It must be the weekend, because I crave a couple of "cold brew-ha-has." Anybody else remember this mind-frying cartoon as a kid? It's called Jack Mac & Rad Boy ... Go!" It aired on USA Network's "Night Flight" video show, then moved on to MTV's "Liquid Television" in the early '90s. Awesome.

Pollstar says Merle Haggard will perform at the Idaho Botanical Garden on May 6, 2010. We'll just go ahead and assume it's an Outlaw Field Summer Concert Series show. Early May is, well, early for an outdoor concert, but it could be beautiful. At least if you believe the saying about April showers bringing May flowers ...

... and, come to think of it, did I even get to speak after the initial "hello"?

That woman can talk.

Besides recommending that I become significantly more gay if I attend her show Nov. 19 at the Morrison Center (oh, boy, I can just imagine the commenters now), Kathy Griffin — who has never performed in Idaho — asked me to print this:

"I have a Boise disclaimer. You have to warn people that there's going to be a lot of cursing and negativity. You have to tell people to leave their bibles at home, leave their g*damn kids at home. This is Mommy and Daddy time — or Daddy and Daddy time. I don't think the people of Boise are prepared for this many p*ssy jokes."

Kathy claimed she was hanging out poolside next to her mansion during our phone interview. I forgot to ask if Paris Hilton was with her. More — much more — in Scene on Nov. 13.

The Darius Rucker arena concert Oct. 28 at the Idaho Center essentially bombed. Ticket sales were so sorry that the promoter won't share the numbers publicly.

Rucker had three No. 1 country songs in 2008 and 2009. Any theories about why this particular gig disappointed, kids?

Been down to Hijinx lately? You're not alone. It was a tough summer for the Downtown Boise comedy club. But cold weather should help business. Hijinx ain't going away.

A few updates:

—Greg Hahn headlines this weekend. He's a clean comic. How many clean comics are even capable of being funny? It's a topic I'll touch on in Friday's column in Scene.

Post-hardcore boys From First To Last have canceled their show Thursday night at The Venue in Boise.

From the band's management: "Due to some unfortunate family circumstances From First To Last has been forced to cancel all remaining dates on their tour and return home. We hope the band can make up the date in the future but for the time being we have to cancel."

TicketWeb is handling refunds.

Mandolin extraordinaire Jake Shimabukuro — who played a free in-store gig at the Record Exchange this past April — will return for a headlining concert March 14, 2010, at the Egyptian Theatre in Downtown Boise. Tickets will be $21 advance, $24 day of show. Shimabukuro was kind enough to stop by "The Other Studio" and perform on the air for us last time he was here. He's an absolute blast to watch play.

UPDATED 11/05/09: Was an actual piano ever burned in Boise? Now I'm starting to wonder. Their publicist has no information as of Thursday. Same with the promoter. There were no verifiable piano leftovers in the Dumpster fire reported below, which may or may not have been TATE. Maybe it was a bunch of misleading tweets and a link to fake photos? Or maybe it was burned after the band left town? If any of this is the case, Boise fans were duped, and it's an excellent little rock 'n' roll hoax. Or stunt. Or both.
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Hmmm. L.A. indie-rockers The Airborne Toxic Event have deleted all their tweets about burning a broken-down piano outdoors after the show Friday night at the Knitting Factory. Doesn't seem like a big deal — pyro is a part of rock 'n' roll, right? — but something must have caused the disappearing act.

UPDATE: A Dumpster fire was reported at 4:07 a.m. Saturday morning in the parking lot behind the Emerald Club. The Boise Fire Department showed up and found what could have been a piano fully engulfed, but it did not have a keyboard and wires. They put it out. There was not a soul around. End of story.

Here's what the band had posted:

# Just kidding. We are not sorry, Boise. But we are excited for tonight in Portland. http://yfrog.com/iyenkj
4:48 PM Oct 31st from Tweetie

# Watching LA Story on the bus until we head west. Somewhere in Idaho a piano will burn.
12:55 AM Oct 31st from Tweetie

Last Sunday night's songs:

—Morrissey, "Ganglord"
—Band of Skulls, "Friends"

—Them Crooked Vultures, "New Fang"
—Wolfmother, "Cosmic Egg"
—Rob Halford, selections from "Winter Songs"

—Carly Simon, "You're So Vain"
—Orianthi, "According to You"

—Curtis Stigers, "You've Got the Fever"

"The Other Studio" airs at 9 p.m. Sundays on 94.9 FM "The River."

AFI is coming to the Knitting Factory on Jan. 18, 2010. Tickets go on sale a week from today.

And Brandi Carlile has been booked for Jan. 13. That one goes on sale Friday.