Jazz Fest

Hey friends,

In an effort to catch up on sharing with you what I've been up to here in New Orleans, here's a slightly belated recap of our adventures at Jazz Fest!

I've been hearing about Jazz Fest since I moved here. Maybe even before that. And when I say Jazz Fest, I mean the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. It's the real deal, friends. Each Spring, the festival takes over the Fair Grounds Race Course for two long weekends (seven days total) filled with multiple stages that host thousands of musicians. There are specific tents for blues, jazz, and gospel music, in addition to stages of all sizes for artists of varying genres and levels of  fame. In the two Fridays my housemates and I were there, we were serenaded by...

Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes
Gomez
Comanche Hunters Mardi Gras Indians
Shades of Praise: New Orleans Interracial Gospel Choir
Irma Thomas
The Beach Boys
Marcia Ball
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Sarah Jarosz
Little Anthony & the Imperials

...and those we just the ones we intentionally spent time listening to. Countless others provided the soundtrack to our wandering between food vendors and stages. Seriously, it was borderline overwhelming the first day we were there. In case you're curious, here's just the lineup for the first day we went.

And the food! Oh, the food. I had a snoball from Plum Street Snoballs, crawfish bread (think home-made Hot Pocket...delicious bread encasing crawfish and tons of melty cheese), a fried alligator poboy, and crawfish beignets (not as weird as it might sound...they weren't sweet like the ones from Cafe du Monde). Some delicious rose mint iced tea, too. I've been told the food is almost as big a part of Jazz Fest as the music, and I'm pretty satisfied with my attempts to participate in that side of the festival.

There are also booths upon booths of crafts from various geographic locations and mediums. I only window shopped (well...tent shopped?), but it was still a great part of the experience. Also peppered in between stages, food stands, and craft booths were occasional second lines and Mardi Gras Indian parades. Below is a video of one Mardi Gras Indian celebration we happened upon at Jazz Fest, in which you can get a good look at their exquisite costumes, which are all beautifully handmade new every year. For more Mardi Gras Indian pictures and a couple other recent events, look at the pictures in this album.

The best part about Jazz Fest, I think, is that true to its full name it is genuinely a celebration of heritage. New Orleans is so much more than jazz music (not that jazz isn't lovely in itself). And while there were plenty of people there to see the big name out-of-town bands, there is nothing like the way that New Orleans embraces her local talent. Around these parts, the local talent can be just about any kind of music you'd imagine. New Orleans has a history full of countless international influences, plus a vibe that is all her own. And Jazz Fest seems to bring a lot of that together in one place.

There's the added bonus, too, that Jazz Fest has its own entry in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I loyally add sticky notes to the pages I've seen, and as someone with a soft spot for lists, it brought me joy to add another one!

This past weekend brought with it our monthly community day, for which my housemates and I helped out at a local food pantry, then headed south to Grand Isle for some relaxing time on the beach. More on that comin' atcha soon!

Love,
Allison

Finding God in Lafayette Square

Friends, I think I'm officially falling in love with New Orleans. I'm going to do my best to explain just a some of it to you, though several roommates and I have determined it's probably not possible to truly convey the beauty of this city unless you see it for yourself. (We have several couches and extra beds. Just sayin'.) I don't really feel like my storytelling will completely do these moments justice, but I hope this will be able to convey at least a little of the spirit I've found here in New Orleans.


Anyway, a couple weekends ago Lauren, Jillian and I set off for the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival. We pulled into a parking lot, and as I was walking up to the machine to pay, a man walked up and told us he was leaving, and that we were welcome to have his ticket (which still had about six hours left). Then after some good food and even better music, we started wandering around the booths of various artists and other vendors. We proceeded to meet an artist who had these incredible paintings of New Orleans and Katrina recovery efforts. She of course, because it's NOLA, talked to us forever, telling us about the city and Mardi Gras and plenty of other things too, and was eager to hear about where we're from and why we're here. Then, as we sat back down, we met Ronald.

Ronald, who was being pushed in a wheelchair, proceeded to tell us he does improv poetry, and he wanted to share one with us. So off he went, rhythmically rhyming in an on-the-spot poem he told us was called "Three Queens." It was all about these three queens/princesses (he switched back and forth between those) who just wanted to take off their crowns for a day and enjoy regular life. How the king and queen were worried about the princesses, but the princesses just needed to get away from the castle for a while and see what life was all about. They were going to be just fine. After he was done, Ronald told us he just wanted to say that he could see the light and the love in our faces, and that he just wanted to remind us that we're beautiful.

Ronald literally left us speechless. Often I've retrospectively seen God's presence in a certain situation, but friends, in that moment I felt like I was staring God right in the face. It seemed so unbelievable to me that a random guy in the park could get so much right about us. About me. At the risk of speaking inaccurately for other people, I think the ways that Ronald's poem described me could probably be applied to a lot of YAVs. Many of us embark on these year-long adventures outside of our proverbial castles, often to places far away both geographically and culturally. Sure, folks back home might be worried: What is she doing with her life? When's he going back to school? Are they safe there? But we sneak out anyway, to see what it's like out here. And we'll be alright.

I think then even our YAV context can become a castle of sorts, if for different reasons. Many specific YAV jobs involve stressful work, and after work time is often filled with community meetings and other events. That is not to say that we need or want to forget about or ignore the work we do or the issues we care about, but sometimes it's nice to take off the YAV hat and just enjoy some music sitting in the grass outside. And sometimes that's ok. As I continue settling in to a year that is far from easy, it was wonderful to hear that.


