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A COMPLETE CARDIO & STRENGTH TRAINING CENTER & PERSONAL TRAINING 2917 MAGAZINE ST. • SUITE 202 504-896-2200 • www.salvationstudio.com
HEY BLAKE,
DEAR DR. MIKE,
HAVE THE SYMBOLS ON THE CITY SE A L OF NE W ORLE A NS A LL REMAINED THE SAME? AND WHERE IS IT RECORDED THAT THE SE A L WA S COINED IN 1805?
In 1970, George Wein, jazz impresario behind the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, was hired to design and produce a unique festival for New Orleans. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was established to oversee the festival, and the first festival weekend was April 22-26, 1970. Before this, however, two other jazz festivals were held in New Orleans. The first annual New Orleans International Jazz Fest was held May 12-19, 1968, an adjunct of New Orleans’ 250th anniversary celebration. There were parades, concerts in the Municipal Auditorium and a “battle of the bands” that took place on the steamboat S.S. President. Bands representing New Orleans, Chicago and New York showed how jazz started in New Orleans and spread to Chicago, New York and the rest of the world. The auditorium concerts featured Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Woody Herman, Pete Fountain, Duke Ellington and many other famous musicians. The first festival was so successful that a second was scheduled for June 1-7, 1969. Headliners that year were Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Pete Fountain. They were joined by scores of other jazz greats and performed in a series of concerts, parades and jam sessions. Two doubloons were issued for the International Jazz Festival of 1969 as special commemoratives. The Jazz Fest as we know it today dates from 1971 and moved from Congo Square to the Fair Grounds Race Course in 1972. Today the Jazz Fest presents thousands of musicians on multiple stages and is host to about 400,000 visitors a year. Various stages and tents showcase jazz, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, rock and other musical genres. By the way, the same week the city’s musical heritage was being celebrated in 1969, New Orleans also was host to Food Festival Week, a culinary extravaganza featuring dishes of Louisiana and The Big Easy.
JOHN
DEAR JOHN,
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Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > JUne 28 > 2011
CELEBRATE!
08
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It is generally agreed that the city seal, which has remained relatively unchanged over the years, dates back to Feb. 17, 1805, when the legislature of the Territory of Orleans authorized James Pitot, mayor of the city of New Orleans to procure and use a seal on all official acts and documents. However, in 1836, the city was divided into three municipalities — and each had a seal of its own. The municipalities were reunited in 1852, and the seal in use today was adopted. Records in the City Hall archives show that in June 1852, the City Council authorized New Orleans Mayor A.D. Crossman to order a city seal and that the council “Paid John Douglas, 17 St. Charles Street, for engraving die and printing of seal, according to the ordinance of June 26, 1852 — $16.00.” Because there is no official description of that seal, folks disagree as to the symbolic meaning of the figures on it, but most experts agree as to the meaning of the stars that surround the figures. On the top of the seal are 12 stars in the outer circle and one star in the center. These represent the 13 original states admitted to the Union; the 12 stars in the inner circle represent the 12 states admitted from 1791 to 1836, and the three stars on each side of the seal represent the six states admitted from 1837 to 1850. HEY BLAKE, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THIS WAS THE 41ST ANNUAL JAZZ FEST, YET I HAVE A JAZZ FEST POSTER FROM JUNE 1-7, 1969. THAT WAS 42 YEARS AGO. HOW CAN THAT BE? DR. MIKE