Voodoo Music + Arts Experience founder/producer Stephen Rehage shares some top picks in his New Orleans, LA hometown, which hosts the annual Halloween weekend musical celebration.

Courtesy: Rehage Entertainment
NEWORLEANS.COM (10/26/11)
http://www.neworleans.com/blog/2011/10/voodoo-founder-stephen-rehages-top-picks-to-see-and-do-in-new-orleans/
Voodoo founder Stephen Rehage’s top picks to see and do in New Orleans
Voodoo Experience founder/producer Stephen Rehage knows NOLA inside and out.
If you’re unfamiliar with the city and looking for the real places where New Orleans happens – what to eat, where to drink, art, music and more – Voodoo Experience founder and producer Stephen Rehage offers these best-of picks for experiencing New Orleans.
“New Orleans is not about places as much as it is about people,” says Rehage. “It’s impossible to list where New Orleans will be happening at any given moment–it seems to just happen. These suggestions will keep you off of Bourbon Street (unless you’re going to see Irvin at the Playhouse) ‘til New Orleans stumbles upon you, ” Rehage says.
These are the bars, restaurants, art gallery, coffee shop – even a place to satisfy your sweet tooth – to check out while you’re in town for Voodoo Experience.
R Bar (1431 Royal Street, (504) 948-7499)
A muffaletta at Central Grocery (923 Decatur Street, (504) 523-1620)
Vaughn’s Lounge (4229 Dauphine Street, (504) 947-5562) to see Kermit Ruffins on Thursdays
Saturn Bar (3067 St. Claude Ave. (504) 949-7532)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat at the Spellcaster Lodge: Catch ‘em at the Bingo Tent at Voodoo Fest, or the Halloween show at One Eyed Jacks.
The Treme Brass Band on Wednesdays at the Candlelight Lounge (925 N. Robertson, (504) 581-6689)
The Special Men at BJ’s Lounge (4301 Burgundy St., (504) 945-9256)
Hi-Ho Lounge (2239 St. Claude, (504) 945-4446)
Lola’s (3312 Esplanade Ave, (504) 488-6946) for garlic soup and seafood paella
One Eyed Jacks (615 Toulouse St., (504) 569-8361)
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd, (504) 827-5858)
Sushi at Wasabi (900 Frenchmen St., (504) 943-9433)
Pre-Voodoo po-boys at Parkway Bakery and Tavern (538 Hagan Ave., (504) 482-3047)
Fair Grinds (3133 Ponce de Leon, (504) 913-9072) for pre-Voodoo coffee
Post-Voodoo margaritas at Santa Fe (3201 Esplanade Ave., (504) 948-0077)
Bud’s Broiler (500 City Park Ave., (504) 486-2559)
Ogden Museum (925 Camp St., (504) 539-9600) for the After Hours music series
Sucre (3025 Magazine St., (504) 520-8311)
Bacchanal (600 Poland Ave., (504) 948-9111)
Preservation Hall (726 St. Peter Street)
If you’re lucky, you’ll be there on a night when Tom Waits, Robert Plant, Jim James or other random geniuses stumble in to play with Ben Jaffe.
Halloween night on Frenchmen Street
If you happen to decide not to leave New Orleans – which tends to happen more often than one would think – don’t miss Krewe du Vieux during Carnival season or the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.
###