Happy Jazz Fest 2013!

Locals usually pick their Jazz Fest days based on the out of town headliners. Unless you are one of those who go every day. Yes there are folks who go all 7 days. Usually they buy a brass pass which allows to enter and leave as you please. Regular tickets holder can’t do that.

We went the Sunday of the first weekend. Not to see anyone in particular but it was nice because I don’t normally go on Sundays. There’s usually someone I really want to see on the Saturdays, the biggest days the largest crowds. So Sundays are more chill. It stormed Sunday morning which also kept a lot of people away. It had stopped raining when we went but we had ponchos and zip lock bags just in case. Which turned out to be a smart move because it started raining hard again around 3:00. But a “bad” day at JazzFest is better than a good day at work.

When it rains at JazzFest it get really muddy. And stinky. It is a racing track for horse. Do not wear flip flops. You will fall on your ass or lose them in the muck. If you want to keep your feet dry and clean, rain boots or shrimp boots are the way to go. If you like squishing your toes in mud, go bare foot or wear something like Teevas you strap to your feet.

Music for May 28, 2013
Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Ed Volker, Calexio, Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ swingers, Honey Island Swamp Band, Gispy Kings and Treme Brass Band tribute to Uncle Lionel.

Food eaten (very important!): Cochon de lait po boy. Crawfish sack, crawfish beignets and crawfish bread.

Come on September!

Ugh August. I hate August. Thank gawd it's almost over. A crazy month with the East Coast getting a one-two punch of an earthquake followed by Hurricane Irene. Here in New Orleans we are in a drought, in spite of the fact it rained every freaking day in July, but hardly at all in August. And we are also on day three of a marsh fire burning out of control in NO East. The city was blanketed in smoke today. Makes me cranky, super cranky. So it's time to look back over to some of the good time in August - go to a happy place if you will.

I think it's saying something that I didn't do a post for 08-29-11 the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But I think that was because of all the above distractions. I came across this graphic on Tumblr - very nice.

http://stephanieshift.tumblr.com/post/9555965725

The husband and I always do something to mark this day. One year we drank a nice bottle of wine we bought in CA that we had been saving. This year we went to dinner at Coquette, a wonderful French inspired restaurant in our 'hood.

The annual Rising Tide Conference was this weekend. It just gets better every year. And it's great to see all folks we've met thanks to the blogsphere. I did miss the annual group proclamation of FYYFF. Very cathardic to yell that with a whole room full of people. After the conference I got all pink and sparkly and joined my Pussyfooters sisters for the Mid-Summer Mardi Gras. Something else I can cross off my New Orleans Bucket List. It was fun but dammit was hot. A full day of stuff to remind me why I live here. Sunday I had drinks with a friends who was visiting from out of town and one of them asked me a question along the lines of "have you ever thought of living somewhere else?" Yes of course I've day dreamed about living other places. I was in NYC earlier this month and I was ready to not come home. I think I gave him a look of horror though based on how he back peddled and tried to clarify what he was trying to say. That probably wouldn't have happen two days earlier when I would have yelled "YES and get me the hell out of here."

Good grief. 2009 is almost over. I have a lot of catching up to do. But first I have to share this article about New Orleans and the Saints football team. It's not about football but about the team and the citizens and the "soul of the city." Very well written and spot on. No tired clichés. This guy gets New Orleans. Make sure to have a few kleenex handy.

I will admit I never cared about the Saints before Katrina. But that first game at home at the Dome, the energy, electricity and hope in the city was incredible. The Saints were back home. I cried during the Green Day U2 opening performance. I still tear up when I hear "The Saints are Coming" or "Wake me up when September Ends." I've watched every game since that one. I am now a total Saints fan. For the last two years we walk over to our neighborhood bar to watch the games. It's usually packed, especially during away games. We yell, scream, curse and Who Dat?! until we are hoarse. It's a blast. Better than Mardi Gras. And you know what? The Saints team are a class act. Sean Payton is not going throw his head set in a tantrum because of a call he didn't like (though he will murmur "bullsh*t" behind his play card). The players are a team and respect each other. They have a job to do and they do it. I loved one moment during one game the commentators were talking about the team during half time. One guy said "They aren't your father's Saints." Ditka chimed in "They aren't MY Saints." He got that right.

