Jazzfest report, 2nd weekend (and how was that gumbo, anyway?)

[Jode]

Wow. What a week. The spirit of New Orleans is alive and well. Tell your friends and neighbors: New Orleans ain't goin' nowhere. It's here to stay.

 

Highlights of the show? Doing the "Fins" dance during Jimmy Buffet's encore. Irma Thomas and Paul Simon singing a duet on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" that just made me weep. Warren Haynes joining Robert Randolph and the Family Band onstage for a blistering "Jesus Is Just Alright." The Dirty Dozen Brass Band leading a few thousand people in a singalong on The Saints that just felt too good. Lionel Richie playing "Easy" at the piano and the crowd providing the "ahs" in the chorus. The Stooges Brass Band. Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Band. And don't get me started on the gospel tent.

 

Fats Domino wasn't feeling well and didn't play. Ain't that a shame. He was really looking forward to closing the show, his first in quite a while, and he just woke up Sunday feeling like crap and asked to be taken to the hospital. On his way home, he asked to go by the fairgrounds to make his regrets to the crowd. He still got lots of love from us, though. He's a beautiful man. I have heard some upsetting rumors that say Fats quit the show as some form of protest. This is not true. I was there. I know.

 

Besides, anyone who went knows that the Fest was all made for love, and no one would have wanted to hear any noise like that anyhow. There was a good crowd on Friday. The place was packed on Saturday. It was jammed up on Sunday. And what a lot of good vibes. No loud drunks, no disruptions that I could see, and everyone enjoying themselves thoroughly. The only cross words I heard all weekend were from a father telling his little boy to "knock it off," and the kid was asking for it anyway.

 

I can not say enough about how wonderful a hostess our very own Connie Z was, along with her husband, Roger. They graciously invited me into their home, and I felt welcome from the moment I pulled up in the yard. Connie is just a grand lady, and I'm privileged to call her my friend. You must pay her a visit if you're ever in the area. And naturally, the gumbo was exquisite. I ate it all weekend.

 

The t-shirts down there are priceless.

 

"N.O.P.D. - Not Our Problem, Dude"

"FEMA - Fix Everything, My Ass"

"I stayed in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt, a Cadillac, and a plasma TV"

 

And, the one I bought, with a big fleur-de-lis imposed over a peace sign, reading, "Make Levees, Not War." So like good southerners do, New Orleanians are handling the situation with humor, grace, and a cocktail.

 

One of the best things about the trip was the morning of my departure. I had time to go down to the French Quarter and have some beignets and coffee at the Cafe du Monde. Huck the trumpeter is still playing on the sidewalk just outside. Halfway through my first beignet, he started "Amazing Grace." I stopped in my tracks. I said a little prayer of thanks, because as long as you can still have a beignet and coffee at the Cafe du Monde and hear Huck play "Amazing Grace," New Orleans is just fine.

[Dave Brown]

Great report, Jode.

 

Did y'all sit around and discuss the merits of different versions of "Jambalaya?"

 

You know, it's amazing how the personality of our members comes through in their posts. I would expect Connie to be as gracious in her home as she is here.

 

Who knows how far New Orleans will come? It's always been a city that paid more attention to partying than politics, and now the politicians are having their way with it.

 

These little reports keep the vision alive.

 

Now, how about that aquarium? It's always been the best part of my visit.

[Jode]

Connie would be better suited to answer those questions, but I will say this: Plus la change, plus c'est la meme chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. She was telling me how the Orleans Parish sheriff's department is stopping people for having expired car inspection stickers and writing tickets - even though every inspection station in Orleans Parish is shut down. You have to drive to Baton Rouge to get one. People are rebuilding their destroyed city, and the cops are rousting them over fucking inspection stickers? Gimme a break. But that's New Orleans, even post-Katrina: nothing happens until the city fathers' palms get greased. It is beyond pathetic.

 

I was told by many Gulf Coast locals, in Mississippi and Louisiana, to deliver two messages to the rest of the world:

 

1. We're doing just fine. Don't worry about us.

 

2. Don't believe ONE THING you read in the paper or see on TV about the recovery, or lack thereof. People are living large and in charge down there. Sure, the place still shows biblical destruction on a staggering scale - most of the buildings aren't doing so hot - but the people are doing just fine. Now, if their government will get the hell out of their way and let them rebuild their city...

 

Oh, and message 2a: God bless FEMA. Yes, you heard that right. I couldn't find anyone who had an ill word to say about FEMA, except the aforementioned t-shirt. For God's sake, they were giving away trailers to people who'd lost everything. (Jimmy Buffet altered the lyrics to "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor" to say "I'm just glad I've got this FEMA trailer" ) Now, in the early days, they were way overextended, and I'd argue that it's not even their job to do what they were being ripped for not doing (or even the stuff they were congratulated for doing right, either), but that's another discussion.

 

PS: if you want to help out, don't just write a check. Find a local charity directly involved in the recovery/rebuilding effort, and mail them a gift card from Lowe's or Home Depot. I suggest the Inter-Denominational Task Force in Gulfport. I can provide the info for anyone who's interested. They're past the food/water/clothing stage. Now they need sheetrock, mud, nails, molding, and countertops. But in Mississippi, they have something that New Orleans doesn't have: a clear road to recovery.

 

Oh, and one more thing: if you have a copy of the recent Rolling Stone with the article on developers raping Biloxi, here's what you do with it: open the magazine to the article, douse it with lighter fluid, and hold it to a flame. 100% BULLSHIT. There is no conspiracy to run black homeowners out from anywhere. There are only developers offering a fair price for devastated properties to homeowners in an impossible situation. This is what I mean when I say, ignore the media coverage. Locals of all political stripes are, frankly, insulted that there's no coverage of how well they're bouncing back down there, but they don't lose too much sleep over it - they've got cities to rebuild. The true story of the indomitable human spirit doesn't sell as well as some speculative horseshit about greedy developers and suffering poor folks. If you'd like your faith in humanity restored, and your skepticism of the media reinforced, go down to the Gulf Coast and get the real story. You'll return home reassured and pissed off all at once.