Ever since the Poison singer got clotheslined (and nearly beheaded) by a massive set change at the Tony Awards a few weeks ago, the questions have lingered...

Will he sue the Tonys?

Will he sue host Neil Patrick Harris for cracking on him immediately after getting flattened?

When the bandages come off, will he be worth cat-fighting over on VH-1's "Rock of Love" craptastic reality show?

Will we ever stop watching this video?

And, of course, will he live to play the Sonoma-Marin Fair this Saturday?

Last week, Michaels canceled a handful of gigs, offering this excuse in an official statement from his agent:

"We at Michaels Entertainment Group want everyone to understand that through Bret's 25 year career it has been extraordinarily rare and only under extreme conditions that Mr. Michaels has had to reschedule a performance.

"He has been shot at, had broken bones, severe lacerations and contusion not to mention crucial high and low blood sugar levels due to his condition as a juvenile diabetic yet has always done his best to make his way to the stage. The trauma caused by the now infamous accident at the Tony's continues to take its toll on Mr. Michaels throat as well as other physical conditions."

Well, it turns out the show must go on. His agent confirmed today that he'll warm up his throat in Stockton on Wednesday and then roll through the Sonoma-Marin fair Saturday night, picking up the scraps after the Ugly Dog Contest.

And don't forget: BOB FM is throwing a contest for diehard big-hair fans vying for a ride on the River Rock of Love Bus (aka "the Blondetourage" bus) that will truck in fans for the VIP fairgrounds experience.

If only it was 1988.

Sing along:

"Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song...."

You can already smell the fumes. The heat's rising off the track. Over at Lakeville Highway and Stage Gulch Road, Ernie's Tin Bar is setting up the folding chairs in the adjoining garage and lining up the PBR in the bottle (fyi: the "$1.75 Cold Beer" is Hamm's in the can).

And hundreds of RVs are descending upon 50 Acres Campground across from Infineon Raceway, gearing up for the infamous "NASCAR Nights" blowout tonight and Saturday.

One dude, who returns year after year, told me "It's the closest thing to Mardi Gras - out here in a sheep field in California. It don't get no better than that."

He was talking about the makeshift bar they set up every year on the eastern edge of the campground.

But, on Thursday, when I showed up with PD photographer Kent Porter, they were all up in arms. It turns out the SoCo Sheriff's department told them they had to shut down the bar, break down the tables and they couldn't erect the massive flagpole, the icon of the campground that's emblazoned on all the T-shirts.

Loyal barflies had already drawn up posters that read, "Infinion (sic) Raceway - No Fun"

First of all, "It's not a bar," they said. "Just a gathering spot."

And the cold beers in hand? "They're not for sale. Never have been, never will be."

When we left, they were still awaiting a visit from the Sheriff's department. But I have a feeling, if you were to show up around 10 tonight, the bar would be raging. Just a hunch.

Before you pop in the earplugs, here's a trip through 50 Acres Campground:

Dunno bout you, but every year one of my favorite moments at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is when Emmylou Harris emerges at dusk, her silver mane glowing, her plaintive vocals blanketing Golden Gate Park in a spellbinding fog of their own.

Festival founder, financier Warren Hellman, originally named it the "Strictly Bluegrass" festival as a way to entice Harris to tap into his favorite genre.

It didn't work. You don't tell "Emmy" (as her friends call her) what to do, especially when she's touring with a New Orleans-style blues band.

Thus the "Hardly" in the festival moniker these days.

This summer, the grand dame of country and folk is out on the Three Girls and Their Buddy tour with Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin and multi-instrumentalist Buddy Miller (who's recovering from a triple-bypass heart surgery).

Before she rolls through next weekend's Kate Wolf Memorial Festival, Harris took a break to chat about sad songs, how her voice has changed and her "middling" Atlanta Braves:

Q: You told the crowd the other night (in Toronto), "I've made a living out of super-sad songs."

A: Well, if you look at a lot of people's material, the richest soil for singing and for lyrics are the songs that touch on those parts of our lives that we all share. To me, they're the most real songs.

Q: The voice you were born with fits that emotion like a glove.

A: Well, thankfully.

Q: Have you thought about why we like sad songs so much?

A: Well, you have to go to that place and visit it. Somehow I think it helps us to take the next step. I mean it doesn't all of a sudden eradicate the bad memory or the sadness. It's something that we're always going to live with. There's a catharsis and sad songs help us through our journey. I believe that. Sometimes you hear a song and you don't even know why you're responding to it emotionally, but you do.

