happy thanksgiving!

The Oriental Theater had a pre-Thanksgiving show with a great lineup: Paper Bird and Autumn Film, with Rob Drabkin, Chuck Potashner (actually, Chuck and Antz from teamAWESOME and Rachel singing) and Laura Goldhamer (one 'M,' thanks) opening.

You may have been seeing Rob Drabkin around town with his trademark 'fro. He's steadily risen since playing open stages and is working on a third album, which includes a ton of guests serving as his band. He hopes to have the album done by his birthday show Jan. 23 @ the Soiled Dove Underground. He was the first act at the Oriental Theater last night. He played for about an hour, then headed back to the studio, where MacKenzie from Flobots was recording for his album.

Chuck Potashner is still getting its live glee-pop act together, but it's entertaining in a goofy novelty way. If there's ever a sequel to "Juno," forget Moldy Peaches and pick up these kids, okay? A few more rehearsals maybe. Rachel does great on vocals.

The mellow Long Spoon Music sampler is out. $5. A lot of the songs on it are already available free on MySpace, but you can support and get 19 songs various artists like Paper Bird, The Wheel (with a song that's NOT on MySpace!) and Pee Pee.

DeVotchKa plays a free post-Thanksgiving show outside at Keystone near the River Run gondola, 8 p.m. Friday.

All right then. Happy Thanksgiving and be thankful for all Denver's creative minds!

Travel companies are trying to get people to still spend on vacations in these tough economic times, and that means some sweet deals, The New York Times reports

Residents in Walsh, Colo., pitched in to keep a grocery store in town. More from The Denver Post

A guy levitated across the Royal Gorge with just a jet pack. Best to watch it from both angles. (from The Denver Post) and TV

93.3 FM is accepting MP3s NOW from bands who want to compete in Hometown for the Holidays. (Past winner: Flobots)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah playing at Keystone tonight

The Beebs, Saturday, 11/22, @ the Meadowlark

Eulogies swag!

photo by Timothy Norris

Hey, hey: Eulogies has a new EP, "Tempted to Do Nothing." And they're playing at the Larimer Lounge in Denver on Wednesday, 11/19, with Darker My Love and Strange Boys.

So here's the deal. We're giving away two tickets to the show FREE. And someone else is going to win the Eulogies' 4-song VinylDisc EP (3 songs on CD on one side, and one track on the back that you can throw on your record player!) Just e-mail us at deli_magazine@yahoo.com by 9 a.m. Monday and tell us you're entering the Eulogies contest. That's it. No need to write anything charming. Although we do tend to fall for that sort of thing.

Eulogies!

Top Chef

Boulder has two chefs competing on "Top Chef" on Bravo. Read more in the Daily Camera

Jihae :: Rise Against :: Beer

The new album from Jihae is out today! "Elvis Is Still Alive" is available online. (In a twist, you can name your own price, sort of, for the digital version of the album, as long as it's at least $3.) OR you can listen to it free over at ilike.

Rise Against plays an acoustic performance Thursday, 11/13, at 5 p.m. @ Twist and Shout on Colfax and Columbine.

Here's your chance to be crowned the Beerdrinker of the Year! Wynkoop Brewing Co. has been running this contest for a while now, and they're crowning a new title holder in February. Winner gets free beer FOR LIFE at the Wynkoop, plus $250 of free beer at your local brewpub. The deadline to submit your entry is Dec. 31, and from there, you'll hear if you're one of the lucky finalists that goes through a competition of grilling from judges on beer knowledge. (But it's fun) Details on entering here

Black Kids

Hey, this is fun: Black Kids performing acoustic versions of "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" and "Listen to Your Body Tonight" on liveDaily. They visited Daytrotter too

Forecast :: free stuff!

Denver Arts Week starts 11/14, with a bunch of museums offering free admission that Friday night, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. during "Night at the Museums." So you can visit the Denver Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art or Denver Museum of Nature & Science FREE. Or also the Colorado History Museum, the Kirkland Museum of Decorative & Fine Art (where they'll have hors d'oeuvres and live jazz), the Forney Museum of Transportation, Black American West Museum, the Byers-Evans House Museum, Museo de las Americas, Molly Brown House Museum and the Children's Museum of Denver. Free parking and a shuttle are available at the Cherry Creek mall.

The 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival gets under way 11/13 (it's a Thursday night) with "The Brothers Bloom," starring Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo and Rinko Kikuchi. Saturday night 11/15 is the big red carpet night when they'll be showing "Slumdog Millionaire," the new movie from "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle. It's been getting lots of praise.

How about this to get the early ski season going: Keystone has free concerts for three straight Friday nights, starting with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on 11/21. DeVotchKa plays 11/28 and it's Girl Talk 12/5. Next to the River Run Gondola in the Hunki Dori parking lot in River Run Village.

Denver celebrates its 150th with free admission 11/22 to the Colorado History Museum, Denver Zoo, Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

We're eagerly waiting to see when the band Paper Route might make it to Denver for a show. They're from Nashville but have songs that sound eerily like Coldplay...until some of the harmonies and electric keys kick in. (Try listening to "The Sound")

Missed Audrye Sessions when they were in Denver, but their EP has been in the iPod for a little while. A soundtrack for underwater daydreamers. I don't know what that means. Check out their Elliott Smith cover on their MySpace page