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The Aussie Invasion Tour--welcoming back The Vines, Jet, The Living End, and Neon-- hits the Coca Cola Roxy this Saturday March 13 for a sold out show.

730 Atlanta (www.730atlanta.org) is having a showcase on March 10 at the 10 High. The show is free, and doors are 8:30pm. Heavy Mojo, Second Shift, and Jason Tillery will all be playing.

Arlington won the latest round of the 99X/Miller Lite Battle of the Bands competition on Friday March 5 at Vinyl, beating out Blankety Blank, Snowden, and The Paper Champions. The next round of the competition takes place on March 12 at Smith's Olde Bar.

Al Schnier, of the band moe, will perform with his other group Al & The Transamericans on March 23rd at the Brandy House.

Following huge success with Everything But The Girl and more recently, Lazy Dog , Astralwerks has announced a U.S. tour by Ben Watt in support of the March 23rd release of Buzzin' Fly Volume 01 Replenishing Music For The Modern Soul . The closest he'll come to Atlanta is Miami on March 9th.

The very cool Sugar Hill label informs us that Nickel Creek will be back at Variety Playhouse for shows on March 19th and 20th, and the Grammy-winning This Side album has already sold more than half a million copies.

The Mistreaters will grace our area on March 11th with a show at the Earl. The drummer uses a hubcap for a cymbal. Need I say more? Well, yes: This Milwaukee rock quartet owes much to artists like Johnny Cash, Otis Redding and AC/DC, so diversity is not exactly lacking. The band's publicist says that their music "shatters windows, sets off car alarms, and is responsible for civil disobedience all over the globe."

Change of Venue: the Grandaddy, Saves The Day & Fire Theft show on March 19th has been switched to the Roxy.

"Spectral, pastoral guitar-rock" is how the band Ester Drang is being described by the marketing machine. They hail from Oklahoma, land of Flaming Lips, and are out and about playing music from Infinite Keys, their latest effort on Jade Tree. March 27th is the local date, at the Echo Lounge.

Van Hunt will once again be playing a show at Smith's, on Saturday, March 13th. The local soul man is starting to get some fairly serious media attention, and his debut album on Capitol is well worth checking out.

Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst brings his new band Levinhurst to the Tasty World in Athens on March 22rd in support of the debut album Perfect Life, which comes out the next day.

United are putting the finishing touches to their new album Rock 'N' Roll . A new song will be previewed each week on their site www.bandunited.com. They also have a new drummer, Michael Jason (formerly of Darling Machine) and will play their first show of the year at Lenny's on March 27th.

The artist lineup for the 11th Annual Music Midtown Festival in Atlanta, Georgia on April 30, May 1 & 2 will be announced on Thursday, March 11 via press release and will be posted online at www.musicmidtown.com. Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 13.

Linger won the second round of the Miller Light Band Competition. Held at the Hard Rock Cafe, the band beat out Defriender, End The Fall and Nuclear Saturday and move on to the final at The Cotton Club on 3/26

UPDATE!! - The Darkness show has been moved the The Tabernacle. Tickets go back on sale Saturday February 28th at 10am. Origianal tickets sold for the Cotton Club will be honoured.

Heavy Mojo won the first round of the Miller Lite Band Competition last Saturday at Andrews Upstairs beating out Lazyeye, Civil Circuit and Eleven Standing Still. The competition moves to the Hard Rock Cafe on 2/27, to Vinyl on 3/5 and then to Smiths Olde Bar on 3/12. To decide the winner, the 4 bands will perform together at the Cotton Club on 3/26 (along with Dropsonic). The winning band gets to perform at Music Midtown and at Milwaukee's Summerfest along with $2500 in cash and some studio time. Bands are judged on their performance, their songwriting skills and their musicianship.

The Hiss will embark on a March US tour with the Electric Six (a tour they turned down last year). The band opens for the Von Bondies here in Atlanta on March 1st and play the Earl on March 27th to support the US re-worked release of their debut Panic Movement . www.thehiss.com

The Darkness sold out the Cotton Club in about 23 seconds flat.. (Well, there were only 600 tickets available!). The rumor mill has the show moving upstairs to the Tabernacle, but the trick will be, can they sell 600 more? www.thedarknessrock.com

The Bottle Rockets will be on tour with Lucinda Williams for their new cd Blue Sky during the first part of March, but they are headlining a gig in Atlanta at Smith's Olde Bar on Monday, March 8th. Also on the bill:Dodd Ferrelle & The Tinfoil Stars. Tickets and details at www.smithsoldebar.com

If you think the Nashville Sound is just a bunch of hicks yodelling and wearing Stetsons, think again. Music from Nashville's post-World War II R&B heyday is being revived with the February 24th release of Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970, a two-CD set on CMF Records that recalls a time when Middle Tennessee was a mecca for R&B musicians and their fans. For less than 20 bucks you get artists of the calibre of Christine Kittrell and Clifford Curry doing amazing songs that you've probably never heard before but wish you had. Get it.nighttraintonashville.com

The hottest band currently making the rounds in the growing Latin Rock/Alternative genre is Superlitio, having managed to snag the number one spot on the Radio & Records chart with their single 'Que Vo' Hacer.' Cielo/BMG, the band's label, is rolling out an extensive campaign that includes Movie Tunes, which controls 90% of the country's theatres with a potential audience of 200 million. Tripping Tropicana, the new album, will hit the stores this month.

Jack Ingram brings his Acoustic Motel Tour to Smith's Olde Bar on March 2nd, and will no doubt mention the Live at Billy Bob's Texas album .

Buddyhead Suicide is a compilation from Buddyhead Records that will delight some and offend many, which is the way it should be, really. The double cd features mostly unreleased material from At The Drive-In, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Icarus Line, Murder City Devils, Burning Brides, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Locust, among others.

The great Richard Thompson makes his annual visit to Variety Playhouse on March 12th. Those of you who have never seen him...what on earth are you waiting for?! Julian Corryell has the enviable task of opening the show.

Grandaddy are embarking on a national co-headlining tour with Saves The Day, Fire Theft and Dios, and will come to town March 19th, playing the Tabernacle. Atlanta Music Guide will have an interview with Grandaddy and a review of the show.