Jazz vocalist Cindy Scott has always had music in her life. The daughter of a classical pianist and a band director, she was a dedicated flute player until college, when she had the required pick-a-major crisis. She bounced from music to pre-medical and finally business, detouring to spend her junior year in Germany.

“We used to hang out in this bar (in Germany),” Scott says. “Sometimes the owner would lock the doors, and they would pass this boot of beer around the table. We were all drinking for hours, and there was a piano player at the table, and after many of the boots had gone around, he got up and started playing. I knew all the words, so the owners, in their drunkenness, gave me a gig.” It was her first gig, and she made 25 dollars. “Then we passed the hat and got another 25 bucks each, and that’s it, I was hooked.”

Despite this a-ha moment, she went on to work in management for several years. “I had kind of a big job with a lot of people reporting to me and a corner office and all that stuff, but when I could, I would sing on the side.”

At a jazz workshop, she was reading What Color is Your Parachute? “(It’s) sort of a career search thing, and I was trying to do the exercises, which are really a bitch, man. They ask over and over again, ‘What do you do better than most people?’ and ‘What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money?’” She called her husband, and told him she wanted to go back to music. “And my husband says, ‘Honey, I’ve been trying to tell you that for 10 years.’”

The couple won a house on a reality television show, and that’s when Scott quit her day job to take up jazz full-time. She’s made two albums since.

“I wanted this record to really reflect how my music has changed since I moved here,” she says of her 2009 release, Let the Devil Take Tomorrow. “I feel it does really reflect a lot of New Orleans stuff, even though it’s not a typically New Orleans record. But it’s me. It’s kind of where I am.”

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Lisette Sutton, the manager of Creole Delicacies, says she’s been in business long enough to know the whole reason behind French Quarter Festival. “The city tore up the sidewalk, and no one could get into the businesses around here,” she says. “The entrances were planks and everything. As a thank you, the city put on the fest, and it was such a huge success, well….”

That was 1984. Twenty-six years later, more than 50 local restaurants and culinary organizations come together to put on the “World’s Largest Jazz Brunch,” as the French Quarter Festival calls it. And with approximately 500,000 people by the fest’s estimation attending the three-day festival, preparing can be tricky.

Doyle DeForest, Cake Artist at Flour Power Confectionery and six-year Fest veteran, says his best tool is organization. “I try to gauge from year to year how much I’m going to go through,” he says. “Last year was the first year we had anything left over. We just kept prepping more and more because we always sold out around 3 p.m. on Sunday, the last day. Last year, thunderstorms were predicted on Sunday and hardly anyone was out there. We donated what we had left over to the Bridge House. They ate really well that day.”

Required to produce thousands of portions of food a day in booths away from their kitchens, most of the restaurants have developed strategies to avoid such a thing.

“Because we do a fresh product, and because it is such a perishable item, everything has to be ready to go,” DeForest says. That means strawberries are cut at the last minute, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t do what he can in advance. “We’re prepping really heavily on the Wednesday before. I go through 70 flats of strawberries, about 100 pounds of Creole cream cheese and 60 gallons of heavy whipping cream, everything fresh.”

Chef Damian Thomas, president of the local chapter of the American Culinary Federation, says he has been involved with the festival for 10 or 12 years, but it’s still always a challenge for an event this size. “We’re planning to serve 6,000 portions,” he says, which means 100 gallons of beans, 100 pounds of rice, 50 cakes and 800 pounds of strawberries. We’re prepared to serve the multitudes.”

Amy Martinez, the manager of Little Tokyo, is a first-timer to French Quarter Festival. “They told us to anticipate half a million people. We just have to be prepared for it. Mostly we do everything on the spot, probably thousands of rolls in a day,” she says.

Saltwater Grill owner William McIntyre, in his sixth year at the Fest, says experience is the only way to get through it. “You have to decide what items you will do that people want and will sell well, that you can produce for the size crowds of the fest, are relatively easy to serve in an outdoor fest environment, and are profitable. You don’t want to run out when the crowd is there buying.”

Gumbo Shop co-owner Brian Molony shares McIntyre’s sentiment. “Having experience under our belt is a great help,” he says. “The best way to be successful at an undertaking like this is to plan ahead, and there are a thousand details to go over. We begin working on this event a month ahead of time.”

