Thirteen Thursday Number 25: 13 Fun Things About Jazz Fest

Thirteen Fun Things About Jazz Fest Number #25 Tomorrow starts the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Six days of music, food and sun, what could be better? So I decided to make a list of 13 fun things about the Fest. 1. The poster. Every year they have a different artist design it. These posters become collector items and are highly sought after. Most of them are great pieces of art, reflecting some of the guests that appear that year. Only one year did the poster suck, the year the blue dog appeared on it...I hate that dog. This is this year's poster, featuring Jerry Lee Lewis and the Congo Square poster also. 2. The beads. This is a new addition in the last two years. What goes better with New Orleans than Mardi Gras beads. So Jazz Fest has an artist design a set of beads for the Fest. After so many, I think the number was 5000 was made the mold was destroyed and that was all that was made. This was last years. 3. The food. Where else can you get food like you do in New Orleans? This is just a sampling of some of the food that is going to be there. Crawfish Bread, Shrimp Bread, Sausage & Jalapeño Bread Panaroma Foods Marksville, LA Cajun Jambalaya, Fried Chicken Catering Unlimited New Orleans, LA Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, *Fruit Salad Joyce’s Lemonade New Orleans, LA Hot Sausage Po-Boy, Crawfish Sausage Po-Boy Vaucresson Sausage Co. New Orleans, LA Oyster Artichoke Soup, Andouille Calas w/ Green Onion Sauce Calas Bistro for the Fair Grounds Racing Museum New Orleans, LA Pecan Catfish Meunière, Seafood Mirliton Casserole, Fried Crab Cake w/ Smoked Tomato & Jalapeño Tartar C.P.G. Catering Mandeville, LA Alligator Pie, Crabmeat Stuffed Shrimp, *Fried Green Tomatoes Cajun Nights Catering Metairie, LA Muffuletta, *Vegetarian Muffuletta, Roast Beef Po-Boy DiMartino’s Famous Muffulettas Gretna, LA Crawfish Etouffée, Boiled Crawfish, Crawfish Stuffed Puff, Cajun Crawfish Rice Ledet & Louque Gramercy, LA BBQ Chicken, BBQ Chicken Sandwich, *Corn on the Cob, Iced Tea, Lemon Pound Cake Lil's BBQ Slidell, LA *Spinach Artichoke Casserole, Gratin Louisiane, Sweet Potato Pone Ten Talents Catering Covington, LA Fried Crawfish Tails, Fried Popcorn Shrimp, Fried Seafood Salad, *Spicy Potatoes Electro-Reps, Inc. Slidell, LA Red Beans & Rice w/ Sausage, *Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice, Blackberry Cobbler Burks & Douglas New Orleans, LA Crabmeat Po-Boy, Creole Stuffed Crab, Catfish Almondine, *Potato Salad Stuf Hapn Event Catering New Orleans, LA Alligator Sauce Piquante, Shrimp Etouffée, Shrimp & Okra Gumbo Fireman Mike’s Kitchen New Orleans, LA Cochon de Lait Po-Boy Fried Eggplant w/ Crawfish Sauce *Fried Eggplant w/ Marinara Sauce Love at First Bite New Orleans, LA Soft-Shell Crawfish Po-Boy Fried Gator Po-Boy Guil’s Gator w/ Fried Jalapeños & Onions Sharon & Guilherme Wegner Metairie, LA Crawfish Sack, Oyster Patties, Crawfish Beignets Patton's Caterers Chalmette, LA Fried Shrimp Po-Boy, Fried Oyster Po-Boy, Fried Oyster Spinach Salad, Panéed Chicken Po-Boy Vucinovich's Restaurant New Orleans, LA Mango Freeze WWOZ Community Radio New Orleans, LA Fried Pork Chops, Smothered Cabbage, *Iron Skillet Cornbread, Fried Pork Chop Sandwich Designing Foods Catering New Orleans, LA Ya Ka Mein, *Vegetarian Ya Ka Mein, Banana Bread Pudding Miss Linda’s Catering New Orleans, LA Rosemint Iced Tea, Mandarin Orange Iced Tea, Regular Iced Tea Sunshine Concessions Covington, LA 4. Congo Square: Named for the historical gathering place and trading grounds of African people in colonial New Orleans, enter this unique area to experience the music, art, and energy of Africa and the African Diaspora. Peruse the Congo Square African Marketplace, which features an array of handcrafted original artworks reflecting the roots and dispersion of African culture and heritage in New Orleans and throughout the world. Visit the Sankoré Pavilion to learn about Ghana as we pay tribute to that nation’s 50th Anniversary of Independence. Join the commemoration of the Ancestors of the Diaspora at the Congo Square Ancestral/Egun Shrine located at the West gate next to Congo Road. Sculptures, paintings, handcrafted leatherworks, ceramics, jewelry and wearable art are just a few of the treasures that can be found in Congo Square’s 52 booths, including the 4 Artist Demonstration areas. Traditional art making techniques from various cultures of the African Diaspora are featured in this year’s Congo Demo booths. The highlighted crafts include Ghanaian Adinkra stamping and batik traditions, gold and silversmith techniques, doll sculpture, Nigerian clay coiling techniques and reverse glass painting. Don’t forget to stop by the 1st weekend demo booth of our Congo Square poster artist Terrance Osborne. 