June 25, 2010 Bixi to Boz
Gentle reader: You may, like me, be new to blogs: to read my earlier entries from this trip, click on the date (starting on June 20th) and then click on the title to expand.
Today was a Four Bixi day, to Place Bonaveture, back to the hotel, to the drycleaner, and to Jazz Fest. Getting the hang of it, it is not for the faint hearted, but mon dieu, it works! But there is a flaw in the Bixi: You buzz happily around on you errands, only to find that when you arrive at your destination there is no room at the rack. You then must cycle around in a holding pattern waiting for someone to rent one – musical bikes – so that you can lock yours up and stop the clock. Memo to Jako: Maybe have more spaces than Bixis?
So now its Jazz Fest, and that is going to be my life for the next five days. Other stuff will happen, but once you get past the huge crowds, the multiple stages, the incredible sound and huge video screens, the overall massiveness of it all , it is about the music. This thing is 10 times bigger than Vancouver’s, and pretty much non-stop. If anything else happens I’ll talk about it, but the next while is going to be about the acts I see, with samples. I hope that is interesting. If not, check back on me in Quebec City on Tuesday.
My Jazz Fest starts with Boz Scaggs, one of the most distinctive voices in popular music. 40 years older and not much has changed; he’s the guy you want to be slow dancing to at 2:30 as they stack the chairs.
http://www.last.fm/music/Boz+Scaggs/+videos/+1-RQlcONddQY4
It is a short concert when he breaks for his encore, and the crowd is restless and dissatisfied. Out they come again, and everything changes. It is not often a band ends a concert with a slow blues, and less often yet that a slow blues defines the show and makes it all worthwhile. Here is a different version of “Loan me a dime” (that’s Greg Allmand and Derek Trucks) If you don’t have time, slide to 4:00 for the feel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4-IPJ1Peo
Backing up Boz was the bumptious Monet Owens, who got a Standing O for a knock ‘em dead cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About.” Couldn’t find that, but here she is in a different context doing “Til You Come Back to Me.” Slide to 2:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ac349b4pgg
Then it’s outside to one of the outdoor stages for Billy’s Band, incredibly Russia’s Tom Waits. Here is “Chocolate Jesus” (He switches to English at 2:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ8LNQN_puo
The big act of the night must attract close to a quarter of million people (OK, I have no idea) to three separate venues, one live but with 4 giant video screens for those of us – I kid you not – over a block away, and the others are just monster screens on the stages. Here the rockabilly Brian Setzer Orchestra doing the venerable “Stray Cat Blues”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvdnE3nP-1w
Big sound for a big crowd. Big fun. And home to bed, the party is just getting started along St. Catherine’s, but after a week I am pacing myself.
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