Daniel Silva, the manager of Crepes a la Cart, has been doing the Fest for four or five years. “We usually have four or five people, which is half our staff,” he says. “We get there three hours before all three days. We take a couple of our grills on site. Everything is on hand and everything we use is fresh and made to order. Actually, it’s not as stressful as it should be for how busy we are.”

However, says Joe Pando, Vice-President of Operations of New Orleans Original Daiquiris, “The festival keeps growing all the time. The thing has gotten totally out of control.” New Orleans Original Daiquiris is one of the original businesses involved in French Quarter Festival, and it has added a second location in the brunch, which stretches from Woldenberg Park to Jackson Square. “We’re looking at maybe getting a third,” Pando says. “Logistically, it’s pretty difficult. We have to be able to mix the hundreds and hundreds of gallons of drinks we need. Sometimes we send hand trucks with milk crates of gallons at the last minute.”

Richard Buchsbaum, Vice President of Food and Beverage at the Audubon Nature Institute, has been part of the fest for eight or nine years, he says, and the trick is planning. “Last year we made and sold over 8,000 crawfish pies. This year we’re probably expecting the same. Usually in the last week of March, we’ll start stuffing pies. Since we use fresh dough and hand-make each one, we have to bake them off at the aquarium,” he says. “Every year we’re open we get repeat customers, kind of like a Jazz Fest reputation.”

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While Old Books, the debut EP from recent Ruston transplants Giant Cloud isn’t anything new or different, the band’s interpretation of Southern folk isn’t bad.

Though only five songs long, the album slowly progresses in complexity from gentle, folky, Beach House-y ambience to a more intricate, multi-instrumental density. It begins slow and dreamy, with delicate vocals between newly married co-lead singers Julie Odell and Benjamin Jones over jangly guitars. It flirts with a more up-tempo waltz sound, but it never commits. It’s a shame because these faster moments are some of the best of the EP. Though these parts do sometimes have a Fleet Foxes or My Morning Jacket feel, they’re when the band takes on more of an identity, and with a new, full-length album in the works, hopefully they’ll keep experimenting with different sounds and continue in this direction.

The bio on the website of their label, Park the Van Records, discusses at length how much they embrace their Southern background, especially its historically slow, languorous traditions. “Every time I hear someone refer to the ’80s, I wish in my mind it was the 1880s,” Jones is quoted as saying. I feel like the band is trapping itself here, too heavily emphasizing preserving and honoring musical traditions instead of inventing one of its own.

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Lafayette-based Valcour Records broke from their usual Cajun and zydeco fare late last year to sign a local band less than a year old. The Givers describe themselves as “Afro-beat, dancy pants, indie pop love music,” and that’s pretty accurate, actually. Combining funk, calypso and the poppiest of pop rock, the band creates a lush, layered atmosphere, filled with choruses that stick in your head for days. Tif Lamson’s voice is sweet and smoky, and like the rest of the band, she sounds at once youthful and older than her years, producing music much tighter and practiced than you’d ever expect from their age.

The only complaint I have is how short the CD is, but here, quality is given precedence over quantity. Every song feels perfected without being polished into lifelessness, no doubt from playing constantly since the band’s inception. Still, I could do without the remix of “Up Up Up,” and the EP doesn’t do their show justice. Live, they’re a fantastic, colorful, sweaty explosion. They’re the only band I’ve seen lately that looks like it’s having the time of its life the whole show. Look for the Givers’ full-length album this summer.

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Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized for saying Katrina was a good thing for New Orleans public schools. Read the CNN story.

CNN writes about the three people shot during post-Super Bowl celebrations. At least we didn’t burn any cars.

 The New York Times reports Mitch Landrieu’s mayoral race win.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are suing a British tabloid for claiming the sometime-New Orleanian couple are separating. MSNBC has the story.

New Orleans Hornet Chris Paul says his knee injury might help the team improve in his absence. NBC has the story.

A judge has ordered a defunct Louisiana film studio liquidated after it never applied for tax credits several Saints players, including Drew Brees, already paid for. Read the New York Times story.

Mexico marched in Barkus after he made his way back to his hitchhiking owner in New Orleans. CBS has the story.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that New Orleans public housing faces the loss of its funding. Read the story at ABCNews.

A New York Congressman’s charity promised Katrina victims financial help, but never made good. The New York Post has the story.

 See CNN’s favorite New Orleans photos, sent in by readers.

