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Another day to figure it all out and I didn’t.

Last night Evan called to ask if he could take Tin to see Herbie Hancock who is the International Jazz Ambassador and would be in Congo Square at sunrise to commemorate International Jazz Day. Uh yes. Of course. So both of us took Tin down to Louis Armstrong Park and handed him across the fence where the musicians were all congregating waiting for the great Herbie Hancock to appear on stage. But first there were a few speeches about how Jazz started in Congo Square and it was a gift that New Orleans gave the world and that most of all it is the gift that we here in New Orleans continue to celebrate as our birthright.

To honor the occasion, Tin on Evan’s shoulders wearing Evan’s sunglasses, we watched from outside the gate as Herbie and friends Terrence Blanchard, Dr. Michael White, Roland Guerin, all tore it up on Dizzy Gillespie’s Night in Tunisia. Afterwards, I could kick myself no more for not having my iPhone or camera in hand as Evan and Herbie were chatting away with Tin sitting on top of his shoulders.

Sunrise in New Orleans – another day to be counted among the lucky ones.

Dear Mr. Davis:

You are amazing – putting on the best show on earth every year in my backyard for my birthday – for that I salute you.

However, I must say the sound this year was too loud. I couldn’t even be in the Lagniappe Stage area with Kristin Diable because the decibels were overpowering. The Gentilly Stage was booming so loud it was hard to get a breath. The Fais Do Do was vibrating across the meadow. Is there a reason the volume was amped up this year? Aging Baby Boomers?

And one other minor gripe – if the going forward plan is to attract these huge celebrities to Acura – perhaps the audience areas needs to be expanded. Over two hours for one star, why not two stages? The outer track was impossible to negotiate – I can’t believe that that doesn’t present some sort of fire code law issue. And it makes it really unfriendly for pedestrians.

That said – thanks for all that you do.

Rachel Dangermond

You are in the driver’s seat of your life, and you’re ready to head toward your destiny.

This came across my screen this morning intended for me. I spent Friday trying to recover from Thursday night and then Saturday trying to get in the swim – verdict, I’m tired, oh so tired. I haven’t heard any real good music other than having sat in on Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road – I was hoping to see Jewel Brown but she wasn’t on stage at the beginning and we were headed to other parts. I did hear Gal Holiday but from the way back and so wasn’t front and center to enjoy. I heard Tom Petty singing Refugee as I was crawling home. So I’m in the driver’s seat, right, and headed out there today to see if I can find my groove without getting over tired again. I think the musical sacrifice was because the weather was so outstanding – it’s like you can’t have it all.

After being out till 3am and then getting up to rally for the first day of Jazz Fest, last night my head hit the pillow and it was lights out. 8.5 hours later, I felt somewhat refreshed but oh my. Aside from age, hypothyroidism, and being an older mother, I almost crawled back to the house from the Fest yesterday. I kept running into people I know and as I made my way bit by bit I was losing steam. By Esplanade I wanted to hire a pedicab to take me home.

Meanwhile, my young friends were texting and calling and saying what’s up and my only response was NOT ME.

The weird thing is that as I was walking to Jazz Fest this morning with friends they said it was odd to see me without Tin and so began the first day of Jazz Fest – who let the moms out – woof woof woof. There wasn’t any particular band or performer I was interested in seeing but we did go see an interview with Jason Berry and Senn Kuti – my favorite take away was how he spoke of his father Fela with reverence and said Fela’s philosophy was to only have what he needed, which meant that there house was a huge hostel to anyone who happened to come into their life and that everyone received an allowance no matter if blood or not.

He also said that he learned a long time ago that never to take your success as something that makes you better than others because you never know where they are in their story. I like this thinking especially. Because we are all working through out own narratives and perhaps if the Hindu are right, those are stories that get new versions with new incarnations, and so not knowing where someone is in their story has a sort of equalizing factor to it.

At the end of the long day, we passed a good time.

Last night, I went with a friend to see so much music that my head is still spinning like a record this morning. We started at Hi Ho to see the Stooges Brass Band and then walked across the street to the ALLWAYS Lounge to see the Panorama Jazz Band and then back across to see the Stooges again and then back across to see Slavic Soul Party.

The Stooges Brass Band is insane, it’s all brass, all energy and just non stop dance party. Panorama on the other side of the street was appealing to a different crowd, a dancing one nonetheless, with Ben Schenck on the clarinet there was more lightness in the air than the heavy horns at Hi Ho and lots of smiles to go around. Slavic Soul Party took it all back to the horns and that’s where it stayed till wee hours of the morning.

After that it was burgers at Buffa which caused a tinge of regret at 3:30 am when my head hit the pillow. But it’s time to Fest, so up I get to rally for the first day of Jazz Fest.

Pediatrician’s office: “Leave those lizards alone. That is where she put them to sleep and she wants them there.” [mother talking to her son about the plastic lizards that another child had tucked in a hole]

Sandbox: Tin: No I won’t give you this boat. Friend: You’re breaking my heart. Tin: I don’t like that. Friend: You say that but you don’t mean that.

Tatjana: There is a guy coming to class each day to teach the kids how to do extortion. [read: eurythmy]

Tin: We got you an apple upside down cake as a surprise.

A wise man told me decades ago that they blow the horn in battle to charge and to retreat but it’s up to us individually to know which path to follow. Recently I stepped down from a lot of extracurricular activities to focus on rewriting my script which has been stuck in CHARGE!!!!! mode for quite some time.

Retreating has never been in my vocabulary but right now it is the note I am heeding. In particular, all things that are not adding value to my life right now are getting crossed off the list. And put in a position to make those choices does bring about its own brand of clarity. Do I really want to do this? Do I get something out of it? Those questions always were swept under to accommodate what others were asking me to do. I just did it. Schooled in Romper Room etiquette, I have been a do be, not a don’t be.

Now it’s not only Tin saying No resoundingly around here it is also me.

April 26, 2012
Taurus (4/20-5/20)
The events around you today will have a life of their own, and trying to shape them into a better form is going to be a big waste of your time — so don’t even try. Do not worry about being labeled a quitter — there is a big difference between giving up and resigning yourself to accepting things as they are, and you know it. Life is too short to tackle battles that are pointless. So just ride out the day, focusing on the things that you can control — like your sunny disposition.

You ever feel as if you are just having the same conversation endlessly? And that words are just getting thrown around because they are familiar and have been used before. That is what life for sometimes feels like – I feel like I’m having 24/7 deja vu: the conversations are recycled, the words are stripped of intention and therefore lose 80% of their meaning, and I myself have nothing new to add.

Those are the days where you just have to fall back to the role of observer and keep taking it in until something switches the knob and makes you think you are hearing new. The beginner’s mind is what zen wants us to have. But what happens when it’s the cynical, long in the tooth mind that has showed up for the day? Fake it, till you make it.

Jazz Fest begins on Friday. Already the air is filled with the anticipation of what will come soon. The breeze or rather wind has been howling at all hours, up gathered now like sleeping flowers, for this for everything we are out of tune, it moves us not.

GREAT GOD I’D RATHER BE A PAGAN
SUCKLED IN A CREED OUTWORN
SO MIGHT I, STANDING ON THIS PLEASANT LEA
HAVE GLIMPSES …

Thank you Wordsworth for your ability to capture what my words cannot.