Hi Y’all – Yahoo had a nice article the other day on sprucing up your travel photos, or taking better pics.
9 easy tips for improving your vacation photos – Yahoo! News.
I’ve summarized the tips below, the the article has some nice insights and examples. I would add one tip of my own – PRINT your pictures and put them out on a table somewhere. House guests love looking through them, and so will you. You will be happy to have them out where you can pick them up with a spare moment, instead of locked in your camera, where you only see them when you are trying to decide which to delete to clear out your memory card!
On to the Tips!
Here is a short but growing Flickr slideshow of edited New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival pictures (color corrected, highlights, cropped) I’ve taken over the years where I pretty much ignore all of the above advice! Check it out and let me know what you think (link opens in new window…)
Professor Longhair Reigns Supreme Over the Acura Stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
See you at the Fest!
–Katie
Hey Y’all -
This is a short and sweet post. I just wanted to put out a couple of links to sites to help you plan your New Orleans music experience, no matter what time of year you visit us.
Offbeat Magazine is my #1 source. I also love to pick this magazine up to read the many reviews of new releases, food reviews, and to check out the calendar of events. When I sit down with the new Offbeat every week, I end upwith something planned every night. Dangerous!
Another nice site is NolaFunk. Though more limited in scope than Offbeat, it is a nice site, with some great pictures, some video, and links to music.
Thanks! – Katie
So – season one of HBO’s Treme just finished up. We really enjoyed watching it, but have to wonder what the rest of the country thought. The season finale had 931,000 viewers, which was down about 100K from the season premier. But all in all, those are decent numbers for a cable show. Unless you compare it to The Sopranos which according to Wikipedia had 11.9 million viewers for its season finale, after six seasons. Here’s a link to HBO Treme website that will open in a new page.
What is Treme, besides a television show? Again, according to my favorite informal go-to source Wikipedia Treme is a neighborhood officially “A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area.” One of the streets that make up this subdistrict is “Esplanade Ave” which also just so happens to be a main cross-street of the New Orleans Fairgrounds, the location of our very own Jazz and Heritage Festival!
Dave Walker, a writer at the Times-Picayune, New Orleans’s excellent newspaper, has a fantastic series of articles each week discussing the minutia of every episode (who played what, what the songs were, how they tie in to the various themes, etc.) His series of articles, videos and more can be found here – but be careful because there are some spoilers if you aren’t caught up, or haven’t started watching yet.
One of the reasons we liked Treme so much was we could so easily recognize the locations, and musicians. Just off the top of my head I remember seeing Upperline Restaurant (where we once saw Saints QB Drew Brees having dinner with Cooper and Peyton Manning and their wives), The Spotted Cat, DBA (John’s favorite), and the Apple Barrel all on Frenchman Street, and plenty of Rue De La Course coffee shop mugs (of which we have a few around the office ourselves)- even if they were sometimes carried out of different coffee shop locations! As for musicians, we mention a few of our favorites in this blog entry here, and from that list, on the show we’ve seen John Bouttee (a couple of times), Paul Sanchez, Matt Perrine, Glenn David Andrews just to name a few. Matt wasn’t even show playing- he got an “acting” gig with his scene taking place across the Mississippi in Algiers Point at the Old Point Bar.
Glen David Andrews
Glen David Andrews and Paul Sanchez 2009 Jazz Fest Gospel Tent
John Boutte Tambourine Hands
Anders Osborne on the Acura Stage Big Screen 2010
Anders Osborne Up Close Guitar Hands
We could also identify with a lot of the emotional content of the series, having been through hurricane Katrina ourselves, and having our first floor condominium flood. The fights with the insurance companies, the SBA loan paperwork, wheeling our refrigerator out to the street – don’t get me started. BUT, that is behind us, and New Orleans is growing stronger every day.
