By Cathy Maestri
InstantRiverside.com

The 14th annual Nocturnal Festival is slated for next weekend at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino.

And they said electronic music wouldn’t last.

Among the 100-plus performers in six themed areas are Christopher Lawrence (pictured), Richie Hawtin, Infected Mushroom, Junkie XL, Kaskade, Uberzone vs. Bassbin Twins, Digitalism, Miguel Migs & Lisa Shaw and Doc Martin.

Plus food, drinks, stilt walkers, freak shows, fire art, sculptures, blacklight graffiti walls and free carnival rides.

Really, they had us with the lineup — but we can’t resist carnival rides.

The event is 6 p.m. Sept. 13  and ends at 4 a.m. the following morning at the NOS. Click here for details.

•By the way, Saturday at Vanguard in Hollywood is Bunnyfit — a benefit for Bunny of Rabbit in the Moon. He was injured when someone threw a glass bottle onto the stage at a show in Korea, and now needs surgery on his eye.

Performers include DJ Dan, Donald Glaude, a DJ set from Rabbit in the Moon, Sandra Collins, Quivver and Freddie B. For more, click here.

•U2’s got a big lump of coal for a significant chunk of the music industry — its new album, due for a pre-holiday release, has now been pushed back to early next year.

•Meanwhile, Kanye West appears ready to release the followup to last year’s “Graduation.” West has been doing a new song, “Love Lockdown,” during his Glow in the Dark tour. Don’t be surprised if he springs it on Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards — perhaps to mark the one-year anniversary of his vow never to perform on the show again.

•Speaking of which, Britney Spears is expected to open the show, but not perform; Brit’s former fellow Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera will do her first post-baby performance.

Back in the day, the VMAs were our traditional back-to-college rite; there were those of us who would return to school a day or so early in order to watch together. Back when watching Madonna roll around on the floor in a wedding dress (pictured) was shocking.

The last few years, not so much. Sure, we watched Britney’s meltdown last year, but the only other thing we remember was something about separate parties that made the show jumbled and off-putting.

This year, we can’t wait — not because we care so deeply about the Jonas Brothers (sorry) or whoever else has been nominated for videos, which MTV has relegated to filler. No, it’s because host Russell Brand is smart and dangerous and Americans won’t know what to make of him.

•What’s going on in Britain lately? First there’s the drugging, boozing, troubled and immensely talented Amy Winehouse.

Then there’s Lily Allen — chipper but not nearly as talented — who seems to be drinking an awful lot after suffering a miscarriage. The latest is a nasty onstage tiff with Elton John as the pair hosted GQ’s Men of the Year Awards in London on Tuesday.

Now come reports that Adele (pictured) — a 20-year-old fan of Etta James with an amazing voice and a song called “Not Drunk Enough” — has been drinking heavily. We’re hoping that the cancelation of her upcoming tour means she’s getting a grip on things before they get out of hand.

“There’s some problems at home that I’ve had to stay and sort out, and at the moment they’re stopping me from being away for any long period of time. I was really looking forward to touring again and throwing myself back into it all. But my home life needs more attention right now. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for disappointing you all, I’m truly gutted!” she said in a press release.

Adele will spend a week in New York to do one show and TV and radio promotion before returning to London.

Tickets for a scheduled Oct. 9 show at the Avalon in Hollywood can be refunded at the point of purchase.

•While the new Microsoft commerical with Jerry Seinfeld is just as amusing as the Mac commercials that feature Mac and beleaguered PC, Seinfeld isn’t nearly as funny as Bill Gates. Who knew?

•We’re assuming the NFL is aware of the irony in using Morrissey’s “Every Day is Like Sunday” to showcase its many viewing platforms for weekend games. Because everyone who ever wore a long, dark coat and enjoyed a good mope in the ’80s will sing the next line, which isn’t included in the ad — “every day is silent and grey…”

•We wondered how long it would be before Heart would formally protest the use of “Barracuda” at the Republican National Convention — VP nominee Sarah Palin was known as “Sarah Barracuda” in high school.

The answer is, not long. Within a couple of hours, the Wilson sisters asked the GOP not to use their music, and Heart’s people had sent a cease-and-desist order to the campaign.

•The Republicans may be the weaker party when it comes to musical breadth, but they sure know how to inflate balloons. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell was up to her neck and then some.

•After having watched significant chunks of both the Democratic and Republican conventions, we think we understand why late-night comedians have been all over John McCain but can’t seem to come up with much material about Barack Obama.

Sure, it’s easy enough to have fun at the expense of miscreants and cheaters of either party. But on a day-to-day basis, the Democrats tend to be ruled by a boring consistency and interconnected policies. When someone changes their mind, which happens every once in a while, there’s an uproar.

Republicans, however, decide what their views are and then work around them, blissfully unencumbered by logic or consistency. No one seems to worry about contradicting themselves — which they sometimes manage even when they haven’t changed their position. For example, the McCain campaign is calling for change, despite the fact that Republicans have been in the White House for the past eight years and he’s consistently voted along with President George W. Bush.

That sort of thing is manna for comics in the age of YouTube and 24-hour news networks. Put together a couple of ironic clips and, voila! You don’t even need writers.

As evidence, we present some clips from this week’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” (We’ll spare you the boring stuff from the Democrats, but you can link to it via www.comedycentral.com.)

From Wednesday night’s “Daily Show,” it’s Rove vs. Rove and O’Reilly vs. O’Reilly.

From Thursday, Jon Stewart exults in the comic possibilities of Sarah Palin:

Also Thursday, Stephen Colbert celebrates contradiction.