Lucy's New Orleans, LA - May 1, 2004 ~ Selest Let’s start off with things that should not be said to a Reckless fan: Awwwww, they’re from Texas????? Do you know the band? Can you introduce me? Are you his wife? Can you move, I am soooooo in love with him! (apply attitude when reading: “can you move”) With that, I’ll begin the tale of the JazzFest weekend. The players, as they were in my bunch, consisted of Kitty and Karen, who flew in from Florida; Kat and Kerri who drove in from Houston, and Leann, who flew in from Houston. Add lots of alcohol and you can just about imagine how it wasn’t so hard for me to introduce Kitty, Karen, Kat, and Kerri to everyone. Arriving at Lucy’s around 9:45 via a taxi ride from HELL, it’s a unanimous decision that we need a cocktail to ease our minds of this horrific trip. Off to the bar we go, and whom do we spot? Why, it’s none other than the drummer from this band we love so much. Although, he’s not alone. He introduces this fella with him as Crazy Eddie Spaghetti. Now, Eddie, if you read this, I’m sorry man, lay off the booze. Put the bottle down. Step away from the bar! But when you step away, don’t start dancin’. Making our way from downstairs and away from Crazy Ed, we find a round table and claim it as our own. We are now the Bitches of the Round Table and we like it that way. Our faces were enough to let the too much make-up, tight shirt, short skirt, purse toting girlies know to stay away from our space or face the wrath of die-hard Rekkers. Before the show starts, we meet up with Simon (right-on), Baggs and Miss Mona, who by the way, is a WONDERFUL woman, and the crew that’s been in town since Thursday from CT. The show began, and I’m sorry ya’ll, I can’t give you a set list or the names of the beginning or ending songs of the night. But I can tell you that they were on fire. One of the BEST SHOWS I HAVE EVER SEEN. “Waitin’ On The Blues” was awesome and may have been the first song of the night. Of course “’52 Vincent” was a smash as always. We were celebrating Baggs’ birthday and before they started playing "The Hurricane" they announced that it went out to their friend on his birthday. Blah, blah, blah. But wait, the blah, blah, blah was interrupted by an ASS. Our own Billy Baggs dropped his pants and mooned the guys! (Some of you may have seen Billy’s butt in the Key West show. I’m beginning to think it’s a common thing for him. Not that we mind it however.) Another song of the night included the new favorite – “Stick Around”. Can I just tell you how much I LOVE THIS SONG? I’ve read where some of you have heard it and your thoughts on it, and although I don't think any of you would steer me wrong on an RK tune, I had to hear it for myself, and I LOVE IT. My all time favorite cover was played and I was in heaven. “Wild Horses” sounds better to me every time I hear it, and because I was using this weekend as an early birthday celebration, that’s all I wanted to hear. Sorta like the kids that only want their two front teeth for Christmas, but better. David was hot and his playing on this song just gives me chills. I was enthralled and oblivious to the left arm of the skinny blonde next to me who decided she was going to dance to MY SONG. Once the song was over, which I do think was the end of the first set, she looked at me and asked, “are you his wife?” HUH? WHA? Who are you talking about? Then she points to David! Now, if David had seen my response to this question, he may have been offended at my response, which was a sort of hysterical laughter and I’m sure a dumfounded look on my face. “NO, I’m not his wife.” “His girlfriend?” “NO, why do you ask these questions?” “Well he was so into playing, and you were so into him playing, that I just thought…” Hmmmmm, she’s got the seed of an idea in her head about how good playing can get to you, but she’s not quite smart enough to realize it yet. With that she walks off and I’m still feeling the energy of the song. Now, again I have to remind you guys, that I am not sure which order the songs came and went, so my timeline may be a bit off, but I can tell you that my account of the events are dead on. Silly crap tends to stick to your shoe, you know? Now shortly after the beginning of the second set, Kip Attaway got on stage and sang a few songs. I’ve never seen him live, but after that experience, I’m gonna! He was comical and made for a great time. Talking with him afterwards was also a pleasure. At some point, there was this smell. I smelled it, Kat smelled it, Cody smelled it. Something was burning. Cody made mention that something was on fire. And this wasn’t just an analogy of the guys Saturday night. Something was burning and we couldn’t find it. On with the show, if you see flames, run; if not, keep playing! All in all, the show at Lucy’s was awesome and played with full force to a packed attic who appreciated every note, every lyric and every Budweiser hat, glow stick and key chain that was given out. As I’m sitting here writing this, the songs have come back into my mind, although I know I’m missing a lot of them: “Waitin’ On The Blue”, “The Hurricane” “Wild Horses”, “Revolution”, “Wild Western Windblown Band”, “Drink your Whiskey Down”, “Vancouver”, “I Still Do”, “Let’s Just Fall”, “Desolation Angels”, “Stick Around”, “Crazy Eddie’s Last Hurrah”, “Nobody’s Girl”, “Back Around”. If I remember more at a later time or if one of my assistant drinkers helps me out, I’ll edit this up. Till then, this is what I’ve got. My full thanks goes out to those that made the night wonderful, even to the strange fella with headphones on that gave us all a laugh. Thank you Reckless Kelly for your time and your talent, we’re blessed to see and hear it all. Thank you Lucy’s for keeping us happy till the wee hours of the morning until you decided we had to leave and you didn’t care where we went, only that we couldn’t stay there. Close this story at approximately 4:30 a.m. on May 2nd. Part 2 - JazzFest New