New Orleans is the coolest city in the world

I really think that from the perspective of musician, one could claim NOLA to be the best slash coolest city in the world.

Today, as we drove through the Mid-City, Bayou St. John area of New Orleans, we stumbled upon the Bayou Boogaloo Festival. This festival is one of many like it which occur all year in Louisiana and New Orleans, the culmination being the almighty New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the end of April/beginning of May.

These events embody the city's heavy musical mojo, and today's Boogaloo was no exception. The grounds, situated between the calm bayou and Carrollton Ave., were filled with music from four stages, artisans and vendors, not to mention many happy N'Orleanians abound. In another US city, such a production would likely involve a high ticket price, given the level of talent performing. But yesterday and today, thirty bands performed at zero cost to me, the music consumer.

How, you say. I have a friend who likes to call paying for music (performed or recorded), "music tax". Aside from the fact that he says such things just to bother me, it raises an interesting debate about how much the intellectual property that is music, should cost.

In New Orleans, there is no debate.

In New Orleans, the short-term profit of a music festival is greatly ignored when compared to the effects of what would happen if there weren't a long-term, stable music scene in the city. Especially in post-Katrina life, Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras aren't simply the yearly clock by which New Orleanians execute their livelihoods and daily lives. They are the economic lifeblood of the city.

If the musicians go away, the city goes away. This is the New Orleans Music Equation.