Hi again! We are in New Orleans now – a real cultural mixing pot. We’re staying at another HI (Hostelling International) hostel, this one is in a less touristy location than the Santa Monica one. Yesterday we experienced the National World War II museum and today we went to the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum about incarceration and its historical roots in New Orleans. I’m writing this in the line for the Toulouse Theatre where we will listen to jazz.
Ok, the jazz was great and I’m back at the hostel now. When the trumpet guy would point it at me the sound would get a lot louder – makes sense – and that was a cool element to the music. After their performance, at a place called the Preservation House, they had a Q&A. When responding to the question “why did you choose jazz as a career?”, the musicians’ answers resonated with me. They talked about learning from their parents, grandparents, and elders. They said they were blessed to be passed the torch from their ancestors and continue the tradition of New Orleans jazz.
I led a productive round table meeting tonight (we alternate who leads the discussion) where we figured out what we (the participants of the Culture, the Arts, and Technology round table) want to focus on: AI in music and music’s connection to the Japan-America relationship.