Culture watch

From The Unintentionally Silly Name Department

Asheville Christian-rock group Autumn Rising, one of the growing crop of badly named bands with predictable pop-punk sounds which spring, fully formed, from local high schools each year, recently announced a tentative release date for their debut EP. According to the band’s MySpace blog, the album will be available on the “first day of fall, like sept [sic] 21st or 22nd or something idk [I don’t know].” Members are still undecided about the number of tracks, and have yet to finish portions of the recording. They did, however, confirm that a full-length album should be available sometime in spring of 2007. Earlier this year, Autumn Rising entered into an arrangement with the Columbus, Ohio-based promotion company Fidelity Entertainment Group (who has worked with Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World); the band has spent much of the summer recording at the Fidelity-owned Pendlewood Studios in Nashville. Learn more at autumnrising.com.

“You Got Jam In My Hip-Hop!” / “You Got Hip-Hop In My Jam!”

For those of you charmed by incongruency, it’s worth keeping note of Perfect Timing. The hip-hop album is the product of the unlikely collaboration between ex-Backwoods Click MC Prophet Allah and producer/beat-maker “Mad Sci,” perhaps better known as Tommy Calloway, guitarist for the now-defunct local jam band Les Jamehlo. Calloway and Allah met through their day jobs, and struck up a friendship based on their shared love of hip-hop. “Prophet Allah wanted to get back in the studio,” said Calloway of the musical team-up. “I told him that I had studio equipment at my house, and that I made a few beats here and there. I made him some sample beats, and he liked them. It came together very well.” Although the full-length album has been available for nearly a month at local record shops, it has yet to be “officially” released (whatever that means). Keep an eye out for the release party, which should take place some time in late August or early September, at a location TBA. For more info and a few MP3s, visit myspace.com/prophetallahandmadsci.

“These Are A Few Of My Favorite … Eh?”

Asheville Community Theatre recently made improvements to their in-house sound system, which should delight many of their hard-of-hearing patrons. In recent years, ACT has had numerous problems with their “sound enhancement system,” a series of pick-up mics along the stage which broadcast the show’s sound to portable receivers used by those with hearing problems. Since ACT makes a not-insignificant amount of their yearly bank performing to a sea of gray-haired spectacle lovers, the upgrades have become increasingly important. Their new system now supports up to 10 such listening devices. ACT received a number of grants to fund the project — totaling more than $6,200 — and also took the opportunity to update their sound-mixing and microphone equipment.