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There is a belief in India that crowds heighten our sense of individuality. Well crowds are certainly on my mind as I head out to Jazz Fest on day 3 (day 2 for us) and it is super sunny and gorgeous outside and I think, it’s going to be crowded like crazy. I’ve been neutral about crowds my whole life but only now am starting to sometimes side step or avoid them all together and wondering if this is a product of age or if perhaps crowds have gotten well, more crowded.

But yesterday as I moved through the crowds with my son sleeping in the Ergobaby, I did feel as if we existed in a bubble all our own. So perhaps the good folks from India have something correct there – that your sense of yourself accelerates when you are in the throngs.

I took a walk this morning with a neighbor and friend and we were talking about a restaurant in the hood and some missteps in the guy’s marketing. The complaint was using hand made flyers on telephone poles for high end dining – my friend likened that to a tear off that says, “For a good time call Jackie Onassis.”

Who was it that said that any fool can handle a crisis, but it’s the day to day that separates the weak from the strong? The grace it takes to get through a day without snapping at those you love, to help another in need even when your needs appear overwhelming, and to project a sunny disposition despite a cloudy mind is enormous sometimes. But in the end, if you lay your head down on the pillow and you have accomplished even one of these feats, it’s a feather in your cap.

After missing the first day, I was chomping at the bit to get out there to the Fairgrounds the second day. Of course, Tin was sleeping – astounded by his ability to nap two days in a row like there was no tomorrow, I finally after a half hour, got him up to go with me to Jazz Fest.

We had our itinerary and we had our reality. The two did not intersect, barely once maybe.

The Gospel tent, right by the entrance, was sounding especially good so we popped in to see Golden Voices Community Choir – wow, they were outstanding. They were so good that I’m sure a lot of heathens converted right then and there. Then Tin was ready for his noon bottle so we loaded it up and were heading to see Panorama Jazz Band, but Tin couldn’t wait, and we ducked into the Blues Tent to hear this amazing woman paying tribute to Marva Wright, I think her name was Tara Alexander – good god her voice was amazing.

Then we got crawfish bread, only Tin now had fallen asleep so we spent a good hour in the WWOZ hospitality tent, chilling, while Tin slept in the Ergobaby pack. And I ate the crawfish bread. We walked around with Tin asleep in his pack and tried to see Terrence Blanchard, and a few other stages but the sound was way too loud for a baby, much less a sleeping baby.

A friend has always confounded me by saying her favorite food at the Fest is the cous cous and yogurt, well it’s Tin’s favorite now.

We followed the Treme brass band second line around for a while and then we had another bottle and began looking at the crafts and ran into our friend Peggy, whose ceramics are at the fest for the first time, we saw the Bergeron Woodwords booth – we had already purchased Wolfie’s urn from them.

T came out for the tail end and that was to hear Simon & Garfunkel – of course the fields were so muddy, the smell mucky foresty, the crowds unbelievable and on the sidelines we watched grey and aged Art Garfunkel sing in his fairy voice and Paul Simon pull up the rear. Sort of an amazing thing to witness even when you are a thousand miles from the stage and are relying on a huge screen TV. I have to say this though – Tony Bennett – at 80+ still had every bit of what he had thirty years ago, unlike these two. But I was glad to see them nonetheless.

We ended the day watching the New Orleans Bingo Show on the Lagniappe Stage and they’re odd, definitely odd.

Yesterday a friend who has two children was over and kept playing with Tin. They way he handled him and talked to him was so great to behold. We’ve spoken a lot about having/wanting/needing male role models for Tin.

Just the other day we were walking and talking, and T said, “I wish we had friends like Tom and Matko.”

I said, “We do.”

And she said, “Who?”

“Tom and Matko,” I said.

Unfortunately they are far away but hopefully we will get better at bridging the gap with summer trips and more.

In the meantime, we have to make a more concerted effort to help Tin grow up with great men in his life.

Last night, a brass band and a large entourage gathered on the bayou and played into the night – our own private Jazz Fest. Tin took another nap and we had to wake him up so that he would be able to go to sleep! It’s crazy – the boy took 2 two hour naps yesterday – now you know. Meanwhile friends who parked by our house returned soaking wet from the Fairgrounds and another had flown in for a wedding today and so we all sat around the table and at arroz con gandules which I had made instead of shaking my booty at the Dr. John stage.

Now today, the day that was supposed to have the most severe storms, it’s looking cloudy but not bad, so I’m hoping we took it on the chin yesterday only to redeem ourselves today.

Onward and Jazz Fest-ward.

Tin decided to take a long nap – I stared at the video camera sure that he would stir any minute but like watching a pot of water trying to boil – nada. Then he stirred and there was a loud clap, then lightning and then the sky opened up and it rained and rained and rained and I watched the people from Jazz Fest running back to their cars in streams over the next three hours.

Sigh.

Well racing against the clock and work to get myself over to Jazz Fest and I HEAR it started without me – yes I can actually hear the ACURA stage from my terrace off my office. In the meantime, Tin needed a nap so we’ll wait till he sleeps, then bottle him up and then strap him on and head over there. Jazz Fest!

It’s that time of year again in New Orleans, in Faubourg St. John, on the bayou – JAZZ FEST! And as usual, I have my brass pass in hand and can’t wait. This will be Tin’s first Jazz Fest and I hope there are many more in his future. Tonight, the strategy – to mark the acts I want to see and to make other choices as well. Tomorrow, by this time I will have had crawfish bread, rosemint tea, jama jama, and perhaps a mango freeze and Tin will hopefully have tried all of it. But the real sampling will come from the music – up tomorrow is Dr. John, Jon Cleary, and Jon Lovano, Irma Thomas tribute to Mahalia Jackson and on and on.

Sitting on the porch giving Tin his bottle, the big police RV is already in place at the foot of Grand Rt St John – another signal that Jazz Fest is here. My neighbor said that she counted the steps and minutes from her house to the gates of the Fairgrounds – 11 minutes if she doesn’t stop to talk to anyone. Another neighbor said when asked about his JF strategy, “Go often and early.” He said his two kids have been going since in utero.

I walked over to Swirl late in the afternoon and Fortier Park was roped off and already you could feel the buzz in the air. I stopped to speak to my new neighbor who bought the Spanish Custom House and he caught me on all the renovations and restorations and remodeling going on there (whew, I thought, glad I’m done with that). Purely New Orleans, he asked me over after Jazz Fest to a gathering he was having. How many places can you live where you meet someone and within a few minutes are asked to their house?

On the way back, I ran into Ruby and mom at the small playground and Tin got a ride home in Ruby’s Red Flyer wagon.

Jazz Fest!!!

We went to Meaux Bar for the first time in ages last night and it was so good to see Jim and Matthew and Debbie and know that we were going to eat delicious food. I had the trout and T had the pompano and we split a fried oyster salad with Pernod dressing, yum, and then a slice of cake with strawberries in Gran Marnier. Wow.

We rolled home and flopped into bed like lemmings.