5 Writers
5 Music Cities
5 Weekend Escapes

New Orleans

New Orleans Dream #118

When you surrender to La Nouvelle Orleans, which you must, this complex city plays out like one long, twisting, far reaching jam, starting at The Hotel Monteleone—majestic, glittering, standing guard over the entrance to the Vieux Carré (French Quarter).
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Austin

Bats, Bridges, and the Search for Something Real in the City of Austin

That’s what I’m talking about. The best vantage point to see the largest urban colony of bats—Mexican free-tailed bats to be specific—in North America. 1.5 million of them. All roosting under and inside a bridge. All headed out to dinner at the same time.
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Nashville

The Promised Land Starts in Nashville

As soon as you step into town, lilting voices plant feel-good Americana into your soul. This is a state proud of its music—boasted in every voice, every strum, every person who hails from here.
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Philadelphia

Grit Meets Beauty in Good Ol’ Philly

The weekend starts in colonial Philadelphia with a virtuosic performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra and resolves with a foot tapping to a tattooed and pastied girl swinging in the oldest smoke-soaked go-go bar in town.
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Chicago

Old Blue Chicago

About a month ago Gordo Lisho helped me through Chicago. He insisted I see the city for what it really is. “Believe me, Chicago is all blues and jazz and nothing else,” he said. I believed every word, and at that moment I would’ve believed anything anyone said.
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