Alaska Airlines canceled our direct flight from Washington, DC to Seattle, WA on Sunday. And the rebooked route home gave the Stuck at The Airport team the gift of a 7-hour layover at New Orleans International Airport (MSY).
That gave us plenty of time to check out the fun shops, the bars, and the restaurants.
And all of the art.
We could identify just a few of the people pictured in this three-panel mural. And we’ve reached out to the airport for a key or list of them all.
In the meantime, let us know how many musicians you can ID in this great mural by Richard C. Thomas, called The Roux, which depicts 100 music legends from New Orleans.
The label created by songwriting duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, along with collaborator Thom Bell, released hits by artists such as Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, The O’Jays, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
Chuck Gamble, the nephew of PIR co-founder Kenny Gamble (first photo), was on hand for the ribbon-cutting, as was co-founder Leon Huff (below, in the checked shirt).
The Stuck at the Airport music appreciation department spent some time scrolling through the charming and colorful illustrations in the aeronautical sheet music collection in the library of the Smithsonian Institution.
Piano lessons may be in order. But here are some of our favorites songs titles and images.
Airports are really lonely and miss serving as the front doors to their cities.
So they’re working hard to stay in touch with their communities with updates on their Covid-19 responses, of course, but also with educational and cultural activities.
Case in point: 23 North American airports are joining together on Wednesday, May 6 to host the JetStream Music Festival.
The online event celebrates local music from each of the host cities and kicks off at 5 p.m. CST on May 6 on each of the participating airports’ Facebook Live.
Here’s how the JetStream Music Festival will work:
Each airport will feature a 10-minute set from a local musician.
Each musician will have a virtual tip jar so you can contribute during the stream.
As we head into the Labor Day holiday, here are some travel tidibts for you.
Free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi on Labor Day
Here’s a nice Labor Day perk for anyone flying on a Gogo-equipped domestic flight:
On Monday, Sept 3, you can get 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi, courtesy of T-Mobile. The off is good even if you’re a Verizon or AT&T customer. (T-Mobile customers get a free hour, as always; a great perk!)
Pictures from vacations help us remember a great adventure, but so do sounds.
Studies show that the same part of the brain in charge of processing the senses is also responsible for storing emotional memories. That means sounds, noises and songs you might hear on your trips will be part of travel memories that will be able to transport you back in time.
Think: waves lapping on the beach; the “Mind the Gap” announcement on the London Tube; and that street busker you stopped to listen to in Paris.
Heathrow Airport has decided to capture the essence of great vacations by gathering audio from travelers and commissioning a composer to create a collection of travel mood music and vacation sounds.
Heathrow says submissions sent in by the public will be turned into a “captivating and immersive soundscape” by British Academy Award-winning composer and sound artist Nick Ryan.
“We all record holiday memories with pictures, yet listening to the sound of a voice or a place can trigger far more intense emotions than a photograph on a phone,” Ryan said in a statement.
Travelers are invited to submit their holiday sounds over the next four months as an mp4 clip at soundescapes@heathrow.com.
Ryan will collection the audio, do this thing with it and release the inaugural Sound Escapes audio installment in January 2019.
