AFTERMATH
Topped by
Fats Domino, the
Meters,
Bob Dylan,
Bruce Springsteen, and
Juvenile, this year's edition of New Orleans'
Jazz & Heritage Festival, which begins this weekend, has a lot riding on it. After Mardi Gras, Jazzfest is the second major tourist event to happen in the city since
Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flood, and the Big Easy's chance to literally sing for its supper: not just economically, with thousands of out-of-towners spending money right and left, but spiritually for locals and visitors alike. Among those making the trek down I-10 will be Austin filmmaker
Michael Lacy and his
Zodiac Productions crew (
[email protected]), who began working on their Jazzfest documentary in 2004 by planning to showcase the abundance of local color on display, including a mural artist later cut down in a drive-by shooting. Now Lacy will be documenting a city in ruins, and a festival many people see as a barometer of New Orleans' fate as a whole. "Obviously, people are going to do whatever they can to support not only the festival, but the people in the city," he says. "I just feel that with the state of the music industry these days, on top of what's going on in New Orleans, it's just sort of questionable." Contact: 567-6591.