Love,
Allison

Wisdom on the Radio

Despite 11 months in Nashville, country music still isn't my favorite. I don't mind it, and I can sing along with my fair share of songs now. And I mean I do go to the same coffee shops as Taylor Swift. Just not at the same time...sigh.


Anyway I was driving back to the Shed tonight and this song came on the radio...turns out in between all the singin' about heartbreak and such, there's some good stuff in country music. Honestly I couldn't tell you a single other thing this Lee Brice character sings, but "Love Like Crazy" is what came on. And I just like the chorus a lot. So to tide you over while I work on some sort of end-of-the-year blogging, think about this...

Be your best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I love you
Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense

Never let your prayin' knees get lazy

And love like crazy

Now, other best friends are good too. And hardly ever to I actually kneel to pray. But still. Love is good, yeah? 

Until next time,

Allison

A Beautiful Thing

Music is a beautiful thing, friends, and music can do beautiful things. A link on the good ol' Facebook this morning led me to this video:

After a little research (aka clicking on a link) I've learned that it's produced by a group called Playing for Change. Check out the website for more info...they're doin' some pretty cool stuff over there. Music has always been a powerful thing for me, and I think it's just incredible to see it doing powerful stuff elsewhere too.

I couldn't help, reading and watching all of this, but think of the YAVs scattered across the world, in different continents or just on different sides of the country. We're all connected through this program, but doing different things...playing different instruments of sorts, still tryin' our best to play this collective song of love, one way or another. And I can't help but be thrilled that I get to be a part of that for another year.

Love,
Allison.

PS- As I was about to click "publish post" on this entry, I almost took down that last video. Not because it's anything less than awesome, but because I feel like I write a lot about how super it is to be friends with people and love everybody and such, but it's not all that easy. It is super, but it's not as simple as jammin' out to a Bob Marley song ya know? I'm leaving the video there though. I mean first because I just love it (the end is my favorite part), but also because despite the fact that there's a whole lot of hurt and conflict in the world, and despite the fact that maaaybe I didn't step all that far out of my comfort zone this year...gosh darn it I've gotta try! And anyway. What's the harm in a little positive thinking?

PPS- Look! I added fancy new tabs to the top of my blog! (And by "top" I mean right below the title...)

PPS- Update (June 6, 2011): Besides the music that is outwardly trying to do good things/support a cause, I'm just so thankful that music exists in general. I mean it's just so wonderful that somewhere along the line we humans figured out words and instruments and songs. I went to a concert last night with a fellow YAV (Sarah Jarosz...check her out) and the combination of her beautiful voice and crazy instrumental talent was just lovely. Also there's a special place in my heart for banjos and madolins and fiddles and cellos. You just really can't go wrong with that combo. I'm really going to miss Nashville music next year...but I'm pretty sure New Orleans will be able to keep me entertained too. :)

Youth Sunday at 2PC

I'm not sure how much I've talked about my Nashville church home so far, so I'll start this particular post with a few words about Second Presbyterian Church (also known as 2PC). All of the YAVs in Nashville are funneled through 2PC's Nashville Epiphany Project (links to the right, if you're interested). So the basic, concrete facts are that the church provides my housing and writes the checks for my stipend every month, in addition to employing our lovely site coordinator Susan. (Technically, home sweet Toolshed resides on their property and I must say, the Peaceable Playground makes for a pretty sweet backyard.) On the intangible side of things, Second Pres is a welcoming and inclusive congregation full of incredibly talented and friendly people.


Anyway. Speaking of talent, and the reason I started this whole post... this morning was Youth Sunday at church. I feel like I should preface this with the fact that I'm fairly certain most of the high schoolers in Nashville are way cooler and talented than I will ever be. I say that with no great lack of confidence in myself or anything, but seriously! A whole handful of musical youth shared their talents with the congregation this morning...one of my favorites was a song called "All Who Are Thirsty." We've sung it at PSF once or twice and it's really just beautiful. In case you've never heard it, here are the words at least:

All who are thirsty

All who are weak

Come to the fountain

Dip your heart in the stream of life

Let the pain and the sorrow

Be washed away

In the waves of His mercy

As deep cries out to deep

Come Lord Jesus come

Holy Spirit come

As deep cries out to deep

Here I am again, finding God in music. But seriously folks. He was there and really speaking through the youth leading worship this morning. He was in the joy you could see on the faces of those sharing their music, and in the hearts of those of us listening and singing along. I mean all I'm saying is it takes a lot to get Presbyterians to clap. And we clapped more than once. 

The Old Testament reading for the day was Deuteronomy 15:7-11, the last verse of which reads: "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land." One student that gave part of the sermon commented that this verse has hardly (if ever) been debated; it's pretty black and white. "God doesn't ask us to be openhanded. He commands us," he said (or something like it). 

I think the thing that hit me the most about this morning was that there are all of these young people in our denomination committed to loving others and being open in general. And by "young people" I mean youth in churches of course, but also other young adults...the 60-or-so YAVs currently spread across the globe, a whole bunch of YAV alums, and plenty of other young adults not officially associated with any certain program. Eventually people my age will be the leaders of churches and denominations. If only we can spread that love and openness, some wonderful things could happen.

Love,

Allison.