We’re doing more Jazz Fest wrap-up in the June issue of OffBeat, so I’ll leave it here and move on. The best things I saw? In no particular order, done without the benefit of notes or a schedule (so these are shows that actually stuck in my memory):

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss
Rob Wagner, Hamid Drake and Nobu Ozaki
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Barbara Lynn
the Roy Head segment of the Ponderosa Stomp Revue
Big Jay McNeely when he played the saxophone
Big Blue Marble
Richard Thompson
the New Orleans Bingo! Show
Alejandro Escovedo
Rotary Downs
the Lost Bayou Ramblers

I suspect I’d have liked Stevie Wonder, but it seemed like the kind of show you had to get into and pay attention to, and the rain, the umbrellas, the standing water and the crowd made that all more work than I could muster at the end of a damp day.

In today’s T-P, Keith Spera wrote that the “most flagrantly offensive class distinction” was the grandstand being reserved for Big Chief and friends of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. That was bad, and it should be open as an air conditioned place to escape the weather – heat, rain or wind – but far worse was the Grand Marshal viewing area in front of the Acura and Gentilly stages. Standing front row center for a show has always been a mark of fandom, ready to wait in lines and/or the opening bands. Or, it has gone to those willing to do what’s necessary to work their way to that coveted position. This year, the wealthy could occupy that spot because of their wealth. They could walk up mid-show out of interest or curiosity and stand in front of those who spent hours maintaining their special position. And because of the Grand Marshal viewing area – which was rarely full, giving viewers in it the added benefit of comfort and space when those around them were jammed up – the front row was five yards further from the stage. The Big Chief package has never bothered me because it offered ease and comfort, but where the music was concerned, it didn’t put Big Chief buyers ahead of regular ticket buyers. This does that in the most offensive way.

And a last note on privilege and space – the ushers in the tents ought to be able to seat people provisionally in the Big Chief bleachers during raging thunderstorms. During Rob Wagner’s set, people near me were forced to stand near a wall/flap where rain came in with the water rising over their shoes while the Big Chief bleachers were virtually empty the entire set.