If you are planning a trip to the Big Easy, and are considering our Jazz Fest Tour, you might really love Treme if you haven’t already seen it. To leave you with a final Treme related link, you can get a full time flavor of New Orleans by tuning in to our local radio station WWOZ online from this link. One of the main characters of the show, Davis McAlary (played by Steve Zhan), begins and ends the season working here. Of course, this is programmed in our cars and home radios. If you give us a call at the office, there’s a good chance you may catch a hint of WWOZ in the background!
So, every publishing contingent in New Orleans has their own version of the Jazz Fest schedule. The NOLA online interactive schedule is really cool (link below.)
Hover your mouse over an artist and audio and video links will pop up (links take you to myspace or youtube etc.) As you study the schedule, you can plan your day with previews of the artists.
2010 New Orleans Jazz Fest Schedule – NOLA.com.
We have been busy in preparation for our visitors here at Huron Tours and Travel world headquarters in New Orleans. We picked up our group of tickets, have distributed our final tour documents and Jazz Fest “Insider’s Guide.” We’ve confirmed hotel arrangements, eating arrangements, coach arrangements and can’t wait until Thursday!
Right now I am making my list of recommendations for “after-fest” shows our visitors may want to check out. Should I add the Friday 2AM George Porter Tipitinas FQ show? How important is sleep? But how awesome is George Porter?
Simon and Garfunkel to Play Jazzfest
via Arts, Briefly – Simon and Garfunkel to Play Jazzfest – NYTimes.com.
“…and this is likely to be Simon and Garfunkel’s only American appearance in 2010.”
What more can we say? We heard the rumors, and held our breath. What a development!
Check out http://www.hurontoursandtravel.com/tours/jazzfest.html for all the tour details and a SPECIAL offer.
New Orleans Jazz Fest Performer Lineup 2010.
Greetings Jazz Festers!
Today (12/15/09) is the Big Day as the 2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s line-up is announced!
Our package dates are April 22-26, 2010, the first weekend of the fest when the weather is generally cooler, the crowds a bit lighter and the good times start rolling.
Performance Highlights of the first weekend:
Lionel Richie
Allman Brothers Band
My Morning Jacket
Anita Baker
Dr. John
Darius Rucker
The Black Crowes
Steel Pulse
Blind Boys of Alabama
George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic
funky Meters
Terrance Blanchard
ADDITIONAL ACT TO BE ANNOUNCED (Past surprise acts have included Paul Simon, Smokey Robinson, Neil Young, Gladys Knight, Bon Jovi and more)
PLUS 180+ ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES!
For a complete list of performers appearing at the first weekend of Jazz Fest visit Huron Tours & Travel’s Jazz Fest Tour details
CALL US AT 1800-734-1192 FOR OUR LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS!
Huron Tours’ exclusive package includes-
Call now to reserve your place as space is limited and the tour is sure to fill up fast now that this great line-up has been announced.
Hey Y’all – I just wanted to drop a quick link to vote of confidence from Society of American Travel Writers, confirming we are not alone in our love of New Orleans. The SAWT have named New Orleans the #1 city for live music. This is a great quote from that link:
“Travel should involve all five senses, and one of the great travel experiences is listening to live music in the places where it originated or in spectacular settings,” says SATW president, Bea Broda.
We were definitely feeling this Friday night. First we spent an hour at Le Bonne Temps Roule on Magazine Street [map link] watching and listening to Joe Krown on piano. Joe has a few albums on iTunes and Amazon – below are a couple of songs that are emblematic of the type of music he plays on Fridays.
We then headed to Chickie Wah Wah for the Threadhead records Friday with Paul Sanchez and guests. Matt Perinne, on sousaphone, handled most if not all the solo work. Matt’s wife was singing backup to Paul, lead, cracking jokes, and playing what looked like a ukulele? And Paul was his usual fun self. The whole time we kept looking at each other asking “Can you believe how cool this is?” Another awesome New Orleans night!
Here is a fun interview with Matt from Nola.com and one of my favorite columnists, Chris Rose.
