A Wild Ride At Jazz Fest
Fred: Jazz Fest 1993. That’s me riding the shoulders of a very dear friend of Cowboy Mouth, the celebrated celluloid thespian Mr. Michael Conner Gainey (MC Gainey in professional circles). You’ve seen him in movies and TV over the years. Trust me.
A Cowboy Mouth show being what it is, one thing led to another, and I found myself on the back of this burly character being taken for a ride around the Jazz Fest audience, verbally spreading the gospel of NOLA Rock n’ Rolla. After the show, we had a good laugh over it and I didn’t really think any more about it.
The next day I got an early morning phone call from someone (can’t remember who) saying excitedly that I was on the cover of the Times Picayune, the New Orleans newspaper at the time (remember newspapers?). I remember being annoyed that someone had called so early and then going straight back to sleep. I got some copies of the paper from the newsstand around the corner later that morning.
This really did help the band gain more notoriety locally, any publicity being good publicity, and it turned out to be a little bit of a big deal for a couple of days. My parents were impressed, anyway. “Maybe, just maybe,” I’m sure they thought, “There might be something to this music thing after all…”
Jazz Fest 2023
This year we are playing Jazz Fest on Thursday, May 4. We will be on the Festival Stage at 12:30 pm. Hope to see you there!
Good call. I recognized MC from several shows. A working actor.
Came across this today. Who are these babies? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbuEZkAdNb8&t=36s