French Quarter Fest Friday 2019

French Quarter Fest is easily my favorite festival of the year, which is saying something since we have hundreds of them. With over 20 stages playing indigenous music and 60 local food booths, the festival employs over 1,700 local musicians playing genres from funk, R&B and jazz to rock, gospel and Zydeco. The over 1,500 volunteers and various local companies handling sanitation, security, stages, sound, etc. and more insure that all of the money spent producing the festival remains within the local economy.

I was working on a TV show Thursday so I missed the first day of festivities – which really hurt when I saw the tailor-made-for-me music line up. We started Friday with the Soul Rebels. The fun and funky brass band

Touring NOLA, Vintage Trouble, Latin Parade and More!

Having guests is always a great excuse to hit some of those tourist spots locals tend to shy from. So when my dear friend since high school finally came to New Orleans for the first time, we “toured” the sites. Angela arrived Thursday night and we headed straight for Coop’s so she could have her first jambalaya. We stayed in to catch up that night and headed to Cafe du Monde for insanely tasty beignets the next morning. On the way there, I spotted a familiar face down the street. I said loudly, “Do you know who that is? That’s the lead singer and trumpet for Treme Brass Band!” Angela looked to the t-shirt wearing, blood-shot-eyed man holding a trumpet just as he smiled.

Street Musicians – Tanya and Dorise

One of the best things about New Orleans is the omnipresent live music. In the French Quarter, it would be impossible to go a whole day without seeing live music. Between the music clubs, the parades and second lines, the Louisiana Music Factory CD store, the festivals and the buskers, the city is always pulsating and singing it’s song. The roots of soul, R&B, gospel, jazz, blues, rock, funk, zydeco and even some country start on this dirt, giving voice to its soil’s story. Quite simply – New Orleans is music. And the truth is, most of it starts in the streets with the people who perform behind a pail, an upturned hat or an open guitar case hoping for some financial gratitude.