Jazzed Down.

It's been almost a week since the Jazz Fest and I wrote about Day 1 a few days ago so here are a few photos of Day 2. I had a wedding in the morning and then I popped over to Sendai Station to store my gown in a locker (frustrating moment #1 was finding a locker, ended up at Bivi). These guys in the "balcony" were singing a bad a Capella version of Jeremiah Bullfrog. Not a friend of mine.

The next group sang Pretty Woman, it wasn't pretty. The third group I heard was listenable but not for more than one tune. Then yet another jug band, sans jug.

Finally I heard a good group! These gals were tucked away in a corner of Daiei behind a huge crowd and sang a terrific version of Soul Man! Then their set ended and it was a long time before I heard any more good music.

More Gospel in the rafters! It's that holier than thou attitude that gets me.

The worst part of the day was that my Fest-following partner was called into work at the last minute and I had to wonder the streets of it solo. It is really tough for me to go a few minutes without cracking bad jokes or puns. Can you imagine the agony I was in for an entire afternoon? For example, there were some tea-totalers practicing their art and upon this occasion I would proclaim, "All I wanted was a cup of tea and they had to go and make a whole ceremony out of it." Or "The Tea Ceremony always makes me cry because it's very Sado! (茶道 or Sadou). Another variation is "What do you call a guy who likes to have boiling hot tea poured all over him? A Sadou-Masochist." These gems were all missed out on by Mio. Her loss.

Several more groups of NO consequence later, once again I finally found a singer worth listening to and it was her last tune.

I wondered over to Nishi Koen and, for the first time all day, heard a few strums of jazz along the way.

For the first time in hours I finally bumped into someone I knew (from my old Stage Line job) and I was informed that there was moolah waiting for me at the office. Woohoo! Also, I finally get to show off my Maryjane Jimbei.

At Nishi Park, I was subjected to more Gospel, a mediocre Blues Brothers (II) band complete with a little brat harmonica player and a group of moms singing and dads dancing.

One conclusion that I came to is that this may have been the first Sunday of a Jazz Fest that I'd been to without a hangover and sober. Perhaps every year, the terrible music is drowned out by a pounding headache and then soothed by copious amounts of alcohol. That being said, I had my first (and only) beer and some Thai chicken. Very refreshing.

I heard a little bit more Jazz on Jozenji, saw a couple cutting a pavement rug and espied a dog that looked like a rug.

After a few more truly bad acts at the main stage and surrounding stages, I gave up and started wandering back to the station to pick up my bag. I am sick of uploading pics of pathetic performers so I'll leave you with some finger puppets that I won at UFO Catcher.

I was waiting for the aforementioned cash at Stage Line and I heard from Mio! Finally the day was picking up! Or did it...