originally published July 9, 2008

Seeing as how y’all are already here, why don’t we have a little chat about this week’s music news? I figured you’d be up for it. Let’s get started below…

On Sale Now: Although it’s a few weeks away, I wanted to let you know good and early about an upcoming show at Ciné. It’s an awesome night of improvisation and composition that will feature LaDonna Smith (publisher of the 28-year-old journal The Improvisor which has a web presence at www.the-improvisor.com), Moscow-born Misha Feigin, local hero Paul Thomas, Echo Canyon (featuring Craig Lieske, Jim Wilson and Chuck Bradburn), the return of Killick! and Chattanooga’s legendary Shaking Ray Levis. Tickets are a mere $6 and are available now at the Ciné box office. For further details on all the artists, please see http://snailhalo.com.

New Fangled: If you’re searching for info on Future Ape Tapes, you could pretty much be stumbling drunk and still find your way to the conveniently named www.futureapetapes.com which the band has just launched. Once there, you’ll find a bunch of normal stuff (pictures, etc.) but also a free download of the unreleased album Art of Darkness and some other tracks. Furthermore, Future Ape Tapes have begun to branch out and collaborate with multiple beat makers and have so far received beats from Atlanta’s Das Kapital, Board of Directors and Chosun Productions. They are interested in hearing your stuff, too. Any beat makers that would like to get in on the action should send an email over to futureape@gmail.com. If you’re wondering what all this is about, you could always go check out the group live this Friday at the 40 Watt Club with Diplo and Dark Meat.

Already Almost Gone: How can the news be over before it has even really happened? Welcome to the wacky world of rock and roll, my friends. But let’s back up. The man you’ve seen around town recording shows, AKA Sloan Simpson, has dipped his toe in the record releasing business, and his first item is a solo 7” single by Harvey Milk frontman Creston Spiers. The two-song single features the track “Yesterday’s Parade” which was composed for Spiers’ project A which never saw the light of day and is backed with “The Time Has Come” which Spiers wrote while he was drumming for Producto. Simpson only pressed a couple hundred of these, and an Internet pre-sale which took place a couple of weeks ago has left thumb suckers and dawdlers scrambling to secure a copy. By that I mean: don’t try to order it anymore. It’s gone. Only a precious few remaining copies will find their way to local record shops and, of course, the band will have a few copies to sell at shows following the band's European tour. Guess it’s time to take out that spare 50 bucks you’ve had burning a hole in your pocket and head to eBay. For further details, please see www.southernshelter.com.

Your Mom Probably Heard This: Aggressively tuneful local band Mass Solo Revolt got the prim and proper treatment a couple of weeks ago when the band was featured on National Public Radio’s Second Stage. The segment features some nice commentary from host Robin Hilton who has featured multiple Athens bands on the show. Regarding the Athenian bookings he remarked, “I promise you I don’t do this intentionally. I always pick the bands to be on the show long before I knew where they’re from. Athens, GA just produces an unusually high number of really good bands, so I guess the odds are in its favor.” Hilton spun the title track from Mass Solo Revolt’s album Easy Mark. Congrats, guys. Keep it coming. Check out mass Solo Revolt over at www.myspace.com/masssolorevolt.

Forever and Ever: Local band Marriage has been relatively quiet for the past year or so with the exception of the occasional live show. We now know that the members have been spending time recording a full-length album with local promoter and man-about-town Mercer West. The release was mixed and mastered by the able hands of Joel Hatstat, and the band plans to celebrate the release of the album at a crappy party on Saturday, July 12. Yes, that’s a clue. For full details, please see www.myspace.com/marriage.

Technical Ecstasy: If you’re a local band who has never bothered to create a listing within the Flagpole Music Directory, you might want to rethink your strategy. Now the Music Directory is integrated with our Calendar section at Flagpole.com so that when your name appears in the Calendar, folks can click the tape icon next to your name and it will take them to your listing in the directory. Then they can check out information about you, listen to MP3s you’ve uploaded, etc. However, your music directory entry is not linked to your description in the Calendar. So, if you’ve been quietly bitching about how Flagpole has all your information wrong or that you’re not accurately described, then jump on it and update your Calendar description via music@flagpole.com. To create or update your Music Directory listing please head to www.Flagpole.com/MusicDirectory/Step1.

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. Don’t eat stuff off the sidewalk via email to music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 706-549-9523, ext. 203, or by post to P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA, 30603.

Gordon Lamb