New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival    
From jazzfestblog.com:

We created this site to let as many people as possible know that New Orleans is still a vital contributor to American culture - and it's on vibrant display during the Jazz & Heritage Festival, now in its 37th year. This is the second festival post-Katrina, and lots of musicians are still just now getting back to their New Orleans homes.

Much has changed over those 37 years, including, in 2006, the first year after Katrina, the addition of a major corporate sponsor, Shell Oil. Corporate entities have sponsored many of the various stages at the Festival for years, but Shell's sponsorship brought some grumbling - many people blame oil companies for destroying the wetlands that formerly offered New Orleans some protection from hurricanes.

The Festival is the second-biggest tourist attraction - and revenue-generator- after Mardi Gras, drawing several hundred thousand people to the city over essentially two weekends. In the past it has been held the last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of April and the first weekend of May, but post-Katrina, the festival has been scaled back to 3 days of each weekend.

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Percy Sledge | 2007-04-27

Deep Soul. Legendary.

Percy Sledge
Real Untouchable Brass Band | 2007-04-27

Funky Brass Band formed originally by mostly members of the Southern University's marching band.

Real Untouchable Brass Band
Congo Square | 2007-04-27

Alicia Ault:

End of Day One. We are clearly not up to speed yet, because, as i write this, both Kay and Andras are passed out in their respective beds.

The good news: My feet don't stink and I have not located any fire ant colonies yet. The bad news: in keeping with what appears to be hyper-inflation at Jazzfest this year, a can of MGD will set you back $4.

Jazzfest is still one of the best festival bargains around with 10 stages of continuous music from 11:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. for 6 days over 2 weekends, but at $45 a day at the gate, less-flush locals who want to catch hometown heros like Trombone Shorty are getting priced out of the market.

But I get ahead of myself. Let's start with the crack team's arrival in Gulfport, Miss. on Thursday afternoon.

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Congo Square
Rebuilding New Orleans - The Future of Crescent City | 2007-04-27

If it only were child's play. If only politics were not involved. If only we could be sure never to find relevance in this game again . . .

Rebuilding New Orleans - The Future of Crescent City
Facepainting | 2007-04-27

No festival is complete without facepainters, and the ones at JazzFest kept relenlessly busy throughout the heat.

Facepainting
Dancing to Don Rich | 2007-04-27

Swamp Pop. Don rich is a native of Pierre Part, Louisiana.

Dancing to Don Rich
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