The 60-Second Interview: Matt Perrine
Huron Tours and Travel New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
So – lots of people who haven’t been to the Jazz Fest previously might think the fest is all about the music. Well, it is, and it isn’t. It’s also about art, culture, crafts, history, and FOOD! After you’ve been to a Jazz Fest, you might never be able to miss one again. Each year, you find something different, and it adds up and you end up going crazy waiting for the Fest each year.
This year was the first year I spent any time in the Gospel tent – I can tell you I will make this a definite stop from here on out. It is a great first, and last stop on any festival day.
But, I thought we were talking about food.
Our friend Rick, who has been coming from New Jersey to attend the Fest every year since 1995 has some sage advice:
“softshell crab poboys make a great breakfast…especially with some iced cafe au lait (du monde, of course). the basic strategy is don’t eat ’til you get to the fest (why bother!) and get there when the gates open so your first priority can be eating. crawfish strudels make a great breakfast too…and Cochon de Lait po-boys [pulled bbq pork] poboys are another favorite. then…by noon…it’s time for lunch!”
My personal favorite, which some people think is crazy because I live in New Orleans in the land of crawfish and shrimp and fresh fish, is the paneed chicken po-boy, no mayonnaise, and I put the pickles on the side of my plate for my husband. I eat one of these every day of the fest, for two weekends. Some days I have two. That means at a minimum I am eating 7 paneed chicken po-boys. How can it be so good, for being cooked at a festival? I don’t know, but it is – all the food is great. The quality is fantastic, and the flavors are out of this world! I can promise you it will be the best chicken sandwich you’ve ever had if you try one.
“Food at the New Orleans Jazz Festival
My husband John likes to try everything. This year, he was going to try the Ya Ka Mein soup, but had to add that to his “food for next year” list, because he ate too many oysters at the grandstand oyster bar. And mango ice, and fish tacos, and pulled-pork poboys, and I don’t know why he doesn’t weight 500lbs.
The picture above is compiled from SOME of the signs of the food vendors. Some, but not all – we missed a few.
Prices for food range from $5 to $10. And there are food coupons in the program (which we include for you with our tour.) The panned chicken I was talking about was $6. But it is a big sandwich, enough to fill you up at lunch. Match it up with a large cold mint iced-tea, some sunshine, some live music, some dancing, and some fantastic people watching, and you have all the ingredients of a pretty incredible afternoon in New Orleans.
-Katie
Full Package Details / Sign Up form / Trip cost HERE
Huron Tours And Travel Jazz Fest Tour
Are you getting excited for the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival? We are too! We love the festival, and have attended every year for at least the last 16 years.
Even if you’ve been to “The Big Easy” a hundred times, you’ve never seen it like this! Huron Tours and Travel has removed the guess work of attending Jazz Fest. From our 4 star French Quarter hotel (with pool and roof-top terrace bar with incredible city views) to our deluxe private Jazz Fest transportation, we have every detail covered – just sit back, have a great time, and enjoy Jazz Fest!
To help get you in the spirit, and introduce you to some musicians you may not have encountered, I’ve compiled a very abbreviated list of some of my favorite local acts. Some of the artists below have more sophisticated websites than others – you may have to poke around for a second to find the music, but I guaranty is is worth your while. Check it out and let me know what you think:
Soulful, accessible jazz vocalist:
John Boutte
Rock ‘n’ Roll and all about New Orleans:
Anders Osborne
Amazing touching unique one-woman show (who also plays a mean mountain dulcimer!)
Theresa Anderson
Whimsical, moving, touching, a New Orleans original:
Paul Sanchez
The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, a traditional-eque high energy New Orleans Brass Band:
The New Orleans Nightcrawlers
Author, composer, singer and poet in French and English:
Zachary Richard
The sweetest and clearest trombone you will ever hear:
Trombone Shorty
Glen David Andrews, another trombone player, is the most energetic performer you will ever see. He was amazing last year in the Gospel tent and brought everyone to their feet:
Glen David Andrews
Enjoy the music and we hope you will join us!
–Katie
Huron Tours & Travel
Ph:/Fax: 800.734.1192
Direct: 504.267.2057
www.HuronToursAndTravel.com