Since when are there 10 days between Monday and Wednesday?

Already, this has been a long week. I'm putting finishing touches on the last issue of Idaho Arts Quarterly for which I will serve as editor. The summer issue will be heralded with the roll out of a new and improved edition and I'm excited to see how it looks. Long-time IAQ and BW contributor Katy Dang will sit in the captain's seat as the new IAQ editor bringing a wealth of new ideas to the table. I will continue in my role as BW A&E editor and will assist Katy in any way that I can in her new endeavor.
I caught Philadelphia punk band the A.K.A.'s at the Venue on Monday. They played a few tunes off their upcoming new release Everybody Make Some Noise! and plenty songs off their last Fueled By Ramen release. It was such a fun show and after interviewing lead singer Mike Ski, it was great to meet him in person. He's adorable and has a great sense of humor as well as a terrific stage presence.
Last night, I saw the Drive-By Truckers for the first time (the blurry photo is of them). They played the Big Easy, a venue that offers big sound in a relatively intimate setting. The show looked sold out and although I heard someone who works there say it wasn't anywhere close, I can't imagine what it would have looked like if it had been. Too many more bodies, and we would have had to take turns rocking out in shifts. The DBTs are an amazing band and though they have clear influences from the likes of Tom Petty, they have turned those influences into a sound oftheir own. It was a very cool show and I'm glad to now be a member of the group of people who've seen them (though most of them have known how utterly groovy the band is all along).
Atkins out (of energy).

OPP (Other People's iPods)

People who know me, know I'm a big fan (and regular purchaser) of high-tech gadgets and are usually surprised to discover I don't own an iPod. Not even an "old-school" one. Never have.
I have purchased several mp3 players, though. I bought one when they first came out (16MB capacity) for an outrageous price. The most biggest one I own (20GB) is a refurbished iRiver I bought from Woot.com (that's about the size of a pack of smokes but weighs as much as a carton). I also have one that works with a Lexar jump drive and a tiny Sandisk (2GB). I also own about 20 sets of headphones, but that's another issue.
I've stayed the course against the iPod. It's nothing personal, I just didn't want to be a bandwagon-jumper-onner. But as cooler, smaller, prettier versions have continued to roll out, accompanied by an endless stream of add-ons and accessories, and more people I know are walking around sporting green, pink and silver iPods small enough to slide into a Trident package AND that can hold several episodes of Flight of the Conchords, I'm wearing down. I have an expensive vacation coming up, so a major purchase (which the iPod I want would be as far as I'm concerned)is not an option right way. But, the vacation is in Las Vegas where I'm betting a few visiting gamblers have had to pawn their precious pods. I blogged earlier this month about how I want to see more of Vegas than pawnshops and wedding chapels, but if it means I get to see a couple married by an Elvis and can pick up an iPod on the cheap, I'm willing to check out the grittier side of Sin City.

Atkins out. Resistance is futile.

I didn't know PBR made tall boys

I just spent the last couple of hours with Boise punk-n-roll band Manville, a group of five guys who get together to play not because they feel it in their souls but because they're five guys who just like to get together and play. And drink beer. Brian, Jason, Matt, Mike and Nick crack lame jokes and make fun of bands that take "their craft" too seriously. Squeezed into Manville's 3'x3' cinderblock practice space, I was treated to five or six songs that, if I hadn't been there in a professional capacity, would have had me whipping my hair around and pumping my fists like a 19-year-old boy. And they don't turn the volume down for rehearsals.
Check for a BW Noise feature on these crude dudes in about two weeks.
Atkins out.

(The blurry camera phone photo is a loose representation of Matt and Jason.)

More than pawnshops and wedding chapels

Six of us are planning a vacation together. We were originally going to spend a few days lounging on the beaches of Mazatlan, but the plans for the free condo and plane tickets fell through (bummer, no?), so we've regrouped and are leaning toward a trip to Las Vegas. I've never been and though I am fully aware that the Veags of 2008 in no way resembles the Vegas of the '50s, in my mind, it's still a romantic place.
While on this trip we will probably graze at an all-you-can-eat buffet, play penny slots and drink house vodka, but I like to imagine visiting the Vegas of long ago.
My group would dress for dinner--the women in silk dresses and pearls, the men in sharkskin suits. We would dine on steak and lobster at the Golden Gate and then catch a show at the Copacabana. We would sit at a front row table, whispering to each other over our martinis about how great Dino looks and how Frank is at the top of his game. We would move to the casino, sitting at a $20 minimum blackjack table sipping Glenfiddich until our heads and our eyes were heavy, we would meander back to our hotel rooms, where we'd pull the daylight curtains closed and sleep until the last possible minute when we would have to pack quickly so we could catch a plane back home.
Atkins out (of dreamland and back to reality).