originally published November 21, 2007

Hey hey, it's Thanksgiving, and so the town kinda shuts down a little. But not completely! Dive on in for a little of what's what…

These Series Are Face Melting: By now, local music fans should be well aware of the Melting Point's ongoing bluegrass series, which features live bluegrass each Tuesday night, but you'll have to pay a little closer attention to the venue's calendar to eke out information about the upcoming Thursday night jazz series. Kicking off on Thursday, Dec. 13, with the Rand Lines Trio, the series will feature Kenosha Kid on Dec. 20 and the Marlon Patton Trio on Dec. 27. After that is still up in the air, but a quick visit to www.meltingpointathens.com should get you enough information to plan your winter accordingly, and only three bucks will get you in every Thursday.

But Even More Significantly!: The Melting Point will host a release party for Art Rosenbaum's field recordings box set on Saturday, Nov. 24. I cannot adequately express his importance or the greatness of his work, so please get yourself to this show. And check out the interview with him over here.

Go Noise: Local promoter, agitator and guy-that-gets-things done Mux Blank is now in charge of booking a monthly experimental music night at Go Bar. He's interested in all types of experimental stuff (music, video, whatever) and he's concentrating on mostly Athens artists, but will feature occasional out-of-town acts. For example, the first show takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 28 and features Atlanta artist Shawn Alderman. Locals on the bill are Mr. Blank himself, Better People and Smokedog. There's also a chance that some clips from Sailor Winters' film Red at Morn will be shown. Wanna get booked? Then drop a line to mrblank@mrblankisdead.com.

And Speaking Of The Good Sailor…: Ryan Cox (AKA Sailor Winters) continues to quietly spread the holiday joy via his Black Noise label. One thing I really like about Black Noise is its commitment to the absolute fringe. Think you're tough? Throw on a copy of the newly released album Pigpusher by Sweden's Demons That Drove, and see how tough you are after coming out the other end. Cox also recently released The Frozen Hour by Total System Failure (whose stated goal is a "commitment to imperfect improvised recordings, the abuse of delays, the misuse of instrumentation and utter abandonment of the 'right' way to make music"). Get some for Mom over at www.sailorwinters.com.

Well, Why Not?: It was bound to happen, and now it has. The first honest-to-gosh tribute album to Of Montreal was released online a few weeks ago, and the best part of the whole thing is that it's free. Basically, you get 25 tracks from various artists of varying quality, but local fans should recognize the names Ketchup Fart, Casper & the Cookies and Japan's Elekibass; all appear on Aluminum Plums. The free album is available for download over at the Of Montreal fansite: www.thebootypatrol.blogspot.com. Of Montreal played this past week at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse in the midst of yet another massive string of dates; the band's taking a couple of weeks off before jumping on airplanes and taking its show overseas again to Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece and Turkey.

Zumm Kind Of Wonderful: Zumm Zumm, a local band that started off as lovable, shambly and scruffy, but wound up, well, pretty much the same but with tons of killer songs, is back. Sort of. There's a new album, G-Schwa-T, on the cusp of "official" release, but the band says there are some CD-Rs "floating around" and you could even possibly score one straight from the members themselves if you see 'em walking around. In a tantalizing move, Zumm Zumm is currently teasing folks with a rumored reunion show sometime in mid-February. Hell, I'd buy a ticket. Bug them about this stuff over at www.myspace.com/zummzumm.

Most Important Thing Right Now: Yeah, you know we're in a drought. You've cut back on your consumption, let the lawn go brown and stopped showering three times a day. You're also probably wondering, "Hey, I'm just one person, and I don't even know all that much about water issues. What are the folks that know something doing?" Well, people, that's what you can find out if you head to the 40 Watt Club and the Flicker Theatre & Bar on Tuesday, Nov. 27, when the clubs host the Athens Dust Bowl Benefit. The show will feature performances by Hope For Agoldensummer, Smokestack & the Foothill Fury, Timber, Sursie, Box Of Nails, Adam Reddick, Ricky Fitzpatrick and The Kellys, among others. Doors are at 7 p.m. and the show's suggested donation is $5. The proceeds will go to local non-profit groups working on water conservation issues. It's, seriously, the most important thing going on. See more in The Calendar! this week.

Experiment!: Last year, a bunch of the more experimental/ progressive musicians in town, including all-around cellist Heather McIntosh (The Instruments, etc.), got involved in a collaborative arts event called Aux over at ATHICA. Colin Bragg, Killick, Diet Rock Star, Paul Thomas and Olivia Tremor Control offshoot Black Swan Network all took part. Looks like there's another Aux in the works for next year in downtown Athens; things are starting to come together, and the word's been put out for volunteers/participants. "We need help with everything from doing the door, to helping with loading, to sound, food prep, and extra electronic sound contributors," writes McIntosh on her band's MySpace blog. "It would be great to get a full crew on this." For info on the original Aux CD, hit up www.auxcd.com, and to get in touch with McIntosh, head over to www.myspace.com/theinstruments or www.heathermcintosh.com.

Okay, let's go grab a corndog. Be sure to keep your news coming in and always mention either Threats & Promises or my name in the subject line of all emails. There's a riot goin' on 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