We’re more than just the drinking capital of the world.

We just returned from the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. Spoleto celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, and is probably one of the most vital arts festivals in the United States today.

We saw a stellar performance by the Harlem Dance Theatre that included Afro-centric music, and accompanying songs by James Brown and Aretha Franklin; Toots Thielemans, renowned Belgian jazz harmonica player; Tierney Sutton (a great jazz vocalist with an outstanding band); operas “The Flying Dutchman” and “Carmen,” the latter performed by a troupe from South Africa, and much, much more.

It’s quite a bit different from our Jazz & Heritage Festival; Spoleto celebrates the so-called “serious” arts, such as opera, ballet, dance, classical music and even jazz, along with theater, and art. A more avant-garde festival, “Piccolo Spoleto,” runs concurrently with Spoleto and includes various types of “non-serious” and serious as well as alternative music; visual, literary and film arts. Spoleto is to Charleston what the Jazz Fest is to New Orleans, in terms of activity in the city, visitors, and economic impact.

But not exactly.

There’s no Fair Grounds. No Fess Heads on poles. No party-til-you-drop jam band shows that go on well past dawn. Admittedly, while Charleston is definitely a party town, it’s not New Orleans. It’s like comparing a mint julep to Dixie beer.

I’ve always been a champion of promoting what’s unique about New Orleans and Louisiana. But unfortunately, we’re almost becoming a parody of the image that we’ve projected to draw a lot of tourist dollars. How many OffBeat readers actually go to the Quarter and spend all day there enjoying it during Mardi Gras? Does the market coming in for Jazz Fest actually spend the dollars the city so desperately needs to bolster its economy? If you ask local businesses, you’ll find that the market is indeed changing—the Jazz Fest is attracting a younger, less affluent market, one that spends less money in our local economy. Mardi Gras certainly doesn’t necessarily attract high rollers anymore, like it used to. Let’s face it, college kids and twenty-somethings just don’t have that much money to spend.

Please—don’t infer that I’d want anyone to stop coming to New Orleans to enjoy the uniqueness of what our culture offers. Or to stop attracting a partying crowd. But I think it might be time to expand that offering to expand our cultural reach. If Charleston can do it, why can’t we?

The sponsors of Spoleto range from the City of Charleston itself to Bank of America to the Doris Duke Foundation. Spoleto’s supporters are high dollar sponsors. New Orleans needs the same. We need to expand our horizons to open up the city to events that attract people who can appreciate our music and the other cultural aspects of the city. Isn’t it time we try to expand the city’s appeal to something beyond drinking and partying? Here’s a little hint: the bulk of the national population is currently gravitating towards baby boomers. They have money to spend. Let’s give them something else they can enjoy in New Orleans in addition to Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras.

The upcoming Satchmo SummerFest is a good start on developing a classy, upscale event in New Orleans. Yeah, yeah, it’s so hot in August that no one will come here to visit. That’s bull. That’s a negative attitude that’s more built into the psyche of local people than visitors. Look at Essence Fest. Tell me it’s not hot as hell in July in New Orleans! Almost 200,000 people come in for it. It’s just a matter of putting in the resource and intelligently identifying and developing the market.

Satchmo has the potential to grow into a major citywide event, and to help the summer doldrums. Everyone loves to come here. Let’s give them a reason to keep coming here all year long.

CHANGES AFOOT

Glen Michael Prejean, who has spent almost 11 years making the Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge a premier venue in that town, is leaving the venue for a long vacation, with the intention of settling near Lafayette later this fall. “While I’m on the road I’m going to begin to write a business plan for an idea to build a permanent outdoor all ages venue suitable for our climate, with the worse-case scenario hopefully being a club the size of the Varsity or Grant Street,” said Prejean.

Prejean’s replacement is Chris Lundgren, who has already indirectly promoted many successful shows at the Varsity while serving as the promotions director for KLSU a few years ago. After graduating from LSU, Chris returned to New Orleans where he worked with Better Than Ezra for the past three years.

Tom Bennett, long-time owner of Carrollton Station, has retired with his lovely wife to his sailboat (guess that’s where all clubowners want to go when they die!). Bennett sold the business to Eric Orlando, local businessman and player in the band BarStool Logic. Orlando is renovating and expanding the bar to include a patio, which should open in the fall. Every Wednesday in July Motorway will perform a tribute to some of their musical heroes: everyone from Elvis Costello to the Beatles.

RE: ROCK-U

The Rock-U Showcase, recently held at the Howlin’ Wolf was a resounding success. The showcases took place in Shreveport, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans and showcased local bands to industry executives.

Howie Kaplan of the Howlin’ Wolf says, “I feel the New Orleans showcase was a huge success. Every aspect of the event went off without a hitch. I truly believe we had an amazing cross section of talent.”

“Baton Rouge was a tremendous success. The happy hour party saw 200+ music industry professionals ranging from promoters, managers, talent, attorneys, studio owners, radio DJ’s and A&R people,” said Jason Hewitt of Baton Rouge’s Swahili Records.The developers of the showcase, Trevor Hance and J’Mel Burgos of Warner/Reprise Records tell OffBeat there will be more showcases, possibly in the fall.