New Orleans and Essence Music Festival

The 2009 ESSENCE Music Festival was successful yet again, with sold-out audiences and heavy-hitting performers that included Beyonce, Robin Thicke, Ne-Yo, Lionel Richie, Al Green and Teena Marie. In addition to celebrating its 15th anniversary, this year’s festival was stocked full of tributes, from Bishop T.D. Jakes to Frankie Beverly and Maze and continuous homage to the King of Pop Michael Jackson whose sudden death occurred just one week before the festival opened.

In continued fashion, the City of New Orleans is the best place suited to host this annual event. The hotels line Poydras Street, the festival’s main thoroughfare, which houses the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center just off the Mississippi River on one end, and the Louisiana Superdome on its opposite end, where the nightly concerts are held.
Some of the more popular places to stay in the city for the festival include Harrah’s New Orleans, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, the W Hotel New Orleans and the Intercontinental New Orleans. Less traveled places of repose for the festival can be found on St. Charles Avenue, with favorites Courtyard by Marriott and Royal St. Charles Hotel.

To continue a party after each night’s concert, you can never go wrong with the city’s famously infamous French Quarter. This area of the city is home to a plethora of night clubs, pubs, restaurants and other after-hours excitement for all levels. A couple of restaurants to try are Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House (www.bourbonhouse.com) and the historic Cafe du Monde, at its original French Quarter location. Make sure to stop by the Cafe for the traditional New Orleans beignets.

A few other culinary favorites around the city include Cafe du Monde’s second location in the Riverwalk Mall next to the convention center, Mother’s Restaurant on Poydras and Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. Make sure to get to Mother’s Restaurant early. During the early lunch hour through mid-afternoon, lines are outside the building with people patiently waiting for a taste of ham-fused breakfast specialties, grits and biscuits, among so many other filling entrees.

During the day, those who want to indulge in the city’s rich culture outside of the festival can visit the French Quarter that is filled with historic homes and town squares. Also, the Riverwalk affords tourists the opportunity to take advantage of boat tours to the swamps, plantation homes and post-Hurricane Katrina sites. All in all, coming to New Orleans is loads of fun during the ESSENCE Music Festival or any time during the year. Just be sure to have good dancing and walking shoes and a camera to capture all the memories.

Nairobi, Kenya Part 3

After two days of singing, we finally got some time to relax, to shop and to fellowship with one another and with the locals.
 
The day before I was to leave, we were invited to a local “Bomas” for a congratulatory and thank-you dinner for our concert. We were served native Kenya dishes that included goat meat and lots of vegetables.
 
The actual site was on the outskirts of the city, and IT WAS VERY DARK outside. When our buses arrived, the quiet blew through the night and trees. But in a faint distance, we could hear singing and uleling from members of the Masai tribe, who hosted the event. They greeted us with ceremonial wraps (which became souvenirs) and presented a fashion and talent show, highlighting the hope of tourism outlined by the capital’s government.
 
After dinner, native sons and daughters met with the choir members and shared with us how they could identify us with the country’s native tribes by looking at our facial features and structures. By the end of the evening, our hosts gave us handmade animals for us to take home as reminders of their appreciation and our time with them.
 
Kenya is beautiful. Its people are beautiful, and traveling there is a once-in-a-lifetime trek that anyone can take and draw so much from.

Nairobi , Kenya Part 2

Day two in Nairobi was still very surreal. I was in the Motherland, and everyone was really happy about it.  The hotel rooms are European influenced, and the bathrooms come equipped with long, semi-high walled bathtubs and bidets.
 
The hotel’s breakfast was unbelievable!!!!  With the exception of water (which all are advised to stick to drinking only the bottled water at all times), every juice from orange, pineapple, apple, etc., is freshly squeezed every morning. All the breakfast food is presented in a buffet style and it is all good. It was the first time I had spinach added to my omelet, and I repeated that each day after the first time. The food was phenomenal, and I’m not just saying that because we spent long hours in rehearsal. There are all types of restaurants in the hotel. They cater to the different types of people who could stop through. There is a Chinese, Italian and Indian restaurant.  You can also enjoy shopping in your choice of tourist souvenir shops on the first floor, near the main lobby. Also, there is a boutique and other specialty shops on the second floor of the public lobby area. Read more

Nairobi, Kenya Part 1

Right now, the East African nation of Kenya is experiencing much turmoil
in the aftermath of a very controversial election. To help ease any
trepidation one may feel about visiting the Motherland in the wake of so
many desperate-looking situations, I may be able to help. It was my
first international trip, and it couldn’t have come at a better time –
just about one month after Hurricane Katrina ravished the Gulf Coast and
even less time after Hurricane Rita finished off what Katrina didn’t
have an appetite for in its havoc.

This trip was an opportunity for me to assist my pastor in an outreach,
mission opportunity never undertaken by our church, The Potter’s House
of Dallas. The church took its entire mass choir, a group of business
leaders and medical professionals. The choir would record during two
days of a crusade in Uhuru Park before nearly half a million people from
all parts in and outside the capital, Nairobi. The business leaders from
the church would work with political and business leaders in Nairobi to
generate ideas to boost economic activity in the country, and medical
professionals went into the rural areas outside of Nairobi to evaluate
the immediate medical needs of the area’s citizens.

Flying over “The Big Water,” as some of my relatives call it, was a bit
scary before I even got on the plane. But British Airways
www.britishairways.com was WONDERFUL. They accommodate flights from most
major U.S. cities and fly easily to London’s major airline hubs. Mine
were London Gatwick Airport and Heathrow Airport. My entire flying time
totaled 20 hours, and I traveled from Dallas-Fort Worth to Gatwick and
then from Heathrow to Nairobi, Kenya. We even had enough time enroute
from one airport to the other to go through some of the rural parts of
London, getting a glimpse of London’s version of an area amusement park.
And talk about green. It’s an emerald paradise even in the morning.
London was a cool delight (the humidity in the aftermath of the
hurricanes had swelled Dallas temperatures to the mid-90s, which felt
like the low 100s). Getting to London in the early morning around 6, we
were greeted with temperatures ranging from 55 to 65 degrees with no
humidity.

We arrived at our hotel sleepy, but well-fed (in flights like this, the
crew feeds you three, good, full-course meals), excited, still a little
scared, but happy to be in a place where we genuinely felt at home and
were welcomed with even more acceptance than could ever be imagined in
the U.S. And talk about a nice place to stay. Our week in Nairobi was
highlighted by our stay at the Grand Regency Hotel,
www.grandregency.co.ke/. The hotel takes away any preconceived notion of
Third World, which most people tend to think of when there is any
mention of Africa. The staff looks just like you and goes out of its way
to make sure you are accommodated to the utmost of their abilities.
Also, here a U.S. dollar goes a long way. Many of the hotel staffers
work in multiple capacities to make more money, so out of good foreign
traveler etiquette, leave at least $1 as a tip for the hard-working
staff and make sure you take time to make eye contact and speak clearly
to the staff so that all of your needs are met. They will definitely
make sure you are well taken care of since you are, at last, home.