Last year, a Canadian tour company conceived a festival as an insider networking event for hospitality and nightlife operators, but it proved so successful that it has revamped the event in its second year as a winter break playground for vacationing clubbers from the general public. The second BPM festival returns to Playa Del Carmen on the Mexican Caribbean coast for 10 days of non-stop partying with international electronica artists and DJs. Events take place daytimes on the beach and nighttimes in the resort's many nightclubs.

According to the festival, the lineup includes "Get Physical's two-headed beast M.A.N.D.Y., flying Dutchman Sander Kleinenberg, the "King of Space" Steve Lawler, getting weirder by the minute Lee Burridge, Crosstown Rebels head honcho Damian Lazarus, Spanish house heartthrob Pablo Ceballos [of Chus & Ceballos] and Toronto's rising star Sean Miller."

Sounds like a great winter break option for the beautiful people in the frosty north. Visit the festival website for detailed information.

Ringmaster Delbert McClinton will once again assemble some of the best in reggae, zydeco, blues, southern rock and Americana for his 15th Sandy Beaches Cruise, set to push off from San Diego on January 17, 2009. Clinton's boat of choice, Holland America's luxurious ms Oosterdam, will take fans on an eight-day journey, stopping at the scenic and (indeed) very sandy beaches of Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo on Mexico's Pacific Coast along the way, returning to the original Southern California port on the 24th.

Oh man, this is the music excursion I'd like to book. An alternative to the spate of music cruises, Flying Under Radar Productions puts on exotic Roots on the Rails adventures in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. West. In past years, the Tarahumara Train, which runs out of Tucson to the Copper Canyon region of Mexico's Sierra Madre, has featured folk heroes like Tom Russell and Fred Eaglesmith.

The 2008 Tarahumara Train runs May 15-22 and features two of my musical heroes, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, plus more "friends" to be announced. For boomers like me, Hillman and Pedersen have been part of the soundtrack of our lives, beginning with the Byrds and Burritos and playing key roles in the defining the country rock sound.

Throughout the years, the two of them have paired on numerous projects, including The Desert Rose Band and in a quartet with the Rice brothers. Recently, they have played as a trio with bassist Bill Bryson, and to my ears their music is sweeter than ever.

Roots on the Rails trips are not inexpensive. This one goes for $4750 per person, including all onboard and hotel accommodations, various side trips, plus concerts, workshops and jams all along the way. I don't know if this is the trip of a lifetime, but it certainly will make the 2008 highlight reel.