Stay weekdays through September & enjoy exclusive rates starting at $95 and secure on-site valet parking, deluxe continental breakfast,  welcome beverage for two at May Baily’s Place, complimentary wireless Internet access and all taxes! Click here to book online today or call (800) 521-7111 and mention promo code SSAV to make your reservation today. Act quickly, this hotel offer won’t last!   

Terms & Conditions:  Based on availability.  No refunds on unused features.  Other restrictions and blackout dates may apply.  Offer may not be combined with other promotions or special offers and cannot be applied to previously made reservations.

Musicians, business leaders in New Orleans and community radio station WWOZ-FM have come together to create the GULF AID benefit concert to raise funds for wetland recovery efforts, fishermen and their families as oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of the collapsed deepwater Horizon. The fundraising concert will take place on Sunday, May 16, rain or shine from noon – 10 pm at Mardi Gras World River City overlooking the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

Multiplatinum recording artist Lenny Kravitz, who is also a part-time New Orleans resident, will perform as well as Allen Toussaint, Mos Def, Ani DiFranco, The Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (featuring Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, George Porter Jr., Waylon Thibodeaux, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone, and Johnny Vidacovich), Zachary Richard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Irvin Mayfield’s Playhouse Review, Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers, Jeremy Davenport, Rebirth Brass Band, MyNameIsJohnMichael, with additional artists to be announced.

Tickets are $50 and are available exclusively via Elevate Tickets (www.elevate.com).  VIP packages will be available. All funds will be managed and distributed by GULF AID in partnership with WWOZ.  The fund has been created to assure that all monies are properly distributed to organizations to focus on two key elements of recovery – the wetlands/coastal environmental issues and the well-being of fishermen and the regional seafood industry.   

Donations may also be sent to GULF AID, a 501 C3 non-profit corporation located at P.O. Box 6917, Metairie, LA 70009.

Ewell Smith, Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board stated:  ”Our fishermen appreciate the unprecedented support and leadership of the efforts to draw attention to the extraordinary need of our coastal fishing communities.  Thousands of families across south Louisiana will potentially be impacted for years to come and will need all the help they can get to survive.  They bring the catch of Louisiana seafood to America’s tables.  Without them we lose a vital part of our culture and heritage that make Louisiana so special.”

GULF AID will be held at Mardi Gras World’s scenic River City, which offers dramatic views of the Mississippi.  The site is being donated by Joe Jaeger and Barry Kern, partners in the Mardi Gras World facility. “As a response to the threat to our fishing industry and wetlands, we decided to create an awareness and fundraising drive, GULF AID, and called on our personal friends, musicians, restaurateurs and corporate sponsors to help,” said Barry Kern, Blaine Kern Studios.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM will broadcast live from the concert, which will also be streamed live on the internet: wwoz.org.  “Our response is sure, immediate and passionate—our music community, through its music and heritage station, WWOZ, is calling on all its many friends throughout the country, to step forward in an effort to give heart to the devastated and the displaced,” said David Freedman, WWOZ General Manager.

Rehage Entertainment, producer of the Voodoo Experience and the Essence Music Festival is producing GULF AID.  “WWOZ and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation called about this very special project and we have had the privilege of working non-stop for the last 3 days,” Rehage said.   “The event will feature world-renowned artists, including the home team players, all of which share a love for our city and concerns about how the recent developments in the Gulf will affect the lives of people in Louisiana and bordering Gulf states.”  YES Productions has donated video production services to document the concert.

Sidney D. Torres, IV, owner of SDT Waste and Debris, LLC is a concert financer and organizer.  “As a native of St. Bernard Parish, I have family members and friends who have been affected by this tragedy. We can all come to the aid of the fishing industry and those whose livelihoods depend on fishing by buying a ticket to GULF AID,” Torres said.

Updates on the concert will be posted at www.wwoz.org

On twitter: http://twitter.com/GulfAid
On facebook: Search: Gulf Relief

Festivals in New Orleans are very much part of the culture. Exlpore the upcoming festivals and events happening from June – December.

A New Orleans Vieux To Do  -  June 11-13, 2010
There’s much to do at a New Orleans Vieux To Do – three festivals in one weekend in the historic Vieux Carre. Eat. dance and unwind at the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, the Louisiana Seafood Festival and the Creole Tomato Festival. Enjoy free music on five stages and more than 50 food, beverage and art booths.

ESSENCE Music Festival Presented by Coca-Cola  -   July 2-4, 2010
“Party with a purpose” at this star-studded celebration of African American music and culture in the Superdome. Jazz up your July with performances by the world’s biggest hip-hop, R&B and soul artists.

