The Beat Continues

Melinda Palacio

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Welcomes Cuba

My post for today will be short and sweet. This week I am traveling back to California in our recovered Honda Element. (In case you missed the story on La Bloga, read all about it). Considering our car insurance company was only going to give us at most four thousand dollars for our old car, we feel fortunate that our stolen car was recovered. This means we don't have to think about spending forty thousand for a new car. I always forget how challenging it is to write a post while traveling from coast to coast. Don't get me wrong, I have much to report on, such as the first week of Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the crazy people guarding the monuments. The confederate statues in New Orleans are coming down, but there are some who feel the need to leave candles and confederate flags because they don't want their history of slavery erased. Also, this year, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival celebrates Cuba with non-stop cuban music and yummy cuban food. If you go, make sure you try the ropa vieja. At jazz fest, the food is almost as important as the music. Today, you can get your Cinco de Mayo on with Mariachi Jalisco at 1pm at the Jazz and Heritage Stage or Earth, Wind, and Fire at 5pm at Congo Square, or salsa and rumba all day at the Cultural Exchange Pavilion Celebrates Cuba. Here's the complete line-up for today. Tomorrow, the day belongs to Stevie Wonder and the lucky ticket holders. I, unfortunately, will not be there for the closing weekend. I'm already setting my sights on next weekend, when I will be reading poetry with Mark Fabionar (Back Home: A Clean Purple Haze and Radical Spaces of Possibility) in Orcutt at the Core Winery, May 13, Saturday at 7:30 pm in Old Town Orcutt.