Jazz Fest from a Distance

The 45th New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival started last weekend treating hundreds of thousands of guests to artisan booths and demonstrations, fest food and cooking demonstrations, pop-up book and CD stores, interviews with musicians and, of course, over a dozen stages playing up to 8 shows each a day. I think that comes out to somewhere around 400 different concerts over the course of 2 weekends all on the Fair Grounds Race Course. But what if you couldn’t get here? Or what if you’re one of the locals fed up with yet another price hike? (It’s up to $65/day at the door now). You may not be able to eat the food or watch the Mardi Gras Indians parading past, but you can still hear Jazz Fest in a number of ways.

Happy Jazz Fest!

Though we have festivals all year round, the Mac Daddy is probably  the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. All the other festivals are free so the $60 a day price tag keeps many locals away but Jazz Fest draws music lovers and bands from all over the country, even the world. We got there early and ate before the line for fest favorite Crawfish Monica ($7) from Kajun Kettle Foods got ridiculously long. The Prejean’s Restaurant Pheasant, Quail and Andouille Gumbo ($6) was delicious.

Tab Benoit at Lafayette Square

I finally got a chance to return to my beloved Wednesday at the Square free concert series sponsored by the amazing New Orleans Saints and benefitting the Young Leadership Council (YLC). The day started with the Navy Band New Orleans honoring National Military Appreciation Month. Dressed in crisp white uniforms, they played a number of standards peppered with fun choices like Michael Jackson’s Human Nature and Coolio’s Gangster’s Paradise. They closed the show with a crowd-pleasing When the Saints Go Marching In as the adorable Saintsations shook their pom poms behind them.

1 Year of Oil and Kevin Costner at the House of Blues

Like so many others in this region, I am loathe to relay any information that would make someone avoid tourism or our amazing seafood, but it’s been a year since 11 men died, 200 million gallons of oil and at least 2 million gallons of dispersant were dumped into the Gulf and it’s time to face some facts. Tar balls still wash up on the beaches everyday. The marshes are a mess. Unprecedented numbers of dolphins and sea turtles are dying. Fish have lesions. Fisherman are out of work. Businesses shut down. Less than 20% of the BP billions set aside for the affected have made their way to less than half of the 500,000 claimants. But, 97% of the 100,000 quick pay claims have been paid – one time payments of $5,000 to $25,000 in exchange for agreeing not to sue BP.