JazzFest tips from NOLA native and opera god Greer Grimsley, from backstage where I belong

Greer Grimsley hails from New Orleans only blocks from JazzFest

JazzFest in New Orleans this weekend and next offers something for every music lover from native talent to the bigtime.  According to New Orleans native and opera god Greer Grimsley,

People are excited about Dave Matthews being there and really psyched for Earth Wind and Fire. For me, it is just being there and smelling the odors of the food mixing together. Yes, tasting too.

Greer and I also await tips from his sister and her family from Covington, Louisiana.

As for the view from backstage where I belong, I worked on the crew of WLAE TV /PBS during the millennium and interviewed musicians at JazzFest.  Director Ron Yager gave me a break from working on live public affairs shows after six months and one day at JazzFest the coordinator hands me a clip board and says "go".

So I'm excited to see the names of the musicians on the lineup ten years later. The millennium in New Orleans was one of the happiest times in my life.  I still ride the bicycle I rented back then, we called these old rusty beaters Quarter bikes.  I lived on Esplanade, the same street as Greer did growing up, except I was on the Rampart end near the Quarter and he lived at Broad, just blocks from where JazzFest is today.  He played trumpet back then and I read he worked at Antoine's.

While the headliners draw record breaking crowds I still recommend the smaller draws, some of the locals who are products of New Orleans itself.  Tony Green and Gypsy Jazz for example.  Tony grew up in Algiers and has an authentic New Orleans dialect as Greer does.  Tony has Scottish heritage but spends half his life in Venice where he was born.  He's in his early fifties like Greer.  Each are known for their long dark hair.  However while Greer is a power house baritone, Tony is more for the sedate, playing churches and cafes in New Orleans and Venice.  NOLA is so lucky to have him home.  When he and I rode bikes to Whole Foods for groceries once I couldn't get ten feet with him without stopping to chat or be greeted by locals.

This is not Tony . . . and I don't have the boyfriend anymore, just my bicycle.  That's my Number One JazzFest tip.  Don't sleep with any of the men in the South and get a bicycle for the French Quarter.  Another woman on the tv crew and I actually made that pact, about the men I mean.  Don't ask me why.

More JazzFest tips:

Tony sits when he plays classical guitar in the gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt.  Django's life was portrayed somewhat by a rascally Sean Penn in Woody Allen's Sweet & Lowdown;  Jazz guitarists hold festivals around the world in Django's honor to play Hot Club jazz, sitting around a gypsy campfire in Samois Sur Seine south of Paris, for example.  Although San Francisco has a Hot Club led by Paul Mehling.  Hot Club appeared in a David Arquette short film with me, The Butler's in Love, set in 1920s San Francisco.  I bought their CD Swing This.

Here's a picture I took of Tony at Festival in the Quarter ten years ago, with Gypsy Jazz.

More tips:  Wayne Toups performs on Sunday, April 26 as do Earth Wind & Fire; and Dave Matthews.  I interviewed Toups backstage in his tiger stripes, with his accordian; along with his wife and young toddler, who would be at least ten now and out of the stroller.

Friday May 1

Marcia Ball from Texas, raucous and funny.  I saw her also in the San Francisco Bay Area back when Shoreline Amphitheater hosted New Orleans by the Bay.

Kermit Ruffins from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.  Local brass, about my age.

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet.  Saw him sing in St. Louis Cathedral one Christmas with Theresa Andersson, absolutely angelic.  Heavenly.  BeauSoleil a sexy way to learn cajun French.

Also I saw the quaintest most charming cajun couples dancing before accordian player Rosie that year at JazzFest.  Darling little two step as I recall.

Frankie Ford, met the piano player outside Hula Mae's laundry once.  It had been a recording studio of Cosimo Matassa.

The Iguanas, met Derek outside Hula Mae's also, with his family.

Clarinet Woodshed featuring Evan Christopher, Gregory Agid, and Tim Laughlin.

Tim is a friend of Tony Green and piano player Tom McDermott.   I saw Evan with Tom McDermott at Snug Harbor and he's young, loose and relaxed, like a summer breeze.

Saturday May 2

Cowboy Mouth.    Name says it all.  Drummer climbs the rafters at House of Blues.

Tony Green’s Gypsy Jazz

Sunday May 3

The Radiators.  Saw them uptown at Tipitina's and wore my 1950s gold lame'.

Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen.  Met Jon, Bonnie Raitt's piano player, outside of Hula Mae's.  He also came to New Orleans by the Bay at the Shoreline to play with her.  She has nice fans, she advises them if they dance in the aisles, Don't hurt yourselves.

Here are a few Youtube videos of Tony Green along with his personal invitation:

All persons coming to New Orleans must see New Orleans artist/musician Tony Green's new exhibition of paintings at the
Academy Gallery 5256 Magazine St. (504) 899 8111
The exhibit runs through May 8th. The subject matter includes scenes of New Orleans, Venice, Italy and the New World Order speaking to their sinister agenda to create a one world government, economy, military & religion.
 

TONY GREEN & gYpSy JaZz will be performing at JAZZ FEST Saturday, May 2nd 12.30 at the Lagniappe Stage.

TonyGreen.net

Go to either my website www.tonygreen.net or YouTube TONY GREEN & GYPSY JAZZ.

Tony e Paolo al Ghetto . . .  

Romanian folk tune . . .

Tony Green & Gypsy Jazz perform on the Island of S. Giorgio Maggiore for the Cini Foundation in Venice, Italy May 21th, 2008. www.tonygreen.net

Just a couple notes on food . . . if you need a blast of iron and want to feel healthy,

Food Area Two, collard greens from Praline Connection . . . a place on the edge of the Quarter around Decatur.

Congo Square has strawberry lemonade at Scales Strawberry Lemonade . . .

Which reminds me of another tip, if you go to buy something to wear, ask yourself, would I wear this anywhere else?  I found this animal print at Congo Square.  What was I thinking?  I still have the hat.  There's another tip--invest in a wide brim.  Tracy Cassidy, sound technician, left.

In closing if you want your serving of Greer Grimsley, here's a recent rehearsal clip of Greer from Vancouver along with a Vancouver interview with musical notes on Salome from conductor Jonathan Darlington, who says
 

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: 'like all the characters in the piece, Salome is a victim of the absurdity of life, of happiness that is unattainable, of desire that can never be fulfilled'.

So that's the enigma of one of Greer's signature roles.  It’s like one of those Chinese finger traps, the more you struggle to pull your fingers free the tighter the hold. 

Photos:  Cindy Warner

For more info:   http://www.nojazzfest.com, www.NOLA.com, www.SFOpera.com

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