Slack had a long fall tour booked before Ben suffered a nasty fall. Their imminent future was uncertain until Bobby of Cruiserweight stepped in to try to fill Ben’s gigantic 80s high-tops. They kick the tour off with a show at Red Rose next week. Here’s wishing Bobby good luck, though we doubt he’ll be able to wear a Spuds McKensie “Fright Night” t-shirt with the panache of Ben Slack.

You may have heard about the firestorm of controversy over at Modern Drunkard Magazine (yes, they finally have a magazine just for us!). We wonder though, how long ago did this proof displacement take place? Nobody we know remembers the 86 proof, even our closest bartender friends. Has anyone actually noticed the missing 3% of alcohol in Tennessee’s most famous beverage? Either the folks at Modern Drunkard are making stuff up, or they’re just crying over spilled whiskey. And honestly, if 80 proof doesn’t get the job done for you, maybe you need to be introduced to the Old No. 12 Step Program.

The two man noise rock phenomenon known as Dig Shovel Dig are joined by American Princes and Lone Official at the Springwater tonight. 9 pm

In their prime, the Melvins combined Sabbath-riffery with the raw power of the Stooges to create some truly primal and outstanding punk rock. Unfortunately, their prime was over almost a decade ago. The past few years have seen some rather hit-and-miss releases from the band, and their live show is a gamble as well. You could catch them on an evening where they play to the pleasures of the audience, or more than likely, you could be exposed to an hour and a half of unyielding noise. You roll the dice on this one.

Live Band Karoake moves back to Wednesday night this week. The crowd has been steadily growing for this weekly event, but there still aren’t nearly enough of you showing up to show off your melodious voices. You know you want to belt out some Iron Maiden and Judas Priest with the power of Big Jim Slade behind you. (wait, that sounded dirty…) Anyway, there’s no cover. It’s way too much fun and there’s 2 for 1 beers. What more do you need? Who knows who will show up this week? Will Masa sing some Loverboy? Will Sir Tonio be hungry like the wolf? You’ll just have to show up and find out. The chaos starts at 10pm. Be there.

Voted in high school as “the band most likely to be the next Iron Butterfly”, the Secret Machines take over the Exit/In tonight with their crazy psychadelic space rock. 18+, $10

Be sure to head out and get your fill of the wonderful Muse atmosphere with this show, featuring Park, Tokyo Rose, The Day Break Drive, and My New Life. Then be sure to hit up those awesome adult bookstores that dominate the area! Show starts at 7 and costs $6.

Starting November 4th, “the Rage” will be expanding its format. The Tennessean will be changing the weekly entertainment rag’s name to “All the Rage” and it will become a bigger, tabloid-style publication. We’re not sure if this actually means expanded coverage of local interests for young adults, or if it means a lot more room for advertisements. At the very least, we hope it means they start updating their band descriptions more often and offering more local CD reviews.

This doesn’t seem smart.

So it’s not really music news, but we’re interested. NBC announced today that Jay Leno will leave the Tonight Show and Conan O’Brien will assume the position. Leno’s going to hang around until 2009 though.