Essence Music Festival 2010 (Part 5)

I've now been to New Orleans only once in my life and I can't wait to go back. lol.

The Essence Music Festival was the best vacation I've ever had. The music was great. The food was delicious. The drinks were cheap. That's a recipe for success in my book.

(the hand grenade drink)

(the hurricane drink)

HIGHLIGHTS

• I had a "hand grenade" drink at Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street and a "hurricane" drink at Razzoo's on Bourbon Street. I had a Po'Boy at Felix's Restaurant on Iberville Street (because the line at ACME Oyster House) was too long. Both very good drinks and very strong for a good price $8 each and the Po'Boy was about $11 if you add in a side of fries.

(The one and only Razzoo's Club)

• I went to an "all-white party" at Razzoo's during the middle of the day on Saturday and my roommate and I were like the only people wearing white. lol. It didn't matter I had a great time watching the "dancing contest" on stage, dancing with other women and mingling with more women in the patio area in the back. This place sold sweat rags for $2. Talk about a hustle that works in the 90-100 degree heat.
  
• I went to a meet and greet at the Sheraton on Canal Street and met some members of a New Orleans message board that I joined a few weeks before EMF. I must say I haven't met a group of people that know how to party like these men and women. One woman had two flasks of liquor in her purse. Unreal.
• My hotel was in the perfect location in the Warehouse District. 2 blocks from the Loews and W hotels. 5 blocks from the Sheraton and Marriott hotels. 5 blocks from the convention center. 7 blocks from Bourbon Street. 12 blocks from the Super Dome. I'm going to try to stay at a different hotel each time I go to EMF but I'll definitely keep this year's hotel near the top of my list.
• Coca Cola the biggest sponsor of the EMF throws the best parties. So, if Coca Cola is throwing a party just go and don't ask any more questions.
• I met a woman from New York, 33, with a son (forgot how old). We watched the July 4 fireworks together on the rooftop of my hotel and promised to talk some more when we were both back from vacation. She went on a cruise following EMF. I told her I was jealous since I've never been on a cruise. I also met a woman at the EMF concert after party on July 4. She was low 30s, from Virginia, with a 2-year old (forgot if it was son or daughter...had too many drinks at that point). We danced the night away and had good chemistry on the dance floor. We exchanged numbers and promised to talk when we both got back to civilization. So, we'll see where any of this goes...if anywhere.
• While walking around New Orleans I was able to check out the lobbies of the Renaissance Arts, Loews, W, Sheraton, Country Inn & Suites, Embassy Suites, The Roosevelt and a few others I don't remember. The Renaissance Arts, Loews and W had the nicest lobbies of the hotels I saw in person.
• Bourbon Street was all that it was cracked up to be. People fighting over beads being thrown from the balcony. People doing the electric slide in the middle of the street. People walking around with a drink in each hand. No matter what time (day or night) Bourbon street was packed with people.
• The concerts on Friday night (Monica - minus her lowlight mentioned below, Ruben Studdard, Chrisette Michele, Mary Mary and Janet Jackson) were each wonderful. The concerts on Saturday night (Keri Hilson, De La Soul, Mint Condition, Joe, Gladys Knight and Alicia Keys) were equally wonderful too. I skipped the concerts on Sunday night to 1) rest and 2) see the lowlight mentioned below.
  
• The Sunday night Essence Encore party at the Metropolitan was very good. 2 big rooms, cheap drinks, good music and plenty of dancing. I stayed until 4:30 a.m. Monday and then left for my red eye flight a few hours later.
  
  

LOWLIGHTS

• I got proposition by two low 20s looking black women from Memphis on Saturday night. They didn't look like hookers and certainly dressed like teenagers but claimed they were 23 and 24. They wanted $100 each for a night of sex. I politely declined. Didn't they read the memo that EMF is a 5 to 1 women to male ratio. Men are going to spend their money on food and drinks while on vacation. So, with that many more women than men in one city at one time, there is a high probability that even a man with average game is going to get laid for FREE (minus a few drinks).
  
• The walk around the Super Dome during the concerts was something serious. I've never been in a building that large and my feet have never hurt so much from walking. The Super Lounges are cool but get ridiculously packed if you show up late for an act. The lines were even worse to get into the Super Lounges and women were taking off their heels while standing in line. I had on comfortable shoes but even with all that walking I was ready to walk around the Super Dome in my socks.
  
• The wait to get food at some locations was very long. Maybe, it is the New York/New Jersey mentality in me but I refuse to wait in a long ass line (in the heat for that matter) just for food. I'll just go to another location with a shorter line and I did that several times July 4th weekend.
• I might have a New Orleans stalker. We started talking before EMF on Facebook but after meeting her in person...I didn't like what I heard coming out of her mouth or what I saw physically. I deleted her from my Facebook and she didn't like it and proceeded to blow up my phone for me to talk to her. So, we had the chat and I think she understands my concerns with her behaviour that weekend that turned me off.
• American Airlines is straight gangster. So, my roommate inquired about a blanket because he was cold on the flight to New Orleans. The flight attendant said with a straight face "that will be $8 and it comes with a pillow too." I nearly fell out of my seat even though I was buckled up. $8 for a blanket and pillow...GTHOHWTB. I did notice the passengers in first class got blankets and pillows for FREE.
  
• Monica's ghetto ass gave a shoutout to people in jail during her performance opening the Friday night concerts at the Super Dome.
  
• So, I didn't mean to clown a bunch of women from New York when they told me their horror story about their cab ride from the New Orleans Airport to the Embassy Suites hotel. My roommate and I were sitting in the lobby of the Embassy Suites when we struck up a conversation with them. They told us how the cab driver charged them $17 each for the cab ride from MSY to the Embassy Suites hotel for a total of about $70. I said out loud like Chris Tucker in Friday...."DAMN...ya'll got scammed. It is a flat rate of $33 from the airport to any downtown hotels in New Orleans and vice versa no matter how many passengers are in the car if you are a going to the same location."
• I will never book a red eye flight out of New Orleans (if I can help it) the day after the EMF. I will also avoid Chicago's O'Hare like the plague too. In my history of flying and unfortunately connecting through O'Hare...I've never had a smooth experience in that airport. EVER. But that red eye flight was a struggle. I could barely walk. I could barely talk. I could barely think. If I had gone to bed on Sunday night...I probably would have missed my flight so I stayed up the entire night (mostly at the Essence Encore Party).