Last weekend I went home to Louisiana to see my parents and to go to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. I’ve posted pictures in the gallery and have more to tell about my first trip to the Big Easy since hurricane Katrina.

Eight months ago I made my first trip to Louisiana after hurricane Katrina to help my parents the first weekend after the storm. This past weekend I made my first trip into New Orleans for Jazz Fest. I was pleased to see that Covington (where my parents live) looks much better than the last time I visited and is pretty much back to normal. There is still construction and repairs going on, but for the most part it is looking very good. New Orleans is a totally different story.

My mom and I left early Sunday morning for the city. After crossing Lake Pontchartrain, we drove through Metairie (where I was born) heading towards the fair grounds. Metairie along Causeway Boulevard did not flood, so this area looked great. Soon we came to Causeway Boulevard and 1-10 cloverleaf. This is the area that was setup as a landing zone for the Coast Guard and National Guard helicopters rescuing people. I’ll never forget the images of helicopters coming in one after another to delivering people. It was amazing to think that this was the place so many touched dry ground for the first time in days and where they found safety after going through so much. Driving along I-10, we could see damage to structures and the ever-present blue roofs. As we neared City Park the damage started to compound. The area around City Park was extensively flooded. It still looks really bad and everything looks like a slum. Driving through the park made me realize the grand scale of what has happened. No only has a lot been destroyed but nothing has been maintained by the city in eight months. The entire park is overgrown and looks like something out of a cheap horror movie. It was funny and sad to see a guy out making the best of things on the overgrown golf course. We saw people living in the park in tents and trailers. I think most of these were workers and it was sad to imagine “camping out” for so long. We parked in City Park and took a shuttle to the fair grounds for the festival.

The ride to the fair grounds was somewhat surreal. I’ve seen a lot of pictures and videos from New Orleans and they certainly have an impact, but they only begin to describe what has happened. There’s no way one can fully understand the extent until you drive through empty flooded neighborhoods. It is really an eerie feeling. It was amazing to experience and this area wasn’t nearly the hardest hit. My mom said they’d really tried to clean up the area around the fair grounds before Jazz Fest, so I can only imagine what it looked like before and what it is like in the worst areas of the 9th Ward.

After arriving at the fair grounds we quickly made our way to the Acura stage where the main acts perform to claim our spot. We planned to have a home base at the Acura stage and venture to a few of the other stages for a few acts. We found a pretty good spot and it was amazing how quickly it filled up. Jazz Fest is an interesting experience in many ways, but one aspect that is different than most concerts is that you can bring chairs, ground covers and tall masts with flags to stake your claim. One performer said it looked like a bunch of tribal flags.

The first act was J.D. & the Straight Shot, a blues band from New York. They were pretty good and played a typical blues set. We ventured to find food and check out the jazz and gospel tents next. The food is, of course, awesome. No hamburgers and nachos here. I had a steak pita, chicken po-boy, banana bread pudding and mandarin orange iced tea. We stuck our head in the jazz and gospel tents for some variety. If you don’t know, I love traditional jazz. We caught the very end of one group’s set and later heard Ellis Marsalis and Lew Tabackin, an amazing sax player. I also liked listening to the gospel groups. Gospel isn’t a genre that I frequent on my iPod, but live it is enjoyable. The performers have so much passion and emotion accompanying their enthusiastic singing. It’s really a joy to experience!

We made our way back to our chairs at the main stage in time to catch a good portion of Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias. These guys were dressed in their Mardi Gras Indian costumes and were a big surprise to me! I wasn’t too interested in seeing them because I thought it would just be some guys in costumes dancing around. Boy was I wrong! They rocked and had everyone up and dancing! Unfortunately as they finished up, dark clouds started rolling in and yes, it started raining. The rain was somewhat refreshing because it was really hot that morning. The sun started to poke through a few times causing the crowd to start cheering. Finally the rain stopped just before Irma Thomas came on stage, opening with “It’s Raining”. How appropriate! Irma is the soul queen of New Orleans and put on a great show. She sang some great hits like “Time Its On My Side” (yes, like the song by the Rolling Stones, but Irma sang it first and is credited as an influence on the Stones) and “Simply the Best”. Paul Simon was next up and put on a pretty good show including an interesting version of “Mrs. Robinson”. After Paul Simon we eagerly anticipated the headliner Fats Domino. Soon after Paul Simon finished an announcement was made that Fats was on the way to the hospital instead of to Jazz Fest. We of course were all concerned for his health and were saddened that he would not be able to play. They also announced that Lionel Ritchie would be moved to the main stage to take his place. Remarkably, Fats did make an appearance just before Lionel took the stage to thanks his fans and say he was sorry he was not able to play.

I wasn’t really sure about a concert by Lionel Ritchie. How would you classify his music? Easy listening? Well I was totally wrong! He rocked the whole place! Maybe it had to do with the fact that he would have played in front of 5-7,000 people on the original stage and was now in front of 20-30,000 at the main stage, but he was having a great time. His band was more of a rock band and Lionel of course played the piano. He did songs from The Commodores as well has his solo stuff. I didn’t recognize most of the songs, but everyone was having a great time and he put on a great show!

I was disappointed that I didn’t get to hear Fats Domino. This was likely my only chance to hear the legend since he is old and doesn’t play often. Even without Fats, Jazz Fest was great. Any big event that brings people together in New Orleans these days is a great time. The people seem to have a special bond and by talking with people that live there, it’s almost like a homecoming. We sat next to people from Virginia that come to Jazz Fest every year and people from California that just wanted to help New Orleans recover. New Orleans is definitely a city that can recover by having a good time and renewing spirits among the people. The devastation is horrific, but events like Jazz Fest prove that the people aren’t going to go down with out a fight and are committed to supporting a great city with great heritage.

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