Today started with a promising sigil chalked in front of my office door this morning.
Let me give you the lineup we are starting with, as of 11:25AM. On the far end of the bar Edward Scissorhands is sitting next to the Corpse Bride. Then, there are two empty chairs. Then there is a man with diamond teeth who is talking to two older Jazz Fest guys, you know the type. Then there is me and an empty chair I am saving for someone, if he or she shows up. I do not yet know who will show.
I was not waiting for these two male versions of the Jazz Fest type. Gray ponytails. Alligator earings. One is wearing an untucked shirt printed with oyster shells. The other one is wearing an untucked shirt printed with pelicans, official Jazz Fest merchandise. It must be to cold to wear shorts and sandals.
Guess what the Jazz Fest types are talking about? Tipitina’s. It will probably be Dr. John next, then the Soul Rebels or something-or-other. Jazz Fest types tend to have one-track minds.
Seeing Jazz Fest types during actual Jazz Fest is not surprising. They come from all over, mostly from all over the U.S. A small population roosts in New Orleans year round.
Are there young hippies anymore? I know there are because some of them go to Jazz Fest. Jazz Fest’s target demographic tends to skew older.
I am talking about the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, held annually the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May. There is a lot of history in Jazz Fest, as any amateur Jazz Fest historian will be happy to tell you.
For most people in the rest of the United States, and even for most New Orleanians, the Jazz Fest type is a role they put on for two weeks. Even your humble narrator, who has no interest in music or crowds, even I am a little extra jaunty during the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May.
I am going to tell you about the permanent Jazz Fest type, the kind who drifts into New Orleans like a dandelion seed and sprouts into a cheap and gaudy blossom.
Then, I am going to tell you about these four ballerinas who just sat behind me. That part got a little weird, so I am going to put up the paywall.
I am putting it up now.