I don't mention it in the post, but we also ate dinner at a place that had a skull for a door.

Karen and I had a great time this weekend at the Kill Hannah show in Atlanta. We actually got to spend quite a bit of time with Dan, Karen's cousin who's a guitarist in the Chicago-based band.

In case you can't guess, that's the two of them in the picture...we went out for expensive beers before the show. I had something called a Black & White, which was Guinness over a Belgian White. Quite tasty.

I learned a few things about rock stardom from Dan. Let's see how much I can remember...

• That whole idea of recording artists starving because of pirated music? Yeah, that's bull. Despite having two major-label CDs, the members of Kill Hannah still do best off their merchandise and touring. (Dan wanted a link to this blog, so if you're reading this, Dan, feel free to correct any of these points.)

• Boob signing is still all the rage. I've never understood this phenomenon. It theoretically washes off pretty quick, and if you somehow ended up scoring with a rock star, would they really want to see their bandmates' names on your chest? Ugh. Sorry to get vaguely graphic. I should note the KH boys seemed quite uninterested in bedding their fans.

• Rock stars get sued a lot. I wasn't as shocked by this as by the fact that Dan often had to resolve the issues himself (and with the help of a lawyer friend of the band). Dan also has to do all the van driving. They drove two hours south to Florida after we left them around midnight Saturday.

• I asked Dan what would push his band to the next level. They're quite hugely popular, but they aren't yet on the same level as My Chemical Romance or these other bands that are equally or less talented. He said they need more radio time, backstage contests, etc., before shows. Even though they're doing well on satellite radio, the old-school stations still apparently make that big of a difference. Getting booked on SNL or Letterman would also be pretty big for them, too, he said. Makes sense.

• Kill Hannah does not have many fans in the 29-year-old demographic. This might explain why the only people older than us were A) Chaperones or B) Perverts.

• Every third person at a concert now records it via cell phone or whatever. Dan said he actually likes seeing all of their shows on YouTube because he can go back and see how he had played a certain song a few months back. Shockingly, it didn't take me long to find a video clip from the Atlanta show we were at. The sound stinks, but after the first minute or so, you get a really good view of Dan on the far right.

Gypsy jazz, gothy rock and banjo mojo.

• First off, The Hot Club of Huntsville lived up to all of friend Bill's hype. We went and saw them at a coffee shop Saturday night, and it was absolutely incredible.

The Hot Club is a four-man gypsy jazz ensemble that is sort of an homage to the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which most notably featured the best jazz guitarist of all time.

Hopefully we can arrange a group trip up to see one of their shows. It really is amazing that such a great band is based in my sleepy hometown.

• Second, all are invited to tag along to Atlanta on Jan. 20 for the Kill Hannah show. They're the brooding Chicago rockers famous among Asterians for including Karen's cousin Dan in the lineup. We'll be kidnapping Dan (pictured above) for dinner before the show, so don't miss this opportunity to see an honest-to-god rock star eat a spinach salad.

• The musical opportunities just keep coming in February, when banjo master Bela Fleck plays in Birmingham with jazz legend Chick Corea. I've been poking fun at Bela Fleck since he and The Flecktones came to Huntsville when I was in high school, but that doesn't change the fact that he really is fantastic. If you haven't heard his classical music via banjo, click here and listen to some samples.

I think that's about it for the musical wrapup. Anybody else got anything?