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Saturday, September 10, 2005 Detroit Jazz Fest It’s an annual tradition that I’d never been able to participate in--and since my time in this state is likely limited, on Labor Day I made sure to grab some friends and drive out to the Detroit Jazz Festival. Our evening commenced with the Blind Boys of Alabama, who, according to the announcer, have played their brand of gospel blues together for sixty years now. Thus it stands to reason that the original members are quite old, but although some of them looked frail in their new pink suits and sunglasses, they are anything but. The most fragile looking member of the group, an gaunt singer with white hair, actually jumped off the stage and sang in the middle of the appreciative crowd, belting his heart out--and when it was time to get back onstage with the rest of his band, two security guards lifted him up and would have brought him backstage but he waved them away and kept singing. And singing. There’s a reason they keep winning Grammys. Since I was there with dancers, of course we danced a few songs as well. And beyond just performing incredible music, the concert had the effect of walking into a vibrant black church; these guys are serious about their faith and are quite vocal about it without falling into self-righteous preaching. Now if only we could figure out how to do gospel music at URC.... After running into Ann Arbor favorite Mr. B (the guy who jams boogie woogie and blues on a grand piano in front of the Michigan League every Art Fair) and a random listener who started scatting and singing along to his now--accompaniment, "I’m the baddest boogie woogie woman in the world"--she was amazing and grew even more so after the crowd’s favorable reaction--we made our way to Hart Plaza for Dave Brubeck’s performance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get very close to the stage so we settled on some grass that provided absolutely no visibility. After a few songs Ken discovered that you could see, if you were tall enough, from a point near the tree we were standing by. I wasn't tall enough. So I listened to one song on Mike D.’s shoulders, and then we both decided to climb the tree and sat there for the remainder of the show. Suddenly it occurred to me that I was in the same position as Zaccheus, too short to see Jesus and commotion below another tree 2000 years ago. ^ Top | 3:42 PM | | | 
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