Roger Kuhn was righteously perched on the Boulder stage Saturday night beneath the shade of his summer straw. With one arm around my squeeze and the other around some steamin' blood of the bean, the cannoli in front of me didn't stand a chance. It was perfect; there was nowhere else I wanted to be. The cannoli vanished quickly but Kuhn's blues stuck. I can still hear 'em - the well-mannered holler, the one man call and response, the jingle jangle of his tambourined ankle, and the rhythmic abuse his guitar endured. And the man's banter is as engaging as his folk blues; a rapid-fire repartee regaling all us rubes of his blue collar plight, and the importance of standing up to be counted and heard. The cat gets a little "Blonde on Blonde" here and there, and when the lightning strikes it's all Hopkins, Jack.

Over to Richmond's to see Wales Road rock the joint as if it were Shea Stadium. Got to hear Tommy Wales pull out some clean licks from what is typically a rather heavy arsenal. The trio is blues-based metal with a Christian frosting. And though that may not ring true with the heathens, that big red guitar sure does.

Bug Jar's Bobby T ballparks it between 40 and 60 when pressed for his age, so a few of us were fixin' to take him out back to saw him in half and count the rings when The Gifted Children hit the bandstand. Aaron Bouche, aka Bald Guy, must love those spacey atmospheric guitar players. That, or he brings it out of them somehow. Bouche metered strong and steady as the band revved up and back and forth'd with an indie rock tease.

Eddie Nebula and the Plague followed, kicking off the set with an angry, fast take of "Piss On The Roses." Nebula made it all right with a Moserite and the crowd ate it up except for a few women I saw in back. I think they were ball players. I didn't see any uniforms but a couple of them had baseball bats. They seemed real eager to meet Ed...