We have a friend down south who has a saying: “New Orleans… get it while it lasts!” His point being that if another storm like Katrina — or larger — hits his hometown, it’s not guaranteed to bounce back. Nothing lasts forever, especially a city below sea level during a period of rising oceans and increasingly frequent, vicious storms. So, get it while it lasts. The New Orleans Jazz Festival is an ideal excuse to do just that.
I’d visited a couple of times before I went to my first Jazz Fest, which usually falls on the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May. The New Orleans Jazz Festival was my introduction to loving the city, as it was an accessible (if not a bit pedestrian, sanitized and easy, according to some critics) way to dip your toe into a place that merits a long, drawn-out stay. Jazz Fest worked for me, and I came back again and again. It really hooked my wife, and she managed to finagle working sabbaticals that have allowed us lots of long visits that really gave us a chance to know the city better. And New Orleans is a city you might just want to know.
“Music is the soul of human society.” Cartoonist Robert Crumb wrote that once, and if that’s true, then New Orleans is arguably the root of the American soul. Blues and jazz grew out of and around New Orleans, and without the yeasty influence of the blues, rock & roll would’ve been like a flat cake that never puffed up… if it had developed at all. Blues, jazz, rock, brass, funk—all kinds of music flows through New Orleans like fog in San Francisco or traffic in Manhattan. It’s everywhere, all the time, defining the personality of the place. And that’s just one reason to visit New Orleans. The others are the food (found aplenty at the New Orleans Jazz Festival) and the people (ditto). Under the umbrella of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the newbie gets a broad, solid introduction to the city. And since the festival grounds close up by 7:30 p.m., evenings are wide open to enjoy a great local dinner and catch a show (or two, or three… they run all night) at NOLA’s great music venues, from divey little bars like the Apple Barrel on Frenchmen St. to the legendary, rowdy Tipitina’s uptown to the fabulously renovated 2,600-seat Saenger Theater on Canal Street.
Today’s the last day of Jazz Fest 2015, but don’t worry. You’ll have another shot to visit New Orleans next year… assuming it lasts.
Yes, you can eat like a king at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. But you don’t have to ONLY eat there.
Oh, and when it comes to the eating department of New Orleans, I could do another entire post. In fact, I have, here.
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