Oh, yeah, it's Snowdown . what else is there to do?
By Ted Holteen

Let's begin by answering that question: Not much. If you're in town for Snowdown weekend, that's what goes on, and that's OK. We've all had our share of truly ugly Snowdowns - so many of us in fact, that we need not even have any regrets. Where all are shameful, there is no shame. But a lot of people have put a lot of time and energy into producing a slick, professional schedule of events for our annual moral hiatus, so I will focus instead on the few events that do not appear in your program. And the Eagles are in the Super Bowl.

Aside from having one of the best golf holes on the Josie Pete's tour, the Summit consistently provides late-night entertainment for the next generation of revelers. By that I mean that most of the people at the Summit for late-night Friday and Saturday will still be awake to breakfast with those who went to bed after the conclusion of the previous day's scheduled events. Keeping everyone up on Friday will be AWOL ONE, showcasing the DJ artistry of Awolrus. I like that name - it's quite clever. Awolrus is also, as the kids say, a tagger, and his graffiti can apparently be seen throughout Southern California. As to how this translates to his acumen on the turntables, I don't know, but he seems creative if nothing else. My thoughts and prayers are with the staff of the Summit on Friday night. Then on Saturday, hip-hop gives way to electronica with the return of Motion for Alliance. No one can communicate effectively, let alone sleep while on ecstasy, so the by-now exhausted staff will have to use all the tricks of the trade to turn the crowd out into the streets by 2 a.m. Good luck. But MFA does some really cool things with big crazy machines, including creating live samples while performing a song and then replaying them while the song's still going. Whether you understand what the hell I'm talking about or not, it's rather impressive and well worth checking out.

I'm going to leave Awolrus to his adoring fans on Friday and instead take advantage of the rare opportunity to be in Carvers after 10 p.m. (legally, anyway). The Totally Unofficial Superhero Snowdown Throwdown starts at 10 o'clock and showcases the talents of Freewill Recovery. Not only that, but there's no cover! None! As band member Steve Morris is quick to point out, that's not a deal, it's a steal. He really did write that. But he's right. Plus, Carvers has that je ne sais quoi that can only come from consistently maintaining a hot staff. And yes, I know, I know, they have great personalities, too. Please don't spit in my food. To summarize: Parade ends, you drift into Carvers around 7 p.m. and eat, music comes on around 10 p.m., and next thing you know it's Saturday. If for some reason you've got Follies tickets, you'll have some catching up to do. But have fun.

In 1987, Jerry Garcia put on a now legendary 11-day run at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He's dead now, so you can see what it did for him. But people seemed happy about it. Do I dare compare Captain Trips to our own Ralph Dinosaur? What the hell - sure. Ralph will take over the stage at Scoot 'n Blues for four nights of classic rock delivered as only he can. If I were guessing, and I am, I would say that on at least one of those nights we can expect to see Wonder Woman at the front of the stage. Also BatGirl, Isis and that purple Wonder Twin who turned herself into animals. Maybe not. Far be it for me to tell the man his business. However he's dressed, Ralph will be on stage every night from Thursday through Saturday after music trivia ends.

Well, that's it. As I'm sure you've noted, these shows all go on later at night after the Snowdown events have ended. Other than that, either stay home, go skiing or leave town. If leaving it is, may I suggest Telluride? They're having a bluegrass weekend beginning tonight with the Yonder Mountain String Band at the Opera House, then on Friday it's a twin bill with the Burnett Family Bluegrass Band and the Hit & Run Bluegrass Band. On Saturday, it's Tony Furtado and Michael Glabicki. And while the individual shows are a bit pricey, you can do the whole weekend for 68 bucks, which ain't bad in that town. Finding someplace to stay is another matter, but I'm a critic, not a travel agent. The snow won't be any better there than at DMR, so the question of to leave or not to leave comes down to how many drunk Spider Men you can stomach in four days.

I know the smart money is on the Pats next week, but do yourself a favor and take a chance on the Birds. Bigger upsets have happened. Remember, I picked this match up at least once during the season so you can trust me. I also picked the Eagles/Colts, Eagles/Steelers and maybe even Eagles/Broncos at some point, but I was just humoring those other fans. More next week, nauseatingly so.

What're you doing next weekend? ted@ksut.org. Two weeks is really too long.