Festival Double Header

Last Saturday we squeezed two festivals into one day. We needed our Sunday to do the mundane weekend chores.

First was the Greek Fest. Held every year at the first Greek Orthodox Church to be established in America back in 1866. It’s on Bayou St. John near the lake. The day started out gray with rain in the forecast, so we didn’t bother with hats and sunscreen and packed ponchos instead. An hour later it was full on sun. Oops.





We spent a few hours consuming a smorgasbord of Greek delicacies, a bottle of retsina wine (tastes like drinking water from a Christmas tree stand, but in a good way), browsing the market place, chatting with friends and taking in the music and Hellenic dancers. It had been a number of years since we had been (it’s usually beastly hot, which isn’t fun) and it has grown considerably in size; they apparently bought more land, probably after Katrina. Opa!

* * * *

We then went to the other end of Bayou St. John for Bayou Boogaloo, a festival of local music, crafts and food vendors.


Floating in the bayou seemed to be the place to be. Shade was limited and what shade there was, people crammed in under.






The music was great – we were too full to eat anything else – checked out the crafts and bumped into more friends. We only stayed a few hours because it was really getting hot.

And on the gastronomical side...

A new cafe has opened on Magazine Street - Gott Gourmet - 3100 Magazine Street (across from The Rendezvous). They have fantastic sandwiches and salads. Also a plus, all their take-out packaging is biodegradable and compostable. Try them out!

Every JazzFest experience is completely different based on weather, crowds, bands and who you are with. Yesterday, G and I took with us G’s brother, his g-friend (her first!) and the Mad Irishman. It was a gorgeous, sunny day with clear skies, low humidity, a nice breeze and one hundred billion other people. I’m glad we went early to enjoy the fairgrounds before it became a sea of people. I can’t remember seeing it that crowded in years. The right side of my body is more sunburned that the left since we spent so much time at the Acura stage. And for the first time ever, we didn’t spend any time in the jazz or blue tent. G and I usually cram in as many bands as possible. We’ll stick around if some one really tickles our fancy and if there isn’t someone else we MUST see at the same time (which happens a lot). We were really miffed they scheduled Dumpstafunk at the same time as Galactic – a funk sandwich! – but we made time for both. We were walking, standing or dancing 95% of the time. (we didn’t bring any chairs - doh!) Today I feel like I do after a long hike. I wish I had worn a pedometer so I could tell how many miles we walked. And we only were able to eat once, good choices though: hot sausage po-boy, cochon de lait, softshell crawfish po-boy and Cajun duck po-boy. I hope I don’t sound like I’m whining; I had a fantastic time but dang I’m exhausted! Having fun really takes it out of you as you age. I don’t know how people who go every day do it. I guess they pace themselves better. I think I’ll slip out of work early. I need to rest up for Wednesday at the Square. “Too stupid to stop!”

What have I done? I’ve been my neighborhood association’s secretary for about 3-4 years. Recently, our president has stepped down due to health issues. I was the only sucker to step up. Actually, one other person was interested but can’t do it right now due to other obligations. I told her she’s welcome to take over whenever she’s ready. She’s serving as VP and I found another sucker, er, person, to be secretary. Our usually quiet and safe neighborhood has seen an up tick of crime, drugs and shooting (what neighborhood hasn’t?) and people are on edge. One problem property produced a firestorm of emails from neighbors and it was decided to do something about it. So much for easing into this position. That wasn’t so bad, but a back-and-forth e-mail exchange broke out between two people that was unpleasant and unnecessary. This is the part of being president of an organization I dislike –dealing with people’s egos. I’ve served on board before, but not for something like a neighborhood group, with widely different personalities and an issue so passionate-your home. You’ll be seeing a lot more neighborhood-oriented stuff up here.

That up tick in crime? There was a gunfight between two cars the other night. Cursed Tea lives a few blocks away and describes it (link). We didn’t hear a thing. Another neighbor reported that the shooters rammed another neighbor’s truck, and:

A bullet had entered my house about 32" from the center of the front door and went into an antique secretary and lodged in the other side of it. I called the police and the crime lab came out. After walking around the perimeter we noticed another bullet hole in my wooden fence by the cast iron fence. The bullet that went through the fence was the same one that broke the window on Mike's house then went through the window in the back of his house.

