Stop The Hate!

So last night was incredible. And no, i'm not talking about the Krewe du Vieux parade in the quarter. I'm talking about Marleyfest 2011, the best example of a community of musicians I have ever experienced

So a couple of weeks ago, people who obviously hate everything about life did a terrible thing and stole several thousand dollars worth of instruments, personal belongings, and money from the van of the wonderful gentlemen in New Grass Countr

y Club while they were out gigging in Shreveport. So, as any wonderful community should do, the guys in Sun Hotel, Native America, Habitat, and Caddywhompus organized an amazing evening in order to stop the hate that those bastards in Shreveport so willingly shelled out on New Grass. It was 5 bucks to get in for tons of awesome music and tons of love, the obvious opposite of hate. There's even a "Stop the Hate" EP, made up of songs from all of the bands that played (plus Vox and the Hound). They even made "Stop the Hate" t-shirts (or they'd tag the shirt you were wearing).

This really ranks up there in coolest concerts i have ever been to. There was so much love and friendship, and it was really an enjoyable night. Sure, I ended up missing most of Krewe du Vieux, but that's alright- I'm part of a community, and people in a community help each other out. New Orleans is the only city i can think of that has such a wonderful group of musicians that honestly want to help each other out. Back home in St. Louis, people go to a show to see their friend's band and leave directly after. Here, people show up early and they stay late. They put on benefit shows for people whose priceless gear got stolen by some bastards out in Shreveport. They come to your shows, and you go to theirs. Bands care about each other like the members of a family cares for one another, and it's a wonderful thing to see somebody in your family start to make it big.

So thank you, New Orleans, for helping to stop the hate.