Sculpture Garden - New Orleans Museum of Art & Essence Music Festival

Here are the concluding pictures from my trip to New Orleans last year. On the final day of the Essence Music Festival , my friends and I decided to play tourist and head to the Sculpture garden in NOLA. It was an awfully hot day, and after hanging out at the garden for about 30 minutes, we called it quits and sought refuge in a fully air conditioned restaurant. 

The food in New Orleans is amazing, and we got to stuff our faces with some unhealthy yummy seafood goodness. After lunch, we headed to the Super Dome to go watch the concert. My main reason for attending the festival in the first place was to see Tevin Campbell, and as a true 90s R&B super fan, I hustled my way to the front to catch the R&B crooner in action--I wasn't disapointed. Tank also graced the main stage, and belted out some of his panty-dropping hits (lol). Nelly , Naughty by Nature, Jill Scott, 112 also rocked the house, and the night ended with Mary J Blige leaving us bewildered with her powerful vocals.

Below are the moments I captured...enjoy.

A lil meal before the show

Tank

Tevin Campbell

112

Jill Scott

Mary J Blige


It was indeed a great time in NOLA, and I would do the Essence Fest again in a heart beat! Have a wonderful week.

Essence Music Festival--Day one

A while ago, I blogged about visiting New Orleans to attend the Essence music Festival. However, what I failed to do was share pictures from the music fest. The festival took place 4th of July weekend, so these photos are loooong over due--pardon my tardiness. 

Anyhoo, these pictures are from the first day of the festival headlined by Prince. I am not  a Prince fan (to date, I do not know any of his song. However, his energy was so awesome,and I couldn't help but get into the groove during his performance. Janelle Monae was in the house too, but since I am not a big fan of her music (love her hair and fashion though), I left the main auditorium where she was performing to attend the smaller music sessions in the Super Lounge. 

The smaller  music session were more intimate and it was at one of these we got to know about an upcoming DC musician, Kevin Ross. The guy is totally awesome and you may have noticed him in Glade's holiday ad. He is definitely one to watch out for. My friends and I also caught Estellle performing in the smaller rooms and we were glad we stopped by. She has a great stage presence and gave a really performance. I grew up listening to SWV so it was definitely great seeing them perform live.  

One thing my friends and I failed to do was attend the free, daytime empowerment seminars. If you ever plan to attend the NOLA, Essence Music festival, you should stop by these sessions. I heard they are pretty powerful and inspirational.

Below are the pictures, enjoy..

Y'all know I had to dress super comfy for the concert

Estelle

SWV ( Sisters with Voices)

Janelle Monae

Prince

Kevin Rosss

Yay! It was an amazing day.

Part 2 coming soon.

Bourbon Street, New Orleans & a lil bit of Baton Rouge

I was in Louisiana this past 4th of July for the Essence music festival. My friends and I flew into Baton Rouge and the plan was to explore the city before driving down to New Orleans (the festival location). On asking our Baton Rouge hotel receptionist what adventures we could get up to, she gave us a ten minutes speech on how awfully boring it was in Baton Rouge, and how we were crazy to think we could have fun there. We decided to still hit the streets, and true to her words, there was absolutely nothing to do in Baton Rouge! We went to the old State Capitol and turned our time there to a mini photo shoot. 

New Orleans on the other hand was bustling with activity, and once we freshened up at our hotel, we headed straight to the French Quarters to stuff our faces with Cajun and Creole cuisine (Etouffe, anyone!). Thereafter, we went to the legendary Bourbon Street. I had heard so much about Bourbon Street, and I was not in any way disappointed. The partying, the street dancing and drinking was epic!

It was a fun day, but I wish I had taken the time to explore the brightly colored creole cottages, and enjoy authentic jazz music.

I will be posting pictures from the music festival but for now enjoy the pictures from my first day in Louisiana!

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Baton Rouge street direction

Old Louisiana State Capitol  in BR

Still in Baton Rouge

Bourbon Street, NOLA!

Louis Armstrong Park, French quarters   

So we stopped at the famous Cafe Du Monde for some beignet

and of course we had to get some hand grenades!

That's all folks. Have an amazing week.