Here we are again and I hope everyone's holiday was fun, relaxing and all that it was supposed to be. See, I can wish good will when I feel like it. But enough with all that. Let's get on with the program...

Talk About Direct Marketing: On Friday, Dec. 12, The Friends Of WUGA will host the first-ever "Musicians' Marketplace" at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The event is a benefit to support local music and musicians and our local National Public Radio affiliate WUGA 91.7 FM. Local musicians are invited to participate free of charge. Simply bring your records, CDs or whatever down and set up on one of the provided tables. Organizers will auction off autographed items from R.E.M. and The Drive-By Truckers, too. Artists who've already agreed to participate include Julie Powell, Bill Mallonee, Rick Fowler, David Barbe, Mike Dekle and a bunch of others. Athensmusic.net will host a table full of the best in local music and Low Yo Yo Stuff will sell some of the more esoteric items that will be available. Benefit CDs whose proceeds go to The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program and The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation also will be offered. All in all, it's gonna be a local music smorgasbord and seems like it will be quite an event. It runs from 4–6 p.m. For more information feel free to contact Pat Priest at ppriest@charter.net or JoE Silva at joe.silva@usg.edu.

Can We Reschedule?: To those of you who showed up at the 40 Watt on Monday, Nov. 23 to see Slum Village and Dwele, two acts who'd been hyped both on this page and in the ABC section, apologies - the show was canceled at the last minute by the acts' management. Josh Moore of Jomo Entertainment, the show's local promoter, says that if anything they'll reschedule for a weekend night in January. There's a chance they might offer cheaper tickets as well to make up for the cancellation, so fingers crossed. [Chris Hassiotis]

Take The Kids, Take Yourselves: It's easy to forget that there's a hell of a lot of good music in this town besides the pummeling guitar stomp being played out night after night in smoky bars around town. Case in point: Pam Blanchard & The Sunny-Side Up Band. The band writes some of the most infectious children's music you're likely to hear and is as enjoyable for adults as well - individual members have played in Squat, Grogus, the Artie Ball Swing Band, Fuzzy Sprouts, Ultrasound and more. The band has sold approximately 4,000 copies of the last two releases, which this brings me to the next point: The Sunny-Side Up Band will release its newest CD, Let's Share It, on Saturday, Dec. 6, with a show at The Seney-Stovall Chapel. Guest percussionist Sunny Ortiz of Widespread Panic will be on hand for the performance. The event will be a choice family-oriented event and the kids will absolutely love it. For more information, see www.sunnysideupband.com.

The Once and Future King: Friday, Nov. 21, the University of Georgia's Tate Student Center hosted Dreaded Mindz's "King of the Ring III: Lyrical Warfare." The MC battle started out with 16 contestants, although in the end, y'know... there can be only one, and all that. The five-point judging system involved crowd response and four judges. A number of local contestants took to the ring, but the competition also drew MCs from as far as Philly. Reigning champion Ishues faced skilled competition. He eventually triumphed in an intense battle with Atlanta's Verbal (though the judges voted Ishues' way, the crowd strongly and loudly felt Verbal should've won), but was knocked out in the semi-final round by eLeMeN.O.P. mic-master Whisper, who lost to the Herb and Skills MC in last year's final round. Whisper went on to the final round, facing the skilled and clever Tommy Valentine. Valentine, who suffered a sucker-punch from a defeated opponent between sets, put up a valiant effort, but Whisper emerged victorious and claimed the top prize. Though the night's "special guest" entertainers Witchdoctor and his crew were a bit of a buzzkill, the night was a high-energy event worth catching. Make sure you come out next year, or to the weekly MC battles that Dreaded Mindz hosts. [CH]

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Quick Switch: It's only in Athens where venues would help each other out like this. When the Clarke County Health Department shut down The Flicker Theatre & Bar on Thursday, Nov. 20 due to some concerns (don't worry, everything's cool now - it was mostly just paperwork), Dodd Ferrelle and No River City had to pack up and head elsewhere. The Engine Room graciously opened their doors to the acts, and everything went along as smoothly as can be expected. No River City, by the way, are performing at the 40 Watt opening for Over The Rhine [see ABC] and Susan Enan, so if you didn't catch 'back then, now's your chance. [CH]

Upcoming And Blowing Your Mind:

Some solid shows are fast approaching and so I'd thought I'd pass the word on. First, on December 5, The Fabulous 40 Watt will host Elf Power and Weird War,

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which features spastic soul-crooner Ian Svenonius of The Make-Up, Cupid Car Club, Nation Of Ulysses, etc. On the same night, The Caledonia will have Papa M (a lo-fi superstar act featuring David Pajo of Slint, Tortoise and Zwan), EZT and Fred Weaver. So you can see it will be a perfect night to do the traditional back-and-forth between the two joints. Also upcoming at The Caledonia on December 18 is The Hollyhocks and new-ish local act The Specters, who have a solid, shiny-pop sound that's reminiscent of late-1980s college-radio staples. Imagine if Hugo Largo was less dreamy and slow and 1000 percent more accessible. That's still not a great description. Let's just say that they're not half bad and definitely worth a listen.

And that's it for this week, folks. Yeah, it's a little light but sometimes that's how the news goes. Of course, you can change all that by sending your stuff in early, often and referencing either me or Threats & Promises in your email subject lines. Reel around the fountain via email music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 549-2360; via fax at 548-8981; or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.

Gordon Lamb