Between producing everyone from the All-American Rejects, Hot Hot Heat, Avril Lavigne, & Pink, hometown hero Butch Walker has found time to write and record his 3rd solo album. The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker & the Let's Go Out Tonites is Walker's tribute to his 70's glam roots with plenty of riffs channeling Bowie and T. Rex to spare. The CD comes out July 11th, and he'll be celebrating the release with an "out-store" performance in the parking lot of Criminal Records at 6pm. Walker will also kick off his US tour with back to back nights at the Variety Playhouse on July 18th & 19th. www.butchwalker.com

The Freakshow is in town! The 10 High will host the Second Shift Rock 'n Roll Circus July 13-14. The two day indie rock festival, started by local rockers Second Shift, will feature 10 buzzworthy bands from Charlotte, Charleston, Birmingham, and Nashville, along with surprise special guests. Acts on the bill include newly-signed Sony Music artists Bang Bang Bang , Nashville indie darlings De Novo Dahl, Atlanta rockers The Modern Society and Harrison Hudson, Flagpole Music Awards winners The Empties, along with The Workouts, The Explorer's Club, The Noises 10, The Bridges, and Beitthemeans. Cheap beer, popcorn, cotton candy, a tattoo and photo booth will all be provided for extended circus fun. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/ssrocknrollcircus.

Organizers for the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Olympic Games announced today that multi-platinum, multi Grammy award-winning star Trisha Yearwood will perform for FREE during the July 15th Olympic-sized celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. The Georgia native and MCA recording artist, who performed during the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic Games, will join thousands in the Park to reunite, reminisce and relive the excitement shared a decade ago. This is a Rain or Shine event. For information, visit www.wxiatv.com/olympiccelebration

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals will join Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley (right) for a summer tour that winds up at Chastain Amphitheatre on Friday, September 15th. These artists are well known for giving excellent live performances. Harper's current album is Both Sides Of The Gun and Marley's is Welcome To Jamrock.

Nitro Records band Much The Same has posted a song called 'Skeletons' (from the upcoming album Survive) on their MySpace site for your downloading delight: www.myspace/muchthesame

The Masquerade will host Yellowcard on Wednesday, July 19th, with Hedley opening the bill. You can see the video of Yellowcard's single 'Rough Landing, Holly' at www.yellowcardrock.com

The Flaming Lips will play The Tabernacle on September 13th. Tickets go on sale July 1st. For more info visit: www.flaminglips.com

BMI is hosting a workshop for aspiring songwriters on Wednesday, July 26th at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, featuring Doria Roberts and Tony Rich. Roberts has won a bunch of awards and is recognized as a talented composer and political activist. Rich is a Grammy winner and has sold millions of records. The workshop starts at 5:30 in the afternoon and is followed at 9:00 pm by sets from the artists, both of whom have new albums coming out soon.

While his band Tonic is on hiatus, Dan Lavery is releasing a digital EP, Say That You Love Me on his website www.danlavery.com

Any band that can cause the power to go out on New York's Lower East Side not once, but five times during their set is our kind of band. Find out how Men, Women & Children creates havoc on Friday, June 23rd at The Masquerade (with RX Bandits ). MW&C has a self-titled album out on Reprise.

News from The Zone Studios in Norcross.. Joel Mullis mixed the new release from Heavy Mojo, titled Blow Out The Sound. Owner Billy Hume mixed Baby Bend Over by Field Mob (Disturbing Tha Peace). Joel Mullis recently recorded drums for and is now mixing The Julia Dream's first studio album. Billy Hume and Matt Malpass shared production on a project for Orlando FL. band Memoranda . Atlanta newcomers Tx/Rx entrusted Joel Mullis with engineering, mixing and co-production duties on their debut album Transmit/Receive. D Roc of the Ying Yang Twins completed his new project called Da Muzicianz (TVT). Joel Mullis mixed and engineered on the album, and Billy Hume also mixed.

Returning to Smith's Olde Bar on July 18th is Pete Yorn. He's doing an acoustic tour to drum up interest in his forthcoming album Nightcrawler, which is in fact a "rock record," according to his publicist. A limited-edition EP will be sold at venues along the way, and he's doing an in-store at Criminal Records while in Atlanta. www.peteyorn.com

Local five-piece The Gates of Berlin will release their new EP Whispers From the Balcony July 7th. The 2005 AMGA winners for Best Local Release recorded the new EP with last year's Best Producer winner, Russ-T Cobb . They'll be celebrating the new disc at Smith's Olde Bar on July 7th as well. www.thegatesofberlin.com

Muse will play the Tabernacle on Sunday August 6th. Presale tickets are onsale now here. The release date for their new album, Black Holes and Revelations, is July 11th. You can check out their new single, "Knights of Cydonia" on our Listening Post section. For more information visit www.muse.mu.

The Brand New Heavies will play The Roxy on Wednesday, July 5th with local-boy-made-good Van Hunt. Speaking of heavy, Hunt will soon embark on a European tour in the company of Mary J. Blige.

Musicians with marketing savvy are jumping on the www.youtube.com bandwagon. The guys in OK GO -playing at The Tabernacle on Tuesday, June 20th with Panic! At The Disco- have been getting up to all sorts of clever mischief on the site. See for yourselves...

Boy Kill Boy and Echo & The Bunnymen will play at The Roxy on Tuesday, June 20th. Boy Kill Boy's debut album Civilian (produced by John Cornfield, the guy responsible for Supergrass and Muse) is creating loads of hoopla in the UK and will be available here at the end of July. The band's website www.boykillboysinglesclub.com is full of free demos, live tracks and radio sessions.

It's not often that Sonic Youth gives radio interviews, let alone on National Public Radio. To celebrate 25 years as a band, NPR spoke to its members and played some tunes. The full transcript is here. The band plays at Center Stage on Monday, June 19th.

Second Shift has won a slot on the Ernie Ball Stage at this year's Atlanta date of the Vans Warped Tour at the Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre on June 28, along with local acts Last November, Celeste, and Vaya. The bands will join fellow locals Cartel and Family Force 5 on the stage as well. Second Shift's song "Bethany" was also selected to be on the Ernie Ball Warped Tour compilation, which will be available in Guitar Center, Best Buy, and Tower Records stores nationwide. www.secondshiftmusic.com

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT! Five lucky fans who buy advance to tickets to the Tim Brantley CD Release Party at The Loft June 16th will win access to the exclusive VIP afterparty and a copy of Tim's new record "The Lion of Truth." To purchase tickets and for contest details, visit www.ticketalternative.com.

With good weather comes free concerts! 99X and Park Tavern have kicked off their annual Unplugged in the Park series. This week features a free, acoustic concert from Matt Pond PA . For the full lineup, visit www.99x.com/events/unplugged06.

Former AMG featured band All The Saints will be playing the Wolfmother after party at Vinyl this Thursday June 8th. Doors are at 10:30pm, and the show is free for those 21 + over, and $3 for ages 18 - 20.

Local fashion company Designateria is offering free downloads from indie artists such as Forget Cassettes, Lindsay Rae Spurlock, Tyler Read, The Rivalry, and more on their website. Check out these new artists at www.designateria.com/summerpromo.

One more time for Boulevard ! Thanks to YOUR votes, Athens band Boulevard won the second round of the Zigzag Club Tour competition and got to play an amazing, packed show at The Knitting Factory in NYC. Now they're back and ready to face the final round! Your vote at www.zigzaglive.com will help them score a slot at CMJ and a hefty cash prize. Voting ends Aug. 20th, and you can vote once a day. Boulevard is the only Georgia band in the finals-- let's pull together and make it happen for them!