The Question Everyone's Asking

Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025

There’s a question on everybone’s mind. If you follow this column, you’re probably curious about the answer too. Now that my two-year term as City of Santa Barbara Poet Laureate is over, it seems everyone I encounter wants to know how I feel. Most people who ask this question assume that my schedule over the past two year has been a burden. However, the truth is enjoyed every minute. I didn’t have a poetry boss forcing me to present my work or to bring poetry to different community spaces. Those were goals that I set for myself. I realize I was in a unique position, having received a post-pandemic laureateship, at a time when the world was opening up and recovering from our pandemic lockdown. My predecessor, Emma Trelles, SB PL Number 9, didn’t get a chance to receive all the pomp and circumstance of being crowned Poet Laureate at our city hall or have a gathering of friends and supporters after. I was lucky to have had friends attend my ceremony from as far south as Ventura, Oxnard, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Tia Juana. After the City Hall ceremony and photos, everyone walked to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum where there was a cake and champagne. 

 

It was such an honor and continues to be so. I was more than happy to be the public face of poetry, a poetry ambassador and teacher for the community and beyond. I am also humbled and honored that the Association of Women in Communications is honoring the work that I did as Poet Laureate in naming me one of five Women of Achievement in their 17th annual Women of Achievement Awards. The theme for this year’s awards is Creative Communication: Building Community Through Arts. Honorees include Adriana Arriaga, visual artist known at adriana la artista, entrepreneur and activist; Teresa Kuskey, Founder/Artistic Director of La Boheme Dance; Frances Moore, Co-founder/Artistic Director, Santa Barbara Ringhout Project; Melinda Palacio, and JoAnne Wasserman, Artistic Director and Conductor, Santa Barbara Choral Society. 

 

La Santa Cecilia

 I cannot deny being a little relieved that I will be able to slow down and take a little break from the whirlwind poetry tour that’s been the past two years. One of the things I had a chance to enjoy again was the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival or Jazz Fest. Jazz Fest takes place during the last week of April and the first week of May from Thursday-Sunday. Don’t let the term jazz fool you, there’s a large variety of music, something for everyone. The highlight for me this year was La Santa Cecilia. I saw her band over fifteen years ago at Tía Chucha's Words and Music Festival in Pacoima, well before they became internationally acclaimed grammy winners. La Santa Cecilia was recently in Santa Barbara as part of the Viva Artes program but it was fun seeing the band in New Orleans with the smells of Crawfish Monica and Oyster Poboys wafting through the air. 

 

In poetry news, I have a new collection I am working on and I am also aligning the stars to bring the Somos Xicanas anthology to Santa Barbara. This anthology, published by the independent press, Riot of Roses, features poetry from over 80 Xicana writers. Some names you might recognize and others will prove to be new gems you’ll want to explore further. The collection as a whole has been in the works for a long time and has endured multiple editors and survived changing publishing houses. I am honored to be included. I had the pleasure of reading with several contributors in March at La Plaza Cultural in downtown Los Angeles. I look forward to bringing this important anthology to Santa Barbara this Fall.

*an earlier version of this column appears in the Santa Barbara Independent

Jazz Fest New Orleans 50th: Week Two

Melinda Palacio

Selling beer, not books at the drink tent for the Carolton Rotary Club

With all the disappointment of the Rolling Stones backing out, then Stevie Nicks, there are plenty of bands holding up eight days of music at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which celebrates 50 years. The festival is also legendary for its food, but it's the music that makes people willing to pony up the $85 dollars at the door. I volunteer slinging beer for the Carolton Rotary Club. I'm glad to see the resurrection of the book tent as a pop up inside the grandstands this year. Santana was a highlight and made up for the no Stones day. Today, I'm looking forward to catching Los Lobos in the Blues Tent, who are celebrating their 45th year of touring. Orale! I'm making this post short because I have writing to do before listening to more music and selling drinks. If you are in New Orleans, find me at the drink tent between the Crawfish Monica food stand and the Acura stage.
One last thing, my favorite thing at Jazz Fest this year is the Chouval Bwa from Martinique, a merry-go round in creole tradition where a live band plays at the center and two strong men power the ride.

