I've called this thriving metropolis "home" for nigh on six years, and in all that time I've never been as bursting about its music scene as I am today. Every night, some local band can be witnessed blowing the shit out of the audience as jaws collectively crash to the floor and eyes roll back in musical ecstasy. Already I've yammered on about Aveo, S, Watery Graves, and eXBeSTFRIeNDS, and now it's time to clear the runway for the next hot takeoff, Pretty Girls Make Graves. PGMG features Murder City Devils bassist Derek Fudesco and his Death Wish Kids partner Andrea Zollo (both on vocals), with Nick DeWitt (of the legendary and breathtakingly handsome DeWitt Bros.) and cute-as-a-button Nathan Johnson, and they play--hey hey!--ROCK AND ROLL with no amount of the weepy shimmer the kids are so fond of these days. Look out.

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Speaking of eXBeSTFRIeNDS, their recent write-up in The Stranger caught the eye of VH1, who contacted Bradley Steinbacher in hopes that the dreamboat writer could hook the station up with the band. It seems VH1 is producing a reality show in which a band is documented each week in its natural tour environment, a kind of Behind the Music meets The Real World, except in a van. eXBeSTFRIeNDS turned down the opportunity, as did Murder City Devils, the network's alternative choice. Perhaps they recalled Super Deluxe's Chris Lockwood cannonballing that band's career into the hot tub on The Real World Seattle.

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Again with the Courtney Love updates--and this time there's no new lawsuit involved. Just this: The Hole "singer/songwriter" has announced that she has formed a new band. Called Bastard, the band features Veruca Salt guitarist and singer Louise Post, as well as former Hole drummer Patty Schemel and Rockit Girl bassist Gina Crosley. In a statement made by Love on Hole's official website (www.holemusic.com) last Thursday, she explained the new band's raison d'être: Bastard hopes "to make a South of France, AC/DC, fuck-off record." Bastard will enter an as-yet-undisclosed Los Angeles studio this week to begin recording its Epitaph Records debut. What's the Winona Ryder tie-in to all this, you (probably don't) ask? When Veruca Salt was nearing the end of its days with Nina Gordon still in the band, Louise Post infamously went apeshit on stage one night after learning, mid-tour, that Dave Grohl had dumped her for Ryder (never mind the fact that Grohl had very publicly become involved with Post while still married). Halfway through that night's performance, Post launched into a tirade on what a dick Grohl was and let her thoughts on Ryder be known as well. For those keeping track (or just obsessed, like me) since Grohl, Ryder is rumored to have been linked with Jeff Tweedy, Beck, and now Ryan Adams. How non-musician Matt Damon shoehorned himself into her love life is unknown. As my obsession-addled mind reels with unbridled possibility, it occurs to me at this very moment that I've heard not one word about Ryder's record label, Roustabout, since last year's announcement that she and her younger brother were venturing into the music industry as business partners, not just fans. Anyone?