Here are a few ideas for some quick trips to savor food and music.
New Orleans
Jazz and Heritage Festival April 29-May 7: Thousands of music fans from around the world are planning to attend the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this year, despite the rubble still evident on the news. With the city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, this Jazz Fest aims to be a celebration like no other. Its lineup includes Bruce Springsteen, Fats Domino, Paul Simon, Allen Toussaint with Elvis Costello, and Bob Dylan. Fans helped make it happen through charities like Katrina's Piano Fund, which directed donated instruments to more than 200 Crescent City musicians. It joined several other nonprofit organizations - including the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund and MusiCares - that have channeled both dollars and donated instruments to the talent that makes the city a musical mecca. The good news is that the French Quarter, Uptown, Garden District, Art/Warehouse District and American Sector are pretty much back to normal, give or take a few blue-tarped roofs. For information on tickets or where to stay, see www.nojazzfest.com.
West Palm Beach
Sunfest May 4-7: Some 300,000 people are expected to attend the huge five-day Sunfest Festival in West Palm Beach, generally considered Florida's largest music, art and waterfront festival. The music tends to cling tightly to the middle of the road with Carrie Underwood, the 2005 American Idol winner, Michael Bolton and, wait for it, Ashlee Simpson on the bill. But there are some goodies in there for edgier fans: Omarion, Fiona Apple, Train, Latin rocker JD Natasha and Jason Mraz. There also is an impressive art show on Friday and Saturday, fireworks to close the event, and children have a lot to keep them occupied. Make sure you check out the Silent Disco on May 5, a hugely popular import from the Netherlands that involves a DJ and numerous sets of wireless headphones. To an onlooker, it's dead silent, but to the boogeying audience, it's a dance party. Advance tickets are $17 for one day and $35 for a four-day pass. At the gate it's $20 a day and $40 for a four-day ticket; children 12 and under are free. Get them online at www.sunfest.com and by phone at 1-800-SUNFEST.
Orlando
Orlando Fringe Festival May 18-29: This celebration of the performing arts takes hold of the streets, theaters and converted industrial spaces of downtown Orlando. The event also encompasses an outdoor stage with nightly concerts and Kids Fringe, to keep the little ones happy. The focus is on diversity, as well as the all-important risk factor. For example this year Mark Baratelli is doing a solo show, Improv Cabaret, but he'll also be blogging, podcasting and updating his MySpace page before, during and after the show. The beauty is you can catch the work of amazing emerging artists, or cringe with the rest of the crowd at a group of struggling amateurs butchering a classic. Buttons cost $6 for entry and show prices range from free to $10. Get them at www.orlandofringe.org. Many shows are sold out well in advance, so it's smart to get them early.
Midwest universities
Virgin College Mega Tour: Yellowcard is the headliner on the tour, which is hitting college campuses nationwide. It also features Mae and Over It, as well as a daytime "village" that will house an emerging artist stage, a karaoke booth, the Major League Baseball experience " Access to the Show," Pontiac vehicles, games, prizes and demonstrations of "the latest and greatest gadgets for the college circle." You can catch up with it May 2 in Carbondale, Ill. (South Illinois University) or May 3 in Champaign, Ill., (University of Illinois), and it wraps up May 6 in Columbus, Ohio, at the Ohio State Schottenstein Center.
Memphis, Tenn.
Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest May 18-20: Kick off your summer grilling with the "Super Bowl of Swine" that is the world championship barbecue cooking contest. The local paper, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, says this year's contest "has all the ingredients for a great drama. After last year's upset of perennial favorites such as Jack's Old South and Big Bob Gibson, contestants are keen for a rematch." Back in 1978 the contest started with just 20 competitors. It has now grown to become one of the largest and most colorful in the country followed closely by the Food Network and even the BBC. Some 250 teams from 22 states will get fired up about the hunt for trophies, cash prizes and the right to brag about cooking the planet's best pork in the rib, shoulder and whole hog divisions. For details see www.memphisinmay.org.
