Jazz Fest Sunday

With more reasonable crowds and lots of favorite local musicians playing, Jazz Fest’s final Sunday was a balmy-weathered blast. Big Chief Kevin Goodman & the Flaming Arrows were on the Jazz Fest Heritage Stage and I spotted Alphonse “DooWee” Robair, my favorite Mardi Gras Indian artist, dancing among them. We started the day with a delicious Cochon de Lait ($9) from Love at First Bite  and a Nectar Creme from Plum Street Snoballs ($4). When I worried I wasn’t going to get a “local” pour of the sticky, sweet syrup, the woman next to me in line laughed, “If you ordered Nectar Creme, they already know you’re a local.” True Dat.

HBO’s Treme and Treme Bicentennial

As I recently remarked to someone, New Orleans is definitely a “you had to be there” kinda thing. HBO’s Treme helps illuminate some of why that’s so. There are actually 2 Tremes, the show and the neighborhood in which it’s primarily set. The actual Treme is the oldest black suburb in the United States, the home of Armstrong Park and Congo Square where jazz (and most American music) was born. This weekend, New Orleans celebrated the neighborhood’s 200th year with a bicentennial festival complete with concerts, food and second line parades.