Jazz Festing in New Orleans

May The Fest Be With You
By
Debbie Lindsey
Why go to Jazz Fest? If you have to ask you really should be sent to bed without your beer; made to stand in the corner wearing plaid polyester golf pants; or forced to eat Hungry Man frozen dinners for eternity. This has been my feeling on the matter for sometime, but I have begun to think I have been a bit hasty and harsh in the past. I mean, what if someone REALLY wants an answer to the “why go” question? Maybe that someone is willing to listen and consider being a part of the greatest show on Earth. Okay, maybe I am a wee bit grandiose in my view – but hey it’s one hell of a festival.
Jazz Festival is so uniquely New Orleans despite the commercialism and corporate sponsorships of recent years. This festival is not only a venue for more music, food and crafts than one person can possibly view, hear, or taste in a day; it is a venue for festers to strut their stuff (festival attire is an event unto itself) and dance their toes off. Once-a-year friendships reacquaint themselves. Mardi Gras Indians roam about. It’s hard to put into words the lost-in-the-moment feeling of this celebration of talent, soul and camaraderie. Something kinda magical happens. The crowds can be dense, the weather awful, the bathroom lines long and yet courtesy and kindness prevail – always.
The price of admission will allow you eight hours of nonstop music. The many food tents combine to offer over 100 selections. Lectures, cooking demonstration, crafts, photography exhibits, book signings vie for your attention. And a good time is had by all!
Money, money, money seems to be something that one feels compelled to address when it comes to Jazz Fest. We are not talkin’ a million bucks, but folks sure seem to have a million reasons not to invest in culture, live music, and an event that seems to bring out the very best in people.
I’m not suggesting that a single parent of three with two jobs and night classes at UNO who’s Road Home To Nowhere money is still in limbo try and budget non-existent disposable income so as to go festing. But, the average working stiff does owe it to themselves to attend at least one day at the Fair Grounds. And as for the rest of you out there that do have a wee bit of mad money (and those who are just stinkin’ well off) consider attending as many days as time permits.
How much does a ticket set ya back this year? Advance purchase: $40.00 a day, $50.00 at the gate and Jazz Fest Thursdays are back for $30.00 advance, $40.00 at the gate. Yes, this is a helluva increase and I for one will not be attending everyday as I once did. But if I had planned ahead and saved 75 cents a day I could afford to go everyday. In fact there are even MORE advanced purchase deals if tickets are acquired by January. Too late to save now and too late for those early bird deals but next year I will be wiser. As for having time off to go – well, that’s what a lottery ticket is for.
By the time you read this column it will be too late to get the best deal in town – WWOZ’s Brass Pass. This year it went for $375.00. And that is for both weekends of Jazz Fest and it includes some extra perks like unlimited use of the WWOZ hospitality tent (code for restrooms) and the freedom to wander in and out of the Fair Grounds. If you were planning to attend everyday it’s a deal PLUS you support our Jazz and Heritage radio station when you obtain your tickets this way.
Now, a word to the Jazz Fest powers-that-be.
What in the Hell are you guys thinking? No one earning minimum wage can even consider entering those gates more than maybe once. And those of us that earn a wee bit more than minimum find it very difficult to chose between paying the electric bill and Festing. I used to go everyday. I only had to save my waitress tips for a few weeks and then I was there painlessly buying my way into the absolute best reason to live here.
Have the promoters of Jazz Fest ever heard of the French Quarter Festival? It’s free!!!!! It’s around the same time. It’s free. Tourists from all over the world are making New Orleans a destination because of the FQF. There is food, music and friendly people. Restrooms are easy to find in any nice hotel lobby. And it’s free. Folks do not have to deal with TicketMaster or standing in lines for advance savings because it is FREE!
I promise that next year I will write my Jazz Fest column well in advance of this issue so as to remind you guys of the deals that are out there. And do yourself a favor and get that Jazz Fest piggy bank going now and save a buck a day.
Yeah, the good ole days of cheap tickets are long gone. But, the quality and quirkiness of our Jazz and Heritage Festive is alive and well and a shot in the arm of feel good medicine for the soul. Jazz Fest gives us back some of that which was taken from us. And we can pay it forward simply by going and passin’ a good time.