Show us how well you understand Jazz Fest and win a pair of tickets to see Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. 

Think you know Jazz Fest? Prove it and play “Quint for a Day.”

Quint Davis is the executive producer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, and he has often referred to each stage as a mini-festival that has to be programmed. Can you look at a talent pool and schedule it the way he would? If you think you can, play Quint for a Day.  

The Challenge: Guess the cubes for Thursday, May 2 at Jazz Fest. Look at the talent scheduled to play that day and decide who will play what stage and in what order. Slot and schedule talent for the Acura Stage, the Gentilly Stage, Congo Square, the WWOZ Jazz Tent, The Blues Tent, The Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do Stage, the Economy Hall Tent, the Jazz and Heritage Stage, the Lagniappe Stage and the Gospel Tent. When you have your lists—ordered from opening act to stage headliner, just as Jazz Fest does with its cubes—email your work to alex@myspiltmilk.com with the Subject Line “Quint for a Day.” 

I’ll help you get started. The last act on Acura will be The Rolling Stones.

The Deadline: Midnight on March 25, or the release of the cubes. Typically, Jazz Fest releases the cubes 30 days before the start of the festival. This year, March 26 marks the 30-day warning, so I need entries in by midnight the night before. HOWEVER, if Jazz Fest moves up the date it releases the cubes—or I did the math differently—the deadline moves up with it. Your predictions need to be in by midnight the night before the cubes are released. If the cube are released after March 26, the March 25 deadline stands. 

The Prize: Two tickets to see Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats on Friday, May 3 at the Saenger, courtesy of Live Nation. They’ll be joined by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and other special guests that night, so it’s a prize worth thinking like Quint for, as is the feeling of self-satisfaction that accompanies knowing that you’ve cracked Jazz Fest.

Remember: You’re slotting talent the way you think Quint will book it, NOT the way you think he should. The winner will be the person who correctly slots the most acts on the right stage and in the right order. In the event of a tie, accuracy on the Jazz and Heritage Stage and the Lagniappe Stage will be the tiebreakers, in that order.  

I’d love to also give the winner a golf cart to tool around the Fair Grounds in, but I don’t have that kind of budget. The winner will have to enjoy he feeling of self-satisfaction that will come with the win, and a sweet Nathaniel Rateliff show.