How I Missed the First Weekend of Jazz Fest

The New York Times has an nice story today about the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and what it means to the city these days. I actually didn't make it up to the Fest during the first weekend. Friday I had another event at Douglass High School in the morning, followed by teaching at NOCCA in the afternoon, so I would have missed the one act I'd been looking forward to that day: T Bone Burnett. On Saturday, I was teaching at NOCCA again, followed by some afternoon meetings, followed by Otto's first birthday. On Sunday I thought I'd finally get there, and particularly wanted to see Gillian Welch and Jill Scott, not to mention my friends and neighbors the Hot 8 Brass Band. But when I woke up I couldn't get two key concepts out of my head: 1) It was very hot, and 2) It was the first day in a very long time that was completely free from any commitments. And so I did nothing.