Q: How is that playing out on tour?

A: It's always great to find that new song. With Patty and Buddy and Shawn coming up with songs that have meant a lot to them, that maybe you missed or never heard before in that setting, I'm emotionally moved every night.

Q: Do you still get that pinch-me-am-I-dreaming feeling? You also told the crowd the other night, "I'd do this for free, but don't tell anyone."

A: Oh yeah. It's one of the great blessings in life to have work that gives you joy. Because I think one of the great balms in our life, oddly enough, is work. Work that is satisfying, that you actually enjoy. To have that, it takes away your ability to whine.

Q: I want to go back a bit further " what do you still carry with you that you learned from Gram Parsons?

A: Well, not to be too grand about it, but I really think that working with him helped me find my voice. I was one of thousands of young women who had a pretty voice. I was copying Joan Baez, who was a huge influence on me. Once I started singing country music, it kind of made me simplify things. But because I had more of a folk voice but I was singing country, somehow all was revealed, if that makes any sense.

Q: It does.

A: Because I think it's good to have parameters and to also understand your limitations. I read somewhere that style is a product of your limitations. Otherwise, we'd all be singing commercials. It's like not everybody can sing everything. Like, I tried to copy Dolly. Well, she does things vocally that I cannot do. But I still wanted to sing her songs. So by the time I finished singing those words in my own voice, it helps you realize well, that's your style. We all start by copying.

Q: Has your voice changed over the years?

A: Oh, I think it has. First of all, it's gotten a little rougher and it's lost some of its highness. But I think that phrasing and emotion is ultimately the most important thing. And you just have to maybe change a little bit here and there, a little nip and tuck. You say, "Well OK, I can't sing that note that way, but I'll just have to sing it a little softer." I don't think you can get too self-conscious about that because for me it's always about the song. The song will carry you. If you've got good material, whether it's your own that you've written or you've gathered a repertoire of songs from other people that you've made your own. That will carry you.

Q: I imagine if your voice does change, as you said it got a little rougher, you can delve into emotions that you maybe didn't before.

A: I think as you grow older, you've experienced more. Just by the nature of how many miles you've traveled, you're gonna go deeper. You can't dive into music and skim the surface. I think all the artists I tend to hang with and be inspired by are the people who always dive deep.

Q: Do you like the way the music business has changed?

A: Well, I haven't really been affected by it. I got into it kind of early on with Warner Reprise and for a big company they still appreciated the coloring-outside-the-lines artist. And then I got an audience who kind of expected me to zig and zag if it was coming from the heart.

Q: That's kind of the ultimate compliment " an audience that will go with you wherever you go.

A: Yeah, and it kind of goes back to the folk thing " you just kind of stay in the trenches " the trench out there in left field.

Q: Speaking of left field, your Braves are doing pretty well this year, no?

A: Well, they're just kind of middling.

Q: Better than last year, maybe?

A: Better than last year. The pitching I think is a little better. I like this new guy they got " Nate McLouth (recently traded from Pittsburgh), is that how you say it?

Q: I don't know. I think you follow baseball more than me.

A: I haven't been able to see a lot of games, but I just really love the poetry of baseball. I will enjoy watching a game just to see all the different things that can happen. Sometimes nothing happens, which is why baseball is like life. I really love defense. I'm not a big homerun fan. I like the small ball. I like the National League. It's what gets me through the long summer.

I never rocked the holistic hooping or the crystal therapy, but, man, what a weekend:

Big air (and no major slams) on the MegaRamp. Pierre Luc Gagnon nailing a few 720s and winning the $10k skate duel with X-Games gold medalist Bob Burnquist.

K'naan sitting down for an interview on the bus, pointing out once and for all what we've always known about Grace Pavilion: "The sound last night (@Techno-Tribal) was horrible."

Lead singer Paul "HR" Hudson staring at his shoes while the rest of Bad Brains rocks the pit. Positive. Mental. Attitude.

Wu-Tang lifer Killah Priest battling Joan Baez for surprise guest of the weekend.

Michael Franti (below watching skate finals) sharing his creative process - squeezing out the biggest hit of his career in Woody Harrelson's bathroom.

HR looking for change in his pockets.

Cake singer Jon McCrea leading the sing-along Friday night, eventually asking the crowd: "Can you live without your marijuana?"

Matisyahu rocking the yarmulke with Killah Priest.

HR staring at the sky.

