Livin' La Vida Luxem: Blues Rally and an Elephant Parade

Only in Luxembourg. This weekend saw over 60 bands descend upon the Ville for an evening of Blues 'n Jazz. Nestled in the winding streets of Clausen and the Grund, on a bend of the River Alzette, musicians from around the world convened for a free concert in front of 25,000 Luxembourgers. Also, in a sublime Luxembourgish-way, over sixty elephants have come to town in the form of the International Elephant Parade. After Saturday's concerts I went on urban-safari here in town.

from Wort.lu

The Blues 'n Jazz Rallye was rather impressive, and I am definitely impressed with the caliber of musicians locally. Luxembourgers can play really the blues, who knew? There were way too many bands to describe here, and the crowds were up for the long night of music and merriment...which apparently went on until dawn! Needless to say, your faithful blogger turned in a bit earlier than that :)

The streets were so crowded. There's no way you could fit a car down there...

...and yet this always happens here - even though the roads were barricaded.

I will give a shout out to one local band because I know the drummer's nephew, Bob. Strangely enough the band's name is The Winklepickers. Their lead guitarist is really talented, and you just have to love a band that has The King Under the Mountain playing bass guitar.

Now on to the Elephant Parade...Apparently the Asiatic Elephant is threatened with extinction in the wild. Again, who knew? To bring attention to this disturbing situation, the good folks at the Parade put on an annual outdoor art exhibit in various cities around the wold in order to raise money for the cause. This year Luxembourg Ville, Trier (Germany) and 'Southern California' are the host cities. These painted pachyderms will go on the auction block in October...I wonder what the syndicate would say if I brought one of these little guys home and parked him on the lawn? - "Interdit!"

Here's my brief photo safari. Enjoy!