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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Latest on The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (all times local):
3 p.m.
The legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint is being remembered at the city's premier music festival.
Journalist Ben Sandmel, who moderated a talk Friday about Toussaint, said it would take the musician an hour to get anywhere at the festival because he always stopped to sign autographs or take photos with fans.
Toussaint passed away unexpectedly last fall.
Before that, the singer, songwriter and musician was a regular performer at the festival — often playing in elaborate suits coupled with sandals.
Singer Irma Thomas told the crowd about how in the early days she and others would practice at the house of Toussaint's parents. She said it was "just like another home to us."
Friday is the fifth day of the seven-day New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
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2 p.m.
The neighborhood outside the racetrack where the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is held every year can turn into a festival all by itself.
Reese Salassi Friday was cooking up jambalaya and crawfish at a friend's house in the Bayou St. John neighborhood that borders one side of the racetrack as throngs of people walked past to the festival.
He said normally the neighborhood is fairly quiet.
But during the festival the surrounding streets fill up. When the festival music stops around 7 p.m. the party continues in the neighborhood as local bands play on street corners and people dance.
Friday is the fifth day of the seven-day festival, which features international acts such as Paul Simon and Pearl Jam alongside southern Louisiana musicians.
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12:30 p.m.
Music fans going to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival should have sunnier skies.
This Friday is the fifth day of the seven-day music festival that draws thousands of people to New Orleans over two weekends.
Concert-goers on Thursday wore their galoshes and ponchos though as heavy rains turned parts of the site — the infield of a racehorse track — into a soggy mess. But the weather was expected to be much better Friday.
The headliners Friday include Paul Simon, My Morning Jacket and Lauryn Hill.
The festival is a seven-day celebration of music, food and culture of southern Louisiana and New Orleans. The festival ends Sunday.
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