Fans of the original lineup of Gypsy Tailwind - the dual fronting of Dan Connor and Anna Lombard, with Chris Dow, Colin Winsor, Tyler Stanley, and Max Cantlin, should definitely get to the New Hampshire Brew Fest on Saturday in Portsmouth - it'll be the last show with that lineup, as Lombard reports she's taking an indefinite break from the band.

A few days ago, The Flawed Bell, a trio of musicians and performance artists in and around Augusta (who are possibly named after a Baudelaire poem - or possibly just based on their names), posted a few more installments of their ongoing YouTube chronicle of their performancesat various locations around our state's capi

So we have this Portland Music Awards show coming up on Wednesday (yes, this Wednesday, June 3), at 5:30 at Asylum, 121 Center Street, in Portland. Admission's free - but it's strictly 21+ (it's no use begging - we've heard 'em all, and we're not buying any of them).

We have a ton of artists performing, including Gypsy Tailwind

Maine native Buck Edwards, who has been writing and performing country songs around the country for what we'll generously call "a while," just landed a gig at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, opening for George Strait on May 30, as part of the Colgate Country Showdown. (Semi-ironically sponsored by a toothpaste company, it's a country-music talent search.

The other day we here at the Phoenix got an e-mail about the State Theatre from Roy Ghim, who hosts Liberation By Sound on WMPG, with a tale of, as he described it, how something that "was initially a scoop turned out to be a non-story." Nevertheless, he sent it our way, no longer as a scoop, but rather "as a tragicomedy." Here's what he had to say:

Tomorrow evening, Charlie Gaylord's Greetings From Area Code 207 show on WBLM (102.9 FM) will spend an hour with Ray LaMontagne, talking about Meg White, Rustic Overtones, and Ray's move to Massachusetts(!). Hear some older Ray live tracks and some stuff from his new disc. It's on April 15 at 8 pm, and again April 19 at 9 am, or streaming live at wblm.com.

Hoboe - the oboe-enhanced rockers led by Zen Ben - need your help. Bob Bergeron, the band's bassist, had two of his basses stolen from his car on Exchange Street early yesterday morning.

They are described as "a black Rickenbacher with a white pick guard and a bartolini pickup in the neck position, and a Jazz Fender bass with a distinct burn mark in the bottom cutaway."

Brian from Sly-Chi checked in the other day to let us know that they are finalists in the Anthem International Music Festival. (No, we hadn't heard of it either.) They're up against six other bands - and it seems like the whole thing's a little oddly organized. There are seven finalists in the group they call "the Final Six," and only one is from outside the US (and that one's from Canada), so we're not sure how "international" this whole thing is, but nevermind).

Look, we know you missed the first broadcast of Portland Phoenix local-music writer Sam Pfeifle on Charlie Gaylord's Greetings from Area Code 207 show on WBLM talking about our list of 2008's top 20 local albums. (Also don't miss Chris Gray's list of things you might have missed when they were first released.) We forgive you, because it was at 8 pm New Year's Eve, and we're not surprised the drinking started early.

Portland musician and rock-historian Allen Lowe has a piece in the current issue of the Oxford American, the magazine's 10th annual "Southern Music Issue." He extols the virtues of the Hampton Grease Band, whom he describes as "a group that had everything I liked in not just rock & roll but in all music."

Regardless of the possibly-apocryphal "fact" that the HGB's debut album was, as Lowe notes, the second-lowest selling release in the history of Columbia Records, Lowe's sense of discovery and genuine excitement are palpable - even as he describes guitarist Glenn Phillips as "better and more interesting as a guitarist than Frank Zappa."

The folks at WBLM (102.9 FM, "the Blimp") have banded together to raise money for the Good Shepherd Food-Bank, an Auburn-based nonprofit that helps feed hungry people across Maine, both on its own and in partnership with local food banks.

The BLM Band (a bunch of DJs and employees at the radio station) have written and recorded "The Blimp That Saved Christmas" - an optimistically named song - and made it available for download at the station's Web site, wblm.