Music, food, dancing and parades are how we celebrate significant occasions in New Orleans. During what could be considered Halloween weekend, Friday, October 31, through Sunday, November 2, four very different processions take to the city's streets.
 
The parading kicks off with a brand new event compliments of float builder Blaine Kern. Aptly dubbed the Krewe of Boo, it gets rolling from Elysian Fields and Decatur Street at 7 p.m. on Halloween night complete with floats, throws and brass bands.
  
A special addition to the parade will be a troupe of Zulu Cultural Dancers, brought in as part of the New Orleans/South Africa Connection's week-long cultural, educational and business events.
 
The Krewe of Boo heads up Decatur Street, takes the fork to the left onto North Peters and travels on Canal Street before making a U-turn at Dauphine St. to head back towards the river. It turns upriver at Convention Center Boulevard and ends at Mardi Gras World East for a big bash to benefit New Orleans First Responders. The headliners at the affair, which beings at 8 p.m., includes renowns like Allen Toussaint, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and more.
 
Because of its French Quarter route, some folks were concerned that the Krewe of Boo parade would supplant Jim Monahan's traditional Halloween parade that has long rallied at Molly's at the Market, 1107 Decatur St. The good news is that this local favorite, which is geared to a more adult crowd, will simply start after the Boo has passed. The Storyville Stompers Brass Band leads this fun procession that allows costumed second liners a chance to see and be seen as it zigzags through the Quarter making stops at several barrooms and drawing big crowds on Bourbon Street before it heads home again to Molly's. The Stompers have come a long ways since its early days when the band was a rather rag-tag assemblage that played mainly for the fun of it. Led by tuba man, Woody Penouilh, it is now a respected group that performs and travels regularly and has produced some fine CDs.
 
Frenchmen Street is often a popular destination following the Molly's parade both for the club offerings and the street scene. Imaginatively costumed revelers prance around to the rhythm of drums and other musical and mystic diversions. The later in the night it gets, the wilder and more crowded the street becomes. It's wonderful but not for the meek or demure.
 
A good alternative plan for those who want to keep the party going but not be amidst the crush of humanity is to head to Donna's. The down-home spot on N. Rampart and St. Ann streets presents Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown and Chocolate City. The trumpeter and vocalist, who has returned to the bandstand after being sidelined for a time by an illness, kicks off the night of jazz at 9 p.m. Naturally, owner/chief Charlie Simms will be in the kitchen and these days also barbecuing on his sidewalk grill.
 
Incidentally, Donna's has begun to follow suit of several other music clubs by putting on shows at an earlier hour. One of New Orleans' great drummers, bandleaders and vocalists, Shannon Powell, who holds down Sunday nights, now gets his talent-packed band jumping at 8 p.m. It may come as a surprise to some, but trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, who is considered by many to be a late-nighter, really enjoys early sets. His longtime gig at Vaughn's, where many of us have hung until the wee hours, has just changed his show's start time to 9 p.m.
 
As the calm of Ash Wednesday follows the madness of Mardi Gras Day, All Saints Day, November 1, follows the merriment of Halloween night. New Orleans is one of the only places in the United States that observes this day to remember those who have passed. It is a time when people traditionally visit the graves of their relatives and loved ones often bringing flowers and cleaning and repairing headstones and tombs. Families often make a day of it, bringing picnic baskets to the cemeteries and trading stories about the lives and times of the deceased.
 
The Backstreet Cultural Museum added a new tradition to the All Saints Day commemorative activities. Each year the museum, which specializes in jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure club parades and Mardi Gras Indians, presents a second line in memory of those who died the previous year. It is always a simple yet heartfelt event that celebrates the lives of those who have been a part of the cultural community from the street vendor to famous musicians. This year's procession, which begins at 3 p.m. at Rhodes Funeral Home at 1716 N. Claiborne Ave., is particularly personal for curator Sylvester Francis as it pays special honor to his mother, Evelyn Francis and sister, Vera Touro as well as Mardi Gras Indian Big Queen Barbara Sparks. The New Birth Brass Band leads the memorial procession down N. Claiborne to St. Philip St. and back to the Backstreet Museum, 1116 St. Claude Ave., for a ceremony.
 
To wrap-up the weekend of second lining, the We Are One Social Aid & Pleasure Club hits the streets at noon on Sunday, November 2, 2008. It starts and ends at the Turning Point Lounge, 1738 Washington Avenue. If you're still eager to dance, jump and bop, bassist Mark Brooks, the talented brother of vocalist Juanita and banjoist/guitarist Detroit, leads the band for this week's Nickel-A-Dance show at Ray's Boom Boom Room starting at 4 p.m.
 
"Feet can't fail me now..."