No, I read you well on not wanting a dslr, Bob. Even the smallest are a lot bigger than compacts - definitely not pocketable. There are various existent and up-coming hybrid cameras with inter-changeable lenses and big sensors like SLRs (the Olympus Pen F, and the upcoming Sonys). But I really don't think you want, or need the hassle of buying and changing lenses.
And you certainly, I'm sure, are not interested in going film ?
There's really no beating the Canon S90 at the moment, if it's in your price range. Apart from image quality provided by the sensor, it also has a ring around the lens and another physical control that you can set to whatever parameter you want (or leave as default) allowing you to quickly change that setting without bothering with menus.
It's small, it has a very wide angle lens zoomed out fully, and a decent telephoto zoomed the other way. I'm assuming you want it for your musical holiday, taking pictures of the stuff you do and see, and a few of the performers (better low light capabilities than other compacts). This camera will do for you if you're prepared to spend the dough. It'll be more expensive than $370 here or in the UK. Personally I'd order it from the states (never had a single problem with that), but if you're rushed or uncertain, you can pay a bit extra here or there.
Here's the dpreview review summary:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons90/page19.asp (bear in mind, they're not wild about the handling
because it's so small ?)
Here's a review by well known internet douche-bag Ken Rockwell (an ass but he makes a heck of a lot of sense non the less):
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/s90.htm
- also see his list of recommended cameras, which includes compacts.
A similar camera for image quality is the Panasonic LX3
