposite 
ends of the festival, during the festival hours, then crawled the pubs in the 
Quarter till 2:00 a.m or so everynight.

I caught, Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfield, Bill Summers, Bonerama, Walter 
Wolfman Washington, Washboard Chaz, Theresa Anderson,  The Nightcrawlers, Lil 
RascalsBrass Band, Forgotten Souls Brass Band, Treme Brass Band, Andrew Hall 
Society Brass Band, Excelsior Brass Band,  Majestic Brass Band, Miss Belles Brass 
Band, Young Reliance Brass Band, Mitchel Cormier,  did Fretzels, and 
Preservation Hall one night, 

Just not enough time in the day to catch em all, but we tried,and had a 
marvelous time, but the feets are failin me now, Ha Ha.:)

Estimates that the attendance was 400,000 or more people, Sorry folks but 
that's a lot bigger than Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento.   A wonderful and ecclectic 
array of Good entertianment, and certainly the best that New Orelans has to 
offer.   There were many other acts that I have seen before that I did not go to 
see this trip, because I wanted to see new things and experience all the 
varieties of OKOM.

Regrets:

I did not catch up to a Tim Laughlin show, or Evan Christopher, or Jack 
Maheu, just kept missing the time slots due to walking back and forth to the other 
stages, or conflicting showtimes with what I had to see for business 
committments.  Missing out on meeting Charlie Suhor, Don & Sandy Gumpert, Rebecca & Jim 
Thompson, and Sue Lorchen and Pat Cooke,  Sorry folks I tried.

Biggest regret, Having to Leave New Orleans again and all that great music 
and food, and especially before the next festival kicking off this week, with 
even more great acts.


A special Highlight:  Meeting Mat Perrine:   An exceptional Tuba player and 
musician/arranger and songwriter, his momma told me he was "all that good" and 
she was not just being a show biz mom either, he is indeed  all that and a lot 
more, and we will be working together on some projects soon.

I took four young ladies from Taiwan, Korea, and Japan with me to introduce 
them to JAZZ  ages 23 -30, guess what folks,  they all bought twenty or more 
CDs each and loved almost everything they saw and heard of OKOM, and thought 
they had died and gone to Jazz heaven when they sat in Funky old Preservation 
Hall for a show.   Buy stock in Kodak folks, they made hundreds of pictures to 
take home to cherish for a lifetime.  Join me in welcoming four new Jazz & OKOM 
converts.   Before this they had no idea what Jazz was.  Amazing.
  
There is no doubt folks that New Orelans is OKOM Heaven, I could live and die 
like that, now if we could just move it all to Sunny California where it is 
raining today, :))

Tom  ("Gumbo'ed and crawfished out")  Wiggins      for a day or too only 
however.