An annual delivery of a fun and feasting microcosm of the inexplicable New Orleans essence has led the NEW ORLEANS FOOD AND WINE EXPERIENCE (NOFWE) to an international billing as "a feast for all the senses." With a variety of activities scheduled Wednesday through Sunday, the week boasts wine and food tastings, seminars, parties and tours arranged to delight both local and visiting gourmets with all its Epicurean offerings. NOFWE kicks off in grand style Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with the Vintner Dinners, meals held at 34 area restaurants from the French Quarter to the Lakefront, with each paired with at least two complementary vineyards. Chefs and vintners have planned their menus accordingly, and each is prix fixe for $85. On Thursday night, the party hits the pavement with the Royal Street Stroll. The event is sponsored by the Royal Street Guild and features the closing to vehicular traffic of arguably the Quarter's most picturesque street. The "experienced" can follow their own itineraries to art galleries, antique shops, music clubs and historic attractions -- with wine and food at each stop -- from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, NOFWE departs a bit from the free-wheeling fun of the first few days to the more cerebral elements of gourmet living, as nearly 20 seminars are held all-day at various locations with discussions led by a litany of experts. Topics range from "Personality of a Pinot" to "Summer Reds" to "Paul's Proteges," which details the successes of the many understudies of Cajun-cooking master Paul Prudhomme. Also on Friday is the first of two Grand Tastings. Held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Hall B-2 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, chefs will prepare generous tasting portions to complement various wines in a whirlwind of mouth-held symphonies. The second Grand Tasting is served from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in the same location. What better way to cap off the week than with some champagne? Corks will pop for Bubbles and Brunch Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the Wyndham Hotel (Canal Place, 100 Iberville St.) as NOFWE closes out in true New Orleans fashion with a champagne jazz brunch. For a complete listing of events, locations, prices and registration information, call 529-WINE or visit www.nowfe.com. -- Frank Etheridge

Cranes 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 Shim Sham Club, 615 Toulouse St., 299-0666 Among the crop of trance-pop bands that gained prominence at the dawn of the '90s, when alternative music was still alternative, Cranes emerged somewhere in the middle of the pack. Formed by the brother-sister team of Jim and Ali Shaw in 1988, the British group embraced the style of the moment, combining ethereal vocals and sweet melodies with guitar noise and other edgy textural effects. They won lots of attention for their first couple of EPs and first full-length album, Wings of Joy, especially from the Cure's Robert Smith, who chose Cranes for the opening slot of the Cure's 1992 world tour. Turning out albums every other year since then, Cranes have watched their cult following contract, but that's probably due to changing trends, not declining musical merit. The material on their latest album Future Songs is more dream than drone, a stunning collection of ambient pop songs. Admission $10. -- Cristina Diettinger

EZ Bake Organs 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 Hi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave., 947-9344 Remember the EZ Bake Oven? Well, this is the EZ Bake Organs, and it's just as campy. One of lower Ninth Ward folk diva Myshkin's many imaginative side projects, the group consists of three female keyboardists (only one of which is actually a real keys player) playing makeshift instruments -- like stacked-up plastic chord organs and a Casio that barely works -- and doing goofy songs with witty lyrics in three-part harmony. This is your last chance to see the EZ Bakes, because, after nine years of Ninth Ward life, Myshkin is moving on. After a summer tour with one of her other bands, the Road Dawg Divas, she'll end up in Portland, Ore., and plant herself there indefinitely. Here in New Orleans, we've watched Myshkin develop from a quirky folk singer with a guitar to a highly creative total musician with a staggering range of musical hats and an impressive discography. She will be sorely missed. Philadelphia folk-punkster Adam Brodsky opens for the Organs. Admission $5. -- Diettinger

