Welcome to the Jazz Fest.
We hope you will access and enjoy our AI-driven “OffBeat Festival Concierge” that we recently introduced in conjunction with LocalGroove.live, under the direction of our friend and longtime OffBeat subscriber Steve Pollock. Scan the logo on the cover (also scattered throughout our comprehensive A to Z feature) to see the “cubes,” rank your favorite bands to create a personal schedule of your must-see acts during the Fest, include your friends in your choices, have access to night shows right from the app, and use links to purchase tickets or investigate to see if a band you’ve enjoyed at the Fest is performing at a local venue. Your comments and suggestions on the app are always welcome.
Frankly, I didn’t think I would be writing “Mojo Mouth” again in this publication. I thought that 2025 was my last “Will and Testament.” That was the plan. But it didn’t turn out that way.
Jan Ramsey
As many who read the Weekly Beat knows, OffBeat has been up for sale for several years: not because we don’t love what we do. It’s because we need to pass the torch to someone who also has the passion for the local music community, continuing the fight as an independent voice to tell the stories of musicians and culture bearers and to honor why and how they produce their art: someone who understands OffBeat’s mission, who is younger and musically- and digitally-savvy, a group who appreciates why OffBeat has been so important to New Orleans and Louisiana’s history and culture. We have celebrated the festival moments in the “Bible” and in print, but we have also documented the music and culture during the entire year for almost four decades. We have the archives to show for that.
Music is different from other creative endeavors: it conveys not only deep emotion in the listener, and it is also a window into the soul of the artists who create it. It can be the beat of funk and R&B, the interactivity and intellectual interplay of jazz musicians; the poetry and rhythm of rap; the explosive release of rock, the crazy puzzle of avant garde music, the chants of Black Masking Indians. It’s physical, it’s mental, it’s sensual, it’s Zen, it’s exciting, it’s thrilling. It provides the musician—as well as the listener—with an emotional connection between the audience and the creator that is totally unique and many times incredibly profound.
Musical culture is more than what you hear at a festival, on social media or on the radio. It’s a lot more complicated than that. OffBeat’s audience has always been about more—what drives musicians, their personal stories, their influences and dreams, their pain, their redemption, their triumphs. And OffBeat has always included the entire music ecosystem, including festivals, events, clubs and music businesses, because all of these things are important to creatives, to the people who support them (like clubs and festivals), and as well as their audiences. It’s an ecosystem where all the parts must work smoothly together.
Thank you for choosing to give your attention to the experience of our great music, and to become part of the community that comes together every year to participate in the orgy of wonderful music—and unique culture—that you get during the Fest.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to experience as much live music as I used to, so it’s harder to convey the joy I feel when I have the opportunity to immerse myself in music: just music, no responsibilities, no “mission statement,” no having to work. I get to be a “normal” person who just loves and is moved by music. I was able to do that on the Big Easy Cruises I’ve taken and of course, at Jazz Fest. Euphoria and bliss! There are many moments when I’m listening to music where I’m transported to—and one with—another world. I love that. It makes life worth living—it’s my direct connection to the Divine. I hope it is for you, too.
Selling and carrying on the legacy of OffBeat is much more than a business deal. It’s continuing our love for the music and culture and the people who create and enjoy it.
The most wonderful and marvelous thing about music in Louisiana is that it represents a golden thread that clearly is present through generations of families, whose members carry on the traditions, keeping it alive, preserving the roots, and changing the art in many different, interesting and unique ways. There’s a passion for tradition that’s unique here. It’s been a thrill to see this happen, over and over again, in the almost 40 years of OffBeat’s existence… and that applies to generations of readers who appreciate what we have tried to do. Mine has been a lifetime of honor and a privilege, and a blessing to have had this opportunity. My mother used to tell me that I had the perfect job for someone who loved music, loved to read, loved art and photography. I agree. How fortunate I have been!
I still see as yet an unfulfilled deep responsibility to inform the business community—especially the hospitality community, and government—to persuade them to feel the same way I do about the importance of music to our city and state. This was the original thrust of OffBeat and why it was created in the first place in 1988. Over the years, there have been many attempts to include music into the city and state’s touristic appeal, but it’s just not where it needs to be. I’ve seen a lot of hype, and certain groups or people using music as a stepping-stone for popularity, political gain or a desire for power or prestige. IMO, unless you understand the appeal and love that other humans have for our music and culture, you are really spinning your wheels. Music is all about connection and community. Unless music’s soul and artistry are deeply rooted in any endeavor, it’s all just talk.
Artists—the musicians—have a relevant need to understand how business works and take that into consideration if they want to make their creativity a regular source of a living wage. But still, too many of them just don’t want to deal with the business side of things, learning how to “do business”—how make a decent living. They see themselves as artists but avoid the business side entirely because it uses a different skill set than musical creativity that they don’t understand or even have a contempt for. Creative people need ongoing public support (this happens successfully in other countries). We have to find a way to stop putting band-aids on a wound (for example, one-time grants) and to develop a way to create a pervasive awareness that we have something unique and that we are doing something community-wide to address the issue in the long term. Cut down on individual grants and put major money into supporting the community as a whole (I have ideas, if anyone is interested).
We train in the art form (like technique and rehearsals), but I’m convinced that understanding how creatives can make art as a profession should be taught everywhere as early as middle school—along with other life skills that many young people are not learning (surely not in social media). Education is key to continuing and strengthening that generational “thread” of our musical and cultural traditions. It does happen, but mostly in the individual non-profit sector, not as a part of our business and political thought processes This city or state is morally obligated to pay much more attention to its artistic community, and the fact that there’s a lot lip service is a pity and a shame (as my dear husband Joseph would opine). Until that is remedied, our creatives will still be poor, poorly housed and floundering about decades from now. We are obligated to educate, inform and take care of our artists. It’s infuriating to hear that creatives “choose a lifestyle” that dooms them to a life of poverty. No, we keep them in poverty because we do not understand what our lives would be like without music and there’s no concerted effort to make things better.
My rant for this year…!
This is also my opportunity to thank two wonderful people who love and support New Orleans and her music: George S. Corey and Cynthia Krus. They made a donation to OffBeat, which I decided to use to help support some of the local non-profit organizations who are dedicated to the mission I described: education, health care, business support. These groups are included in the pages of this year’s “Bible.” I do hope that you personally elect to help support these organizations. You’ll be strengthening our community, our culture and our future. Keeping it unique and powerful all year long and for decades to come just reinforces a never-ending bountiful resource.
And yes, at press time, we still have not finalized a passing of the torch for OffBeat.
