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Mr. Kite's Corner

Billy Steve Korpi, prolific guitarist for Victims of Leisure, Bloody Tears, and the Crack Pipes, has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Seton Hospital. Korpi, a locksmith by trade, has no health insurance, and his friends have organized a pair of benefit shows at Beerland this weekend: Friday with Brothers & Sisters; Manikin; and Oh, Beast! and Saturday with the Ugly Beats, Alright Tonight, and Nagel. "Apparently [the disease] responds really well to treatment," says Crack Pipes singer/harp-blower Ray Colgan, "so we're guardedly optimistic right now." Korpi is unable to receive visitors or phone calls, but well-wishers can send cards and letters in his name to Seton Medical Center, Room 701, 1201 W. 38th, Austin, TX 78705, or donations through PayPal to leukorpia@hotmail.com. Additionally, people donating blood in Korpi's name at the Blood Center of Central Texas, 4300 N. Lamar, will receive a voucher that can be dropped off at Rio Rita and will help defray the cost of his upcoming transfusions.

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Bullet the Blue Sky

• Get this: Camel cigarettes dropped Austin gothabilly quintet Mr. Lewis & the Funeral 5 from their friends Lomita's Camel-sponsored CD release show April 27 at Beauty Bar because they don't want their smokes to be associated with the word "funeral." "That they automatically connect the word 'funeral' with their product I thought was kind of funny," says frontman Greg Lewis. Although the 5 are on hiatus while they look for a new bass player, Lewis promises plenty of shows surrounding the release of next month's LP, Murder & the Art of the Dance.

• Rolling Stone senior writer David Fricke's South by Southwest report appears in the current issue with Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan on the cover. The only local band Fricke singles out this year is Amplified Heat, who he says "de-stroyed a smaller crowd than they deserved with a boogie-war vengeance." The trio's re-release party for 2003 EP Amplified Heat is Friday at Headhunters, and label Arclight Records says their next LP will be out in September.

• Monday, the Texas Commission on the Arts announced the next two official Texas State Musicians, ambassadors charged with promoting arts education in schools and cultural exchanges with other states. Dale Watson will hold the position through 2007, with Shelley King taking over in 2008. The Texas Legislature will recognize all the official artists, including Hill Country singer-songwriter and 2007 Poet Laureate Steven Fromholz, with a joint resolution next Thursday.

• Congrats to TCB mate and Texas' No. 1 Pulp fan William Saunders and lovely bride-to-be Dawn Baker, who tie the proverbial knot Saturday in Surfside. As such, TCB is taking some time off to bask in their reflected matrimonial bliss and will return April 26.