Now that it's December in Ohio, it's getting harder to pretend that the weather doesn't suck and will continue to suck more or less relentlessly for the next four or five months. This morning it was in the upper-30s (F) with 45mph winds, taking out the power (briefly) and tossing trash can lids like frisbees.

Barbados in January sounds pretty great.

Though the headliner is clearly an R&B-pop performer, this IS an impressive international line-up:

From January 10-16, 2005, the 12th Barbados Jazz Festival will feature Alicia Keys, Kenny Garrett, Ellis Marsalis, Yellowjackets, Gato Barbieri, Keiko Matsui, Pieces of a Dream, Jason Moran, The Charles Flores Quintet, Tito De Gracia, Adrian Clarke, and more in an idyllic eastern Caribbean setting.

Concerts will be held at some of Barbados's top venues including: Sunbury Plantation House, Farley Hill National Park, the Rum Factory at Heritage Park, the Sherbourne Conference Center, The Colony Club Hotel and the Garfield Sobers Auditorium.

Performance Schedule

Monday, January 10, 8:00pm: Sunbury Plantation House
Headliners: Gato Barbieri/Adrian Clarke

Tuesday, January 11, 8:00pm: Heritage Park / The Rum Factory
Headliners: Tamara Marshall/Janelle Headley

Wednesday, January 12, 8:00pm:Sherbourne Conference Center
Headliners: Ellis Marsalis/Jason Moran

Thursday, January 13, 8:00pm: Colony Club Hotel, St. James
Dinner Set

Friday, January 14, 8:00pm: Garfield Sobers Auditorium
Headliner: Alicia Keys

Saturday, January 15, 12:00pm: Farley Hill National Park
Headliners: Pieces of a Dream / Tito De Gracia / Charles Flores Quintet feat:
Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez & Giovanni Hidalgo

Sunday, January 16, 1:00 pm: Farley Hill National Park
Headliners: Kenny Garrett / Yellowjackets / Keiko Matsui

Barbados is popular for its natural and historic attractions, beaches, water sports, golf courses, fine dining and nightlife, and for not being cold. Check out the festival photo gallery here and picture yourself there.

Here are my thoughts on headliner Keys:

Silly mortal, resistance is futile. I have now cheerfully succumbed, but once I too reflexively leaned against the gale force winds of hype surrounding Alicia Keys, the 23 year-old singer/pianist who has been saddled with the responsibility of returning sweet soul music to its rightful place at the head of the popular music table, the fresh neo-soul beauty upon whose slender shoulders rest the artistic legacies of Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and you might as well throw in Billie Holiday, Dorothy Dandridge and Joan of Arc too.

How can the child-prodigy pianist, raised by a single mother in NYC's Hell's Kitchen, possibly survive under this crushing weight of expectation? By simply delivering the goods and remaining true to herself: Alicia Keys truly IS everything that bodes well for the future of the recording industry, wrapped up in one assured but respectful, classically trained but streetwise, gorgeous leggy café au lait package. Such is her hot-buttered-soul-on-the-hip-hop-tip perfection that you might guess the man who signed her — industry legend Clive Davis who discovered Whitney Houston, Santana, Billy Joel, Patti Smith and scores of others — conjured her out of thin air.