“French Quarter Fest 2026”
Diana was excited to get back to pickleball on Monday morning. She won all but one of her games in the clinic ending tournament.
I picked up our Brass Passes for Jazzfest around lunchtime in the Jazz and Heritage Festival building on Rampart. Music was playing on an amazing sound system in the pickup room. The Brass Passes include a healthy donation to the local WWOZ radio station in the price. This is the first year we’ve tried them and we’ll see how it all goes.
Anne hosted Happy Hour tennis (she drags a cooler out to the courts) for Denny’s birthday on Tuesday afternoon. We had a nice group to celebrate.
In the evening trivia session, we got the fall of the Berlin Wall and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time after time” switched on our timeline and lost at the end.
I almost forgot to mention one of the more entertaining portions of the trivia experience. Our “scribe” didn’t agree with the score that quizmaster Tom reported for our team. He sat down at the computer with Tom and got things corrected – attention to detail!
The typical Wednesday morning run and yoga were executed by McD. After that we made a productive trip to Trader Joes’.
In the early evening, we made the short drive down to Lafayette square to see River Eckert and his band perform in the free Wednesday night spring show series.
River had assembled an excellent band, including his dad, Jake, on guitar.
We left a bit before the end of the set to meet Denny and Anne to celebrate Denny’s birthday at Dolfy’s. This is the new Basque restaurant and they did a great job of mirroring the food we had just experienced. The pork dish was outstanding and the pintxos and appetizers also very good.
Thursday was day one of French Quarter Fest (FQF). We made it down to the brand new park and the Pan Am stage just in time to see the very last of the Tin Men. We set up in the spot with Randy, Amy, Jeanne, Larry, Brian and Lisa. The park really is a very nice new space with expansive views of the river and downtown.
After setting up, we walked over to Jackson Square to check out the Nori Guys food offerings. That was a mistake – the foot traffic getting over there was very busy and undisciplined – lots of bobbing and weaving. Jackson Square was very busy – we got our sushi tacos, ate them, and headed back to the relative peace and quiet of the new parks.
When we returned, Muevelo, a Cuban salsa band was taking the stage. Brian had advertised this as a potential highlight.
Muévelo, the Celia Cruz-inspired Cuban music dance band, was packed with ringers including Victor Campbell on piano, David Navarro on trumpet and vocals, Brent Rose on saxophone and Chris Butcher on trombone. Margie Perez was animated on lead vocals.
John Mooney and Bluesiana finished off our afternoon of music. I had seen Mooney in a solo show at the Circle bar (sadly no longer with us) with Denny years ago. I remember good blues music after an inordinate amount of time setting up and trying to perfect the sound in the tiny back room. Set up was quick this time and Mooney demonstrated great slide work and feel on his guitar.
We heard a little bit of the Rebirth Brass Band on the Jack Daniels stage as we packed up and exited.
Friday at French Quarter Fest started out with Lulu and the Broadsides. I really enjoy her song “Dear Rachel Carson” with the lyrics, “If we lose New Orleans, we lose everything.”
Such a big and powerful voice.
Diana and I split a soft shell crab po-boy from the Ajun Cajun tent and I snuck a spicy beef Mrs wheat’s meat pie into my pocket for dessert later.
After lunch, we walked over to the “Esplanade in the Shade” stage at the Jazz Museum to listen to the New Orleans legacy coalition, a group of next generation musicians who were rumoured to be joined by their fathers for some of the songs. These are the next generation members – Omari Neville, River Eckert, Michael Mullins, Bradford Lewis, Austin Clements, Rodney Weber. Cyril Neville, Jake Eckert and Mark Mullins all joined their sons for a couple of songs, with Cyril Neville paying a very nice tribute to River after “Tipitina.”
Here’s a local TV new segment about the coalition:
There was a very strange transition from that wonderful group of musicians to some kind of rap/DJ set. The area cleared out quickly. We returned later to listen to the Riverbenders- a band led by Jack Eckert and Aaron Wilkinson (formerly of the Honey Island Swamp Band.) I enjoyed this set very much – great musicians with a laid back sound.
Here are the Riverbenders live on WWOZ:
We had read about the dedication of an amazing new organ at the St Charles Presbyterian church and, after a brief refresh from French Quarter Fest, joined Kenny and Andrew there for the inaugural recital.
Here’s an article about the dedication:
Church Organ Dedication for St Charles Presbyterian
The performance was very technical and impressive and did nothing for me. Would it have been too much to play something that folks might have recognized or something that really showcased the power of the organ rather than trying to see how many notes could be crammed into a measure?
I didn’t have a lot of time for reading this week, and we’ve heard plenty of music already. Time to rest up for eight days of Jazzfest ahead.