February 4, 2013
It's Mardi Gras time!! Dr. John, sometimes called Dr. John the Night Tripper, brought a little Mardi Gras to Milwaukee's Summerfest in July of 1972.
Being a New Orleans native, Dr. John brings the Mardi Gras with him wherever he goes. In these photographs you can just see the party atmosphere he brings with the glitter on his face and his great hat!
His band with two drummers and a nice chorus was excellent and we all had a good time. Such a good time that after Summerfest that night we continued to party at a bar near Marquette Unversity 'til early in the morning. I can still see Dr. John coming out of a dressing room in his sunglasses at that club and it was filled with incense smoke!
If you look in the background on one of my photographs here you can see some cranes off to the right side. That's when they were constructing Milwaukee's famous Hoan Bridge. The bridge is getting old now and parts of it are falling to the ground at Summerfest. It needs some repair work. The view from the bridge of a sunrise or of the Summerfest crowd is amazing, but another blog story.
Nothing like a little Mardi Gras in July to have a fun night!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann