[Dixielandjazz] Britons Back from our travels to New Orleans and Chicago

[Judy Eames]

We missed most of the DJMLers at the French Qurtr Fest but it was good to 
meet up with Pat Cooke who seemed remarkably cheerful despite his  Katrina 
experience.

 There's been a lot of criticism (some justified I'm sure) for poor official 
support for flood and tornado victims but the energy and optimism of the 
people who are getting their lives back together is astounding.  We were 
shown  affected areas not just in the city but to the North where tornados 
ripped up acres of trees and demolished buildings.  We just saw about 25 
miles  of destroyed woodland  with some homes still waiting to be rebuilt 
and the problem  seemed massive..... difficult to take in the fact that the 
affected area stretches for about 800 miles. Anyway I do hope that the 
publicity that comes from the festivals will put Louisiana back centre 
stage.  For Tony Davis and me, it was a first visit but we certainly hope to 
go again.

We also made a first visit to Chicago and, thanks to a contact originally 
made through the DJML (a Steve B posting I think, thanks Steve) we were met 
at the airport by Denny Farrell and taken to his place for the night. 
Denny's Big Band Showcase is available on the internet, it's also syndicated 
but I don't know how that works.  Anyway if anyone wants to hear a couple of 
Britons (some of us don't really like "Brits" BTW :-) ) mangling the 
language, there's a short interview and three tracks going out on his show 
available on line from May 9th  www.dennyfarrell.com  One of the tracks is 
from the recording made by the UK band Big Bear Stompers with Jim Maihack 
guesting on trombone.

Jude








Judy Eames
Kaminsky Connection
Aston, Oxfordshire
UK
www.judyeames.co.uk