Category: Music

Our three-man team at trivia last night started strong, then bombed in the second round, where we only scored 20 points out of 40 or so. We were the penultimate team after the first round, and moved up a spot in the second. We did, however, pull out the final question: “Which letter does not appear in any of the elements’ names or symbols on the periodic table?” Our correct answer took us 4 points away from third place. Not good enough, but we felt good getting the final question right for once.

In other news, I really need a camera phone. All sorts of good pictures to take on my walk to work this morning. The house on the corner is taking down a huge tree in their yard. I’m not sure if it fell down and they had to cut it, or they just decideded to chop it down. My bet is that it got hit in the big lightning storm we had on Sunday.

Also, the new gorillaz album rocks.

Yesterday afternoon I took a walk up to Piedmont Park to see what the Atlanta Jazz Festival was like. It was actually quite nice. Piedmont Park is a great set-up for music festivals, with a wide flat green for the stage, surrounded by hills with barbeque pits.

The upper area was full of tents and families barbequeing; walking through them reminded me of the neutral ground on St. Charles during Mardi Gras. It smelled delicious. The lower area was filled with umbrellas and lawn chairs. I was there early, so it wasn’t quite full yet, but there were still a good bit of people there. A couple of park security guards were walking around telling people that they couldn’t stick their umbrellas directly in the ground. But instead of making them take them down, they had the festival-goers cover up the base of the shafts with bags or coolers so you couldn’t see the umbrella was stuck in the ground. I was a little taken aback by the reasonable behavior. I guess I’m just not used to that.

The only band I saw was the Peachtree Ridge High School Jazz Band from Smyrna, Georgia. They were cute, and rocked the Blood, Sweat & Tears and Dave Brubeck. It reminded me of my high school days in the Brother Martin Jazz Band. They were pretty nervous at first, but by their last song, they actually sounded really good. They finished their set list early, and played their opening number again at the end of their set. It was a huge improvement over the first time they played it. They had earned the festival opening spot by winning 3rd place in a Youth Jazz Band competition. Not bad for a school that has only been open for two years. The band leader reminded me of the band leader we had at Brother Martin: young, formerly hip, not yet completely jaded.

I’d like to go back and see the Tito Puente, Jr Orchestra tonight at 8:30, but its raining now, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to get anyone interested in going.

I had a nice hour and a half long conversation with Koster last night at 4am. It was a great time. We talked about terrible things we’ve done, Peter, our dads, living in New Orleans, living away from New Orleans, love, marriage, girls, debts, taxes, you name it. I so miss having him accessible.

Unfortunately, he also told me that he is not coming to Atlanta in June for Music Midtown. He’s going to Chicago, where the music festival is $10 a day (Music Midtown is $75 for 3 days). A quick search on the internet didn’t reveal anything more about this mysterious Chicago festival. Taste of Chicago is free, so that’s not it.

Anyway, this is the third person who has balked at the steep ticket prices, or at least at the “one ticket for all three days” policy for Music Midtown. I will be curious to see if the attendance is up or down from last year, where apparently you bought a separate ticket for each day, allowing a little more flexibility for out-of-towners and in-town folks who might have jobs.