Unsure about what to do this weekend, leave it up to rhyming couplets.

Saturday night approaches
And someone broaches
“What’s the plan?”
Party at Stan’s? Or maybe Joanne’s?
Yet a backyard rave
You can always save,
But The Cheaper Show,
Or Martha Wainwright & Co.
Singing Piaf’s “Adieu Mon Cœur”
“Mon Dieu!” we do declare
It just wouldn’t be fair
To miss two events so rare.

www.thecheapershow.com

Last year we regretted not going to Coachella music festival in Palm Springs—partly because Jake Gyllenhaal showed up and partly because of the brilliant bands—so this year we’re making the trek. But if you’re only motivated by good music, there’s no need to cross state lines.

A slew of the best are playing back-to-back Vancouver dates next week before heading down to balmy California for the weekend. Here’s the lineup, take your pick:

Saturday, April 10
Sia at Commodore Ballroom.

Sunday, April 11
Spoon at Orpheum Theatre, Charlotte Gainsbourg at Vogue Theatre or Passion Pit at Commodore Ballroom.

Monday, April 12
Miike Snow at Commodore Ballroom.

Tuesday, April 13
The xx at Commodore Ballroom.

Wednesday, April 14
Florence and The Machine at Commodore Ballroom.

It’s going to be a ‘hella good week.

For those of us who will never own a beach house, there is the music of Beach House.

Boasting beautiful melodies over boat moorage, the Baltimore band with a vixen voiced, French-born female lead recently released its third album, Teen Dream, and since then we haven’t stopped playing it. We suggest snatching up tickets now to see the duo at the Rickshaw Theatre next month before they graduate to bigger venues.

You’ll find us front and centre singing along to “Zebra” with a summery Corona in hand.

Tickets $16 at Ticketmaster. Beach House, April 11, 2010, Rickshaw Theatre, 254 E. Hastings, Vancouver, www.rickshawtheatre.com

When little Saxon unearths his Dad’s old turntables (and Metallica collection) and Vivienne becomes a backstage baby, make sure they don’t become the next It’s All Gone Pete Tong by protecting their hearing with these cool muffs.

Called Peltor Hearing Protectors (let’s keep that between us), the adjustable hot pink and bright blue earphones shield little ears from harmful noises while letting in ambient sound at hockey games, concerts, and parades.

Rock on, mom.

Age 1 and up. $39.95 at www.dandelionkids.ca

If Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” is as Cuban as you get, it’s time to tune into Alex Cuba.

The Cuban-born Canadian has two Juno awards to his name and has collaborated with the likes of Nelly Furtado and Jason Mraz.

His new self-titled album doesn’t hit stores until October 27, but we’ve procured a free and advance track, “Solo Tu,” just for Vitamin Daily readers. Click here to download the song.

We think his rhythm is going to get you.

Alex Cuba plays The Biltmore Cabaret, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (8 p.m.), advance tickets $18 at TicketWeb, www.alexcuba.com

A few of Vancouver’s finest creative-types across the genres of art, comedy and music have forged a brand new four-day festival in clubs across the city to make the middle of August that much hotter. We’ve scanned the line-up of mostly local talent to help you plan your inaugural Olio Festival experience.

Thursday/Gastown: Start with laughs at The Lamplighter courtesy of Nardwuar and comedy acts Bronx Cheer and The Sunday Service. Then toss a coin—heads it’s indie rock at the Red Room with The Paper Cranes and The Clips, tails it’s club music at the hands of Piper Davis and DJ My!Gay!Husband!

Friday/Main Street: Art start the night with short films and paintings at the Grace-Gallery, then head up to the Anza Club for retro-inspired acts The Whitsundays and The Choir Practice, and another helping of art by Ronan Boyle.

Saturday/Downtown: Chug it up to The Railway Club where The Blue Violets kick it off moody and Bend Sinister finish it off funky.

Sunday/Granville: Closing night is made easy for you with one big DJ dance party at Venue, so rip it up right.

Olio Festival, August 13-16, 2009, $25 four-day pass at www.oliofestival.com

When it comes to music festivals, we get around. And while we have yet to do the beloved Glastonbury, there’s a touch of England to be had on our own turf.

With love from Briton Richard Branson, the Virgin Festival is back in B.C. and the bill is a bounty of Canadian greats (Our Lady Peace, Metric and Broken Social Scene) and American all-stars (The Roots, Sonic Youth and Ben Harper & Relentless7), with a couple of Commonwealthers (Jarvis Cocker and Gomez) thrown in for good measure.

We may be a Glastonbury virgin, but we get around.

Virgin Festival, July 25-26 at Deer Lake Park, 6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby, www.virginfestival.ca/bc, weekend pass $135 available at Ticketmaster.

IKEA isn’t the only great Swedish export.

Since we first heard The Cardigans’ sweet-voiced lead Nina Persson sing “Lovefool” on the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack, we’ve been smitten. While that band is no more, we can still indulge our girl crush. Her new musical endeavor, A Camp, just dropped an EP of classic cover songs yesterday and take the stage at Richard’s tonight.

There’s also a Canadian component to her act—playing keys on tour is Toronto singer-songwriter Emm Gryner. Now that’s girl power.

A Camp, Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at Richard’s on Richards, 1036 Richards St., Vancouver, 604-687-6794; tickets $15 at www.ticketmaster.ca

With the Pemberton Festival on pause until 2010, we feel the need to alert you to an acoustic alternative worth piling in the van for.

The Sasquatch Festival lineup reads like a laundry list of bands we love. There’s Kings of Leon, Animal Collective, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Santigold and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all set against the scenic backdrop of the Columbia River gorge in George, Washington.

With Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes and The Wrens also on the roster, you could say you were “helping local wildlife.”

Sasquatch Festival, May 23-25, 2009, tickets $66.50 per day at www.sasquatchfestival.com

If John Hughes made another Brat Pack movie today, M83 would undoubtedly be called upon to compose the soundtrack.

While the man behind M83, Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez, has always had a penchant for the decade of synth and shoulder pads and paid homage, his latest record Saturdays = Youth fully realizes its sound.

No surprise, seeing as he used analog instruments rather than computers, employed a songstress with a Kate Bush quality and partnered with a producer who also worked with the Cocteau Twins. Tracks like “Kim & Jessie” and “Skin of the Night” that we have on repeat capture the mood and the melody of being young and like totally hormonal.

But you’ll need more than an album download to warrant calling up your high school boyfriend and donning blue eyeliner again, which is why you should know that M83 performs in the flesh at Richard’s on Richards tonight.

That’s a new kind of nostalgia no old yearbook can supply.

Saturdays = Youth available at iTunes ($9.99), show at Richard’s starts at 9:30 p.m., advance tickets $20 at Zulu Records.