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We had a great group of girls: Amy Jones, Amy Kwiatkowski, Laura Faulkenberry, Laura Savalli, Barbara Tillotson, Courtney Middleton, Jordan Jones, and Julie Hannah.  Our only sadness was the absence of Heather Perfetta.  She was going to come but had complications from knee surgery which prohibited her from being able to attend.

During the three days of Jazz Fest we saw:  Los Sagitarios, Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band, Anders Osborne, Keb' Mo', Cowboy Mouth, Ani DiFranco, Percussion, Inc., Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Galatic, the subdudes, Lighthouse Gospel Singers, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, The Iguanas, Etta James, Sonny Landreth, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Pin Stripe Brass Band, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen.

Everyone wants to know, "How does it look down there?"  The French Quarter is nearly unchanged.  The restaurants and hotels are short-staffed but the people are all trying very hard and have never been more friendly.  The house where we used to live in the Bayou St. John area is also untouched.  The water did not get over the porch (which is about 3 feet tall.)  I went by to check on it one day and the new owner let me go inside and take a tour.  There are other areas, like Mid-City near the Carrollton / Canal intersection which are completely devastated.  All the old shops and restaurants we used to frequent in this area are destroyed and standing empty.  I did not get to see any closer to the lake than the fairgrounds, but I heard there was a lot of damage up there.  

            Sunset as seen out the window of the hotel room

Our room had some bonus features, like our "in-room fountain."  
This is what we decided to call the bath tub that never stopped running!

 Amy's parents drove over from their home in Pass Christian, MS (which suffered hurricane damage so they are now living in a FEMA trailer.)
Amy's mom brought gifts and snacks, which came in very handy throughout the weekend.

Then Amy's Dad bought us all dinner.  They spoiled us and we loved it!!

I think their names are Don and Mary but I feel bad because I'm not sure!! 

On the left is my jumbo-tron picture of Keb' Mo, on the right is a picture I got from the Jazz Fest web site (nojazzfest.com.)

Later that night I stood right next to him on the street but I didn't realize who he was until we walked away and someone told me.  Shoot!

 Cowboy Mouth - only one of the very best live bands ever.  (We've seen them approximately 14 times.)

 Happy 

 Here we are out to eat at Cafe Maspero's
 

The picture is dark, but maybe you 
can see that she has declared him
worthy of the universal "Loser" sign.

 Amy loves Jean Lafitte's piano bar.  Here's the piano player now.

 You can see the water marks pretty clearly on these buildings.  They say the water got higher than that, but the marks show where it settled.
 There are piles of trash like that on almost every street, still waiting to be hauled away.

  Remodeling generates a lot of trash, I can't imagine where they will put it all.

 More water marks

 Clarence "Frogman" Henry

 Havin' fun in the Gospel Tent

On Saturday night we decided to do a fancy dress-up dinner at Arnaud's.
We started the evening with a champagne toast to Amy on her special weekend.

Laura S. and Amy K. all smiles, Laura F. being silly

 Here we are in all our glory

Upon leaving, we discovered it was raining.  
The restaurant was kind enough to provide deluxe rain gear (in the form of trash bags.)

 Here I'm poaching pictures that were being taken with someone else's camera.

Walter "Wolfman" Washington at the Congo stage

Hi, I'm Shawnna.  This is my friend Laura, and my other friend Laura.

Elvis Costello, who performed with Allen Toussaint (nojazzfest.com pictures)

My jumbo-tron shot of Bruce Springsteen

 The gang again, with Bruce playing behind us.

 Amy, Jordan and I finished the weekend by seeing Cowboy Mouth again, this time at Tipitina's late Sunday night.

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