"If You're Going to New Orleans ..." 

by El Dormido (dormido@hotmail.com) 

The weather is perceptibly getting warmer, fancy turns to thoughts of spring and NEW ORLEANS ! 

Well, there is Mardi Gras, and the 2 great music festivals that show up the last few weeks of April that are can't miss'em events in the City that Care Forgot. Otherwise, if you ain't up for traveling, there is also an audio and print presence on the Internet that reflects what's going on in the Crescent City . You can tap into those resources to experience, if at a distance, the wonder that is the Big Easy. 

So what I want to do is get some of that internet information around so that we can all join in experience the virtual NOLA (you know, for New Orleans , LA !). 

First off, you gotta get hip to WWOZ-FM (http://wwoz.org/), the premier community radio station in New Orleans that also broadcasts over the internet. The coolest thing is pulling in the live webcast, especially during those long hours when the Fish Fry at KCUR-FM is off line. But you gotta be prepared for eclecticism ‘cause the breadth of the broadcast schedule is amazing. Hard core modern jazz, classic New Orleans R'n'B, sessions with mad poet John Sinclair, world music, red dirt blues, swamp gas, Cajun and zydeco, it's all there. 

The official line on WWOZ is that they are a listener-supported, volunteer-operated radio station focused on keeping the music and musical heritage of the Crescent City alive. 

Check the broadcast schedule on the web site or just tune in and let the experience unfold. It is especially a treat during the Jazz and Heritage Festival as they broadcast whole chunks of the live performances!!! 

Dormido tip: Buy a patch cable that will plug into the lineout port on your sound card (one plug) and connect it to your CD jack on your home audio amplifier (2 plugs). Then you can listen to your computer on your big speakers! And who needs the CD player you spent a couple hundred bucks on back when since you can use the one built into your computer! Also the WWOZ web site has a whole help section devoted to the online broadcasts so check that out while you're trying to figure out how to make the whole thing work. 

Since we are looking at this from the spring perspective, check out the home on the Web for the French Quarter Festival (http://www.frenchquarterfestival.com/). This year it is scheduled for April 11-13. 

The official pub on the event goes like this: “The award-winning French Quarter Festival is Louisiana 's largest free music event, a three-day local music showcase scattered throughout the French Quarter in New Orleans , Louisiana . There are music performances on 14 stages. The community festival also features the "World's Largest Jazz Brunch," with food booths operated by nearly 60 local chefs and restaurants.” 

The French Quarter Fest always precedes the Jazz and Heritage Fest and is focused on local music, food, and drink in the Vieux Carre. Note the operative words "free” and "community". I've not made it yet but I've been told that it's the quickest way to find out what New Orleans music is about, to get a true flavor of the city, to get a real, unadulterated taste of the French Quarter. Did I mention that it was free admission? 

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (http://www.nojazzfest.com/) is, of course, the big show. It is scheduled for April 24-May 4 this year. 

Official line goes like this “The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a/k/a Jazz Fest, is an 11-day cultural feast in which thousands of musicians, cooks and craftspeople welcome 500,000 visitors each year. There are two main components: the Louisiana Heritage Fair and the Evening Concert Series. The Louisiana Heritage Fair is the signature feature of the Festival, showcasing unforgettable music on 12 stages, delicious Louisiana cuisine in two large food areas, and crafts artisans from the region and around the world demonstrating and selling their work. The Louisiana Heritage Fair is held at the Fair Grounds Race Course over the course of 2 weekends. 

Now, this is the big one, not just a Quarter, not just a state, but the whole enchilada. World musicians from Africa appear, big pop stars from Los Angeles show up, jazz masters from New York , alligators from Florida , everybody doing everything. 

Festival tickets will go on sale Friday, February 21. By now, all the hotel rooms are probably sold out. Which is why we're talking internet here. First you can pick up your Fest tix on line. Then hop over to travelocity.com or expedia.com or hotline.com or priceline.com or whatever.com to book the airfare. Next, start working those same sites digging for that deal on whatever rooms are still available somewhere within 100 miles of the city. 

I'd recommend the Columns Hotel (http://www.thecolumns.com/), at least for Happy Hour if you can't get a room. It's a grand, stately hotel, one of the last remaining examples of turn-of-the-century Louisiana Plantation architecture. It is located on the edge of the Garden District right on the street car line running down St.Charles Street . 

There are two magazine sources online that provide a direct conduit to the past, present and future of New Orleans music, Offbeat Magazine and Where Y'at Magazine . Both are distributed free on street corners everywhere in NOLA, much like the alternative press everywhere. But you can also pick up the latest issue right on line without having to get out of the house. 

Offbeat Magazine (http://www.offbeat.com/) is published every month and contains interviews and features on the music and musicians in the Crescent City , as well as featuring comprehensive night club and performance listings. You can subscribe to Offbeat online for mail delivery to your home, and they'll also ship you off a complimentary CD. Such a deal! 

Articles published in the magazine are also available in the online edition. You can catch the recent articles on Art Neville, Tuts Washisngton and Pharaoh Sanders. Or you can delve into the past issues archive and check out the articles on cats like Jon Cleary, Beau Jocque, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Lionel Batiste, Edward “Kid” Ory, Webb Pierce, Freddy Omar and Johnny Adams. 

Where Offbeat Magazine might be considered the “red beans and rice” essential to the NOLA music diet, Where Y'at Magazine (http://whereyatnola.com/) is the nouvelle cuisine with a focus tuned to what is most current, hip, and New Orleans . 

Where Y'at does run historical features on legacy artists, but primarily their antennae are out to catch acts flying a little bit below radar, looking to cover the break out of the next new thing, harkening to that batch of up and comers you’d want to catch if you just knew who they are and where they perform. 

They feature extensive coverage on theatre, art, restaurants and dining, and even sports around the Crescent City . Their tone and style is a bit edgy and rough. They’ve been in business about 5 years and are locally owned and operated with complete control over all their editorial content. 

This month the featured stories include the Dramarama Theatre Festival, Theatre Fleur de Lis, and the Mid City Warehouse Artists musician’s communit y. Previous issues have covered Naked on the Floor, Saint’s All-Pro safety Sammy Knight, New Orleans Hip-Hop, Earl King, Under The Gun, and the Morning 40 Federation. 

Both magazines are essential internet targets and must be included among your Internet Favorites. That way you can check anytime on what’s going on just in case you want to catch a weekend in the City that care forgot. (Current air fares are running under $140 from KCI.) You can bone up on all the night club, restaurant, cultural event, all everything listings. Everything except the racy ads in the back of the print publications. You’ll have to wait ‘til you’re in the taxi for that. 

Ok, to sum up, NOLA in the spring: French Quarter Festival and Jazz and Heritage Festival. NOLA anytime: Offbeat and Where Y’at magazines. NOLA all the time: WWOZ. All on the Internet. Turn on, tune in, groove out in the virtual world!!!