April means festivals

A young festival goer in New Orleans

There is something magical about New Orleans in springtime. The azaleas are in full bloom with dazzling displays of purple, white, pink and red against a sea of green. By mid-March and April the air is typically fed by high pressure cells and the relative humidity plunges downward, making for several very pleasant, temperate days. Occasionally, violent thunderstorms will emerge as low pressure cells from the Gulf of Mexico clash with them, but those days are few in number. With the onset of this mostly pleasant weather comes the opportunities for outdoor fun and exploration. It doesn't take a genius to know that spring is here and the time for festivals abounds as much as those blooming azaleas. The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival at the end of March kept a number of the literati busy discussing what is the centennial of the birth of one of America's most famous playwrights. Several attendees caught the last of the Historic New Orleans Collections display "Drawn to Life,"a half century of Al Hirschfeld's drawings dealing with Tennessee Williams plays. It closed April 3. While that was intended to keep most folks indoors, the Freret Street Festival last Saturday was just the first of several small festivals intended to boost one neighborhood or specific food group or item. Tomorrow the French Quarter Festival begins for the first time on a Thursday; it has become so successful that a fourth day of fun was added this year. Last year an estimated 400,000 locals and tourists swamped the French Quarter, enjoying food, the unique architecture and a plethora of stages with live music acts. Meanwhile, the folks in Pontchatoula will be hosting their annual Strawberry Festival this weekend as well. For those that make the drive to the country there are several musical acts of note and countless ways to enjoy the noble aggregate fruit. The succession of festivals will continue. By the time the month starts to ebb, the granddaddy of them all - Jazz Fest (the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival) - will be in full swing. Ah yes, it's definitely springtime in New Orleans. I can hear, see, smell and taste it all.

The winding down of Jazz Fest

Nothing can take the joy out of a Jazz Fest and spin it into a muddy mess quite like severe thunderstorms. In April or May it's always a crap shoot as to whether or not the weather will prove to be overly kind and mild or excessively stern and challenging. A rapid moving thunderstorm with heavy downbursts of wind and rain can take a pleasant day and suddenly make it a horrid experience. True musiclovers will allow little to deter them from their enjoyment of the performances, but for those of us used to creature comforts like dryness and the ability to move about unfettered by mud and slop, it's a real challenge. Yesterday's mid-afternoon downbursts did their best to bring down the spirits of the huge crowd gathered at the historic Fair Grounds. But try as the rain did, the sun reappeared for a bit and the party went on. The ground was soaked so quickly that water gathered in pools adjacent to walkways and near the entrances of the tents erected to protect the smaller crowds gathered to hear gospel, contemporary jazz and traditional jazz. Like Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" suggests flip flops were blown out in record numbers following the storm as they became mired in the muck stirred up by rain and refuse from the crowds. When the Radiators and the Neville Brothers finished up their sets at 7:00 p.m. (the Radiators ended a tad early), the crowd was largely smiling and happy. It was, after all, Jazz Fest and it could have been the best one so far.

The Jazz Fest is coming! The Jazz Fest is coming!

If one lives anywhere near the Big Easy at the end of April or beginning of May, chances are he or she will end up at the Jazz Fest. The fact is that the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, better known colloquially as the Jazz Fest, is one huge event. Culturally, it is one of the best things that goes on in New Orleans, but make no mistake about it: it costs plenty to attend. It has come a long way in 40 years from its small gathering of mostly traditional musicians gathered downtown near the old Congo Square to the five days stretched out over two weekends drawing as many as 90,000 fans a day. At $50 per person for admittance and food averaging at about $5 per item and beers selling for $3 each, it doesn't take long to rack up a lot of damage in a short period. And, of course, that's only part of the story. Hotel rooms are packed to capacity at their highest rates before the summertime and restaurants have most of their tables filled over the course of the run of the festival. But it's not the arts, crafts or culture that most endears the Jazz Fest to attendees. In a word it's the music. There is literally something from everyone at the Jazz Fest from punk rock to hard rock to contemporary jazz to beebop to gospel to klezmer to Cajun to zydeco to folk to bluegrass to rhythm and blues to funk. There probably has been no one who wasn't at least pleased with some aspect of the music played at the various stages located at the historic Fair Grounds every year for the past nearly four decades (the first few years the venue was held away from the present location). So, here's to Jazz Fest: 40 years and still going strong!