Carlos Santana

Chouval Bwa is the best! More big kids than little ones.

Chouval Bwa, take a ride

Ziggy Marley

Mavis Staples

Jazz Fest: Locals Thursday Should Be Renamed to Less Crowded Day

Melinda Palacio

The end of "Locals Thursday" at Jazz Fest

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festivals is spread over two three-day weekends with an additional day on Thursday, known as locals Thursday. Traditionally, locals Thursday offers a discounted ticket, $50 instead of $80 for the day pass and is meant to attract more locals. However, the general vibe around town is that Jazz Fest is no longer affordable for locals. The festival after all was once free. Now, corporate sponsorship has turned it into the a playground for the wealthy to enjoy with grandstands that take up prime real estate and block the views of folks who just want to throw down a blanket or dance on the lawn. When I started volunteering for the Carrollton Rotary Club three years ago, we had an unobstructed view to the Acura stage. Now a massive covered structure with shaded seats blocks the view. I met very few locals who were able to take a Thursday off to enjoy the festival. I met a woman who said she spent $40 on water alone before she figured out where she could refill her water bottle. Many of the people who came by the drink tent were from not just out of town, but out of the country. I think more locals are able to attend the festival on the weekends. Maybe, the fest should consider renaming a Saturday or Sunday locals day and offering discounts when locals can actually attend.

Old Crow Medicine Show

One of the best kept secrets of jazz fest are all the facilities located in the fair grounds grandstands. This is the big air-conditioned structure with the glass windows. If you go to the festival and find yourself hot, dusty, and dehydrated, head for this building. You might even enjoy a little lagniappe or an intimate concert at the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage, where interviews with many of the bands take place. So far, I've heard two of these interviews, one about the role of the accordion in Louisiana with three different styles of accordion represented by Savoy (cajun), Hartman (klezmer), and Ledet (blues). It's a treat to hear these intimate concerts from a comfortable seat inside an air-conditioned room. These interviews/concerts always have plenty of seats. Mr. Hartman talked about the wonderful Louisiana tradition of mashups and played a song that started with a Mexican Revolutionary song "La Adelita" and blended it with the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila" on his accordion, an amazing medley. Yesterday, I caught the first interview on Thursday with Keith Spera from the New Orleans Advocate and the band Old Crow Medicine Show, famous for taking a Bob Dylan song that was never finished or released and turning it into the country hit, "Wagon Wheel." This band had so much energy and played everything from Blues to Cajun to Old Time Bluegrass to their original songs that I made sure to catch their performance at the larger Gentilly Stage.

The other two secrets about the Grand Stands at the fairgrounds is that it's the only place on the fairgrounds where you can find a real bathroom, no need to practice the portalet squat. There's also several full service bars. I can't tell you many people asked about cocktails in the beer line, where I've been volunteering for the Carrollton Rotary Club. People at the drink tent also want to know about all the festival food. As to what is the best jazz fest food, you'll have to try everything. I can vouch for the seafood stuffed mushrooms, the cochon de lait po'boys, the strawberry shortcake, maybe the ropa vieja (the rice on mine was a little undercooked, but the meat was satisfying). Judging by the amount of people leaving the festival with plates of food, I can tell that some attend jazz fest solely for the food.

The empty spot reserved for the now defunct book tent.

Although the jazz fest lacks a book tent and local attendees, there is something for everyone and it's worth trying to take a Friday off to attend when the crowds won't be as thick as Saturday or Sunday or try for next year on Thursday.

The Day the Book Died

Melinda Palacio

Music is very much alive this festival season in New Orleans. Last weekend, some of the highlights of the French Quarter Festival included Gal Holiday, Papo Y Son Mandao, and The Treme Brass Band, all personal favorites. Next week, the 2018 Jazz Fest begins with two weeks of live music. Should you need a musical fix in between, there's no shortage of great local acts in New Orleans. However, this year's Jazz festival will lack a tradition it's had for several years: books. Books have died at Jazz Fest and there will no longer be a literary haven for music loving bookworms. Volunteering at the book tent and selling books in exchange for a free ticket to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival fest was something I looked forward to year after year. I also took for granted that there would always be a book tent.

