[I am blogging from the Fest today. This opening blog would have appeared earlier, but i had some technical difficulties and then got lost in the crowd. -Ed.]

This is my 10th year of Jazz Festing, but my first as a blogger with a laptop on my back. Today I'm a turtle, carrying my home with me.

So comforting to see all the folks shilling their wares between Liuzza's By the Track and the Fair Grounds. The wetlands people, the anti-Bush people, and the anti-war people are all there, along with the How Ya Gonna Clap* vendors and an artist selling a $1000 painting of Jimi Hendrix. For anyone interested in my own entrepreneurial efforts from last year, you can read about it here.

I ran into Kekoa, the palmetto-frond hat weaver. I'd bought one of his green creations outside of Molly's on St. Patrick's Day, when I was drunk enough to justify paying $20 for a hat when I have dozens at home, and am wearing it to the fest today. As the fronds dry, the hat browns rather nicely. He weaved me a new fish for my hat, and of course I had to get a picture of this handsome Hawaiian with his creations. You can find him out by Liuzza's, or email him at hatweaver@yahoo.com. I've only been at the Fest for a half-hour and I've already been asked where I got such a lovely hat.

I did not wait in line to get in, as Mike did, but an attendant at the bike parking section tried to shake me down for a dollar. Friends, they do not and have never charged a dollar to park your bike at Jazzfest. "Keep your bike safe," he told me, "for a dollar." I bitched at him and went to hitch up my bike somewhere else. I found a light post, but a cop stopped me from parking there. I explained that they were charging a dollar, and the cop told me that he couldn't do anything about it. "There ain't no sign sayin' it cost a dollar," I told him, "and you are a cop, right?" So the cop gave the bike attendant a talking-to, and I locked up my bike in the free parking area.

This year, the Gospel tent is where the Jazz tent used to be, on the right side as soon as you enter. I walked in to the melodies of the Leviticus Gospel Singers, resplendent in yellow. "It's a blessing to be alive," they sang out, loud and full of soul. Indeed, when Jazzfest is on, it is a blessing.

*A coozie on a string. A fourth grader could make one for about 50 cents.