By Sara Ballenger

The 13th annual New Orleans by the Bay celebration will kick off the summer concert season, from noon to 7:30 p.m. June 23-24, at Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View.

“It’s modeled after Jazz Fest New Orleans,” said Lance Cutler of Coats Public Relations, which is handling public relations, for the event. “It’s a Bill Graham Presents idea. Mick Brigdon (of Bill Graham Presents) fell in love with New Orleans and thought it was a good idea for a concert.”

The festival features cultural highlights of New Orleans.”There is a giant Mardi Gras parade each day, complete with floats and bead throwing. You can also buy Louisiana cuisine like Jumbalaya and Crawfish.”

The main highlight is the different types of New Orleans music.

“There is everything from African, to Caribbean, zydeco, gospel, to local marching bands,” Cutler said.

Featured below are just a few of the many artists to perform:

The Funky Meters

Headlining Saturday’s performance, The Funky Meters have a unique self-described “Afro-Caribbean-blues rhythms” sound.

The Funky Meters have played at the event before.

“We played there about two years ago,” said George Porter, bassist. “It’s like a small New Orleans Jazz Festival.”

Although they are based in New Orleans, The Funky Meters feel right at home in the Bay Area.

“It’s exciting to play in the Bay Area,” said Porter of his Saturday performance. “It’s our first performance since we recorded our live CD ‘Fire at the Fillmore.’ San Francisco has always made us feel at home.”

The band has been together for about 30 years.

“The original band didn’t have as much of a rock edge,” Porter said. “As we grew the music grew.”

The Funky Meters feature Art Neville, of the Neville Brothers on vocals and keyboards, George Porter on bass and background vocals, David Russell Batiste Jr. on drums, Brian Stoltz guitar and background vocals.

Nicholas Payton

New Orleans is said to be the birthplace of Jazz, and it’s where Grammy winning trumpet player Payton was born. Payton began playing trumpet professionally at the age of eight. His tunes range in musical stylings from be-bop to classic jazz. He has studied and worked with some of the jazz greats, all by the age of 24. Payton is set to play the festival both days.