It's an extra treat to meet musicians such as Elvis Costello who in addition to "writing the book everyday" also wrote a memoir. Costello was one of many generous authors who patiently signed books as the line snaked across the field and took photos with all his fans, and went on to perform a perfect set. Another perk to working the book tent was its location next to a snowball stand. New Orleans takes a concept like a raspado or shaved ice with sweet syrup and runs with it, adding wild ingredients like sweetened condensed milk, whipped cream or bourbon. The book tent was also close enough to the Gentilly Stage that you didn't have to fight the crowds to hear the music. This year, the New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association has decided not to host a book tent at jazz fest. If you were looking forward to finding me at the book tent, you can still find me at the beer tent where I will be volunteering for the local rotary club. 

Good thing this month is Poetry Month and there is no shortage of literature in New Orleans. Last week, I saw my name in lights for my national poetry month reading at the East Jefferson Parish Library. I had the pleasure of reading with Gina Ferrara and Anne Babson. Tomorrow, the New Orleans PoetryFestival kicks off and the New Orleans Museum of Art hosts the sixth annual Edible Book Day, a contest in which your favorite books are recreated in cake form, a fun event, especially if you like to eat your literature.

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.

Westbound Means Drought Bound

Melinda Palacio

Taking time to smell what could be the last of my roses.
Stage 3 Drought Emergency Declared May 5 in Santa Barbara. 

In the span of days, I've gone from torrential rain and a tornado that left me without power for 2 days in New Orleans to the dry drought conditions in California.

Jazz icons

Over the past two weekends, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, I volunteered at the beer booth and helped raise about $30, 000 for local charities through the Rotary Club. The day I worked the booth was the day the rain came through the booth sideways and everyone got soaked. Luckily, I had the foresight to wear a bathing suit underneath my dress and the water did not bother me. Rain on a warm day means you dry quickly. The throngs of jazz festers, poised to listen to The Who, didn't seem to mind the rain. Most were not willing to give up the spot they had fought for all day to a little rain. One happy young man tried to imagine what Woodstock was like by playing slip and slide in the mud. Little did he care that mud was horse manure. Perhaps he had not read his ticket that read Fair Grounds Race Course, or he was too giddy with music to care. I was glad the mud had dried up during the music festival's second weekend. 

The Jazz and Mud Fest

More rain and mud the first Saturday of Jazz Fest.

After the rain, one goose is undeterred.

A few days after my last sunny day in New Orleans, I drove through a flash hail storm in the Sonora Desert. The freakish storm stopped all Eastbound traffic on the 1-10. The Texas hailstorm caused an 18-wheeler to skid sideways across all possible highway lanes headed East. I was very lucky to be travelling West as I avoided a backlog of drivers that stretched for miles.

Desert hail stops traffic on I-10

Upon m return to Santa Barbara, the city declared a stage three drought emergency. The only winners in this stake were swimming pool owners and installers. Apparently, the swimming pool lobbyists showed up in full force at the meeting May 5 and were allowed to keep their pools and new permits for people wanting to install swimming pools also sidestepped the phase three state of emergency. Some folks chose to grab a permit in case access to new swimming pool permits is taken away. I don't have a swimming pool and cannot comment on arguments made that swimming pools use less water than lawns. I've also given up my small patches of green. 

The California/Arizona Border

The snowstorm in Texas and the beautiful desert wild flowers in bloom on the highway contrasted bleak against California's brown hills and near empty lakes and reservoirs.

Wild Flowers in I-10 median in Texas

My dry backyard in Santa Barbara.

I'm not sure how long I will be able to maintain my garden in Santa Barbara. I've already let the front and backyard lawns die. Now is the time to conserve water and smell what remains of my roses. Without water, the price of food will skyrocket for all states. Pray for rain in California.  

A frequent visitor to my garden.

Some of my plants will survive the drought. 

The Book Tent at Jazz Fest

Melinda Palacio

The book tent at Jazz Fest

Many locals grumble about the rising costs of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but the proceeds go to good causes, especially education programs for kids. Thanks to Ted O'Brien of the Garden District Bookshop, I worked the book tent at Jazz Fest in New Orleans last Thursday. All proceeds of book sales went to the Children's Book Bank which provides books to children through several organizations, including STAIR (Start the Adventure in Reading), For the Children, Just the Right Attitude, and Girls and Boys Town of Louisiana.

