RIJF Night One

Okay, not a great start. I got down to the Fest in plenty of time to see Mike Manieri and Steps Ahead. I was able to catch a little of Stephane Wrembel as well. As we walked down the street toward the Harro East, we ran into one set of friends. They said, "Oh the sound system at the Harro East was awful and the show wasn't too good." But, everything being subjective, we kept on walking. We met up with another set of friends--a guitarist and a vocalist. They said, "Oh we left early; the sound system at the Harro East just sucked. It was muffled and crackling. We snuck out early."

Hmm. We decided to go with them over to Max at Eastman Place to see Esperanza Spalding instead. So we waited in line and waited in line and moved up slowly to the point where the table was and I could trade my ticket for a pass. Well, they were out of lanyards. What? Get some more. How ridiculous was that? It gets worse. After I signed my pass, the woman said. "Oh, by the way, it's full in there." I said, "What do you mean, the first show hasn't let out yet?" She said, "No, it was empty and now it's full." I said, "So, what you're telling me is that we've stood in this line for nothing?'' She said, "Yeah, I guess so."

So why didn't anyone come out and close the line so we could figure out where to hoof it to next instead of wasting part of our night standing in a line to nowhere?

Well, my Friend had seen Jonathan Kreisberg at the earlier show and was so blown away that he agreed to go back and see the 10:00 show. Luckily, we got in. He was awesome.

But . . . I have a problem with the way things were handled at Max's and a problem with the fact that the Harro East, if they are using it for a Jazz Fest venue, has sound system problems. I heard there was no one at the mixing table. Come on John and Mark, you should have this down to perfection by now.

I have no idea where we're going tonight, but I know that I want to see at least a little bit of Los Lonely Boys and Ryan Shaw. I'll post later.

yours in music,
Tracy