Delphine
04-11-2008, 05:59 PM
Adding a bit of light-hearted news to today......
French Quarter Festival marks
a quarter century of free music
The numbers are impressive. More than 400,000 fans of New Orleans from all over the world sampled music at 16 stages and food at 65 concession stands, generating tens of millions of dollars for the city.
A LEGEND RETURNS....
From nola.com
Pete Fountain can't walk five steps without fans asking for a few notes on his clarinet. Today, he opens the 25th annual French Quarter Festival with a concert in Jackson Square.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Jazz%20Fest/fountain.jpg
The old man in a checked shirt shuffles past the St. Louis Cathedral and ducks into Pirate Alley unnoticed. He opens a black case and carefully assembles a LeBlanc clarinet with gold-plated hardware. He touches the horn to his lips.
With that, he is anonymous no more. He is Pete Fountain, Mr. New Orleans, briefly restored to his natural habitat.
A rough couple of years have left him a little less steady on his feet. Hurricane Katrina obliterated his beloved 10-acre waterfront estate in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Reduced the three-story, 10,000-square-foot main house, guest cottages and bus barn to 120 truckloads of debris. Decades of memorabilia, the record of a life lived large in the name of New Orleans -- all of it gone.
Aftershocks included quadruple bypass surgery and two minor strokes. His heart now beats to the rhythm of a pacemaker. Words sometimes get lost en route from his brain; self-deprecating one-liners don't tumble out so effortlessly. Growing old, he'll tell you, ain't easy.
But at 77, his eyes are still mischievous and his clarinet still sings.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Smilies/Louisiana_state_.jpg
French Quarter Festival marks
a quarter century of free music
The numbers are impressive. More than 400,000 fans of New Orleans from all over the world sampled music at 16 stages and food at 65 concession stands, generating tens of millions of dollars for the city.
A LEGEND RETURNS....
From nola.com
Pete Fountain can't walk five steps without fans asking for a few notes on his clarinet. Today, he opens the 25th annual French Quarter Festival with a concert in Jackson Square.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Jazz%20Fest/fountain.jpg
The old man in a checked shirt shuffles past the St. Louis Cathedral and ducks into Pirate Alley unnoticed. He opens a black case and carefully assembles a LeBlanc clarinet with gold-plated hardware. He touches the horn to his lips.
With that, he is anonymous no more. He is Pete Fountain, Mr. New Orleans, briefly restored to his natural habitat.
A rough couple of years have left him a little less steady on his feet. Hurricane Katrina obliterated his beloved 10-acre waterfront estate in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Reduced the three-story, 10,000-square-foot main house, guest cottages and bus barn to 120 truckloads of debris. Decades of memorabilia, the record of a life lived large in the name of New Orleans -- all of it gone.
Aftershocks included quadruple bypass surgery and two minor strokes. His heart now beats to the rhythm of a pacemaker. Words sometimes get lost en route from his brain; self-deprecating one-liners don't tumble out so effortlessly. Growing old, he'll tell you, ain't easy.
But at 77, his eyes are still mischievous and his clarinet still sings.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/AnnabelleL/Smilies/Louisiana_state_.jpg