originally published November 1, 2006

News is bustin’ out all over and, for our purposes, we’ll focus on the stuff happening music-wise around here. Start focusing below…

Now Go Back Across The Street: The Wednesday, Nov. 1 show on the UGA campus featuring Houston, TX dude Chamillionaire and former Athens rapper $hamrock is to be held at the Tate Student Center’s Georgia Hall and not UGA’s Legion Field as was originally announced. So just turn around and cross the street and you’ll be fine.

Bands For Gas: The UGA chapter of Students For Environmental Awareness will host a free event dubbed “Changing The Power At The Pump” on Friday, Nov. 3 upstairs at Tasty World. The purpose of this event is to raise awareness of the existence of alternative fuels, specifically biodiesel. The organizers have also specified that they want to raise awareness of voting, although I’m pretty sure everyone knows what voting is. They probably mean some specific, yet unmentioned, environmental issues that are affected by voting patterns. Or something. Anyway, State Representatives Tommy Smith (District 168) and Karla Drenner (District 86), along with U.S. Congressman from Georgia Jack Kingston, will attend and field questions. Featured musical acts are the Pixies Cover Band, Newspeak and Atlanta's No River City.

Call It Holiday Ham If You Want: The local dudes in Ham 1 are currently finishing their awaited sophomore album The Captain’s Table with engineer Andy Baker. You can catch a preview of what the new album should sound like over at www.ham1.org, and you can catch the band live over at the Flicker Theatre & Bar on Saturday, Nov. 4 when it shares the stage with Miwa and The Mattoid or at the 40 Watt Club on Wednesday, Nov. 8, with Dark Meat and The Ginger Envelope.

In The Soup: The local folks that run the Athens-area Food Not Bombs chapter will hold a benefit to buy a new soup pot and other kitchen necessities over at Tasty World upstairs on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The event begins with dinner, presumably prepared by the group, and live bluegrass at 9 p.m. and then the punk-rock portion of the show kicks off at 10:30 p.m. with Mouser, 696, Society Of Probable Monsters and Wolfskin. Okay, look, tangent time: I think Food Not Bombs is generally a really, really cool thing. Even though the sometimes-ridiculous politics espoused by some of its members can get under my skin, the idea of feeding people who are hungry is hard to argue with. But sometimes I wonder about benefit shows that seem like they’re going around the ass to get to the elbow. What I mean is this: a quick price check reveals that a 20-qt. stock pot can be had for less than $45 locally, and the labor alone to put on this show will cost more than or is at least worth more than that. Anyway, Food Not Bombs began in Cambridge, MA, in 1980 and has grown to include hundreds of autonomous, like-minded groups around the world. Read about it over at www.foodnotbombs.net or show up at the show for more info.

Could Be Cool: There is no closer connection between art and music than that which is possessed by a builder of musical instruments. So it pleases me to mention a new company here in Athens that specializes in musical instruments created with cigar boxes. Everything except the box itself and the instruments' tuning pegs are hand-crafted and, as best as I can tell, almost any variation of a stringed instrument can be made. The company is named Salt Shack Strings & Sundries and the curious can take a look and place orders over at www.myspace.com/saltshackstrings.

New To You: Local jazz guitarist Scott Leon-O’Day and his Scott Leon-O’Day Quartet released the album Frequencies last week. The live album was recorded approximately a year ago during a session at WUGA’s studio during the radio show “It’s Friday.” At the release show last week, they cost only $5, but otherwise they'll cost you a slight bit more at $7 (with a $2 shipping fee if you order the thing at www.scottleonoday.com).

New Band, New Game: I knew they wouldn’t sit still for very long and they haven’t. From the disbanded ruins of local act Heros Severum comes Down With The Woo! Featuring former Heros Severum members Eric Friar and Mandy Branch, along with new addition Winston Parker (Erutrevo, U.S.S.R.), who contributed to several live Heros performances. The band made its live debut last week at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City and performed with Pegasuses-XL, Murder Mystery, Peter & the Wolf, Bloody Panda and The Notekillers. Word is the group already has half an album of stuff recorded and let a few copies slip around during the trip up North, and is planning to have a few make their way around Athens soon.

Get Yer YaYa’s Out: For those who are into downloading torrents of live shows yet find themselves in a moral quandary about obtaining an artist's work for free (I’m sure there’s at least a few of you out there), here’s a respite. Completely approved for guilt-free exploitation is a new live recording of local man Geoff Reacher from his super-secret show here in town last week. Check it out at www.archive.org/details/geoff_reacher_10.22.06.

Studio Dude-io!: Local studio wizards Eric Friar, mentioned above, and Asa Leffer have further pimped out their studio Downtown Athens Recording Company. Among the improvements: the complete restoration of the studio’s MCI-400 series mixing board, upgraded to ProTools 7 with faster computers and converters and now capable of a doing full 48-track recording with, like, a billion plug-ins. I have almost no idea what I’m talking about here, but it sure sounds fancy and folks that know about this stuff will surely be impressed. The studio has just wrapped sessions with The Whigs, The Pendletons and Dirty Mittens. Visit Eric and Asa at www.darcsound.com.

Heavy Petting: So, hot Tennessee punk band Be Your Own Pet deserves some props from Athens audiences. The band had been booked to headline the 40 Watt Club on Friday, Nov. 3. It worked out, however, that the Drive-By Truckers were looking for two nights to put on a benefit show for Nuçi's Space around the same time, and when Be Your Own Pet heard about Nuçi's Space, not only did they agree to open for the Truckers, they also said that they'd do the show for gas money and expenses only, letting the profits of the show go towards Nuçi's Space. Well, all right!

Also: And by the way, after non-stop touring and recording for the past several years, the Truckers are taking an "extended hiatus" next year, apparently far longer than anything in the band's history, so these shows will be the last chance to see 'em in Athens for a good long while. You can read more about this weekend's back-to-back shows in this issue. Also at this weekend's shows, Nuçi’s Space will be raffling off a signed Drive-By Truckers guitar. The Fender Squire 51 with a Telecaster headstock is vintage blonde and has a black pick guard, and will be signed by all members onstage during Saturday’s show. Raffle tickets are $10 each, and are available at Nuçi’s Space, as well as at the shows. If you are present at the time of the drawing, the band will even personalize the guitar, but you don't have to be at the shows to win.

Back in Black: After being out of commission for a period, Winder's 106 West is back in action. To celebrate the renaissance, the music venue is hosting a day-long acoustic festival on Saturday, Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The more than 20 acts range from bluegrass, folk and jazz to blues and country. Athens band Bob Hay & the Jolly Beggars and Athens duo Paul Hedges & Chris Zeigler will perform, as will regional acts like Arlington Priest, Sean Kagalis, Moses Cotton and Deacon Brandon Reeves. Admission is $15 (or $12 in advance), and kids get in cheaper. And if you just want to see one act, it'll be just $5. The venue is located at 106 W. Athens St. in Winder; more info at www.106west.com.

Okay, folks, as always, be sure to keep your news coming in and always mention either Threats & Promises or my name in the subject line of all emails. Panic at my disco sometime via email to music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 706-549-9523, ext. 203, or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.

Gordon Lamb