The Southern Agenda
MUSIC
Jazz Fest’s Golden Anniversary
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Gregory Davis and his crew in the Dirty Dozen Brass Band thought they knew the drill when they booked a street parade gig in Chicago a few years back. “But it was so different,” he says. “People had to stay on the sidewalks. We stopped at all the red lights. In New Orleans, people aren’t content to stand on the sidelines. People here join in.” That inclusive spirit will be on full blast at the Fiftieth Anniversary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (April 25–May 5). What began in 1970 with hometown greats like Mahalia Jackson and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band playing to 350 people has transformed over the years to spotlight multiple genres and such stars as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Allman Brothers Band, and Willie Nelson—and the event now draws nearly half a million music lovers. Although birthday-year headliners include the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, Van Morrison, Diana Ross, and Earth, Wind & Fire, the heart of Jazz Fest lies in the other five hundred names on the lineup. Eighty percent hail from the area, with local heroes such as Irma Thomas (known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans), Trombone Shorty, and Davis’s own Dirty Dozen. “New Orleans music is special because it’s a feeling that comes from within,” Davis says. When he’s not behind his trumpet, you can find Davis splitting cracklings or fried soft-shell crabs with his friends (“I’m not supposed to eat all that,” he says, “but once a year can’t hurt”), walking stage to stage to catch performing peers, or talking to the people who traveled far to appreciate jazz in its birthplace. “This is a neighborhood event,” he says. “The music, the food, the people: Jazz Fest is just showing off things that are happening here all the time.” nojazzfest.com
OUTDOORS
Alabama
WADE IN THE WATER LILIES
Happening upon a Cahaba lily is like discovering one of the universe’s secrets. The aquatic plants
