Posts Tagged ‘Nice’
April 20th, 2010 | 
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Nice Airport is far away from the volcanic ash from Iceland–at least for now. I visited a few hours ago and found it crowded, of course, with travellers waiting for news of their flights. Flights to the south–Madrid, Dubai etc.–were taking off but the many flights a day between Nice and northern airports like London, Dublin, Brussels were all cancelled. The regular roar of planes taking off became no more than occasional background noise to the sound of anxious travellers milling around. Let’s face it: there are far worse places to be stranded than on the Cote d’Azur on a beautiful spring day!
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The schedule for the year’s Nice Jazz Festival has been announced and it’s the best I can remember, at least for true lovers of jazz. Check this out:
Saturday 17 July :
DIEGO EL CIGALA, ORNETTE COLEMAN, SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, EARTH, WIND & FIRE, TINEKE POSTMA QUARTET
Sunday 18 July :
NIKKI YANOFSKY, RICHARD BONA BAND, DAVE HOLLAND & PEPE HABICHUELA FLAMENCO PROJECT, DR JOHN, GORAN BREGOVIC ET L’ORCHESTRE DES MARIAGES ET DES ENTERREMENTS, FLY “MARK TURNER / JEFF BALLARD / LARRY GRENADIER”
Monday 19 July :
GURRUMUL, ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE JAZZ “AROUND ROBERT WYATT” avec ERIK TRUFFAZ, DWEEZIL ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, AL JARREAU, JULIAN LAGE
Tuesday 20 July :
IMELDA MAY, JIMMIE VAUGHAN, ROBERT CRAY, BUDDY GUY, JAMES HUNTER
Wednesday 21 July :
BELA FLECK AND EDGAR MEYER WITH ZAKIR HUSSAIN, BOJAN Z TETRABAND, THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND WITH HIROMI, HERBIE HANCOCK, ERIC LEGNINI TRIO
Thursday 22 July :
TIGRAN HAMASYAN – ARATTA REBIRTH QUINTET “RED HAIL”, CHICK COREA, KENNY GARRETT, CHRISTIAN McBRIDE & ROY HAYNES : THE FREEDOM BAND, FICTION PLANE, LAURENT GARNIER + GUESTS, FACING EAST : THE MUSIC OF JOHN COLTRANE BY JOSE JAMES
Friday 23 July :
ASAF AVIDAN & THE MOJOS, DJANGO 100, HINDI ZAHRA, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA, CHRIS POTTER UNDERGROUND
Saturday 24 July:
CLIFTON ANDERSON, ANDRE CECCARELLI – LE COQ ET LA PENDULE – HOMMAGE A CLAUDE NOUGARO, MAURANNE CHANTE NOUGARO, PATH METHENY GROUP – THE SONGBOOK TOUR AVEC LYLE MAYS, STEVE ROBDY & ANTONIO SANCHEZ- , PINK MARTINI, JEAN MARC JAFET QUINTET
It’s that time of year, again; the Nice Carnival. The bleachers are up on the Prom; tour buses are filing into town and locals are bracing themselves for the annual traffic meltdown. Despite the few residents actually attend the Nice Carnival, everyone has an opinion about it. The first opinion is that it’s “trop cher” which means that locals have to actually pay for it. It didn’t used to be that way! It used to be open to everyone! Well, that was before my time but certainly after Garibaldi’s era.
Anyway. You don’t have to pay for it anymore. Now the Nice carnival parade is free every day except the first and last days. Chouette? You do still have to pay for the Bataille des Fleurs but, IMO, it’s well worth it. (See photos of the Nice Carnival (Carnaval, in French).
Here is the program for Nice Carnaval 2009:
Saturday February 14
14h30 Battle of the Flowers
21h – Corso
Sunday February 15
14h30 – Corso
Tuesday, February 17
21h00 – Corso
Wednesday, February 18
14h30 – Battle of the Flowers
Saturday February 21
14h30 – Battle of the Flowers
21h00 – Corso
Sunday February 22
14h30 – Corso
Tuesday, February 24
21h00 – Corso
Wednesday, February 25
14h30 – Battle of the Flowers
Saturday, February 28
14h30 – Battle of the Flowers
21h00 – Corso
Sunday, March 1
14.30 Corso
21.00 Burning of the King and fireworks