The new camera is coming today. Before it arrives, let’s say goodbye to the Sony DSC-T9. Last night’s dinner — homemade macaroni and cheese, and homemade spicy pork tenderloin with a jalapeno citrus sauce — was mighty tasty.

Newman & Steve-o are attending the Bowling Green State University 27th Annual New Music and Art Festival this weekend. Newman is getting a performance of his String Quartet, “Wapwallopen,” and Steve-o is getting a performance of his newest wind band piece, “Radiant Joy.”

I was fortunate to attend the premiere of “Wapwallopen” several years back, and I wish I could be there to hear it live again — although it’s posted on Newman’s site. Whenever I hear it, I think not of the town in Pennsylvania for which it is named (seriously — click the link. I guarantee you that the photos that pop up — of palm trees and the beach — are nowhere to be found in Wapwallopen, PA), but I think of how effective this piece would be with choreography. I hope Newman gets a good recording of this performance, as the only other recording was made by yours truly using a hand-held microphone in a non-ideal performance venue.

“Radiant Joy” is Steve’s newest piece, and I love it. Steve was nice enough to email a recording of the premiere a few days ago, and I can’t stop listening to it. Steve has somehow managed to write a fast, note-heavy-but-somehow-never-muddy, happy-but-never-cheesy piece. I wish I could be there to hear this live, too, but I’m pretty optimistic that this sucker is going to get played all over the place.

The programs for the upcoming Midwest Clinic and the national CBDNA convention are all posted — well, almost. (The programs for two CBDNA ensembles aren’t up yet.) I’ve mentioned in the past that Rick Clary is conducting “Turbine” at the CBDNA convention, and that, I’m sure, will be awesome. Rick is also doing a piece of Newman’s, “As the Scent of Spring Rain.” The schedule also shows that Steve-o (not sure why I keep calling him Steve-o) will have a performance at the convention — Florida International University is doing “Stampede.” In addition to FSU’s performance of “Turbine,” I saw from the schedule — I hadn’t known this until the schedule went up — that Central Michigan University (conducted by John E. Williamson) will be doing “Redline Tango.” There’s also a chance that one of the schools that hasn’t posted their program will be doing another piece of mine as a premiere, but that’s not confirmed. It’s all shaping up to be a great couple of days in Ann Arbor in March. I’m excited to hang out with Steve & Newman — and drink a lot.

I’m probably going to put my old camera up on Ebay. AEJ suggested that I load the memory card with “secret” pictures and/or video and see if that’ll encourage some stalker to bid on it.

In television news… “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Heroes,” and to my surprise, “Friday Night Lights” are three strong series this fall. Unfortunately, they’re all at least somewhat serialized, so it’s tough to join in after missing several episodes, but check them out if you haven’t. “Heroes” is probably the weakest of the three, as two of the main characters are either lame (Niki Sanders) or just downright irritating (Peter Petrelli). One character, though — Hiro Nakamura — is so great that he more than makes up for any of the show’s shortcomings. Plus, Hiro’s super power — the ability to bend space and time — is by far the best super power ever. Niki’s power — the ability to essentially turn into The Hulk without turning green or ruining her jeans — and Peter’s power — the ability to fly — are handled badly. Niki gets really strong, but can’t remember what she does when she’s like that. I think it’s called multiple personality disorder, and I don’t think that’s a super power. Peter can’t even really fly — he kind of just floats so far — and he can only do it around other superheroes. Oh, and he also spends way too much time playing with his hair. Dude, if it’s in your eyes that much of the time, get it cut. Emo is fine and all, but you’re, like, 30. Get over it.

“Studio 60” also suffers from a bit of miscasting (if not poor writing; I’m not sure yet), but overall, it’s well done — and Matthew Perry is shockingly good. (I say this as a hater of “Friends.”)

Also in television news, Jeffrey has won Project Rungay. I’m just happy that Laura didn’t win. A lot of people seemed to love her and her stuff, but I found it — and she — bitchy, old, and boring. I wonder what MS thought of the whole thing…