Patrick Carney greeted us in a Montreal subway

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Montreal subway poster advertises
July 5 Black Keys performance

Paula and I were on the subway during our 10-day experience called the 2013 Montreal Jazz Festival when again and again we saw familiar faces on the subway poster: The Black Keys.

Firestone High grads Patrick Carney, son of BJ reporter Jim Carney, and Dan Auerbach, the poster told everyone, would be performing in Montreal July 5th, the day that we ended our musical extravaganda in Montreal.

When we got to our Place des Arts concert venue, we watched jazz artist Dr. John -- born Mac Rebennack --  perform. Dr. John's "Lockdown" album was produced by Auerbach. 

In 2011 Auerbach and Dr. John jammed together at the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. 

Preceding Dr. John at the same concert was Leon Russell, born Claude Russell Bridges in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1942. Russell was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. 

There were something like 800 concerts, paid and free, during the Montreal Jazz Festival. There were so many stages set up that at times the crowd for one band stood back to back with the crowd from the adjoining band, all standing and sitting, and packed wall to wall.

Dr. John, whose "Lockdown" album
was produced by Dan Auerbach

Paula and I heard as many at nine bands in one day and rarely listened to fewer than four on any day. The music began at noon, on block after block, and continued to midnight, sometimes even later.

We went to an indoor paid concert every night, where it was like watching Michelangelo paint with sounds instead of colors, and listened to the outdoor bands before and after the indoor music finished.

It was a combination of Mardi Gras and jazz heaven.