lifestyle MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2014 Accordionist Glenn Hartman of the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars performs on the Fais Do Do stage at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Allen Toussaint, left, sits in as Boz Scaggs (R) performs at the 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course, in New Orleans. s crowds flock to New Orleans Jazz ‘Full Vocabulary Of Music’ and Heritage Festival for perform- “It’s not just that we have a lot of musi- Aances by Eric Clapton and other cians, it’s that we have a lot of great musi- international stars, many also have their cians, and almost all of them can play sights on home-grown talents like gospel, blues, and traditional, straight-up Trombone Shorty, Aaron Neville and Irvin and bee-bop jazz,” among other styles, he Mayfield. said. “They have the full vocabulary of Local musicians have for decades been music - it’s a shared language here.” That mainstays of the seven-day event that language contributes to the undercurrent begins on Friday and stretches across two of indigenous music at Jazz Fest. Davis said weekends in the heart of New Orleans. the depth of the local talent pool enables The 45-year-old Jazz Fest presents hun- him to fill more than 80 percent of the per- dreds of bands on more than a dozen formance time slots with Louisiana bands. stages offering not only jazz, but also blues, “After Katrina, a lot of people wondered rock, pop, hip hop, gospel, African, Latin if our traditions would be lost - would we and other styles, all the while spotlighting have the culture bearers, would we still the distinctive local music that helps define have people who know the songs,” he said. New Orleans and whose future some con- “But today we have all these older guys sider endangered. and younger kids who are all still playing “The question that always comes up is, this music.” when something gets popular, does it get For New Orleans native, pianist, singer Carlos Santana performs. Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy perform at the 2014 New loved to death?” said Tulane University and composer Davell Crawford, the Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. —AP Photos anthropology professor Nick Spitzer, who is endurance of local traditions is no surprise. host of the public radio music program Crawford, 38, comes from a long line of “American Routes.” New Orleans piano aficionados who honed Spitzer said New Orleans’ popularity has an infectious and complex style that draws Fans celebrate Coen Bros’ grown during the years since Hurricane from classical, swing, jazz, rhythm and Katrina struck the city in 2005 as more peo- blues, and funk. ple have come to appreciate the area’s eth- Some see him as a keeper of a piano nic diversity and its culture. legacy that reaches from early 20th century “New Orleans feels culturally different jazzman Jelly Roll Morton through Fats film at Lebowski Fest from the rest of the United States, it has a Domino, Henry Roeland Byrd, or “Professor deeper sense of continuity, tradition and Longhair”, James Booker and contempo- creativity...and that appeals to a lot of peo- rary songwriter Allen Toussaint. here were bowling pins, D, opened the evening by singing ple,” he said. He is the grandson of R&B pioneer bathrobes, white Russians, tunes from “The Big Lebowski.” But Worries about whether New Orleans can James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, famous for Tand even The Dude himself. fans were most rapt by the movie retain its distinctiveness from “outside” “Jock-A-Mo.” Jeff Bridges and his band per- they’d all seen before. The night influences abound among residents who Crawford said his place in a line of piano formed Friday at Lebowski Fest, but culminated with a screening, dur- are fiercely protective of the city’s land- “professors” stems not only from his talent- Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1998 campy ing which they shouted out some marks, architecture and cuisine. rich DNA, but also from a key influence on crime comedy “The Big Lebowski” lines and applauded for others. For But Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis, who many New Orleans musicians, their reli- was still the night’s biggest star. Kim Hudson, who came across the helped found the event with Newport Jazz gious faith. Fans of the Raymond Chandler-fla- movie by accident during a hung- Festival founder George Wein, said when it “The piano is a way of life for me vored film filled the Wiltern Theater over morning with her husband, comes to New Orleans’ musical traditions, because I grew up in the church,” he said. in midtown Los Angeles to capacity Lebowski Fest is a