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• It's not even Thanksgiving and already we have something to be thankful for.
D.C. & Co. have just announced that they'll be back with their annual "ThanksGivin' Back" benefit for Hospice of Lancaster County.
As usual, it will be held the night before Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, at the Lancaster Elks Lodge, 219 N. Duke St. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and can be bought at Valentino's Cafe, The Alley Kat, Brendee's Cafe and the Elks Club.
The show starts at 9 p.m.
Now for the bad news. D.C. says it's the last such show, at least "for a while." Hope the "while" won't be too long. Dancing the night away on Thanksgiving eve has become a longstanding tradition.
• And more gigging. Mulberry Art Studios, 19-21 N. Mulberry St., will be the site of Triskadecafest on Nov. 13.
The Blind Willies, The Reconnaissance, Jason Kepner, hkeybsg, KBR and sickprity will provide the entertainment.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Either way, if you buy three tickets, you get one free. So call three of your buddies and plan to be there. To order tickets, call Paul at 367-5863.
• And there's a new band in town.
Singer Nathan "Nippy" Hawkins, guitarist Guy "Mojo" Debau, bassist George Shinkowsky and drummer Tom Brinser have joined forces to create MugShot, a self-described "power quatro" that will be the house band at The Railroad House in Marietta every weekend through November.
Wanna know more? Check out themugshotband.webs.com.
• It's party time!
Ryan Wickersham will release "Bottom," his first full-length album, on Dec. 1.
Wickersham said he wrote all nine songs and played all the instruments on the album. The CD was produced by Carson Slovak and recorded at Century Studios.
Check out some of the new tunes at www.mypsace.com/wickersham.
Wickersham said the CD has a John Mayer/Dave Matthews kind of vibe about it. Works for us.
• Did someone say CD?
Dave Wilson (www.Davewilsonmusic.org) is busy shopping around his latest CD, which features half a dozen originals, plus some songs you probably wouldn't expect from Dave, including "Friend of the Devil" and Creed's "My Own Prison."
Dave hopes to have a label for it and release it sometime this fall.
In the meantime, you can catch Dave's All-Star Jazz Quartet on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Rosa Rosa, 398 Harrisburg Pike. There's no cover. Music starts at 10 p.m.
• OK, who else is recording or getting ready to record a CD?
Answer: Everyone, it seems.
• The Sketties are gearing up to begin production work on a new CD they hope to have ready by the summer.
Drummer Jesse Ryan Porter said the band plans on recording the album at Seventh Wave Studio in Harrisburg.
The band recently released a new song, "Bugs That Kill." You can get a free digital download at www.thesketties.wordpress.com/.
If you go to www.myspace.com/thesketties, you can listen to live versions of "Bugs That Kill" and "A Little too Distracted," both of which will most likely appear on the new CD. "Distracted" was recorded at the Chameleon earlier this year.
The Sketties' most recent album "Up?!? Yes!!!" recently went on sale at Mr. Suit Records, 118 W. Chestnut St.
The Sketties will be at Suba, 272 North St., Harrisburg, at 9 p.m. on Nov. 13. On Nov. 20, they'll be joined by Adamo Drive for a 9 p.m. show at Bube's Brewery, 102 N. Market St., Mount Joy.
• In our last column, we promised details on J.C. Fetlock's upcoming CD, and here they are.
J.C. (www.myspace.com/jcfetlock) says it's kind of a "greatest hits" album, featuring songs he's performed many times over the years, including "LarryCurlyMoe" and "That's My Car," which is burned into the memories of many a Fetlock fan.
The project started when J.C. and fiddler Chris Haus did some live recordings during a gig at Moon Dancer Winery. J.C. then took the recordings to Sam Frantz's studio, where they added some vocal harmonies, guitar and percussion.
The final product, which he said is still months away, will include a nature book.
Wanna know more? Ask him yourself. He'll be playing tonight with Ralph Miller and the Greyhounds at Loxley's, 500 Centerville Road.
• Word has it that The Matt Goss Band (www.mattgossband.com) is on the verge of releasing a 10-song CD in late November or early December.
All are songs Goss has written over the past two years. The lineup includes Goss on acoustic and electric guitar, keys and lead vocals; Kim Goss on background vocals; Kevin Russo on drums; David Green on bass; and Sean Steele on electric guitars.
Goss describes the new CD as "more of a singer/songwriter project" with "an acoustic/pop sound."
We'll definitely be keeping our ears open.
• Adam Taylor will begin recording his first full-length album in January.
Taylor said "Jazzonia," which he describes as a place he wants to take his listeners, will include about 14 original tracks he wrote.
Taylor said he'll hopefully record the record in Los Angeles, and he is seeking a producer.
He said he'll experiment with different instruments, including the theremin.
He'll be at The Lancaster Dispensing Co., 33 N. Market St., at 8 p.m. on Nov. 20 and at Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, 269 Herr St., Harrisburg, at 8 p.m. on Nov. 27.
• Stu Huggens (www.myspace.com/huggensstu) is headed into the studio as well.
According to a recent e-mail, he's recording acoustic versions of some songs he did with the Susquehanna River Band, plus some new songs.
Stu's also got a new venue, The Union Barrel Works in Reamstown. No word yet on when he'll be there again, but we'll try to keep you posted.
• Perkasie is heading to the studio to work on a full-length album next month.
Band member Alex Wash said the record will include 10 originals. He said the band hopes to release the CD in the spring.
You can listen to demo versions of two of the songs — "When You Call" and "Hallelujah To The Deep" — at www.myspace.com/perkasieband.
Perkasie will be at Club DeVille at Millersville University on Thursday at 8 p.m. They'll be joined by Kingsfoil. On Nov. 13, they'll be at the Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St., with Rufus J Fisk, Ghost House and Ben Roth. The show kicks off at 8 p.m.
Finally, a few quick notes:
• XPN seems to have taken a shine to Jessica Smucker. The singer-songwriter will be doing two XPN gigs next weekend: Nov. 13, at Progressive Galleries, and Nov. 14, at Ten Thousand Villages in Ephrata.
Friday's gig kicks off at 8 p.m. and includes music by The Swimmers and the Emily Rodgers Band.
Jessica will be performing with her band, The Sleeping World (www.myspace.com/thesleepingworld).
Saturday's gig runs from 1-4 p.m. Also appearing will be Hiram Ring.
• Did someone say Hiram Ring (www.hiramring.com)? The singer-songwriter just e-mailed us to say he's setting up a studio in his parents' garage. What next, Hiram? You going to form a garage rock band?
He says he's been recording some local folk artists and working with his longtime collaborator Matthew Monticchio on two albums of sacred songs. And he's thinking Christmas once again, plus some MP3 giveaways after Thanksgiving.
Sounds good to us.
• Are you looking for a guitarist who might be looking for you?
Fred Fiero won the local Guitar Center's King of the Blues contest back in September and went on to play at the district competition last month.
A Long Island native who moved to Strasburg a couple of years ago, the 47-year-old — who's been playing for 36 years — says he "wouldn't mind getting in a good band," provided it's not aimed at the bar scene. At the moment, he's not playing with anyone, though he sometimes sits in with local band Half Moon Under when they practice.
His influences? Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin.
Interested? E-mail him at freddiemaestro@yahoo.com. And tell him we sent you.
So what's your band (or solo act, or duo) up to? New venue? New lineup? New CD? Tell us, and we'll tell the world (starting with Lancaster County, of course). E-mail items to arios@lnpnews.com and/or jroberts@lnpnews.com.
