Detroit Saturday: The Doctor is in

We had the BEST time Saturday.

The Detroit Jazz festival was set up differently this year, in more of a street fair arrangement. Instead of all the acts and vendors bein' concentrated in Hart Plaza, the fest continued up Woodward Avenue, adding more stages to the mix and emulating Pontiac's Arts, Beats, and Eats (which always competes with the jazz fest for my attention on Labor Day weekend) by bringin' in local restaurants and artists to ply their wares.

It was fuuuuuuuuun.

Traffic was a new kind of clusterfuck, but when ten bucks for parking is the only money you're required to put out for entertainment of this caliber, I can't bitch too loudly. Especially since I wasn't behind the wheel at the time.

The first show for us was held in Campus Martius Park, which I had not seen before. 'Twas very cool, indeed. Took these shots of a building in the distance with the park's fountain in the foreground.






Our first entertainer for the day was Dr. John (they call him the Night Tripper, you know). We weren't very close to the stage, so I had to sneak some digital-zoom pictures; from this vantage points, I got more shots of some guy's greasy grey hair than I did of Dr. John, but hey.



Did he just get a little head on stage?



If you can't love him simply for the outfit, then what the fuck's wrong with you?

We were supposed to see McCoy Tyner, but (and this is not a complaint) Dr. John's set went over an hour and a half. My heart was not broken.

Since this festival is free to the public, volunteers combed the crowd for donations. My dollar was rewarded with this lovely sticker, my badge of honor:


I may or may not have had this in Photoshop.

Joey DeFrancesco blew us all away with his mad B3 skillz. He's the Huzzah of the Hammond. The Baron of the B3. He's damn good on the organ, is what I'm sayin'.




And then, on our way out of the festival, Jim made a new friend. I think it's true love, actually.




In about half an hour, we depart once more for Detroit to check out a rousing set by Long Tall Marcia Ball. You can just call us Big Shots now and get it over with.