Travel writings from around the world
Ellis Marsalis, the Patriarch of the Marsalis family with many well known musicians in the family performed with his band at the French Quarter Fest on Thursday under a relentless Louisiana sun and a big crowd of people enjoying the music. Ellis Marsalis is not only a musician but also a big supporter of musical education as well as an educator himself, read more about him here.
Aaron Neville drew a large crowd to his concert on opening day of the French Quarter Fest 2017 on Thursday April 6. He got the crowd going when he was playing some of his big hits like “Everybody plays the fool”. This guy is great and he really touched the audience here at the French Quarter Fest. If you want to see if Aaron is coming to a place near you, here is his tour schedule.
New Orleans is busy setting up for the 2017 French Quarter Fest which is held April 6-9 2017.
There is a lot of work involved in holding an event like the French Quarter Fest even though it is not quite as big as some of the events in New Orleans such as jazz Fest or Mardi Gras. In our mind it is more accessible and a bit easier on the mind and possibly on the wallet than the other bigger events, although it is New Orleans after all so you never know…
Woldenberg park, named after philanthropist Malcolm Woldenberg (1896–1982) who helped fund the park on land that previously held riverfront warehouses and effectively cut the city off from access the the great Mississippi river is now the home of some of the biggest stages at the French Quarter Fest.
The Oxford MS film festival concluded today, Sunday February 19 after another successful festival that started on February 15. This was the 14:th year of the festival and it will be back in February next year. We can highly recommend attending this festival as it is a true example of Southern Hospitality and there are some excellent films being showcased every year. For you filmmakers among us, Mississippi has some wonderful and very helpful citizens and if you couple this with an excellent state program for film production rebate – it is very clear that Missisippi is a great place not only to watch movies, but to make them as well!
Oxford Missisippi is a university town, home to University of Missisippi or “Ole Miss” as it is generally referred to. When the city was incorporated in 1837, the name was chosen after Oxford UK with the hope that this might help persuade the state to located the state university there – this worked and the university was established in 1844.
The film festival is a true Indie film festival and you can watch a full range of movies, from shorts to features with a Missisippi connection. Since Oxford is in close proximity to the Mississippi delta, music plays a big part in many of the films in the festival – the delta is after all the home of the blues.
Oxford was also the home of author William Faulkner and being a university town it does have bookstores, one of them being Square Books which actually has three different stores on the square and hosts as many as 150 author events every year. They have a large selection of signed and collectible books as well. There is also a nice balcony up on the second story overlooking the square where you can enjoy a cup of coffee and read your book.
