It's road trip time. If all goes as planned, I'll arrive Thursday in the Big Easy for the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, my favorite music event of the year. Headliners include Stevie Wonder, The Raconteurs, Randy Newman, The Neville Brothers (making their first Crescent City performance post-Katrina), Widespread Panic, The Roots, John Prine, Richard Thompson, Alejandro Escovedo, Santana, The Derek Trucks Band, Trombone Shorty, Soul Rebels (they play Tropical Heatwave May 17) and a slew of other killer Louisiana acts. In addition to 10 stages featuring live music daily May 1-4, there are rows of food stands featuring the finest in Bayou State cuisine, which means I'll be loading up on pheasant gumbo. In between catching as many bands as possible and stuffing my face, I'll also be blogging about the fest.

The 10-hour drive to New Orleans starts tonight. I'll be riding with Creative Loafing Events Editor Leilani Polk, her husband/CL photog Phil Bardi and their pal Alex. Leilani and Phil will probably repay me for leaving Phish off my "Greatest rock band of past 20 years?" list by playing Phish the entire trip. In case they do let me play DJ for an hour or so, here's the Crescent City CD I made:

Ultimate New Orleans Mix

1. “When The Saints Go Marching In,” Louis Armstrong

2. “The Pearls,” Jelly Roll Morton

3. “Tipitina,” Professor Longhair

4. “Frankie & Johnny,” Champion Jack Dupree

5. “Walking To New Orleans,” Fats Domino

6. “Iko Iko,” The Dixie Cups

7. “Tell It Like It Is,” Aaron Neville

8. “Time Is On My Side,” Irma Thomas

9. “Junco Partner,” James Booker

10. “Right Place Wrong Time,” Dr. John

11. “Fire On The Bayou,” The Meters

12. “Southern Nights,” Allen Toussaint

13. “Brother John,” The Wild Tchoupitoulas

14. “Hey Pocky Way,” Neville Brothers

15. “Hot Tamale Baby,” Buckwheat Zydeco

16. “Mardi Gras Mambo,” Zachary Richard

17. “Mardi Gras in New Orleans,” The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

18. “Soon All Will Know,” Wynton Marsalis

19. “Louisiana 1927,” Randy Newman

20. “When the Levee Breaks,” Galactic

21. “Feel Me,” Lil Wayne

22. “Basin Street Blues,” Harry Connick, Jr.

This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2008.