French Quarter Festival 2014

The French Quarter Festival is Louisiana’s largest free music festival at the French Quarter of New Orleans. French Quarter Festival was first produced in 1984. This year, the festival is celebrating its 13th anniversary, from April 10th to April 13th, 2014. As the French Quarter Festivals, Inc puts it, “21 stages throughout the French Quarter celebrate local music and represent every genre from traditional and contemporary jazz to R&B, New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, latin, zydeco, classical, cabaret, and international.”
The picture above is a snapshot of Decatur Street in front of Jackson Square. To put it in an old Chinese saying: “People Mountain People Sea.” If you have been at Jackson Square for a moment, you’ll know exactly that this means.
As for featured musicians at the festival, I’d like to introduce you to the following:
First, there is Dr. John. He is the Grammy Award-winning musician, and also visited Tulane Graduation 2013. This is Dr. John’s first French Quarter Festival appearance at Woldenberg Riverfront Park on Friday, April 11th  since 1987. He performed “Such A Night” with the Nite Trippers. If you missed the performance, check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ntPLk3SkA
Also, check out Dr. John at Tulane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVB4BczMbLY
The second musician I’d like to introduce is Dash Rip Rock. He performed at the Louisiana State Museum Old U.S. Mint on Friday, April 11 from 5:30PM to 7:00PM. Dash Rip Rock is famous for the roots rock style, which sounded foreign to me initially. Wikipedia explains that “Roots rock is rock music that looks back to rock’s origins in folkblues and country music.” In layman’s words, roots rock is a mixture of three different styles (folk, blues and country). Check out Dash Rip Rock “Meet Me at the River”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTyZMOcnyUg
Also, their French Quarter performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwp9ycj0nU
Hope you enjoyed the French Quarter Festival. If you missed it, you have Satchmo Summer Fest (July 31- Aug 3, 2014). More details at French Quarter Festival, Inc. (http://fqfi.org/)
Jing Qu