by Rodel Delfin

Ahhhh. Good times! In serving you, the general weasel public, over the past few years, we’ve often covered the harsh reality of industry-wide downsizing (i.e. supreme cuts in expense accounts, major cuts in jobs, fewer artist signings—and need we mention expense accounts?). Many of you have reduced your nightly excursions to the Palm for dinner, just as we have cut down on our trips to Taco Bell for lunch. But to add to our cost-cutting measures, we have changed our magazine format. So in a couple weeks, when you go ripping through your mail for the mag and madly, breathlessly rifle the pages to find Wheels & Deals (your one-stop source for all the hard-hitting journalism you crave), take heart in the new layout. It’s the same buzz-worthy news—just more condensed. On a bi-weekly basis (that means on alternating weeks), we’ll continue to cover weasel hijinks and shenanigans, but we’ll now be posted online on Hitsdailydouble.com during the odd weeks. Of course, our weekly report will continue on the online edition of Wheels & Deals. And in the weeks leading up to the end of the year, we’ll come up with some special surprises. It all adds up to what new California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger might call "pumping it up," if by that he means making things smaller. We hope it finds an even more special place in your hearts, because we still feel that A&R weasels are super-neato.

NOW FOR SOME OF THAT HARD-HITTING JOURNALISM: Current weasel obsession for the Blaze James-managed/Peter Lewit-repped Coheed and Cambria’s second Equal Vision Records LP cracks into the Top 50 on our sales chart and debuts in the 15k-20k range—quite impressive for an indie release. Will the group continue on the Equal Vision path for their next album, or will they jump onto the major-label ship? Stand by… Lots of early heat building on the Craig Averill-repped The Dears, with numerous label reps expected at the band’s Mercury Lounge show this week… CMJ is right around the corner. On the immediate short list of gigs to see is the ASCAP showcase at Don Hill’s on Wednesday (10/22), featuring Toothpick, Blackcar, Lovedrug, Menlo Park, Prosaics and The Killers.

Meanwhile, BMI will be hosting a showcase/party at Arlene Grocery on Friday (10/24) and will feature perfs from Days Away, Christensen and Fi-Lo Radio. Other acts on the CMJ weaseling list include Death Cab for Cutie, Jet By Day, Anberline and Copeland. We’ll see you there.

On the publishing tip, pub players are checking out DreamWorks act Rise Against at their CMJ gig at BB King Blues Club on Thursday (10/23). And expect some publishers to be present at the Steve Hutton-managed/Nick Sciorra-repped Kill Hannah show at the Viper Room on 10/28 in L.A., as the band’s Atlantic Records debut "For Never and Ever" streets this week (10/14)…

BUZZIN’: Mind Driver and Dan McCarroll… Hit me up: brotherxx@earthlink.net.