New Orleans Jazz Fest

The 2009 New Orleans Jazz Fest starts today. Even if you can't get there, you can add a little New Orleans to your life this weekend:

Listen to the music: Start with some Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, and Wynton Marsalis. Add in community radio WWOZ 90.7 FM, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station; WWOZ will be broadcasting live from the Jazz Fest grounds.

Enjoy the food and drink: Prepare something from Judy Walker's book Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans or check out her blog at The Times-Picayune. Ms. Walker is that paper's food editor.

The Times-Picayune also has an excellent recipe index. Creole Julep anyone?

Read books and view movies set in New Orleans: Rent A Streetcar Named Desire. Read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, John Grisham's The Client and The Pelican Brief, or the classic A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, a few of the many books set in the city. A list of more works of fiction set in New Orleans can be found at this Wikipedia link.

If nothing else, have the right attitude: Laissez les bons temps rouler!