Hey kids,

I can’t believe it, but Bonnaroo departure time is less than a week away for yours truly. I’ll be making the trip with Brian, new roommate Adam, and well, that’s it. It will be just us, a car full of stuff, and heads that will soon be filled with memories. Cheesy I know, but I had to do it. As a lead-in to the trip, you can look forward to “on the way to ‘Roo” and “on the way back from ‘Roo” editions of The Monday Morning Mix, which will be contributed by Brian, complete with trip-related commentary for each song. Gonna be good.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of getting together with the Cleveland Bachelor for man date #3, where we were joined by Jose and Kelly of Sensory Overload for brunch at Touch Supper Club, a classy joint in Ohio City that I’d never been to prior to Sunday afternoon. I’d like to thank CB, and Jose and Kelly for letting me crash their pre-existing brunch plans – thanks for the invite!! I had chorizo and cornbread served biscuits and gravy style, accessorized with a side of tater tots, and it was heavenly, let me tell you. And as a bonus, we got to witness the bartender quitting (apparently) in the middle of his shift, which is something I’ve never seen before. We were sitting there, conversing and hanging out, and the next thing that we knew, the waitress and other members of the staff were trying to figure out the bartender’s unexplained absence. Bummer of a moment for them, but to their credit, we still got great service despite this, and a number of other issues that they were experiencing during our visit.

Since I mentioned CB, I should point you towards his own Jay Bennett tribute, and exploration of Jeff Tweedy’s soul-sucking vampire ways, a position that I might not necessarily agree with, but perhaps some of you will enjoy reading it, and debating it with CB, as I did on Sunday afternoon. I think I basically said “you’re wrong” in about 4 paragraphs worth of conversation with CB. Your mileage may vary.

Heather at Fuel/Friends is breaking up with Pearl Jam. For those of you that have read her blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that is the equivalent of me calling it quits with Blue Rodeo. Seems impossible, right? Afraid not, and I’m bummed to read the reasoning behind her post, but I can completely appreciate her frustration.

Forgotten Disc Fridays, one of my favorite new blog discoveries, takes a look at one of my favorite albums, the 11 album from The Smithereens. With such a loving tribute to the 11 album, it’s a shame that FDF didn’t catch a live performance from the band back in the day. They were/are pretty awesome. In fact, you might want to check this out for a lil’ taste. By the way, FDF previously rocked out posts for two of my favorite albums back to back – Dada’s Puzzle, and Play Deep by The Outfield.

Cheap Trick have a new album, appropriately titled The Latest, coming out soon, and it’s coming out on both limited edition vinyl AND frikkin 8-Track! The album includes a cover of Slade’s “When The Lights Are Out” and the band also is contributing a version of The Transformers theme song to the upcoming Transformers movie soundtrack. Bizarre. The Latest is available for pre-order via the band’s website and will be released on June 23rd, initially as an Amazon.com exclusive for the first month.

Legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is in Cleveland this weekend for a show, and my good pal John Soeder caught up with him for a great interview about the show, and plenty of discussion about the expanded reissue of Brubeck’s classic Time Out, a reissue which I MUST acquire soon! Click here to read the interview.

Popdose head cheese Jeff Giles takes a look at the classic Georgia Satellites release In The Land of Salvation and Sin. I say classic, as in classic to Jeff, and myself/Kevin here at ATV. The rest of the world missed out on this one, and now is their chance to catch up.

Legendary Akron metal club Ron’s Crossroads was the stomping ground for many back in the day (including future Judas Priest frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens,) before being sold to new ownership (the first of many) with ill-fated attempts at success under the name of Voodoo Concert Club (appropriate,) and then simply Crossroads, before going MIA. Now, the former Crossroads has been leveled by the wrecking ball. Bummer.

I’ll leave you with a couple of stories that I couldn’t have possibly made up…

Former Alice in Chains bass player Mike Starr has been selected for the next edition of Celebrity Rehab.

And Stone Temple Pilots are working with Don Was on their forthcoming new album. I’m kind of excited about this one.

How ’bout u?

Cheers!