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• A couple things to note in advance of our Fall Arts Preview issue next week: the sinewy post-punk group HUAK drop Yorba Linda, their first full-length, named for the birthplace of Richard Nixon. (We expect a doting tribute.) Check huak.bandcamp.com for a fully downloadable maxi-single of "Ex-Ghost," a Yorba dart compiled with umpteen remixes by notable Portland racketeers, and should you dig that, consider pre-ordering the vinyl and digital download from that very site on September 9 (that's right, no CD). Huak are one of the more adventurous and realized bands in town, and conjure an era when late punk rock was still rife with possibility. Some blues jams for the modern Mainer have been issued by JACKS AND ACES, a new unit fronted by Jack Fossett. Fossett is an unconventional bandleader for this type of thing: his vocal delivery is far more articulate, mid-registered, and slender than the archetypal blues mutterer, and his guitarwork can get maddeningly spacey. Jazz finds its way in. Saxophones. Blues is a game with strict parameters, so if this kind of rulebreak sounds appealing to you, look for J&A's debut CD, Senseless, at Bull Moose today.
• Not sure exactly what'll change now that ONE LONGFELLOW SQUARE's officially a non-profit, but they sure seem happy about it. The intimate little folk venue has recently renovated, teamed up with more than 10 area 501(c)3s, and appears prepared to offer a lot more educational and development programming to go along with their weekly roster of folk giants. Speaking of which, SPACE GALLERY has finished its own renovations and appears primed for a new era of music and arts programming under its third directorship.
• Audiophiles and wax enthusiasts might be interested in "The Life of Vinyl," a new Portland Adult Education course taught by former Phoenix contributor JOE S. HARRINGTON at Deering High School. Joe's the author of Sonic Cool: the Life & Death of Rock N' Roll, and seems particularly jazzed about the resuscitation of LP sales in last few years. If you can't commit to his Wednesday night class, pop in on Harrington as he gives a reading and lecture at the North Gorham Public Library, Wednesday the 21st.
• Finally, anyone who's been mourning COVERED IN BEES should hold off on committing to any Halloween plans. It's now more than a rumor that the deathpunk unit open for THE HORROR, aughties "death-lounge" legends, at Geno's that night, while the mighty THRONES, Joe Preston's sub-bass warship, play down the street at SPACE. If only we had access to those underground tunnels . . .
