Always a treat to go to this thing. Even if it is in a city that was hit by a dramatic combination of natural force and longstanding  bureaucratic ineptitude. Markings on buildings noting the number of dead, if any, found inside. Gruesome. Kanye was right.

Arrived too late on Friday to make it to the festival. Friday night was the subdudes. Totally fun. A peak:



The next day was the festival, where I got a really, really bad sunburn. I saw Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars (fair), the beginning of The Dixie Cups & their Cayenne Pepper Band (blech), the end of Dirty Dozen (fun as always), the beginning of The Roots (awesome), a bit of Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea (wasn't feeling it), back to The Roots, then back to Bobby and Chick, this time enjoying it more. Then to my second Jimmy Buffett show. The first one had a crazy experience with some arts and crafts. Ask M. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It featured appearances by Allen Toussaint and Sonny Landreth and a cool cover of Southern Cross. Read the short entry for that song. JB, like ?uestluv (the spelling on a banner on stage), referenced the federal mismanagement of Katrina. What else can I tell you? Ludacris came out with the Roots. That's it.

Then that night to see King Britt (good), ?uestlove (decent but there are so many better), and then M.I.A. Best DJ of the night: mystery DJ between ?uestlove and M.I.A. What was that? A pre-mix? Of what? Pics follow. Got out of there pretty late. Quite the crazy crowd. Celeb spotting too, but I'm referring more to the crazies. I remember that. Vaguely.



Above, Royalty. Below, a question.



And finally, a projection above the crowd and madness. Exhausted on the way home, barely able to stay awake. Arrived at the boat around 4:15am, or thereabouts.



Pull up the people! Pull up the poor! Finished listening to Mark Ronson's most recent East Village Radio set, which was totally fun. He seems to think big things are afoot for Wale.