5. Louisiana Marketplace: featuring handmade crafts from local artists that are both modern and traditional. 6. Louisiana Folklife Village: Like its signature dish, gumbo, Louisiana is a spicy stew comprised of many distinctive elements: African- American, Cajun, Latin, Irish, Isleño, Native American, and practically everything in between. To experience this unique culture firsthand, step into the Louisiana Folklife Village and discover many of the state’s generations-old traditions. Here you can see musicians meticulously handcraft accordions and guitars, papier mâche artists create whimsical sculptures for Mardi Gras floats, and a Creole cook grind sassafras leaves into gumbo’s key ingredient, filé. Learn the craft of slate tiling, how to weave a shrimp net, or cook up an Isleño cure for the flu. These are only a few of the dozens of traditions featured in the Louisiana Folklife Village that bear witness to our state's unique cultural history. This year, as a celebration of the Latin American culture of Louisiana, we feature a new tent: Nueva Orleans: Crafts of Latin America. 7. Native American Village: The Native American Village focuses on the rich heritage of our state’s indigenous peoples. Here you can listen to the melodious sounds of traditional flute music as you relax under the shade canopy of a palmetto-thatched chickee. Enjoy traditional drumming and singing by Southeastern dance and pow-wow troupes. Watch demonstrations of basket weaving and wood carving by Louisiana’s tribal elders and their apprentices. The Native American Village offers Festival-goers an oasis of tranquil charm. The Native American Demonstrator Tent showcases Louisiana's indigenous craftspeople, many of them Elders, from five of the ten Louisiana tribes, as well as non-native craftspersons demonstrating native traditions. 8. Contempary Crafts: A section set up showcasing artists from the state and throughout the country reflecting the best in handmade crafts and arts. 9. The weather. Once summer hits New Orleans weather is hot and humid. It is miserable. You don't want to walk outside. But now, during the spring the weather is beautiful. The humidity hasn't settled onto the city like a wet blanket yet, and the sun isn't so hot that it fries what little brain cells I have left. 10. Six days of no work. Now it doesn't get much better than that, does it? Unfortuantely that's not a point that everyone gets, you gotta put in those requests early. 11. The music recorded live at the Jazz Fest: A lot of the acts let their sets be recorded and the cd is put on sale by the next day at the Fest. This is a great way to get live music and some live music that you were present for. Unfortunately most of the bigger acts won't allow this, but it's still a great way to get some great music. 12. The other music for sale tent. It used to be run by Tower Records every year, until they went out of business. This year it's supposed to be run by Borders. They always bring a great selection of music, of course something by all the acts at the Fest and a lot of other cds that sometimes are hard to find. 13. And of course, the main reason to go to the Fest....The Music. With acts like Lucinda Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Subdudes, T Bone Burnett, Norah Jones, Shannon McNally...well the list goes on and on. For the price of what most single concert tickets would cost you get to see and listen and experience dozens of performers. You go for certain performers but as you walk around you discover someone great that you would never had if you hadn't went. It's great.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants