Party’s over, but what does it mean?

As Extravablogiversapaloozathon 2006 begins to settle in our consciousness, like the stench of stale beer settles into one posh North Ashvegas villa, it’s time to try to figure our what it all means. We at Ashvegas are feeling a little existential, but we’ll do what we always do – try to put some perspective on the proceedings.

First, we’ll state the obvious: Jolt Wagon absolutely made the nerdfest cool. T’aints were successfully rocked off. We’re just now getting early reports in, but we’re sure that the t’aint replacement surgeons in town will be kept busy this week. Thank you, Jolt Wagon. You guys were great. Come back next year?

Second, we must flag a major party foul – the pnav ran dry. That’s right. Edgy Mama ran out of beer. How does that happen? Inexplicable. And potentially unforgiveable. But we said we’re feeling a little existential, so we’ll give her a pass.

What’s not clear is the greater meaning of a bunch of bloggers coming together to sit and eat and drink and talk. Who are we? Where are we going? Picking through memory, we recall bits and pieces of a number of critical discussions that could have led to some meaningful answers.

Ford or Chevy? Boomer or Number Six? PBR or Rolling Rock? Carolina or Edmonton? Nobody decided anything. Which could be good. Or bad.

We look around, and we can say that nobody died at Extravablogiversapaloozathon, unlike at Bonnaroo, where a kid got run down by a Ricky Skaggs bus. We can say that nobody at the party got a red card, unlike the USA in its World Cup match against Italy (it was a 1-1 tie and the USA lives on). We can say that bloggers did shake the pnav foundations, much like an earthquake shook WNC last week.

But the male strippers were a no-show. Nobody did a nekkid scooter ride around the block. Nobody got into a heated political debate about Heath Shuler (also a no-show). And nobody took a header off Edgy Mama’s pnav porch.

So what does it all mean?