The real Jazz Fest: Story 1 - Family

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Written by Ryan Tramonte Monday, 27 April 2009 13:42

A Round with Ryan

st-louis-missouri.jpgWell, I guess it will come as no surprise to you that I take my responsibilities to NewOrleans.Com seriously. In fact, I take all my responsibilities to everything seriously, sometimes too seriously. Many weeks ago when Jazz Fest was a glimmer in your eyes, I realized that again this year, I was not excited about it. Yes, I confess, I was actually wishing it would not come. A part of me felt that wishing for no Jazz Fest was like wishing for no New Orleans. I felt guilty.

The guilt, coupled with the fact that my content editor Kim is demanding and crazy (not really, she’s perfection on a bun, remember how I love sandwiches) was weighing heavily on my tender conscience. I had to do something to change my mood. I had to find a way to love Jazz Fest again, to be excited about the sunburn and the flagpole, to look forward to having ant bites on my left butt cheek that turned into scars and would last throughout the summer making my short lycra crop swim suit a taboo that year. What was I going to do?

Well, I decided to reach out in a way that only I could do. I decided to send out a mass email to all my friends and connection through work. I was simply asking people to tell me a good story about a time that they had spent at Jazz Fest. I wanted them to give me emotion, to give me danger, to scare me...I challenged them to make me feel the love I had lost. And they did.


A few days later, emails began to pour in, but not from the list of emails that I had addressed. These were emails that were foreign to me. I began to get ten to twelve a day. Each one was a story about Jazz Fest and our city. Each one made me think a little and some made me think a lot. I decided to choose five of the more touching stories. I contacted the individuals who had sent the emails and asked if I could share their stories with my city. The joy of each one of their yeses began to fill me with a familiar feeling of missing sunburns and ant bites. By the time the last emailer said yes, I was in tears and thanking them for helping me to regain the love for an old friend of mine..."The Real Jazz Fest."

Here is the first of my selections. Each day we will share another story based on a different aspect of Jazz Fest. These stories brought my love for Jazz Fest back, and I know when you experience each story you will see just how much we, and the city of New Orleans, mean to people we have never even met.


"My name is Tomas and my wife's name is Lilly. We met at Jazz Fest in New Orleans in 2000. My best friend Paul lived in New Orleans and invited me to stay with him. Lilly was friends with Paul’s girlfriend Randa. She was coming to visit. Paul forgot to pay his electric bill and we were in the dark so the girls agreed to let us stay with them. At first I did not pay attention to Lilly too much. She was quiet. Then we went to the fest and I got really tanked. Paul and Randa, left me sitting on a blanket by the Gospel tent. I was so drunk I could hardly walk. Lilly came and sat next to me. I was barely awake when she took off her baseball cap and placed it on my head. She then took my head and placed it in her lap, and began to fan me. I can honestly say, within seconds of my head hitting her lap, I loved her and I knew I would marry her.

We hit it off that year and the next year we both returned to the city for the fest. Paul and Randa were living together by then so we had no choice but to stay in the same digs. Lilly and I had become regular phone partners over the course of the year. We would speak about four days out of the week and two to three times on the weekends. Each time I talked to her I knew she was perfect for me. She would tell me about all of her failed dates and I wondered what was wrong with the guys in Phoenix (that is where she lived).

When we arrived in New Orleans, I was more excited to see Lilly, than I was to see my friend Paul (I had known him since the fourth grade and we were like brothers). This time, it was all about Lilly. When we saw each other, she kissed me and it was amazing. That weekend, I told her that I did not want her to ever tell me another story about a bad date. When she asked why, I said because I love you. She smiled and said she knew that. We spent that weekend in each other's arms and within three months, she moved in with me in St. Louis. That is where we are today, in St. Louis, married and raising Sebastian, our four-month-old son. We have New Orleans and Jazz Fest to thank. When Sebastian is old enough, his first vacation is going to be to New Orleans, so he can see where my life changed forever. I have never loved anything or anyone more than that girl that laid my head in her lap at Jazz Fest 2000."

- Tomas D. from St. Louis on meeting his wife Lilly at Jazz Fest 2000
Comments (11)Add Comment
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written by Randa, April 28, 2009
I'm Randa, I am the friend that introduced them. This is great. I was also the maid of honor at ther wedding until i broke my collar bone riding a mechanical bull in Savannah.
Lilly you told me about this and you made it in. i love it

Got to keep on top of the Ryan guy. Love him too. grrrrrrrrr
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written by parabert, April 28, 2009
been parting. been dancing. been drinking too much and leave it to Ryan to set me straight.
Thanks man, that was a great article.
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written by Eric, April 28, 2009
Ryan, This great. you REALLY ARE THE ONLY ONE WITH WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THAT JOB.
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written by Ellen (formerly Strprsmoma), April 28, 2009
Honey, i was sharing this with the visiors to the club. You have a fan here who made an appearence i hear. Her name is very floral is it not.LOL
Thanks for makiing people love our home again, alot of the people i talked to had read your stuff when researching the city for thier trip.
Keep making us look good on screen and me and my girls will make us look good on stage.
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written by dylan, April 28, 2009
Made my way to this by accident. glad i did.
can't wait to read tomorrow.
do you accept emails from the public?
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written by Mississippi Morton, April 28, 2009
SUPER DUPER JOB BRO.
I LOVE THE NEW STUFF YOU ARE DELIVERING. MAKES A GROWN MAN SIT UP AND BE THANKFUL
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written by Tori, April 27, 2009
See Ryan, this is why people read this blog. this is an amazing idea.
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written by Diane and Wayne ( Lilly's Parents), April 27, 2009
Thanks for highlighting three people we love so much. This is the kind of thing the world needs more of. Somone who is willing to take the time and energy to celebrate love. We are so happy that Tomas got "tanked" that day in New Orleans. Now we have our little Sebastian, or Sebi as we call him. Thanks so much
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written by Tomas and Lilly and Sebastian, April 27, 2009
What? we made it. We completely thought you would never pick us. Thanks Man we are so flattered. We love that city you live in and the Fest. Hope we helped you get your love back.
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written by Dolores, April 27, 2009
Ryan, what a great idea. You have the best ideas for your blogs. We love them so much.
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written by &, April 27, 2009
OMG! I totally am going to cry. Great work Ryan and I hope Tomas, Lilly and Sebastian come back soon!

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Ryan Tramonte
715bigRyan Tramonte is the General Manager of French Art Network and Rue Royale Art Partners of New Orleans. With galleries in Carmel by the Sea, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New Orleans and Key West, Florida; the company’s family of galleries represents 54 artists from across the globe. With his office in the center of the French Quarter at 541 Royal Street, Ryan has managed to surround himself with some of the most beautiful aspects of New Orleans, its artists. Artists mold the way we think and live on a daily basis, they are one of society’s most prized possessions. Ryan, himself works in all mediums, but centers his work on painting and collage.
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