With his blind audition performance of “Forget You,” Nakia notched the most memorably national introduction since Daniel Johnston stormed MTV’s The Cutting Edge. What was even more impressive, however, was watching the local bluesman keep up the momentum, ultimately landing a spot on the show’s six-city, national tour.

“Bastrop and its surrounding piney woods has inspired the last few years of our songwriting and the releases that have followed,” wrote Centro-matic's Will Johnson on the still-raging wildfire that destroyed his former neighbor's property. “Every ounce of Candidate Waltz was written out there."

“People speak in poetry,” posits Darden Smith, “and everyone has a story.” Few personal narratives, however, come as emotionally charged as those of veterans of the armed forces. In July, Smith helped host the Soldier Songwriting Project, a three-day co-writing workshop with 10 servicemen and women to help capture those stories in song.

There are probably some sighs of relief in the Longhorn Network offices today with the eleventh hour announcement that Grande Communications has become their first Central Texas provider. But the ESPN/UT project may be about to start filling in its non-athletic coverage too, as KUT is shooting a pilot at the Cactus Cafe on Tuesday.

“As my body grows up, I don’t want to grow cold,” muses Marc Bianchi on “Anything for Progress,” the opening track to Her Space Holiday. That’s a fitting epitaph for his latest and last effort under his electro-pop moniker of the past 15 years, a radiant work that’s accompanied by the Black Cat Balloons EP, available for free download.

Local bluesman Gary Clark, Jr. is coming off of a VH1-worthy best week ever: a rave review in Rolling Stone, a guest appearance with the Roots and, coming soon to theaters, this opening cameo from Mario Van Peebles' new film, Redemption Road. Read more on all fronts in tomorrow's Off the Record.

When Fun Fun Fun Fest announced Slayer last week, we wondered what they could possibly do to top that. How about Public Enemy, Diplo, and the return of Danzig with his old Misfits buddy Doyle, matched with OTR faves Boris, Community star Donald Glover and his evil alter ego Childish Gambino, and Mates of State?

The good folks over at Fun Fun Fun Fest have been teasing the punk and metal fans all week that there would be some big news this week. Murder City Devils stepped up to the plate Monday, but guess what just turned up on their Facebook page?

Ready for more Fun Fun Fun? Those whacky tramps over at Transmission have just unleashed their latest video teaser for the festival line-up, and guess what? We're not spoiling it for you.