 Jazz Fest 2013

While working the cash register, Ted allowed me to display my novel, OcotilloDreams, front and center. If people looked as if they weren't sure which book to top off their shopping list, I could direct them to mine. This is how I sold a copy to Swati J. Shah of New Orleans. She dropped in to say hello to friends and browse the collection. "I came by to see if any books caught my eye," she said. "I buy books for me and for children I know. I love to read and want them to enjoy it too."

Jazz Fest is seven days, spread over two long weekends of music, dancing, food, and books. On the day that I went, M was the operative letter: music, mud, manure (the festival takes place on the fair grounds and horse racing track), miscommunication, and overall messy.  The shows go on, rain or shine. There are some covered tents, but the big stages are an open free for all where you bring your own chair, blanket, or tarp and claim some land to dance on.

 

The rain and mud kept crowds away on Thursday.

The telephone game came into play in form of a miscommunication that went viral. I remember the potential suspect, a woman in a green raincoat who asked about the sign that announced the cancellation of Patti Smith's signing in the Book tent and rescheduling to the Garden District Book Shop a few hours before her performance at the Gentilly stage. The tall lady in the green coat was confused and asked everyone in the book tent about Patti Smith's "cancelled performance." We all assured her that only the book signing for her memoir Just Kids was cancelled at the book tent and moved to the Garden District Book Shop several hours before her appearance at Jazz Fest. Yet somehow, through the power of facebook and twitter, news of Smith's supposed show cancellation went viral. Eventually, Jazz Fest organizers put up an official sign assuring the crowd that Patti Smith did not cancel her performance. She even started playing early, and with her bewitching voice, the clouds parted and the sun came out.

Ted O'Brien with Patti Smith in background

There was nothing to do about the mud. Super volunteer Sean Griffith said he didn't mind the mud or the manure one bit: "Honestly, the music and the atmosphere were so electric, the bad weather didn't matter much to me," he said. "It maybe even added something. But this is coming from someone who chronically shows up unprepared and had no chair or blanket to be ruined."

Two people who did not know each other before Jazz Fest dance to Widespread Panic.

The rain sure caused a damper on the book tent. It's very hard to keep the books dry when people ducked into the tent for shelter and perused the books with dripping hands and wet ponchos. The previous weekend, the book tent's grassy ground flooded. Jazz fest organizers finally put down some rubber walkways. Ted O'brien has been working the jazz fest book tent for the past decade. For him, every day it doesn't rain is a highlight.

I was excited to discover the book tent, attend Jazz Fest (even for just a day), and volunteer at a worthy cause that helps children have access to books.

Back in California, this Saturday is Lit Fest Pasadena, May 11. Visit three blogueros at the Omnipresent Panel: The Vibrancy of Latino Literature

Starting: 2:00PM to 3:00PM

PANEL: Omnipresent: The Vibrancy of Latino Literature (2:00pm-3:00pm)
Omnipresent: the Vibrancy of Latino Literature offers something for everyone. From memoir to noir mystery, poetry to historical fiction, and magical realism to L.A. fiction. The showcase of literature by Latino authors includesReyna Grande (The Distance Between Us: A Memoir), Manuel Ramos (Desperado: A Mile High Noir), Alex Espinoza (The Five Acts of Diego León), Melinda Palacio(How Fire Is a Story, Waiting), and moderator Daniel Olivas (The Book of Want).(Julia Child Stage)

May 18, Tia Chucha's Words and Music Festival,

The Banned Books panel is slated to begin at 1:30 and will end at 2:15 on Saturday May 18, 2013 at Los Angeles Mission College, 13356 Eldridge Avenue, Sylmar, CA. 91342.

May 19, Griffith Park Reading Series at the Old Zoo in Griffith Park at 5:30 pm (note new time).

The readers are Chiwan Choi, Melinda Palacio, Diana Wagman and Amanda Yates, with our special musical guest, Bloody Death Skull