Bevy Smith's Report from the Essence Music Festival, Part I

Chile, Ms. Bevy is tired! I just touched down off my good ole Jet Blue flight from the Big Easy aka “Nawlins” aka home of the only rapper that can still sell records, Lil Wayne!!!! New Orleans is a magical place; yes it’s humid, hot and stinky in the summertime, but all that is an afterthought once you get into the culture of the city! New Orleans will feed you, offering sustenance for your stomach and your soul. Only a fool wouldn’t take it! From $2 beignets at Café Du Monde to gourmet dining at Emeril Legrasse’s Delmonico’s (thanks Joanna) you can’t help but eat until you are about to bust! Once your belly is poking out like you’re six months pregnant with a “stranger’s baby” (I promise to explain later) you are ready to dance off your shrimp/catfish “po boy” with some good music!!!

Which brings me to why I was actually in N.O.L.A. I was partaking in the most incredible music festival I’ve ever attended, the Essence Music Festival! Imagine tens of thousands of people in the Superdome (yes, the same one from Katrina, these are resilient people) partying to Rihanna, Mary J Blige, Chris Brown, Patti LaBelle (with a LaBelle reunion -- Ms. Patti may have fierce shoes but Nona Hendryx has got a fierce ass!), Jill Scott, Kanye and perennial favorite Frankie Beverly and Maze (they closed the festival and the entire place did the electric slide -- it’s electric boogie woogie woogie!). Whew, doesn’t that sound like a ki-ki good time? Well, that was just a sampler, kind of like the seafood platter at Acme Oyster House -- you have a little bit of this and a whole lot of that and it is so good you still want more!

The best is yet to come, but I must unpack my Hurricane drink mix (kind of like Kool Aid except that I add Hennessy for that extra kick!) that I purchased at the Walgreen’s on Canal Street and make myself a cold one! In New Orleans I started drinking around 10 a.m. and didn’t stop until 6 the next morning, so I’m well past my deadline! That explains why I felt so connected to a few of the lyrics from Lil’ Wayne’s smash hit “Lollipop.” “Shawty wanna thug, bottles in the club” -- that was definitely my mantra for the weekend! Now that’s all “shawty” is going to say about it for now, but once I feel more like my “Big Bevy in the Big Easy” self, I will post more of the sordid details, promise!