Celebrating New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2007

PLAY THE SHOW

Heidy and I have returned (regrettably) from our annual pilgrimage to New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival. As usual, it was a blast and is quickly becoming a complete blur. Too much food, friends, music and good times will wear you out after a while, but who’s complaining when there is so much fun to be had? It must be said that the citizenry have made tremendous inroads since the onslaught of Katrina, but the sacrifice has been monumental. This was our 4th trip since that disaster, and we were genuinely pleased and impressed to see so much progress and determination among the local population. A lot has been accomplished, but there is still an incredible amount of work to be done. The people of New Orleans recognize the cultural value of their city, and the success of the Jazz and Heritage Festival was a testament both the people of the city and their culture. Heidy is a native of New Orleans (born and raised), and the both of us feel a deep personal commitment to this very special place, so for today’s show we want to send a little ‘Thank You’ note to the people of New Orleans.
Anyway, this all sounds much too serious for the rollicking good time that we had this year. I’ll let the music tell most of the story, while Heidy and I fill in the gaps. For our song selection, we will pick a few of the musical highlights from this year’s trip.
Here is a list of songs covered in today’s program;
1) Palestine, Texas – T-Bone Burnett
2) Evening Train – Van Morrison
3) It Tears Me Up – Percy Sledge
4) See You Later Alligator – Bobby Charles
5) Poor Side of Town – Johnny Rivers
6) Drinking Wine Spo-De-O-Dee – Jerry Lee Lewis
7) Don’t Shake Me Lucifer – Roky Erikson
8) El Orangutan – The Iguanas
9) Gin Instead of Whiskey – Morning 40 Federation
10) Polk Salad Annie – Tony Joe White