YLC Wednesday at the Square, 4/14

Caught this show on WWOZ. Lost Bayou Ramblers were good enough though dull. (They could lose that rhythm guitarist and it would be a great improvement, playing one note, maybe two, all through each song.) Jon Cleary was excellent as usual. WWOZ did a good job with the mixes but their DJs still do station IDs WAY too often. 9 IDs in the first hour, 5 in the next and 2 in the next half hour. And the DJ had the good sense to keep his talk short.

Oh, and the stream only died once, at 7:19 NY time. Came right back.

French Quarter Festival on WWOZ, Sun, 4/11

I start listening at 11:30 NY time. They go to the stage at about 11:35. 2 male DJs.

Friendly Travellers are a gospel group. Too much repetition and God for me but some good singing and piano playing.

The surprise hit for me was Susan Cowsill. I was very impressed. I am not sure I'd heard her music before but not only is she a great singer, her songs were good. I kept thinking about her losing her brother in the flood and how rough it's been for her so the songs were doubly emotional. I'll recommend her to my friends.

Another nice surprise was John Boutte! Ever since Jazz Fest 2006 I've been a big fan of his, though I've known about him for longer than that. His Lousiana 1927 at that Jazz Fest was the highlight of the fest for me. He, and Lillian, put on a good show though nothing stood out as much as that Jazz Fest performance. I'm sure HBO will love his promo of Treme, which I am hoping to see too (especially the Davis Rogan character...)

Joe Krown wasn't that interesting. I was hoping for better.

Johnny Sketch was interesting for awhile. They kept reminding me of Brave Combo with an Arabic tilt.

Overall the sound was good. The stream only lost audio once or twice and never stopped. Many of the DJs are still idiots but some have brains and use them. I wish OZ would do fewer station IDs. We don't need to hear the station's name twice each mic break every 5 minutes. The mixes were MUCH better than in the recent past. Lets hope this continues.

Now, I'm looking forward to some of the Wednesday at the Square shows!