Everyone seems to have something to say about the Saints’ recent Super Bowl win and what it might mean for the future of the city. Read James Carville’s essay. Watch Harry Connick, Jr. discuss New Orleans. Read ABC‘s view and CNN’s takes here and here. Read Fox‘s more somber opinion.

… and here’s a few last pieces of Saints-oriented video for the season: The funeral of the “Aints”, Drew Brees, King of Bacchus,  the Saints victory parade, the origins of “Who Dat”, and a clip from Fat Tuesday.

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When Canadian indie rock sisters Tegan and Sara started talking about where to write their new album in 2008, New Orleans came up.

Right after Hurricane Katrina, Sara Quin came to New Orleans during a break from touring. “Sara had this really amazing experience,” Tegan Quin says. “She said, ‘The people there are amazing, and everyone has banded together, and they’re helping each other, and it’s beautiful.’ She talked about it endlessly. We hadn’t been there a million times, like Los Angeles or New York or Chicago, where you play all the time. It’s kind of like this weird, magical place. We went down with a photographer and wrote a book about the experience (In, with photographs by Ryan Russell, available now). We were staying in a guest house in the French Quarter, but they were doing renovations, and it was kind of old and spooky. We realized we couldn’t really set up a drum kit there. In the end, we went to the Music Shed and spent the week writing.”

Despite playing music together for 14 years, the two had never actually written anything together before, Tegan says. “The trip itself inspired Sara and I, and I think we both realized that we actually could write songs together. After knowing each other all our lives, we’d never even tried, and it was working and felt really awesome.”

When the two got to New Orleans, they had already written nearly 40 songs for Sainthood, their 2009 album, so only two made it onto the record. “The songs we wrote down there were really great, but they all had a certain vibe. We ended up feeling that those songs shouldn’t see the light of day unless they saw the light of day together as a package. I think fans especially will find them really interesting because it’s just Sara and I playing and no one else.” Expect to see the New Orleans session released as an EP “down the road eventually, maybe in the next year,” Tegan says.

Tegan and Sara play Tipitina’s February 24.

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Rock ‘n’ Bowl’s post-Katrina move and recovery: Watch the video on CNN.com.

New Orleans might have our first white mayor in three decades. Yahoo News has the AP story.

Former Saint Deuce McAllister is bringing Nissan to court, claiming it contributed to the failure of his dealership. The Chicago Tribune has the AP story.

While the weather has been uncharacteristically cold for us, it might be good news for farmers in the region. ABC has the AP story.

CNN checks in with its top 10 Heroes nominees, including the Roots of Music director Derrick Tabb.

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard resigns. CBS has the AP story.

Police arrested a New Orleans man after he made a 911 call threatening President Obama. The Seattle Times has the AP story.

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A New Orleans architect is donating $150,000 to rebuild Carver High School and the surrounding area in the Ninth Ward. CNN has the story.

Reggie Bush lost his bid to settle a case with a sports marketer who gave money and gifts to Bush in college to lure him to the firm.

Photo from PortOfNO.com

The New York Times profiles temporary housing residents still fighting to get by post-Katrina.

The Panama Canal’s development plans have the Port of New Orleans looking for millions of dollars of capital to expand.

Saints defensive end Bobby McCray apologizes for his DUI and his controversial Twitter comments thereafter. The AP reports.

Read the New York Times’ take on the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

A New Orleans resident questions novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s treatment of Katrina in his opinion piece about the year 2005.

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The first time Carlo Nuccio heard the phrase “Who Dat” was from the mouths of radio show characters Amos and Andy. “‘Who dat say who dat when I say who dat?’” he quotes. “I remember that, and to tell you the truth, when we went to do it, I got the words wrong. You know, it’s New Orleans. I’m pretty familiar with the diction, and we’ve all read A Confederacy of Dunces, but actually, ‘Who dat talking bout’ was well more proper than ‘Who dat say.’”

Who Dat 1983 session (L to R) Dave Waymer, Brad Edelman, Steve Monistere, Jim Hill, Carlo Nuccio, Reggie Houston, Aaron Neville, Lewis Oubre, Ron Swoboda and Art Neville. Photo by Rick Olivier.

In 1983, the New Orleans Saints were facing what could be their first year in the playoffs, and Nuccio, a lifelong, hardcore, thick-and-thin Saints fan, was 22. He saw his opportunity. He and his friend Steve Monistere, a musician and producer, decided to take the “Who dat” chant, heard at the time from the St. Augustine High School marching band, and put it to a song.

