Who would you like to hear at Summerfest?

That's the question the festival is asking via its MySpace blog. If you have any ideas about a band that might make Summerfest a little more squeezeboxalicious, let 'em know.

Bad news for barbecuers

I don't like the sound of this at all: Charred meat is linked to prostate cancer, researchers say.

Independent Online's headline -- "Keep that braai meat rare, manne!" -- can't possibly apply to the first bratwurst of summer (which is sounding pretty good right now to us soggy Californians). And, BTW, that charring is the part that tastes so good in the first place. What's a carnivore to do ...

Are you a polkaholic?

An amusing QuickTime clip shows the warning signs (and features The Polkaholics). Shield your eyes during the inevitable accordion-abuse sequence.

Who knew Roland had an accordion room?

Roland's V Accordion -- a wild dream of its founder since 1967 -- finally saw the light of day in 2004. Now, the latest models (including one with built-in speakers so you can, you know, hear the accordion when you play) are making waves. They were on display at the Musikmesse music industry convention in Frankfurt, Germany, which just wrapped up yesterday, according to Jazz News.

I wish Roland would send us a few demo models to check out. Could there be a more appropriate band to spread the word?

Coolest ... tombstone ... ever

Flickr find: The squeezebox tombstone of Roy Bertelli, a Springfield, Ill., man known as "Mr. Accordion." Supposedly he paid $30,000 for a mausoleum for himself. It features a 2,000-pound granite slab with an accordion engraved on it. The site says Bertelli died March 22 at age 92.

(Via Let's Polka)

Happy fool's day!

Some of you know I work for Wired News. Well, today we posted a pretty cool roundup of internet hoaxes you might find amusing.

Gallery: 10 Best Internet Spoofs: From endangered bunnies to bonsai kittens, the web's a great place to pull a prank. Don't get fooled again.

The gallery comments were written by Drew Curtis, the guy who runs Fark.com (which, in case you don't know by now, is the funniest news site on the web). Of course, the biggest gag of all might be that the Tripod servers that host the Wired News galleries are melting down due to the high traffic from us this week. Haha!

When dodgeball turns ugly

Sounds like this youth minister should apply for work at the First Church of Cheap Shots.