Closing it out Sunday evening, India.Arie summed it up this way: "I'm not here for you and you're not here for me. We're here for each other."

HR, why don't you ever say things like that?

Check out the highlights:

I don't wanna get too sappy, but this video says it all about the power of music, the innocence of childhood and the words of freedom.

We hopped aboard the super-plush Gibson Guitars bus and sat down with Somalian singer K'naan after his second performance at Harmony Festival Saturday evening.

After seeing him play Techno-Tribal Friday night, I'd decided not to shoot any footage of his Saturday concert. But then I noticed a girl on top of her father's shoulders, singing along to every word and waving her imaginary flag. K'naan picked up on it too....

(p.s. the piano you hear in the background is K'naan's manager tickling the ivories)

Sitting on the bus an hour before he takes the main stage at Harmony, Michael Franti looks out the window overlooking the gathering crowd and reflects: "I've been living on a tour bus for the last 20 years and it used to be you'd stop at a truckstop in the middle of the night and there was nothing to safe to eat. Now you stop and there's bio-diesel everywhere. For better or for worse, Whole Foods as a chain is everywhere. Wal-Mart now sells organic food. These ideas that were once only here at this festival are now mainstream."

We move on to gas prices, the timber industry, Obama's listening skills and the fact that he can "still dunk at 43." But when we really get to the heart of the matter, it's a story about the morning he spent in Woody Harrelson's bathroom, writing "Say Hey (I Love You)" - his biggest single to date, a catchy little ditty that recently topped the 120,000 mark in digital sales.

Aspiring songwriters, take note. Herein lies the secret to the creative process:

"I was staying at Woody's house while we made the record and I played some chords into my little iPod player and then I'd get into the shower and sing along to it. I started singing the melody 'Hey, I'll be gone today.'

"And then Woody called me and said, 'Hey, what are you doing?'"

"I said, 'I'm sitting on your toilet. I just got out of the shower and I wrote this really great song.'

"I wrote it in the steam on the mirror and then I got out my camera and took a picture of it before the steam evaporated and then later I had to flip it over in Photoshop."

"So I told him, 'I'm sitting here on your toilet,' and all he wanted to know is 'Is it a Number 1 or a Number 2?'"

Right now, it's a Number 84 in the Top 100 Billboard singles.

I got a chance to chat with X-Games gold-medalist Bob Burnquist between skates on the mini-MegaRamp Friday afternoon and asked him about the NASCAR factor, the fans just dying to see a nasty spill.

"As long as it's not me, I don't mind," he said with a laugh. "The reality is, you have to take risks to have this much fun. The higher the risk, the higher the reward. You can't stay away from it. If you go down, you go down. I try to be smart about it, but you can only be so smart."

The Eco-Cup finals go down at 3 p.m. Sunday. Winner takes home $10,000.

Check out Friday skate footage, soundtrack by Egypt Central:

Singer Jon Mcrea was talking about giving up the occasional worldly possession or taking a break from consumption or at least doing your part, when he posed this Harmony conundrum: "Can you live without your marijuana?"

Don't worry, all he really wants you to do is sing along:

I wasn't sure how many people had picked up on K'naan's new album "Troubadour." It's been out since February and he's been touring non-stop. But at Friday night's Techno-Tribal Dance, as he kicked into "T.I.A" and everybody started singing along, I got my answer. Check it out:

Standing atop the three-story mini-MegaRamp, I begin to understand what Bob Burnquist was talking about.

Cars streaming by on Bennett Valley Road look so much smaller. As do the people scurrying around Sonoma County Fairgrounds, setting up for this weekend's Harmony Festival.

The X-Games gold medalist had explained how "slams on the MegaRamp feel like a car accident."

I look over the lip at the sheer drop and remember how he described one nasty spill: "My organs seemed like they spun around."

Maybe it's different when you have Bad Brains or the Dead Kennedys ripping through '80s hardcore three stories below.

Maybe the rush carries you over the edge. On wings of adrenaline you soar over the 25-foot gap between the two ramps. Maybe I've seen the 2007 Danny Way X-Games header too many times.

If you missed the Eco Cup story I wrote for the PD, you can read all about it here.

As competitive skateboarding makes its debut at Harmony this weekend, programming director Sean Ahearn admits he's taking a risk. But he's willing to do almost anything (within a recessionary budget) to draw younger crowds. It's the future of Harmony.

Check out the MegaRamp video teaser in the latest 60-Second Weekend: