NEW ORLEANS | I have been going to Voodoo for many years and I remember that it was a very young festival. I would always hear people say “It’s a kids festival” and I am like, “well, I guess that makes me a kid because I am going and will continue to go for as long as I can walk and dance and enjoy life. No strings attached.” I never felt out of place because I was older then the young people that were attending the festival. I felt that the music connected us all in some way or another and that we were all there to do the same thing. Enjoy all that Voodoo had to offer. Let go, dance and be merry.

NEW ORLEANS | The “Bull” and the “‘Bot” chase each other in the darkness of Voodoo Fest’s mayhem. The “Bull” shoots steam from its horns. Old friends and past loves watch the pair pass before drunken eyes then fold back into their lives in far away cities.

The electronic second line is a sexual, dark, fun flood of ass-shaking lights moving without reason, cajoling the costumed crowds to revelry on a Halloween night.

NEW ORLEANS | At Voodoo Fest on Friday, October 30th, 2009, I officially reached middle age. In the fading dusk of a rainy Friday I found myself standing with a collection of high school sophomores watching a twenty-something “mega” band. I feel like the oldest person on the planet. The band is Silversun Pickups and the music sounds overly produced and slick.

Sheets of rain fall from the sky in a downpour. I squint to find a smiling face. The audience around me is too callow, too lost, too full of disinterest. The driving rain covers our clothes with a smell of wet skin and sweat. Our individual stinks mix together and hang in the turgid air.

NEW ORLEANS | Voodoo 2009 finished on a warm note this Sunday, with not even a cloud in the sky as I entered City Park fashionably late. I headed straight for the main stage this morning and was immediately awakened by the bluesy hard rock of Brooklyn's Earl Greyhound, who seemed as happy to be on stage as the crowd was to be watching.

NEW ORLEANS | Halloween at this year's Voodoo Music Experience was exactly what its name suggests; an experience. Making up for yesterday's soggy lost time, NewOrleans.com's very own Red Death (yours truly) snuck into Day 2 of the festival through a well-hidden side gate just before the main entrance opened to the public.

After a much-needed cup of strong coffee, I started my rounds through the vendors' area to check out a few of the things I missed out on yesterday. Once I had made friends with the girls at Inexplicable Confetti (who have my vote for Best Name For Anything Ever) and harassing my friends at Sabai, it was time for the first round of music to begin.

NEW ORLEANS | It is Wednesday night in City Park and everything is still. Voodoo Fest will start in two days, but for now the unlit stages sit ready and primed. From Friday to Sunday the audience will throng in inebriated costumed mass to hear international mega-bands such as Kiss, Jane’s Addiction, Emminem, Lenny Kravitz and Widespread Panic.

Yet a smaller stage featuring local talent – The Bingo! Parlor – rises as a yellow and red striped tent at the entrance of the Voodoo Music Experience. Set among art installations and next to a small lake, the Bingo! Parlor combines influences of Tom Waits, “Hee-Haw” and Pee-Wee's Playhouse to produce a tent full of musical vaudeville, of strip tease, and of New Orleanian-ness. Local celebrity and co-founder of the Bingo! Parlor Clint Maedgen explains, “(The Bingo! Parlor) is something of a family reunion... It is fun to shine the light on our friends.”

NEW ORLEANS | What a beautiful day for a festival. The winds were blowing and the trees seem to smile as the sun came in and out. People were happy to be out doors and heading to one of the most awesome parties of the year. Voodoo Fest. It’s Halloween weekend in New Orleans and you better watch your souls.

As soon as I walked on the festival grounds I could feel the vibrations of the earth moving. The music was calling me and my waist could not stop swaying. I heard the sweet voice of an angel and a welcoming rhythm section. I didn’t know who or where the sound was coming from. I followed the sounds and it leads me to the WWOZ stage.

After a truly epic wait in the line to check in, I walked through the festival gates and right into the heart of the Experience. Running hours late and disappointed to miss so many of the early acts, I allowed myself some "retail therapy" and took a while to peruse the vendor booths. With Storyville's clever t-shirts, Sabai's gorgeous jewelery, and Dubwise's hip Rastafarian gear among many others, the local merchants were out in full force, offering their best to the festival crowd.

Voodoo Fest this year will be host to an array of musical greats in various genres. I am excited to report on bands with international roots ranging from rock and punk to reggae and Big Band Havana. I feel there is a lack of Latin roots bands in Voodoo. And know there are many Latin rock, punk and alternative bands with huge International followings. Considering New Orleans has seen a rise in the Latin population since Katrina, I think this would be a good move for Voodoo Fest and support evident by the many Latin restaurants and businesses that have sprung up in the last four years.  Despite my misgivings, there are a few bands comprised of members with various cultures and ethnicities at Voodoo like rocker Alejandro Escovedo whose roots are Mexican, Gogol Bordello which is a multi-ethnic punk band with the majority of their members from Eastern Europe, K’NAAN who is originally from Somalia and sings political reggae, New Orleans own Zydepunks who do songs in Spanish and German and Mas Mamones who is also a New Orleans based Latin band who is known for their 1950-60’s Old Cuban Style/Jazz numbers.

Consider the five guys from Lucy's Walk your Friday morning wake up call - Tim Badeaux, Stephen Cali, Darren Kennedy, Sam Pons and Ron St. Pierre have the honor of opening up the entire festival! You can find them on the Voodoo Stage at 11:00 a.m on Friday morning.

Lucy's Walk has been in existence since 2001, but this will be one of their first major performances since they took a hiatus post-Katrina. Their show at the festival marks their return as a major player in the local music scene, so you're definitely going to want to be there. It'll be worth waking up with the sun, I promise.