so yesterday my friend chad and i left work early and went to jazz fest. it was AWESOME! the weather was perfect. i was worried about parking. i never like parking on the street, but we found a good place in city park and avoided paying to park. and when we got back, my car was still there. so it really was a double score. :) i asked chad a couple of times during the day “you know, we’d still be sitting at our desks right now”, and then we’d laugh at our friends still stuck at work. i kind of felt like ferris bueller.

we got there in time for the nickel creek interview. that was okay. it was moderated by some dope from the LA times and he didn’t really ask any questions of anything i didn’t already know. he kind of wasted time since the thing already had started 15 min late, PLUS they had brought their instruments and started things off by playing ‘you don’t have to move that mountain’. during the course of the interview, they were talking about playing new orleans and said “when we’ve played shows here, the crowd seems more energized, like they can appreciate live music more here.” good answer. then they played ‘sweet afton’. :) some audience questions followed, then they played one song from their upcoming album, which was an instrumental and it was killer. ‘scotch and chocolate’, and i think in honor of the title, when i get the album, i’ll pour myself a glass of scotch and eat chocolate. well, maybe just the scotch. :)

then chad and i left there and hung out to watch the red stick ramblers who were great. i love cajun music, esp when its fused with bluegrass. good stuff. after they were finished, we walked around some more. checked out some of the other stages, including this really cool jazz band. i don’t know why i don’t listen to more jazz.

we made our way back to the stage where NC would hit the stage and made it in good timing to get a spot reasonably close to the stage. it was PACKED. the show was good, but they didn’t play any new songs. they did mention that they’d be signing autographs at the virgin mega store tent. so after they finished, chad and i walked over and got in line. all i had to get signed was my jazz fest schedule i had printed off and highlighted. so that was cool to have i guess. better than a ticket stub. i asked when they’d play the house of blues again and chris did say they’ll hit up new orleans with their new tour, so that’s cool. he also told me, “i don’t normally tell people this, but i’m frickin stoked about this new record.” lots of artists say that, but after hearing ‘scotch and chocolate’, he may be on to something. :) plus he seemed very sincere when he said it, not one of those ‘yeah, i like the new sound’. i may have impressed sara watkins by just saying ‘hey, what’s up? y’all did good today’ and not “omigosh, i LOVE YOUR MUSIC!” chad got a picture where she’s making eyes at me. well, it looked like that on his camera. how the full picture looks may be different. i didn’t really have anything profound to say, it was the first time i got to meet my favorite band. i’ve met other bands, but nobody like nickel creek. i think only meet u2 or ryan would rank up there. seriously.

then after that, we tried to see bb king, but that stage was so crowded, we couldn’t see anything. they didn’t even have a video screen at that stage. wtf? we listened to a few songs and then left, both of us thinking our legs would just fall off.

it was a good day.

the trade off though was i had to miss bible study. i really like the new one i’m going to. i didn’t like having to miss it, but i was too tired to go. i hope to hang out with the guys later this weekend.