San Fermin Running of the Bulls – Sponsored by the New Orleans Hotel Collection – July 9-11, 2010

San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (SFNO) is an annual festival in New Orleans featuring an Encierro (bull run), which replicates and pays homage to the world famous Encierro of Pamplona, Spain, or “The Running of the Bulls”, only the bulls are none other than members of the Big Easy Rollergirls and select participants from other rollerderby leagues across the country!

Tales of the Cocktail  -  July 21-25, 2010
Have a highball y’all. Sip and sup at this four day long mixer in the city that invented the cocktail. Enjoy lectures, book sightings, dinner pairings, cooking and mixing demonstrations and more at this 17th anniversary event.

Satchmo SummerFest  -  August 5-8, 2010
Celebrate our native son, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, at this free festival featuring live music, second line parades, a Jazz Mass at St. Augustine Church, Satchmo’s 109th birthday party, local cuisine dished up in Red Bean Alley and the Satchmo Club Strut, a musical crawl down Frenchmen Street.

COOLinary New Orleans  -  August & September
Every summer, famous New Orleans restaurants all over the city offer summer menus featuring special prix fixe three-course meals. With lunches for $20 and dinners for $34, it’s a great way to experience New Orleans’ legendary restaurants for less.

Whitney White Linen Night  – August 7, 2010
Drap yourself in cool white linen abd join 16,000 art aficionados in the Arts District for the artsiest night of the summer. Storll through the galleries, sip wine and hear some of the city’s most exciting bands.

Dirty Linen Night  -  August 14, 2010
Not to be outdone by White Linen Night, Royal Street merchants decide to stage a gallery walk of their own in the French Quarter. Pick up some amazing art and antiques at an event that’s become very popular in its own right.

Louisiana Tailgate & BBQ Festival  -  August 13-15, 2010
Follow the aroma of sweet, smoky barbecue to the Morial Convention Center for the Louisiana Tailgate & BBQ Festival, a celebration of food music, football and family fun. Come out for a slab of ribs, pick-up some great tailgating gear, meet the Hornets Honeybees and be a part of the “Saints Experience.”

Southern Decadence  -  September 3-6, 2010
This premier annual event is “in” with the “out” crowd. Nicknamed the “Gay Mardi Gras,” this annual celebration attracts as many as 100,000 participants from all over the world.

Arts for Arts’ Sake  -  October 2, 2010
Every fall, gallery owners in the Arts District and on Magazine Street throw open their doors in celebration of the arts culture of New Orleans. Join 30,000 other art lovers at this giant, chic street party.

New Orleans Film Festival  -  October 2010
Louisiana is the third-largest film destination in America, behind only Hollywood and New York City. This annual celebration of the art form features premieres, film screenings, workshops and more. You never know which of your favorite celebrities you’ll see second-lining down the red carpet.

Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival  -  October 16-17, 2010
Two stages of the best in blues from New Orleans and beyond. The festival is dedicated to the men and women in blue – the NOPD. Includes “Walk the Beat,” a fundraising event on Saturday.

Halloween New Orleans  -  October 28 – November 1, 2010
It’s Mardi Gras in October! New Orleans knows how to do Halloween right. Haunted houses, voodoo history, above-ground cemetary tours and Halloween on Frenchmen Street, one of the most celebrated gay-circuit parties of the year.

Voodoo Music Experience   -  October 2010
Only the coolest take to the stage at this Halloween-themed festival in City Park, known for its blending of high-profile national artists with local Louisiana musicians.

Louisiana Swamp Festival  -  November 6-7, 2010
Visit with the alligators and other assorted swamp critters. Eat all the jambalaya and gumbo you can get your hands on. Learn the Cajun two-step. Bring home a peice of indigenous Louisiana art from the Craft Village. This annual festival is fun for the whole family.

Words and Music Festival  -  November 8-22, 2010
Join well-known authors, editors, agents and entertainers in celebrating William Faulkner, who honed his craft in a Pirate’s Alley apartment in the French Quarter.

Christmas New Orleans Style  -  November 1, 2010 -  January 6, 2011
A month-long celebration featuring free evening concerts, candlelight caroling in Jackson Square, cooking demonstrations, football games like the Bayou Classic, the New Orleans Bowl and Sugar Bowl, and Christmas in the Oaks in City Park. Get out of the mall and shop New Orleans this holiday season.

Treme Creole Gumbo Festival and Holiday Bazaar  -  December 2010
This free festival celebrates the history of Faubourg Treme as a hotbed of New Orleans musical and culinary culture. Here’s your chance to enjoy true Creole cuisine and holiday fare, plus an opportunity to shop for one-of-a-kind holiday gifts.