 Next stop after the beach was Covington, which has an increasingly interesting downtown. Lotta money on that end of the parish. We stayed with friends Anita & Malissa and committed breakfast with Connie at Judice's. Eggs with crabcakes and grits. Where a building burned down and left an empty spot, folks had made a small display space with art and flowers and a screen painted on the side of a building. Cunning artsy people there. In Mandeville we had a good visit with Jinx and Peg, with actual time to talk. It's so important to us to make real connections with our friends on these short somewhat frenzied trips South. It being Wednesday night, we had a good feed with the volleyball crew who play on the grassy shore of Lake Ponchatrain.
I'm not sure where this special effect came from, maybe a light leak in the camera maybe magic leaking into my brain, but this is the way JazzFest felt to me this year, a soulful infusion of warmth and music. I was glad to see that a capella jazz has made a small inroad in the gospel tent, but the best gospel tent moment was Michelle Shocked singing with a children's choir.  We were sitting in the back, the tent was packed, and the sound was hysteria huge and pulsing the whole tent and all the people melted together.
The other incredible JazzFest Moment was Paul Simon. He played for 2 hours, sang our whole history. A huge friendly crowd swaying and singing the Li Li Li's of The Boxer. Aaron Neville came on and sang Bridge Over Troubled Water with him.  As as so often happens at JazzFest, I turned around and saw someone I hadn't seen in a lot of years, the fabulous Alice Hall. Weeks later I remember a story I used to tell her, a feminist version of Bloody Bones and the Wee Wee Lady.
This was my first Fest with a cell phone; great for finding people. No more need to "meet at the flagpole." The few minutes we had with Dave and Ana at the Langniappe Stage and with Cherry and Beth at La Madeline, and with friends at Mary Jo and Dawn's party were so important because they let me get a new mental picture of them that I can carry until the next time I see them. Next year we'll make it two weeks.
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