Wrap-Up Sunday at Jazz Fest 2013...

It's been about five years of hoping that the Black Keys would be coming to Jazz Fest and the time has finally come!  Seriously psyched!   The Pool Hall Studs are sleeping soundly, all sorts of giddy over how they were the hit of the rodeo last night (see photo), so I'm just hanging around.  They will want lunch, but I'd like to get out to the Fair Grounds earlier today to catch some of the lesser known acts.  The weather is bright/sunny/unseasonably cool, but comfortable. 

Just outside the hotel, I hook up with a couple for a cab out to the Fest.  Seems crowded already.  At the Gentilly Stage is "New Orleans Classic R&B Recording Revue" featuring some old timers like Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Robert Parker, etc.  Love that stuff but skeptical where the old boys still have anything.  They do.  Henry gave great versions of his hits and, as I left for Acura, Parker had the whole crowd 'Barefootin'.

Clarence "Frogman" Henry at Gentilly on Sunday

At the Acura Stage at the opposite end of the race track, the Meter Men, a sort of reincarnation of the legendary Meters (former Meters Zigaboo Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr. paired with Page McConnell of Phish), are on at one forty-five, followed by the Black Keys at three-forty, with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue closing the Fest at five thirty-five.  I am determined to see The Keys up close.  This is going to take commitment, go in early, really early, and stay there.  I enter at portal #2 to the right of the stage and carve a path to within about forty to fifty yards from the stage, where I run into the Jersey crowd.  The Meter Men are solid funk, entirely enjoyable set.

When the set is over, there is a mass changing of the guard, older patrons out to Gentilly for Hall & Oates, youngsters in.  So, here I am in the midst of a bunch of weed-tokin', selfie-snappin' college-age kids for the next forty minutes until showtime.  No thanks, I'm good.  The young lady next to me notices my shirt and asks, "Hey, is that Anthony Jack's Wood-Fired Grill from Southington, CT?"  Why, yes!  Seems she lived in Plainville.  She also has lived down here in Nola because she says that Trombone Shorty played at her brother's wedding back when he was 17!  I cannot top that.  Legs getting tired of standing in place for two hours.  Showtime!

Meter Men at Acura on Sunday