Updated 4:15 p.m. Now that JazzFest is over, it's time for the slow trickle of news about this year's Voodoo Fest lineup to start. The punk rockers with pop levels of success, Green Day, announced via Fuse TV and on their website that they will be one of the headliners at the 2012 edition of the Halloween weekend festival. The City Park engagement will be the only North American tour date this year, according to the report. Also among the headliners: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and for electronic fans, the highly acclaimed Justice and recent Buku headliner Skrillex.

It wasn't just you. More people were sweating on you than usual at JazzFest this year. According to Fest organizers, this year's attendance was 450,000, the highest since a 2003 bill that counted Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Counting Crows and New Edition among the big headliners. The all-time high remains 2001's 650,000. This year's potent mix of legends like Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Tom Petty, The Beach Boys and Herbie Hancock, likeables including Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Janelle Monae and Rodrigo y Gabriela and of course locals seemed to have hit the mark again. Start your betting now for how they'll top it next year.

After months of hype, it's Fight Night. Simon Bowl. Treme vs. The Wire. NOLA vs. Bal'more. Tonight, Tipitina's will host a battle of the bands pitting David Simon's two favorite cities against each other. Wearing the home uniforms will be Galactic and the Stooges Brass Band. Representing Baltimore will be Anwan "Big G" Glover and the Backyard Band and Lafayette Gilchrist and the New Volcanos. Since Don King and Justin Bieber weren't available, we figured we'd give the bands a chance to improve their Standing before the bell rings. Here's what they had to say:

Even if you can't get a fresh dose of Mystikal in person while he's in jail, there will still be a chance to hear that familiar voice. The New Orleans rapper, who is fresh off a set at Jazz Fest last week, has also been recording new music in advance of his scheduled Monday reporting date for an 81-day prison term for violating his probation, and plans to release a mixtape while he's in the clink. To get more details about what's in store for a comeback rapper who will have to make another comeback, Billboard caught up with him in that city where you find most New Orleans rappers: Miami. Read the interview here.

by Brad Rhines

Better stock up on Honey Nut Cheerios, New Orleans, because Omar is coming. On Friday night Tipitina’s features a Treme vs. The Wire Battle of the Bands, co-hosted by Wendell Pierce, who plays Antoine Batiste on Treme, and Michael K. Williams, who played Omar Little on The Wire. In this corner are hometown favorites Galactic and the Stooges Brass Band, and in this corner, from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are Lafayette Gilchrist & The New Volcanoes and The Backyard Band, which features Anwan Glover, better known to fans of The Wire as Slim Charles.

We've looked forward to the Fair Grounds fortnight since the lineup first came out in December. Now, after a long weekend of FM rock, all-star jams and really good fried food, it's all over once again. The 2012 edition of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival boasted one of the biggest lineups - and, in turn, biggest crowds - that there's ever been. And, as always, it was the small pleasures of chatting with a Mardi Gras Indian, spotting a flag that was actually a pork chop, or seeing America's favorite Uncle Jesse, that stand out even beyond the music. Click through to peruse NoDef's coverage of the full two weeks, and pretend you aren't actually working today:

Down the stretch they come on the 2012 edition of New Orleans Jazz Fest, but there's still plenty of adventures in music in store to close things out. Today, blue-eyed soul gets a proper update in the Blues Tent, Bounce gets a shining moment at Congo Square, and a group of locals bring the rock to the Acura Stage. Make sure to hang onto this handful, because it's the last one for this year:

It's Saturday night, and JazzFest bursts out of the Fair Grounds and into the clubs once again. Tonight, The Meters reunite, a legendary British music master plays at the House of Blues and supergroups abound. Check out the full rundown:

Each year on the first Sunday of May, the Festival powers demand that the Bywater holds forth with an additional afternoon of merrymaking and music is staged each year. Beginning at noon, this year's edition of NOizeFest boasts a deep lineup of local acts pushing music to its outer limits. Acts include Ratty Scurvics, The Bongoloids, The Death Posture and Genrefuck. Once upon a 2004, however, there was no NOizefest. Then Deacon John's son Keith Moore came along. On the eve of this year's action, NOizefest facilitator Michael Patrick Welch relays how the whole thing got started:

FAIR GROUNDS -- Being old enough to remember when her father Pops penned songs that would later be classics of the civil rights movement, Mavis Staples has never been the type of performer to simply run through her hits without offering a few thoughts on the state of the world. Friday's set offered her a few chances to address current events. First, of course, was her would-be partner for a Saturday set that will not come to pass, the recently departed Levon Helm.