[Dixielandjazz] Banu Gibson reviewed - French Quarter Fest 2013

[Vince Bartels]

I was here and Played Friday night with Banu, Debbie Davis on vocals, Hank
Bartels, Todd Duke on Guitar, and Mackenzie my granddaughter sat in a sang
some tunes.

I was a assume time.

 

From: Robert Ringwald [mailto:rsr at ringwald.com] 
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 11:34 AM
To: DJML
Subject: Banu Gibson reviewed - French Quarter Fest 2013 

 

French Quarter Fest 2013: Banu Gibson Defies the Pouring Rain

by Doug MacCash

New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 11, 2013

Banu Gibson removed a soggy song list from a music stand, stepped to the
edge of

the stage and squeezed the rainwater out of the forlorn wad of paper. Twenty
minutes

earlier a chilly spring deluge had swept across Jackson Square, dousing the
stage

-- despite the tent that covered it -- with water and sending Gibson's fans
scurrying

for cover. As gusts of wind scoured the crepe myrtles, Gibson's band
retreated to

the rear of the stage, watching the water roll off of the tent flaps and
waiting

for word if the show would go on.

Weather wise, it had been a sword of Damocles start for French Quarter Fest
2013,

with continuous cloud cover and tornado threats through Thursday morning.
When Gibson's

show began at half-past noon it still seemed possible that the rain would
hold off.

Wearing a beatnik-style black and white striped pullover, the auburn haired
singer

launched into Louis Armstrong's "I Got a Heart Full of Rhythm."
Simultaneously, streaks

of silver began slicing through the sky and umbrellas began popping like
colorful

mushroom caps. The refrain of the first song was prophetic.

"When skies are gray and everything's wrong, I'll get by, just on a song,"
Gibson

sang.

Gibson is a traditionalist. Her French Quarter Fest set was studded with
jazz-era

gems made famous by Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Her
voice is

clear. Her phrasing is precise. Like a master chef, Gibson expertly served
up every

delectably witty lyric. It was during the closing bars of a very early Judy
Garland

hit "Swing Mr. Charlie" that the sword of precipitation finally fell.

Wires and water were everywhere on the stage. But considering everything,
spirits

were high. Gibson pointed out one dedicated French Quarter Fest fan that'd
held fast

in a folding chair beneath an inadequate tree as the rain pelted her.

Sometime during the antediluvian part of the show, Gibson had introduced
Bobby Havens

a venerable trombonist who had once played with Lawrence Welk's orchestra --
specializing

in Dixieland performances. It was one of those six-degrees-of-separation
moments

that improbably linked the mellow television maestro Lawrence Welk
(1903-1992) with

rough and ready rock 'n' roll drummer Levon Helm (1940-2012). Gibson and
Helm opened

a short-lived French Quarter nightclub together more than a decade ago. As
occasional

thunderclaps boomed overhead, Gibson recalled that Helm was a likable, down
to earth

sort of character. She and he used to swap stories, she said.

In time the rain quit. A man in a yellow jacket squeegeed water off of the
stage.

Musicians did their best to gather limp sheet music. The plastic-coated
crowd reappeared

out of nowhere and the show was back on track. A couple danced to the
boogie-woogie

of the final song on the wet pavement. Inconsiderate droplets fell from time
to time.

"Baby," Gibson belted, "what's on your worried mind?"

"Baaaaaby, what's on your worried mind?"

Look for a video of the rain-interrupted performance tomorrow on NOLA.com

-30-



-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a
man
standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. 
-Winston Churchill