“I think we mutually agreed the song would be ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,’” Nuccio says. “We didn’t know how we were going to do it. I opted for a traditional arrangement. It’s not really second line; it’s more of a military type of thing. I figured out a place to put it in that felt good, felt right.” Once the skeleton of the song had come together, Nuccio says he felt committed to continue. He called pianist Dave Torkanowsky, whom he enlisted to get the rest of the musicians together.

“I was listening to rock ’n’ roll at the time,” Nuccio says. “I didn’t really know a lot of Dixieland horn players, and I knew that he would. He ended up playing bass and piano, I played drums, and he got the horn players. We got that in an afternoon.”

To fill out the song, Nuccio, a Hawkettes fan, decided on Art Neville. Neville told Nuccio it might be more his brother Aaron’s style. Aaron agreed.

“It was so exciting when we first recorded it,” Neville remembers. “I’ve been a Saints fan since there were Saints. We used to hang with the players in the late 1960s and early ’70s at the Nite Cap on Louisiana and Carondelet, and I was working with some of the actual players on the original.” Neville recorded “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the “Who dat” chant with the Saints’ offensive line.

From then on, there was no stopping it. “At the time, B97 was a big chain station, and Walton and Johnson were here in town,” Nuccio says. “They did this crazy stunt. They locked their door and played it back to- back their whole show. We were laughing about it, but at the end of that day, it was kind of sewn into the fabric of New Orleans. A week or two later, Howard Cosell opened Monday Night Football—a very educated man. They played the song, and after the music stops, the first words you hear were, ‘Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints,’ and that was it.”

Twenty-six years later, the song is nowhere near the end of its run, and neither is Nuccio. As a diehard Saints fan, he couldn’t resist a revamp, not now, in the best season the team has played yet. So he gathered a who’s who of local musicians, gospel-fied the song, and “Glory Bound” was born.

Aaron Neville returned to help, joined by Theresa Andersson on vocals. “It was cool working with Theresa,” Neville says. “She was a big fan, and she put a lot of energy into it. It was amazing. It was nice to be rerecording and refreshing the song.”

“It was just Carlo and me recording,” Andersson says, “and then Aaron Neville came in. It was such a huge honor to work with him; he’s one of the great New Orleans musicians. I met him, we said hello, and then all I could do was take a big deep breath and go for it. We had really good energy.”

Andersson, a native of Sweden, says she’s been converted to Saints fandom. “It’s very exciting to me that the Saints are so strong. It means so much to so many people. It’s been tough for me to learn all the rules, but I’ve been getting more and more into it. I didn’t really follow football, but I’ve been watching the games, and even more I find myself sneaking a peek at the score if I’m not watching, or checking the score on my cell phone. You get involved because it’s your town and your team.”

The original recording “was a whirlwind,” Nuccio says, “and who could’ve known where it would go. I would’ve said you’re out of your everloving mind.” When he saw Neville for the re-recording, Nuccio says he told him, “You weren’t driving a Cadillac back then.’ Things have changed a lot for all of us. It was a different time. I think it really helped us all career-wise. I certainly have had a good run in life, in my business.”

“Glory Bound” is available for download from iTunes; a portion of the proceeds from song sales to the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic.

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New Orleans-born rapper Lil’ Wayne has had a taxing couple of months.

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. was found guilty of weapons possession in October and, awaiting his February sentencing, may get up to a year in prison, reports the New York Times.

In November, a documentary titled The Carter about the rapper debuted at Sundance, and despite the rapper reportedly enjoying it, he’s suing to prevent its distribution, CNN reports.

Earlier this month, Carter’s fourth child in a little over a year – with as many mothers – was born. MTV.com has the story.

In less hard-hitting territory, the New York Post writes that the rapper is having a hard time selling his Miami apartment because of the pervasive marijuana smell.

A shipping error on Amazon.com’s part sent Carter’s new album, Rebirth, to 500 recipients two months early, despite its recent change in release date to February. Reuters and Billboard cover the story.

Also in December, his tour bus was pulled over on the way to a concert in Texas and drug-sniffing dogs found marijuana, Yahoo and Examiner report. No charges have been filed, writes TMZ. The concert was cancelled but made up the next night, Spin says.

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