Shortcuts April 25 2001
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
N’awlins is honoring its most revered son Louis Armstrong during the 2001 Jazz & Heritage Festival. A special grandstand will be set up and a film tribute shown May 2 to honor Armstrong and his contributions to the jazz scene. Gracing the stages this year will be B.B. King, Max Roach, Harry Connick Sr., the North Mississippi Allstars, Fats Domino and too many more to name. In addition to the 12 stages at the Fair Grounds Race Course, evening concerts with Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Widespread Panic and others will take place at venues around the city. Numerous areas at the fair will highlight the state’s diverse influences: Native American Village, Congo Square African Marketplace and Louisiana Folklife Village and Heritage Square. April 27-29 and May 3-6. Daily tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. 800-488-5252 to order tickets or visit www.nojazzfest.com for information.
HUNTSVILLE, ALA.
If you can’t make the eight-hour drive to New Orleans to catch Jazz Fest, maybe you can make a shorter trek to Panoply, Huntsville’s Festival of the Arts. Along with visual arts (photography, mixed media, clay, sculpture and more), the event will host its own jazz and Zydeco musicians on three stages. During the Saturday Jazz Showcase, Atlanta band Hotlanta perform early American jazz from Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and more. Friday the Zoots and the Swinging Suits with Miss Manhattan play Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra tunes. The Zydeco Showcase will feature Zydeco Connection to teach aspiring dancers how to do the Cajun jig. April 27-29. Big Spring Park, bordered by Williams and Clifton avenues and Church Street. Parking is $4; festival is free. 256-519-ARTS or www.panoply.org.
MIAMI, FLA.
The Bass Museum of Art will host Inside and Out: Contemporary Sculpture, Video and Installations, contemporary sculpture, video and installations on loan and complemented by the museum’s own expanding collection of contemporary sculpture. The exhibit will be positioned to complement the museum’s newly opened space as well as the renovated Pancost building, the museum’s first home. This show will feature works by Robert Chambers, Tony Cragg, Florencio Gelabert, Ann Hamilton, Mark Di Suvero and others. Through Jan. 2. 2121 Park Ave. 305-673-7530 or www.bassmuseum.org/see/exsched2001.html.
LAKE CHARLES, LA.
Aye-aye captain! Once a year, residents of Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana return to the days of swashbuckling pirates who used to sail the area’s lakes, rivers and bayous. The Contraband Days Festival grew from the legend that French pirate Jean LaFitte buried his treasure somewhere along the state’s waterways. The event kicks off May 4 with the “buccaneers” entering the lake at 4 p.m. and landing on the seawall. The festivities include visual arts displays, an antique car show, celebrity crawfish races, fireworks, parades, bed races, theater performances, arm wrestling tourneys and powerboat races. Musical entertainment includes Capitol recording artist Clay Davidson, as well as the Blue Oyster Cult. May 1-13. $2 a day. 337-436-5508 or www.contrabanddays.com.??