White Sauce & Diaper Babies 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 23-25 Contemporary Arts Center, Freeport McMoRan Theater, 900 Camp St., 528-3800 Is Diana Shortes a tormented soul, an audacious performer or something in between? Either way, you have to admire her chutzpah. First, she debuted her one-woman performance of White Sauce & Diaper Babies at this past winter's DramaRama 8. The piece is a look at the troubled life of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anne Sexton -- who committed suicide in 1974. Then Shortes lustily tackled the almost iconic role of the troubled Catherine in John Grimsley's revival of Suddenly Last Summer during this spring's Tennessee Williams Festival, earning deserved high praise. Now she's ready to bring back White Sauce & Diaper Babies after taking the show out on the road for a nationwide tour, giving those of us guilty souls who skipped DramaRama for the Krewe du Vieux parade a chance to catch up on what we missed. So maybe the torment will end for all of us. This performance is a last-minute substitution for the Revolution show, which unfortunately was canceled. Tickets $8 CAC members, $10 general admission. -- David Lee Simmons

Arturo Sandoval 8 p.m. Friday, May 24 The Howlin' Wolf, 828 S. Peters St., 522-WOLF If there's anyone who deserves his slice of the Buena Vista Social Club-launched Cuban music renaissance, it's trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. Long before Ry Cooder made his pilgrimage, Cuban native Sandoval founded the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderne in the early '70s, and shaped it into the influential Cuban-rock band Irakere -- currently led by Buena Vista pianist Chucho Valdes. Sandoval later became close with Dizzy Gillespie, and brought his fiery style of Cuban bop trumpet to Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra. Sandoval achieved such milestones under the watchful eye of the Castro regime, and ultimately defected in 1990. His aptly titled debut American album for GRP, Flight to Freedom, also showed Sandoval's softer side, spotlighting his flugelhorn work on ballads. His most recent CD is My Passion for the Piano, featuring Sandoval leading a piano trio, so expect a diverse musical journey at Sandoval's live show. Fredy Omar con su Banda opens. Admission $20. -- Scott Jordan

Diana Krall 8 p.m. Saturday, May 25 Saenger Theatre, 143 N. Rampart St., 524-2490/522-5555 Diana Krall sports the look of love Saturday at the Saenger. Nothing about Diana Krall altogether fits, and yet she has become a total package in the world of popular music. The essence of an artist who is greater than the sum of her parts, Krall might not have the greatest range as a singer, nor is she the most technically proficient pianist in the world. Even her much-discussed good looks are tempered by an expression that has the 37-year-old framed perpetually in mid-sneeze. But put together, she's a dynamo. Her alto phrasings (not unlike her beauty) have a guarded quality about them, playing it oh so cool as she did on last year's hot-selling CD, The Look of Love, and her subsequent live-performance DVD, Diana Krall Live in Paris. On both, that cool delivery perfectly matches her obvious affinity for romantic ballads and the ultimate cool offshoot of jazz music: bossa nova. (I'd given my right arm for her to break out into "Girl From Ipanema.") This is a woman who knows exactly how to stay within herself, which makes the future even more intriguing than her break-out present. Tickets range $40 to $60 and are available at the box office or though Ticketmaster (522-5555). -- Simmons

Ready ... Set ... Flow! 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 24-25 NOCCA\Riverfront, Lupin Hall, 2800 Chartres St., 598-9268 Not using the holiday weekend to relax, local modern-dance company Happensdance is packing their weekend full of performances and workshops highlighting the aim and art of the troupe. In the two performances, consisting of five diverse works collectively titled Ready Š Set Š Flow!, three choreographers present works all delving into themes of human relationships. Happensdance Artistic Director Jeanne Jaubert's new solo, "Bourbon Street Story" combines the narration of Jessica Radcliffe and guitar of Martin Simpson to depict an elderly woman's connection to the people and objects of her life. Jaubert also presents "Time and Again" and "Lullaby Suite." NanDance Project's "Touch ... and Be Moved" is an eclectic mix of styles including tap set to live music including the piano of Tom McDermott. J Hammons' "EVOL" is a duet conjuring up imagery of a bizarre mating ritual. On Sunday and Monday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Salem Church (4212 Camp St., 895-0392), Happensdance presents two workshops in contact improvisation with Martin Keogh, open to all interested in movement. Tickets for Ready Š Set Š Flow! are $12 general public, $9 students; registration for the workshop is $85. -- Etheridge