chance to dress he’s not fretting. Crawford sees New Orleans piano music as for the annual celebration of the up and have fun with fellow fans. Davis points to some of New Orleans’ an extension of gospel, blues and other cult classic, which has been staged The 57-year-old wore a giant famous musical bloodlines, including the styles that for many local people are inter- around the country since 2002. The homemade hat that looked like a Neville, Marsalis and Batiste families, whose twined with their daily lives. “The reason two-day festival continues spread of bowling pins. A graphic influence spans generations and whose our music has sustained itself as some of Saturday with a costumed bowling artist helped her print the image younger members play contemporary the most unique in the world is that it’s in party. “It’s the people here that are onto foam board, which she hot- styles also steeped in tradition. our blood,” he said. — Reuters so awesome,” said Steve Lewis, a glued to a boy’s bicycle helmet. veteran of seven Lebowski Fests. When asked how many times she’s “It’s a community.” seen the film, she responded, The 37-year-old made his own “Drunk or sober?” Connor Army dog tags to meticulously Linnerooth traveled from North recreate one of John Goodman’s Dakota to celebrate his 20th birth- costumes from the film. Lewis trav- day at Lebowski Fest. He wore a red eled to festivals in New York and bodysuit and carried oversized scis- Steel guitar Louisville with his friend Jeff Bridges performs onstage with his band the Abiders at the sors like the Nihilist character that J.D. Lloyd, who searched eBay to Lebowski Fest. terrorizes the Dude in his dreams. find the exact sweater Bridges It’s just a great atmosphere.” was Luis Colina, a film editor who Linnerooth even spoke in the char- makes Hawaii think wears in the film. (“That’s a real The Wiltern Theater was deco- said he was working on the Coen acter’s accent during an interview. Pendleton,” Lewis said. “That was rated with inflatable bowling pins brothers’ 1994 film “The Hudsucker “Lebowski, he is a very cool guy,” he expensive.”) Lloyd has been to 11 and the drink menu featured white Proxy” when they decided to write said. “I love the movie and I’m a big twice on ukulele Lebowski Fests and estimates he’s Russians - renamed Wiltern him into “Lebowski.” Colina plays fan of it, and I really wanted to be seen the film more than 100 times. Caucasians, perhaps in political the angry Corvette owner who around other people who are also orry, ukulele. Hawaii won’t spurn in Hawaii.” Matt Goforth, a bartender work- protest - “made with Ralphs half- threatens to “kill” the Dude’s car. big fans of the movie.” So what is it the steel guitar to sound its love Akaka’s efforts generated lots of tes- ing the event in costume, said he’d and -half.” The film opens with the about this film that draws such a Sfor you. Bills in the state timony from around the state, as well been looking forward to the shift Dude writing a check for 69 cents Applauded devoted following? Legislature that would’ve declared the as from other U.S. states and interna- for six months. “First of all, I knew it to buy half-and-half from a Ralphs Bridges and his band performed Mike Sullivan, a four-time festi- friendly little guitar the official instru- tionally.In short order, the conversation was going to be a good crowd. supermarket to make his favorite a 30-minute set that included val-goer who says he’s memorized ment of Hawaii both died near the end shifted from the ukulele’s unique posi- Second of all, it’s a fantastic movie. cocktail. songs from “Crazy Heart,” the 2009 the movie, has an idea. “What you of the legislative session. The meas- tion in Hawaiian music to a more com- Thirdly, Jeff Bridges’ band is amaz- Minor stars from the film signed film for which he won the best got here,” he said, “is a bunch of ures easily passed the Senate and plex exchange about identity and cul- ing,” Goforth said. “It’s fun. I’ve had autographs in the lobby before actor Oscar. Kyle Gass, the other pot-smoking hippies having a House earlier this year, but with differ- tural value. my picture taken maybe 35 times. appearing onstage. Among them half of Jack Black’s band, Tenacious good time.” — AP ences that meant more debate. That’s The bills that seemed so simple got when steel guitar players stepped in, tangled in conference committees that setting up a showdown between the included lawmakers from each cham- The Abiders state icons. ber. The Senate amended the House perform onstage at Alan Akaka, a music teacher with bill to kick the decision back to the the Lebowski politics in his blood as the son of for- state’s kids, enlisting primary and sec- Fest in Los Angeles.