Orleans, LA - May 2, 2004 ~ Selest After waking and rising slowly around 10:30 – 11:00, we decided to head out to the JazzFest and see what we could see. I had no one other than Reckless in mind that I wanted to see, and I don’t think my friends did either. So off we go on another cab ride, and although this one wasn’t straight from hell, it wasn’t too far from it. Thank goodness that the ride home earlier in the morning was something I couldn’t remember, because I honestly and truthfully don’t think I could have remained unsick if I paid attention to the driving. Sidenote: I’ve got a question – How do the worst drivers in the world become cabbies and become allowed to take my safety on a roadway into their grubby hands and think it’s comical that I’m gripping the seat for dear life? Is this a common occurrence and if so, why is it that way? Back to the story: Arriving safely at JazzFest, we find our way through the mud and hay scattered across the mud, which is supposed to make it easier to walk, but only made the place smell. After stopping at a few food places and absorbing the left-over booze with bread and more bread, we find where our fellas are going to be playing at 4:25 that afternoon and plop ourselves right the front of the stage area in chairs that they’ve got set-up there. In my opinion, the stage they had was one of the best in the place. There was plenty of room for people and dancing fools. The band that played before RK was a local jazz ensemble and they started their set with Amazing Grace in honor of a JazzFest artist who had gotten shot and killed by a 14-year-old the night before. It gave me chills and put tears in my eyes. They were talented musicians, just not my cup of beer. Nor were the Oompa and polka dancers that were parading around. End your show please and let me get my fix of RK for the day. Whoo-hoo, they’re setting up. Billy looks as though he’s not feelin too well and instead of a beer in his hand, he’s got water. WATER???? Hmmm, looks odd. Show starts exactly at 4:25 and we’re off to a great start, although it’s overcast and there’s this strange girl up front, stage left, and she’s dancing right as the first tune is out of the guitar. This chick danced the ENTIRE hour, although I’m not sure if she was dancing to her own little drummer boy or ours! Again, I can’t tell you the set list, but some of the songs played Saturday night were played on Sunday and it was the best feeling I’ve ever had. There was joy within me, happiness for these guys. When they started to play there were people there, listening intently, and then there was US - those that know the music, know the guys and appreciate it all. Willy made us all feel a part of it when he stood up there, strummed his guitar to get things going, and we all clapped and hooted and hollered and he announced “my people!” The crowd grew larger with each song and the admiration was growing by leaps and bounds in us and in those that were new to the band. I’m sure RK gained quite a few new fans that afternoon and I would love to see how many CD’s were sold in the music tent afterwards. I mentioned that it was overcast; did you catch that? Saying it was overcast has a significant part in this story. While singing “Back Around”, Willy got to the line “And if I was a searcher then I'd find a brighter day” the sun peeked out from behind those nasty cold gray clouds and we all started clapping. Willy stepped to the front of the tent-covered stage and looked up and gave that Willy Braun smile to us all. It was a classic moment, one that is not to be forgotten by anyone that saw it. “Revolution” was introduced as a song that “worked during a Bluegrass Festival” and it was sure to “work at the JazzFest” and with the first few notes, something appeared from the back of the stage area. A bird? A plane? Superman????? No…..hell no, those would have been normal. It was a man. A man in dress pants, a sport coat and a pink shirt, and he’s dancing. He’s right up at the stage, in front of Jimmy and he’s all over the place. Pointing at Willy, smiling at Jimmy, bobbing his head in time with Jazz, spinning, and doing things that I just can’t describe in words, only actions. His hair looked like a Beatles haircut and he obviously meant it to be that way. He remained there for the rest of the set and entertained us all. He was noticeable and got his picture taken with several good-looking women during his “routine”. I got pictures of him pointing up at Willy. So between our little drummer girl, who I really think was on acid or something and this man, who Willy later informed us was called Beatle Bob and a DJ or something from St. Louis, the rest of the dancing at the RK show was calm and orderly. “Crazy Ed” was an encore tune and we were all saddened that they only got an hour time limit to play. I think they could have gone on for hours and we would have enjoyed it all. I have so much more that could be written, but we’ll keep some things private and personal. I enjoyed my weekend, drank too much, and met some awesome people that I now consider my friends. I’ve gotten invitations to go to Orlando and Key West as well as Stanley to go rafting and I think I’m going to start playing the lottery so I can win and do all of these things soon. I’ve been without RK for so long, that 2 days of them just doesn’t make up for it all. But the time we spent, the conversations that we had, and the good times are not to be forgotten. Thanks to all of you that were with me, and those that I met there. I hope we cross paths again soon. A special thanks goes to Willy for pointing me in the right direction with The Beatles. In honor of Willy, my ring-tone on my cell phone now switches between “Revolution” and “Norwegian Wood”! He was like a proud papa when we discussed this awakening of mine! Thanks again to you all. Right-on. Selest

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all non-lyric text, © Copyright 2004 Desolation Angel