"Welcome to New Orleans", said the black hooker shoe.

That's the shoe that's black, not the hooker. I don't know whether or not the hooker was black. It was this black shoe in the corner of our hotel room that welcomed us back to wonderful New Orleans for Jazzfest 2009. And it is this shoe that welcomes you back to your VTK New Orleans Jazzfest photo diary. We left it there all weekend. I suggest you leave it in your heart for the remainder of this post.

On the other side of that curtain was Bourbon Street itself. Talk about your centrally located hotel rooms! The trick to being able to sleep when you're located right on Bourbon Street? Stay up later than anyone who might wake you up.


Another view (check out all the beads on the roof):


And this was our local corner establishment right downstairs, where we kicked off our first day of Jazzfest with a nice spicy bean bloody mary. (note MC Smackdown's outfit (right))


And this is literally 20 seconds and 20 feet later - my first spilled drink. First sip = first spill. Nice. Relax a minute. Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy seemed to think it was pretty funny.


It was fantastic to return to the Fairgrounds for this year's Fest after a year's absence. We were welcomed by New Orleans native and goodtime trumpet player Kermit Ruffins. I always try to catch Kermit when in town.


As usual, we saw tons of great music by bands we had never heard of and whose names we could not possibly remember, including these dudes who pumped out some great old timey jazz:


And a good interview with this guy, whose name I know for sure: Allen Toussaint.


A definite musical highlight was Neil Young playing on the main stage. Click on this panoramic stitch-up for a sense of how many people were there. We were about a football field away and the crowd spilled out well to the side of what my camera could capture in three photos.


And a definite musical highlight of the musical highlight was hearing Neil end the show with a cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life".



And in the Heritage display, there was this:


which really needs no further explanation.


What might require further explanation is this:


which was a shrine to one of the "stars" of this year's Jazzfest, Jon Bon Jovi. I tried to explain to Dd that it was sarcastic, but she didn't believe me and was sure that the woman was just a crazy Bon Jovi fan. She herself is a Bon Jovi fan and attended that particular show, which, I'm told, was good.


Beignets at Cafe Du Monde in a black dress. Before first bite (above) and after first bite (below).


Irishing up the Cafe du Monde coffee. Tip to the uninitiated: don't wait in the obscene line in the morning/day. Go at night when you need a little juice to get you going for the evening round.


Dice.


Tip # 2 for the uninitiated: save $ by buying beers at the local market and drink them outside of The Apple Barrel on Frenchmens Street in the middle of the night. Tip 2.2: do not attempt to do this while sober. Tip 2.3: tip 2 + tip 2.2 may = oxymoronic.


Note MC Smackdown's outfit again. 4 nights later, still rocking it.


Rocky rocking it. Jazzfest is a heavyweight fight. If you've made it to the end, you've got enough points to win and you just need to make sure you stay on your feet.


The day after we won the fight, Mac-D and Dd headed home and MC Smackdown and I stuck around for a day to relax a minute. I took advantage of the free day to take a lazy, hungover stroll around the French Quarter to snap some photos of the buildings that I always seem unable to find time to photograph. Enjoy:





























I will now field any questions and will be unable to provide answers to any of them.