originally published March 28, 2007

In honor of the upcoming late-night swimming and pool party season, I’m jumping in at the deep end this week. Goggles on? Go!

Tall Tall Tales: Back from a quick jaunt to Texas for South by Southwest, Jimmy Hughes ' folk-rock outfit Folklore has two shows of note coming up this week. The first one's at Detour on Thursday, Mar. 29, with Nana Grizol and Chapel Hill's The Never opening at 9 p.m. The second is on Monday, Apr. 2, and is another one of those early, cheap shows at the Caledonia Lounge . Starting at 7 p.m. and only costing $2 to get in, this day-job-friendly gig features Folklore, Madeline , Christopher's Liver and Illinois band Casados . Show up early for the $1 PBRs, folks.

Kick These Jams: Local metal/ hardcore band Aegis of Athena will finally see the release of its new CD on Friday, Mar. 30 at the Caledonia Lounge . Sharing the bill that night is The Murdered , Lazer/Wülf and Kill Lebaron . Recorded by Mike Albanese of Cinemechanica, the album has received the star treatment by hot-shit producer Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, He Is Legend, The Human Abstract). The band was understandably thrilled after an enthusiastic King agreed to work on the project. So go congratulate them. And buy one.

Terry On My Wayward Son: The annual on-the-lawn concerts at Herty Field, know as “Terry Tunes” since it’s the Terry College Of Business at UGA that sponsors them, started up last week with Venice Is Sinking and there’s more to come. Upcoming shows, which are all on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m., are Bain Mattox and Tin Cup Prophette (Mar. 30), the UGA Salsa Band (Apr. 20) and Trey Wright (Apr. 27).

Give Peace A Dance: Local promoter Beth Kelley Zorbanos will host the "Music For Peace Project" (Athens edition) this year at Little Kings . Music For Peace is an annual event during which people all over the world conduct concerts during the same weekend. The Athens event is on Saturday, Mar. 31, 7–11 p.m. and will feature The Madison County Community Choir , The Swedish Girls , Steven & Julianne King and Gabriel Kelley . For more information on Music For Peace, please see www.m4p.org.

Where’s Hayride When You Need ‘Em?: If any of you feel like throwing on a V-neck sweater and some goofy pants, then head on up to Augusta on Tuesday, Apr. 3 and catch local flavor Corey Smith when he performs alongside Dashboard Confessional and Cheap Trick at the third annual Rock Fore! Dough concert. All proceeds benefit the First Tee Network which provides character-building programs, facilities and life-enhancing opportunities via golf. The idea is to provide kids from all types of backgrounds with the values of integrity, honesty, sportsmanship and a bunch of other good things. In the past 10 years, the First Tee Network has opened more than 200 facilities all over he world and helped over 303,000 (!) kids get involved with golf. Tickets for the show are $25 in advance and $35 on the day of the show and are available at www.ticketalternative.com and around Augusta. For more information, please contact Emily Carder via ecarder@comcast.net.

Beat It!: On Saturday, Apr. 7, local organizers for The Battle Against Poverty will host a “battle of the bands”(what else?) concert to raise awareness of poverty issues in the Athens-Clarke County area. The event, organized by local high-school students, area promoters and Partners for a Prosperous Athens will run for eight hours. During this time, there are to be three “battles”: one for high-school bands, one for adult bands and a rap battle. At the end of the night, the three most popular acts will perform again. The event begins at 3 p.m. and takes place at UGA’s Legion Field . To take part or for more information, please write battleagainstpoverty@gmail.com or visit www.myspace.com/battleagainstpoverty.

Another One Back: The local folks of Killer Rock From Space are back in action, so to speak, after a hiatus of their own. They hope to head into the studio sometime and record some new songs. Back in October, they made a video for the song “Shooting Knives at the Wizard” and used the enormously popular online game World of Warcraftas their graphics source. It’s viewable over on Google Video, but since the link to it is really cumbersome and long, just go watch it on the band's own website: www.killerrockfromspace.com.

Kind Of Sad, Actually: Local promoter and Lovenotes Records honcho Tommy Valentine has announced the dissolution of the hip-hop collective The Lovenotes Family . In a vague but to-the-point press release last week, Valentine said, “They say the definition of madness is repeating your actions, then expecting a different outcome to happen. For six years now, I have aimed for the stars, creating a series of epic plans with good intentions… I have begun to feel trapped in a holding pattern. I am, as is the cliché, always taking two steps forward, one step back.” Ironically, this news arrives directly on the heels of the recent multi-artist recording of the track “They Gon’ Love Us” which will be on this year's AthFest compilation CD attributed to The Lovenotes Family. Valentine deserves credit for attempting to bridge the gap between the rock and hip-hop communities here in Athens. I know he won’t be gone forever.

Where And When Just Don’t Matter!: I’m only including this because it’s so laughable. Flagpolereceived a press release stating that the “ 8th Annual B.O.B. Festival (Battle of the Bands) ” is reportedly coming to Athens, except that no date is set and no venue is booked. Still, the organizers want bands and artists to know that they can go ahead and register to enter anyway! Any style of music is appropriate. Billed as “the longest running festival of it’s kind” the event has, and continues to be, held in different cities all across the United States each week and seems to be, at every level, total dog shit. First off, go look at the horribly crappy website this supposedly awesome thing has (www.worldfolk.com) and you’ll notice that the domain name itself is offered for sale! Then look at all the excuses the promoters have for why they can’t control what certain venues will do (i.e. pay-to-play, no guest lists, etc.) in the FAQ section. Yeah, this thing has a decent amount of typical industry sponsors (whoop-e-dee-doo!), but I feel sorry for any legitimate band that gets suckered into participating in anything like this. Don’t believe me? Then go have a look at www.worldfolk.com or drop a line to organizer Rod Belford via rod_belford@yahoo.com.

Just keepin’it real. Do your part and be sure to keep your news coming in and always mention either Threats & Promises or my name in the subject line of all emails. Send it out 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