Okay, so I was gonna give you the lowdown of all the news I had gathered from participants at SXSW this week, but we already covered that last week with a recap by our esteemed Chris Hassiotis and this week as well, so you're gonna get the new shiznit this week. Cool? Cool...

Here Be Myrtles: It's almost a rite of passage in Athens that when your band starts getting some steam behind it, you break it up and form something new. Keeping with this tradition is local musician Erica Stout, formerly of Fake Red Seth, who has just announced her newest project called Who Is Myrtle Malloy?. Also of note in the band is drummer Phil Horan formerly of beauty merchants Maserati. Who is Myrtle Malloy? is self-described as "thinking woman's rock" and since I'm not a woman, all you thinking women out there will have to tell me what that means. But word is that W.I.M.M.? also kicks it math-rock style with a healthy dose of Sleater-Kinney thrown in for good measure. All cool in my book. If this sounds good to you, and I'm sure it will, check them out at The Chi-House over on Pope Street on April 14 when they will play with We Vs. The Shark and Navies. Also, if house shows aren't your thing you can head to the Caledonia Lounge and see them on April 28 with yet-to-be-announced openers. Hell, go see 'em both times.

I Told You She Ain't There: Pretty much everyone needs a day job and local promotions person Lily Wolfe is no different. By day she labors with love over at

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Team Clermont, but all the rest of the time she is one half of the great Parker and Lily. At any rate, earlier this year, Parker and Lily rocked the kids Down Under - as in Australia - and now they'll be back out on tour for a while so any of you local bands that were dealing with her should contact Jon Polk (www.teamclermont.com) who will cover for her in her absence. Wanna know how good Parker and Lily are? Head over to www.parkerandlily.com and melt in the bliss.

Ma, Those Bands Are On The Plaza Again!: The University Union at the University of Georgia is starting up their Springtime concerts at Tate Plaza soon. The shows are free and outside so if the good Lord's willing, and the creek don't rise, all will go as planned. The shows will feature local bands every Friday in April usually in the early afternoon. If you're a local band that wants to rock the folks while they're going to class, please contact Ben Lack at (678) 463-9909. As a side note, I was coordinator of this very same event several years ago and believe me, it helps when local bands contact these folks as most locals can be impossible to track down.

New Label, New Records, New Rock: This is the kind of stuff that I really dig, folks. Local math-rock band Cinemechanica and the aforementioned We Versus The Shark have teamed up to form a new label. The first release is the newly recorded album by We Versus The Shark.

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Keeping it all in the family, the album was recorded with the guys in Cinemechanica at their Epi-1: Ecosystem studio over in Winterville. While the national release is slated for fall, copies will be available locally as early as May. The new label will put on a showcase at the Fabulous 40 Watt on April 21 featuring W.V.T.S., Cinemechanica and, the only non-Athens band on their roster (so far), Greensboro, NC's Tiger Bear Wolf. While it may seem like a daunting undertaking, this forming a label business, apparently all eight members of the two founding bands are knee-deep with their commitment to the project and that kind of enthusiasm can't be measured. Well, it probably could be measured, but I wouldn't know how to do it. At any rate, do yourself a favor and check out www.cinemechanica.com or www.wevstheshark.com. If you want to contact the guys about their studio or new label please write to mike@epi1ecosystem.com or bryant@cinemechanica.com. Now you have the news. Use it wisely.

Proof That Athens Rules All Other Towns Period: Okay, I'm not gonna write too much 'bout this one because you're all going to read the feature story on it in this issue anyway, but I had to get my two cents in on the ACME Festival, which runs from April 1–4 here in Athens; it's absolutely going to be the stuff of legends. Four days of improvisational, experimental jazz and other stuff curated by none other than Mr. Ken Vandermark himself. To say that I am simply beside myself with excitement would be to understate the point severely. So please, do yourself an enormous service by heading over to www.acmefestival.com and checking out what will be offered and then buying your tickets. This is the type of event people fly across the ocean to witness and you can see it in your own backyard. Please don't disappoint me, people. This is truly historic.

And It Seems History Already Smiles On Athens Pretty Consistently: The national music press never ceases to amaze me. It's almost as if they forget about bands intentionally just so they can then write about them years later and ask "where are they now?" At any rate, MAGNET Magazine did a big feature a few months back on the lost bands of the pre-alternative-era and damn if almost all of them weren't from or related to Athens in some way. Bands of note included Love Tractor, Guadalcanal Diary and The Connells, who played here nearly as much as they played their hometown of Chapel Hill, NC. Well, it seems SPIN isn't going to take the chance to say they weren't there when shit was going down, and to this end they named the "Essential Southern Rock Albums" in their February issue this year. Bands featured include Drive-By Truckers, R.E.M., The Black Crowes and The Allman Brothers Band. Curiously Atlanta's Outkast was also listed, so who the hell knows what passes for Southern Rock in the 21st century. At any rate you can check the magazine archives at www.magnetmagazine.com or www.spin.com. Yee-ha!

And that's it folks. Keep it coming in, will ya? As always mention me or Threats & Promises in the subject line of all emails and break it on down via email at music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 549-2360; or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.

Gordon Lamb