EAU CLAIRE (AP) -- The supernova, the earthquake, the hurricane, world-renown jazz artists in Wisconsin; all of these rarities of Mother Nature continue to confound those try to explain their role in the cosmos. It was therefore a significant evening last night in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, when the last of these rare occurrences came to fruition. The event was the 35th annual Eau Claire Jazz Festival, a weekend long schmooze and booze fest celebrating America_s only home bread musical art form. The attendees ranged from middle, high school and college jazz ensembles to guest artists and local jazz buffs. The two day affair was hectic, eclectic and frenetic, with hundreds of school kids overtaking the campus fine arts building on a hormonal quest to find the best low-density areas of the building to _make out_ in. The festival featured two guest artists: Christian McBride and Chris Botti. Each musician gave a one-hour masterclass in the afternoon, then preformed that evening with the university_s jazz ensemble. Botti_s masterclass proved to be informative and entertaining. He played _Stella By Starlight_ with a small combo, and then opened up the rest of the time for questions from the 1000 person audience. After a series of asinine questions ranging from _What_s your highest note?_ to _What_s college like?_ the audience was in dire need of intellectual dialogue. This came when a man clad in a Police shirt in the second row asked Botti what lessons he has learned in his past two years on tour with Sting, and what the decision making process was after hearing the news on September 11th and still having to perform a concert. Botti was clearly astonished at this man_s presence in the audience (later identified as area resident James Norman). After hearing the question, Botti turned his back on the audience and laughed out loud for about 10 seconds. He then regained his composure and said _James! What are you doing here? [to audience] This guy has followed our Sting tour around the world_how many shows have you been to? 30? This is what I talk about when I say that on tour you grow an _extended family_, which you end up seeing over and over._ Botti then reflected on Sting_s musicianship and unparalleled work ethic. Following Botti was Christian McBride, who like Botti, played a few songs and then fielded even more mind-numbing questions. A few hours later, the winning jazz ensembles from the festival took the center stage to perform one piece each, followed by the university jazz ensemble with guest artists Botti and McBride. Before the concert, Norman was fortunate to _hang_ with Botti for some minutes. Of interest to Sting fans, Botti mentioned that he was staying with Sting in his Malibu house a few days ago and he had the opportunity to read the first few chapters of Sting_s new book which he said were excellent _ very funny too. He also played chess (won one and lost one) and was helping Sting and Trudie decide the setlist for the upcoming Rainforest Foundation benefit concert in April. He said that the new Sting album will be started at Lake House, and then finished at Palagio, and that Sting expects to do another world tour in spring of 2003 to support the new album. After the concert, Botti, McBride, Norman, and a handful of other musicians made their way to a local Applebee_s to appease the insatiable appetite McBride had for ribs (he ended up ordering a 20oz. porterhouse steak). A great time was had by all, capped off by a 20 minute white wine induced speech given by Botti about the pitfalls of the music business. He used paper napkins to demonstrate the money that the record company makes, and after all his explaining was left with only a tiny little piece that represented the artists_ portion. Very funny! It may have been midnight, but the night was still young. Botti, McBride and the entourage then traveled to a local speakeasy named The Joint for some drinks. In the sea of homogenous white college faces, McBride_s presence was a comical juxtaposition _ decked out in a New York Yankees jacket and fishing hat, and smoking a big cigar. He immediately staked out the jukebox and didn_t let anyone else get near it for the rest of the night. Botti was camped out at a table with other jazz musicians eager to glean any advice they could get. This was frequently interrupted by stream of girls wanting to talk to _that hot guy in the black shirt._ After 2:30am, the evening_s drunken revelry winded down. Norman told reporters how surreal it was to be hanging out in western Wisconsin with such great musicians and how it all seemed like a dream. Botti and McBride could not be reached for comment as of press time, but it is assumed that they had a wonderful time hanging out and catching a glimpse of Wisconsin culture.