Supersuckers, Jesse Dayton, Black Mountain 9 p.m. Saturday, May 25 The Howlin' Wolf, 828 S. Peters St., 522-WOLF The Supersuckers thrash about Saturday at the Howlin' Wolf. They thrashed with punk-rock ferocity, but the Supersuckers were mistakenly lumped into the grunge movement of the early '90s, thanks to their Seattle home base and a series of albums on the Sub Pop label. A decade later, the band hasn't lost any of its intensity, though it's now invested in their self-proclaimed musical "alter ego": country music. After backing fellow renegade Steve Earle for a raucous EP, the Supersuckers have been burning up the honky-tonk highway, delivering whip-smart anthems like "Ice Cold Beer Only" and "One Cigarette Away." Now they're lumped into the alt-country movement, and while Supersuckers do vintage nuggets like Conway Twitty's "Image of Me" and Buck Owens' "Alabama, Louisiana, or Maybe Tennessee," they do it without the inflated sense of importance that drags down so much of the No Depression scene. To get a sneak preview of the show, listen to Must¹ve Been Live, the rocking new "official bootleg" released by the band on Mid-Fi Recordings. Jesse Dayton, and Black Mountain, open. Tickets $12. -- Jordan

New Orleans Civic Symphony concert 3 p.m. Sunday, May 26 University of New Orleans, Lakefront Campus, Performing Arts Center Recital Hall As New Orleanians stagger about in the coming months, looking for entertainment with dual prerequisites of the fun being both on-the-cheap and in-the-cool, classical music fans can look forward to a series of free, open-to-the-public concerts performed by the New Orleans Civic Symphony. This Sunday afternoon, Dr. David L. Nelson will conduct the orchestra. Dr. Nelson is the graduate coordinator for the Department of Music at UNO, and teaches courses in music theory and conducting; his background includes a master's degree in conducting and a Ph.D. in music theory, both earned at Northwestern University. The afternoon's program includes "The Barber of Seville" overture by Gioacchino Rossini, "Unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B Minor" by Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Symphony No. 38" (known as the "Prague" symphony). -- Etheridge

Third Antenna: A Film Documentary About the Radical Nature of Drag 9 p.m. Monday, May 27 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 It's been a long time since anyone though that drag shows were a radical notion of any kind. But director Freddie Fagula explores that very idea in his documentary Third Antenna, transcending the camp sensibilities of the concept and exploring through interviews and performance footage compiled over the previous three years as well as from Fagula's "drag tour" during the summer of 1999. Fagula interviews both drag kings and queens alike, and tries to show the challenging and empowering aspects of the shows as they more deeply explore the issues of gender and identity. Fagula and assistant director Reno Durham will be in attendance. Tickets $5. -- Simmons

Bill Creevy: New York Through May Cole Pratt Gallery, 3800 Magazine St., 891-6789 Mention New Orleans to most Americans and what comes to mind? The French Quarter, Bourbon Street, the Superdome, the streetcar. Such are the stereotypes, but for natives, New Orleans is always home, the neighborhood where you grew up, the schools you attended. For New York artist and native Orleanian Bill Creevy, that means the wide, flat vistas of Gentilly Terrace in the 1940s, the area around Venus and DeMontluzin streets, scrub oaks on Lakeshore Drive. Not your usual tourist meccas, yet such scenes have lingered in memory for a lifetime to finally emerge in these realistic yet subjective landscapes. Better known for his still lifes, Creevy pays homage to his favorite artist, pop-meister Wayne Thiebaud, in some lushly painted local favorites: Sazeracs, Bloody Marys, bourbon doubles and the like. Hmmm -- maybe Bourbon Street figures in this somehow after all. -- D. Eric Bookhardt

Elliot Snellings: Cibachrome Photographs Through May 28 Carol Robinson Gallery, 840 Napoleon Ave, 895-6130 Vacation time will soon be upon us once again, and while there is nothing like a trip to clear the head, the sense of escape that the great getaway provides is surely as mental it is physical. Yes, of course Hawaii is real, but it's also in your mind. The same goes for Venice among other exotic places to which photographer Elliot Snellings returns -- not only in the flesh, but also in his mind's eye. Working at dawn when ordinarily busy places are deserted and bathed in an eerie half-light, he later modifies his images to create the Venice, or wherever, of our dreams, with many layers of experience compressed into a single image. Special places are like that; fascinating on so many levels that Snellings' highly personal and subjective photos may in some ways be more realistic than many of those seemingly more "realistic" landscapes or snapshots. -- Bookhardt