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“They say that travel broadens the mind, till ya can’t get your head out the door’”
 – Elvis Costello 

With the cost of gas being what it is, you may not be to keen on the idea of starting a band and playing to three people in Athens, Ga., at 3 a.m. and making $25 (that’s a good night, by the way), but you should consider it. I figured that a lot of you music enthusiasts reading this are probably musicians or aspiring to be, and thus would like to tour at some point, but you’re probably being tragically misled by naysayers, and curmudgeons. Here is the deal: You can do it, and you don’t have to go broke doing it.

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Lori Barrett is taking some much-deserved time off. While she’s recovering her life force, Matt Simon will be filling in. You may know Matt from such videos as “Ron Paul-itics” and “Cupcakes and a Shot” or from his weekly role as toys columnist in b, the paper. He’ll be chatting about local issues and producing video Q&As with Baltimoreans who are prominent, interesting, amusing or unlikely (perhaps all of the above). Check it out. I trust you’ll have some interesting responses.

“Baltimore is like the sixth borough,” says a kid watching Future Islands perform at a rooftop festival in Brooklyn Saturday night, an unofficial addition to the Make Music NY festival that also included Baltimore art/riot kids Ponytail, who played earlier that day on the other side of town. This “Baltimore is like the sixth borough” stuff may stir up resentment with some of us, or perhaps wonder. Yet it is something that you will hear repeated in one form or another as you make your way around the NYC show circuit. Big-time NYC show promoter Todd P says, “Brooklyn bands are Baltimore bands, and Baltimore bands are Brooklyn bands.” You might be hard-pressed to find anyone here that feels that way, even sage music journalists (not me — I’m 29 and have a lot more incubating ahead of me).

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With the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing less than two months away, I’ve got a question for you: what would you do to go to the Olympics?

I’m not a huge fan of the Summer Games, but I would give just about anything to go watch ice hockey, skiing and snowboarding at the Winter Games. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the Summer Games, I’m just more of a Winter Games guy I guess. Either way, there’s nothing like watching athletes who train four years for one shot at living out a lifelong dream. So are you with me on this one? What would you do to go to Beijing in August?

Edgar Allan Poe T-shirt in Charlottesville, Va.

Think the Poe Toaster is wearing one of these under his cape?

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I know it’s a bit last minute but I just got back from Embassy Day in Washington. All (or at least a bunch/few) of the embassies in the district are having open houses and serving drinks and small food tidbits. An excuse to drink in the middle of the day — what more can you ask for?

That’s pretty much all I have to say for this post. Happy hunting…