Photo by Henry DiltzDR. JOHN
NIGHT TRIPPIN'
If the genitalia of all the drunken men who peruse the French Quarter every Mardi Gras could speak whenever an ample-chested lass reveals her bodacious bosoms, then the collective wiggly-wobbly parts would possess a much-obliged voice that sounds exactly like Dr. John's. (These are the things we think about even when we're notshnockered.) For the man born Mac Rebennack has a big, sweet growl, a comforting set of pipes that embrace your ears but still maintain a sense of mystery—much like New Orleans itself, the city of his birth. Along with the Neville Brothers and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, two other ceaselessly touring Crescent City entities, Dr. John is a de facto ambassador of New Orleans music, a man who has taken his piano fingers and fused together R&B, jazz, funk, rock, blues, boogie-woogie, and an occasional outburst of weird outer-space shit for more than 35 years now, forming an ever-evolving gumbo of supreme sonic zest. It's been called voodoo music, something completely original that no one will ever come close to replicating, which he proves every time he opens that golden throat of his (no wonder he's sung so many TV-commercial jingles—his pipes are impossible to forget). We hate to get all morbid, but the Doc will be turning 65 this year, and the years are creeping up on him. Now's as good a time as any to catch the master in action. (RichKane)
DR. JOHN AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES, 1530 S. DISNEYLAND DR., ANAHEIM, (714) 778-2583. FRI., 9 P.M. $35-$37.50. ALL AGES (16 AND UNDER MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD).
THE FULLERTON COLLEGE JAZZ FESTIVAL
IT BLOWS—IN A GOOD WAY
Sick of South By Southwest analogies yet? We aren't! Which is why the annual Fullerton College Jazz Festival is exactlylike SXSW. If, y'know, you're into jazz (good, straight-ahead jazz, not that “smooth” crap you hear in every Newport Beach hotel bar). And if you like getting up early on weekends. To watch a bunch of high school kids play, which probably means you won't be able to buy any beer. Or barbecue. But you canhang out on the campus where at least two Weeklings honed their professional-journalism skills so they could one day write “fuck” in an article and get paid for it. Really, though, this is a fest for jazzers of any stripe, partly a two-day orgy of jazz concerts in various rooms around the Fullerton College campus, partly a judged competition for junior high, high school and college-level up-and-comers. You can wander around both afternoons and soak up the music's future, jamming in large ensembles, small combos, big bands and such, and while none of these players may rise to Wynton-like heights, a few of them should at least headline a night at Steamers sometime. Speaking of, since each day of the fest wraps around 6 p.m., an evening at OC's venerable jazz club (just a trombone toss from the college on the other side of Harbor Boulevard) would be the perfect capper. (MatthewEvans)
THE FULLERTON COLLEGE JAZZ FESTIVAL, 321 E. CHAPMAN AVE., FULLERTON, (714) 992-7716. FRI.-SAT., 8 A.M.-6 P.M. $8; STUDENTS, $7; KIDS UNDER 12, $3.
