agent stanford is stationed in jackson hole, wyoming, and this gunslinger runs a blog called the JH Underground that chronicles the scene. here is an excerpt from his coverage of this year's jazz fest:
It was like this the whole Jazz Fest. I can’t count the number of times the music picked me up in a way that caffeine or other stimulants could not. Experiencing a festival in this manner, all day and all night, takes the stamina of a mountain climber, and Jazz Fest is Everest.
In New Orleans each spring, one eats and breathes music: blasts of brass, the bumping funk, the zydeco that streams like sunshine. You are dancing from your first night out until that panicked moment at 5 a.m. when you hail a cab to the airport.
All this takes place in a city at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, a city so rich with character, so fertile and green, the air perfumed with jasmine.
The feeling is one I wish I could bottle and uncork several times throughout the year.
hop on over to the JH Underground to read more about this year's fest.
and here are some photos courtesy of brother stanford (thanks, JS):
carlos santana jamming with "doctor" charles neville...
stevie wonder playing his first ever jazz fest...
the wild magnolias sharing the stage with widespread panic...
michael franti playing a benefit gig in the ninth ward...
george porter linking up with phish keyboardist, page mcconnell...
the wyoming flag flying high...
hurricanes a flowin'...
it's on at the new orleans bingo show...
fest producer, quint davis...
habitat for humanity helping to rebuild...
impromptu sidewalk jam...
chillin' at the fest...
all saint's day at the congo square...
and, last but not least, late night with karl denson...