The police state these cars could have met up anywhere but happened to be on our corner.

Yikes!

Once again, I go to my happy place “JazzFest, JazzFest.” Even with the rain we had a blast last Sunday. The first thing we did when we arrived was get cochon de lait po-boy. It was AMAZING. Later I got a Seafood Mirliton Casserole and a Fried Crab Cake w/ Smoked Tomato & Jalapeño Tartar; they were both OK. A couple celebrity sightings… We saw Jane Krajkowski from 30 Rock walking around. When we were leaving the fairgrounds, a black stretch limo pulled up. A window went down, Al Green stuck his head out and said, “How was my timing?” Everyone cheered. We are definitely going Sunday... maybe Friday but not sure yet.

The rain is really coming down over by us and I'm hearing some thunder. I hope for those at JazzFest today it's clear skies for them but I doubt it. G and I went yesterday and had a grand time. The clouds kept the temps down and there was usually a breeze. We got lightly sprinkled on later in the day but during the last set, the sun was shining. We floated most of the day, catching a little bit of this and little bit of that. And of course eating. The lines for Cochon de Lait were outrageous, so we're saving that for another day. The crawfish sausage po-boy was yummy as was the alligator meat pie. The crawfish meat pie was disappointing -not enuff filling. Crawfish beignets and sacks were delish as always. Beer snobs may have already figured this out but the beer stand over by the Contemporary Arts has Pilsner Urquell on tap. Don't be throw off by the cries of "Miller heraw!"

We are going again Sunday. This time I have serious, pure plastic ponchos for us if it rains. The second Friday last year was miserable because of the deluge - though now the port-o-let story is funny - I have never been so wet in all my life; wetter than soaking in a tub for 2 hours. Hmmm... reviewing last year's JazzFest entry I neglected to tell the whole port-o-let story, so here it is: G needed to use the 'let so we found some with out a line (because everyone was crammed into the tents). I waited for him when it started raining again and raining hard. I jumped into an empty 'let next to the one G was in. It was loud in there with the rain pounding down on the roof. I tired yelling to Greg that I wanted to go home but he couldn't hear me. Thank goodness for cell phones. I rang him up and he agreed that enuff was enuff. Reviewing last year's post I just want to point out that parking at Cabrini has gone up to $30 this year. Thank goodness for our parking spot at our friends' house. When we got back to our car our friends had just returned as well and invited in for a beer. We sat on their porch overlooking Bayou St. John, sipping beer, chatting, watching the traffic and the sun set. Days like this is why us crazy folk continue to live in NOLA. I had a voice message from a friend who called me as she was on her way to Cancun. I texted her back "sorry I missed your call... when you called, I was at Jazzfest, drinking a beer, watching Sheryl Crow." She texted back "I want to be you!"

JazzFest starts this Friday! One of my favorite things about New Orleans. I am a little miffed that ticket prices went up again and the big name jazz artist are absent this year, I guess it's to make room for more big name pop/rock and even country stars. But all the local greats are represented, except for Aaron Neville who still has not come back since Katrina. Next week I'll be taking a friend from out of town on the tour of destruction and will probably have pictures to show. I'm trying to remember that last time I drove the tour... Was it really last July when these pictures were taken? I also want to try and find Fats Domino's house. You may remember he had to rescued by helicopter when his 9th ward house flooded after the federal levees broke. And speaking of levees, Levees.org is a local group formed to investigate the levee failures after Katrina. Now that the Corps of Engineers have claimed responsibility, and has said levees in 28 other states are also compromised, the organization is expanding their scope nation-wide. And to debunk another Katrina myth, a recent study shows that most of New Orleans IS above sea level.

But now for a really important news flash...New Orleans is back to 100% the number of restaurants Pre-Katrina! This doesn't include fast food or chains. Food is such a part of the local culture. And one of the local icons, Camellia Grill, finally reopened this week with people waiting in line to get in. Food critic Tom Fitzmorris writes about this and have been tracking restaurants as they reopen after the storm. The growing Latin American population inspired the T-P to feature restaurants that sell Central and South American cuisine, including the post-Katrina taco trucks, in this Spring's Dining Guide.

Which brings me back full circle to JazzFest... not only amazing music, also incredible food and art. To me it's heaven on earth.