An embarrassment of riches
I started the Fest yesterday with Astral Project and sat by a guy who said he has been watching them for 30 years. Wow, are they that old? Because I was gone from New Orleans for 16 years and hadn’t known much about them until Flower sent me a CD. They are an unbelievable talent collection.
Next I walked over and caught the tail end (no pun intended) of Chris Owens. She had just brought an elderly man on stage and was singing to him.
From there I stopped by the Gentilly stage and caught Galatica and then walked over to the Fais Do Do Stage to see The Del McCroury Band – they were great – and I ran into my neighbors – a bunch of them and they gave me shelter from the sun (much needed). This is their feet – I had to sit for a while as the heat had gotten me as it always does:
I followed the crowd to Eryka Badu and found her a little not my taste so went over to watch Ile Ayie of Brazil (a carnival band) that were romping and ended up at the Gospel Tent to listen to the St. Joseph The Worker Music Ministry, where the woman was singing, “I’ll pray for you. You pray for me.”
As I sat there in the mist floating inside the gospel tent and listen to her sing her heart out, I thought about Eryka Badu, that slick, sort of Whitney Houston sound. I have one Whitney Houston song – and it was written by Dolly Parton. Yes, she and Eyka can sing, but what is inside of them. There was something inside this woman on the stage at the Gospel Tent that was alive and raw and was coming out with all the life force of an avalanche.