It’s Mother’s Day. If you have been tuned out to the drubbing of the media machine, fair warning, you might still be able to get flowers delivered. Though as my Grandmother used to cynically point out, flowers die. There is still time to make a phone call, which for my money, is better than any gift. If you are lucky enough to be in the same location, a meal out, or even cooking for Mom or doing something around the house for her is always a welcome option.
For me, I would love to be at the last day of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for Mother’s Day. I would be wafting from stage to stage for Tommy Malone, Anders Osborne, Playing For Change, Chubby Carrier, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Cowboy Mouth, Papa Grows Funk, Henry Butler, Feufollet, Rebirth Brass Band, Bluerunners, Sonny Landreth, Punch Brothers, Sonny Rollins, Neville Brothers, Radiators, Robert Randolph and Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. But word is that they will be streaming. Maybe I will just be wafting from room to room listening! But next year, New Orleans for sure. The line up today is such an embarrassment of riches that honestly I couldn’t pick. So let’s go with something completely different, a theme song, perhaps. This version does have a New Orleans influenced piano, though. It is from the pen of Randy Newman, “Mama Told Me Not To Come.”
-Jessie Scott