When does summer start? Consult the calendar and you’ll see it’s still a month away. But in New Orleans the seasons aren’t necessarily tied to the conventions of solstice and equinox. For me, the New Orleans summer always begins immediately after Jazz Fest, and it’s not the changing weather alone that marks the shift. It’s the feeling that the long New Orleans train of one big celebration after the next has reached the station, and it’s time to hop off for a bit.