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TODAY
HIGH
HIGH LOW
NOTES
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
HOT ACT
LIL’ BUCK SINEGAL
1:40-2:35 p.m., Blues Tent
SAVOY MUSIC CENTER
SATURDAY CAJUN JAM
2:50-3:55 p.m., Fais Do-Do Stage
JUDITH OWEN
4:15-5:15 p.m., Lagniappe Stage
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SPER
JAMES TAYLOR
5:25-6:55 p.m.,
Acura Stage
COMPLETE
SCHEDULE AND
MAP IN LIVING
A’S SPIN
JAZZ FEST
SUNDAY
MUSIC WRITER KEITH
SPERA’S REVIEWS, A-10
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BREAKING NEWS AT NOLA.COM
Tech
vendor
aided
Nagin
in ’06
NEW
ORLEANS EDITION • 75¢
XXXXXXXXXX
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009
J AZZ F EST
State
district
judge
arrested
by FBI
2009
Sunny skies, musical highs and sweet
potato pies mark Jazz Fest’s opening day
FEST FLING
St. Bernard official
facing fraud charges
Company financed
Chicago fundraiser
By Bob Warren
St. Bernard bureau
By David Hammer
and Gordon Russell
Staff writers
In a deposition this week,
Mayor Ray Nagin downplayed
his familiarity with the city technology vendor who financed
trips and gratuities for Nagin
and another city official, but
campaign and media reports
show Mark St. Pierre played a
key fundraising role in the mayor’s 2006 re-election.
In the developing scandal
over alleged influence-peddling,
centering on the abortive crimecamera project in New Orleans’
technology office, Nagin has
said he thought his chief technology officer, Greg Meffert,
was paying for lavish gifts, including trips their families took
to Hawaii and Chicago.
In fact, St. Pierre’s company
NetMethods was paying for the
junkets, providing Meffert with
a credit card to use for Nagin
and others. Nagin and his attorney have said the mayor was
PHOTOS BY BRETT DUKE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Amaya Kincaid, 2, goes swing dancing with her grandmother, Nancy Campbell, as Joe Cocker performs Friday on the Acura
Stage during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
––––––––––
See NAGIN, A-9
By Lolis Eric Elie
Staff writer
Crime
is down
sharply
in N.O.
On the eve of opening day,
Quint Davis surveyed the New
Orleans Fair Grounds where
Jazz Fest is celebrating a special occasion.
“I came here at midnight
last night and rode around,
just trying to take it all in. I’ve
never done that before,” said
Davis, producer and director
of the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival presented
by Shell. On Friday, the gates
opened for the first of two
Joe Cocker growls out a tune Friday.
Police chief credits
staffing, patrol tactics
MORE
COVERAGE
Pete Fountain and Tim Laughlin
are two of a kind
LIVING
State District Judge Wayne
G. Cresap of St. Bernard Parish
was taken into federal custody
l a t e Fr i d a y a n d h a s b e e n
charged with conspiracy to commit wire
fraud, federal
authorities
said.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said late
Fr i d a y t h a t
the arrest is Judge Wayne
the result of Cresap
“an ongoing Was elected
c o r r u p t i o n to state district
investigation bench in
b y t h e F B I October 1999
and U.S. attorney’s office.”
Letten would not provide details of the investigation, but a
news release issued late Friday
said, “Cresap entered into an illegal agreement with unnamed
lawyers in which Cresap accepted money to convert se-
See CRESAP, A-12
weekends of music from
around the globe, culinary delights and a taste of
Louisiana’s culture.
For 40 years, Davis has
been associated with Jazz
Fest, which had its beginnings
in Congo Square and was later
moved to the horse-racing
track in Gentilly where it has
become almost as emblematic
of New Orleans as Carnival.
By Friday afternoon, it was
obvious that the opening day
of the 40th anniversary was a
success. Henry Butler was
Charters
cut ties
with
partners
For-profit operators
face big challenges
See JAZZ FEST, A-10
Chris Rose’s 60-second
interview with David Torkanowsky
Continuous blog, photo and
Twitter updates from the festival
LIVING
NOLA.COM/JAZZFEST
By Sarah Carr
Staff writer
By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer
The New Orleans Police
Department announced Friday
afternoon that reported crimes
during the first three months of
the year were down about 19
percent compared with the
same period last year.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley credited increased
staffing and overtime shifts,
along with a strategy of using
proactive, strong-arm police patrols in the city’s most violent
areas as some of the reasons behind the drop in crime. He said
tactics employed during the
past nine months are paying
dividends.
Violent crime dropped 29 percent overall, according to Riley.
See CRIME, A-12
Veterans of N.O. rap scene boogie with bounce
––––––––––
By Alison Fensterstock
Contributing writer
Bounce music, the uniquely
New Orleans hip-hop style
marked by upbeat, raw call-andresponse lyrics and beats based
on street parades, is hot. And
when bounce is hot, so is Jerome
Temple, better known as DJ Jubilee, the King of Bounce.
He is a 25-year veteran of
clubs and block parties.
“I fell in love with the game
back when I started DJing parties in high school, back in ’81,
’82,” said Jubilee, who follows
Fifth Ward Weebie and Ms. Tee
Unlike many
bounce rappers, DJ Jubilee — a
special education teacher
at West Jefferson High
School and a
NORD football
and baseball
coach —
shies away
from violent
or sexual
lyrics.
today on the Congo Square
Stage at the New Orleans Jazz
and Heritage Festival presented
by Shell.
Jubilee learned from WAILFM personality Slick Leo and
his older brother. By 1993, he
was signed to Take Fo Records,
one of New Orleans’ first bounce
labels.
Jubilee’s rapping style is highenergy and minimalist. On his
biggest hits, “Do The Jubilee All
(Stop Pause)” and “Get Ready
Ready,” he calls out dance steps
or prompts the audience to shout
back the names of schools and
neighborhoods. Unlike many
See BOUNCE, A-10
CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
. .. .............................. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... ...
I Breakdown of crime stats, A-12
.. .
TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT BOUNCE AT THE CONGO SQUARE STAGE
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EDITORIALS
LIVING
LOUISIANA
A New Orleans charter school
board’s recent move to end its
partnership with the company
that managed a pair of schools
marks the latest soured marriage between a charter board
and a for-profit operator.
Although for-profit school
management companies are
proliferating in some parts of
the country, in the past few
years New Orleans charter
boards have ultimately parted
ways with three of five for-profit
companies brought in to run the
daily operations of their schools.
In a fourth case, the school appears to be struggling to attract
enough students.
Budget constraints and competition among charters for students and staff pose huge challenges to for-profit operators in
New Orleans’ education
See SCHOOLS, A-11
Ms. Tee, 12:30 p.m.; Fifth Ward Weebie, 12:50 p.m.; DJ Jubilee, 1:10 p.m.
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