Tonight at 6 p.m. on TV station WSFA, they are running a story on the River Region Rollergirls, who happen to be skating in “The Iron Roll” tomorrow in a benefit for the A.skate Foundation, an organization that helps children with autism.

Hail the Titans is playing the after party to help with the benefit.

Also, as of this post, we’re currently in first place in the Knucklehead Strings video competition (with 91 votes). Voting goes until March 1, so if you haven’t already done so, please add yours to help us out. Thanks!

…and the Lawyers album, “What Would Black Michael Jackson Do?” is now available. It’s on CD Baby. Their official release party is at Head on the Door tomorrow night.

Looking forward to seeing my friends in Bearhead and Refuse the Fall tonight. I hope to see a lot of my friends out there at Head on the Door tonight.

Alabama made a list again. It’s an unofficial list, but it got some publicity on Alternet in a post titled “10 Scariest States to Be an Atheist.” It seems to have prompted a story in the Mobile Press-Register titled “Atheists live ‘fairly routine’ lives here (Your Word).“

And here is something most people will understand and appreciate:

Click here to see all three finalist videos, and please vote for Hail the Titans.

Thank you.

In other news, I caught the Hematovore and Kill Baby Kill show Friday. If you haven’t heard these bands, you should.

My friend (and official Hail the Titans guitar tech) Zane Tremontana converted my old Telecaster into an Esquire, and it sounds and plays great. If you need any guitar work – wiring, pickup change, professional set-up… get in touch with him. He does great work.

The relic job was done by Adam Davila with some assistance by Trey Baldwin (Treybot Model One.)

OK… so what’s going on this week?

On Wednesday, Steve Hall Productions has Yelawolf performing at WorkPlay in Birmingham.

Thursday, BPM will be at It’ll Do Tavern in Montgomery.

On Friday, Distant Kin returns to the Tipping Point in the Hampstead community.

Also on Friday, Head on the Door is hosting my friends Bearhead and Refuse the Fall. You already know not to miss Bearhead, so please come see them and welcome Refuse the Fall to town, as it’s been a long time since they’ve been here.

On Saturday, Organic Hippie is hosing a Record Swap Extravaganza. This goes from 1 to 6 p.m. and according to the event info, Zaxby’s is providing food.

Starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday is “The Iron Roll,” a roller derby event that will raise money for the A. Skate Foundation in Birmingham, which helps children with autism.

The roller derby event is at the Ed Teague Arena at Garrett Coliseum and has skaters from all five Alabama derby teams (Auburn, Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery.)

The after party (also at Ed Teague Arena) will feature music by Hail the Titans. This may be our last hometown show for awhile, so come hear some music and support a great cause.

Also on Saturday is the …and the Lawyers CD release show featuring the Dirty Lungs. This show is at Head on the Door. (Read The Local Scene’s review of their album, “WWBMJD?” here.)

In Birmingham, the show to check out Saturday is Bearhead at The Nick with the Dirty Clergy and Rian Adkinson.

Yes, that’s a lot of information. You’re welcome.

[UPDATE] With all the events going on this week, it seems I have overlooked yet another event going on this Saturday. AlleyBAR is hosting a talented Americana style musician who hails from Athens, Ga. – Lera Lynn. If you’re into bands like Wilco or The Civil Wars, you’ll probably dig her music.

It also mentions a website known as The Clergy Project, which says it began in March 2011 with 52 members and currently has more than 150. The Clergy Project is an online “safe haven for active and former clergy who do not hold supernatural beliefs.”

The entire interview is very thought-provoking, especially if you, or if anyone you know, has left a faith and know what can occur in those instances. It varies, of course, but there are people who throw in “atheism” with any other “-ism” that sounds negative – communism, satanism, etc.

One particularly interesting issue that gets brought up in the interview is one of morality, as it goes back to a debate between Harris and Rick Warren, author of the very popular book The Purpose Driven Life. The debate was published in Newsweek in 2007.

In the debate, Warren makes this statement: ” If death is the end, shoot, I’m not going to waste another minute being altruistic.”

Harris replies, “How do you account for my altruism?”

This goes into an argument that I have personally heard from a number of Christians – that without a belief in a god, more specifically their God, that there is no morality. This argument is also used in ways to defend creationist teaching rather than the scientific theory of evolution.

But it doesn’t stand up to the evidence that we see in a world where many nonbelievers do good and many religious adherents do bad. And history is full of examples of many religions doing many evils in the names of many gods.

I’m not perfect by any means. I try to do right and be a good person, but it’s not because of a deity’s instruction or because I think I’ll be rewarded for it in some other life.

So let’s skip ahead to the weekend:

This Friday…

The Hotheads are back at the Tipping Point in Montgomery’s Hampstead community. Music starts at 7 p.m.

Head on the Door is hosting Kill Baby Kill and Hematovore, starting at 10 p.m.

And if you’re in Atlanta, the show to catch is Scale the Summit, with Elitist and Capillaries supporting. (Congrats to my friends in Capillaries for getting on this bill!) This show is at the Drunken Unicorn. 8 p.m.

And on Saturday, Memphis, Tenn.-based rock/punk band The Angel Sluts return to Head on the Door. 10 p.m.

Now for the bad news.

I got a text from a friend in Ocean Springs, Miss. on Sunday morning. It seems that the favorite Hail the Titans barbecue spot – The Shed BBQ – burned down. Here’s a news story from FOX-10: “The Shed in Miss. destroyed by fire.”

It had become tradition that the day after a show at The Squeaky Lizard, we would join Carl and Rachel from ScreamUntilTheyHearUs for lunch at The Shed. I hope they rebuild. Soon.

This came just a few days after seeing (and being quoted in) an article by The Local Scene titled, “Supporting Local Music in the Gump.”

It seems like Alabama is beginning to get a little more recognition for music. I hope that’s the case. Not that it’s been completely dry in that regard, if you count a couple of American Idol winners who are from here, but winners of pop singing contests don’t seem to have the staying power of bands who find a national audience… at least from my perception.

I try to use this blog to highlight local music and artists from around the Southeast – many of which I have shared the stage with or developed friendships with – and I hope that you have found this information useful, or maybe even found a new favorite band.

But even more than this, I hope that you will continue to support the musicians who pour their hearts out into their music, through the good times and bad. Go to a show, buy a shirt, offer a floor to sleep on, inspire them to keep inspiring you.

And to all of the people who have supported me, Hail the Titans and the many other projects I have been a part of through the years: Thank you.

It seems some of the members of Atlanta bands Gun Party and Jon Von Panther have formed another musical project – Brain. Latest Disgrace describes them as what the Mars Volta “would like if they cared more about writing actual songs and less about pummeling you senseless with FIFTY THOUSAND NOTES and reveling in the glory of their own manic excesses.”

As an unapologetic Mars Volta fan, I don’t share the same view on them, but I do agree that the one song I’ve heard from Brain is good stuff:

Another Atlanta-based band is currently holding a fundraiser to release their debut full length on vinyl and CD. The band is New Terminus, a great four-piece indie/rock/pop band with some Sunny Day Real Estate influence. In fact, I’ve heard them play “How It Feels to Be Something On,” and they pull it off quite nicely.

Click here for more info on how to help New Terminus, and take a listen to some of their previous stuff:

Speaking of Sunny Day Real Estate, Justin from Bearhead reminded me of a show we both attended back in ’09 when they reunited with the original members. They played a new song:

There is a lot of white space up there…

If you missed the Nigredo/Hail the Titans show on Friday, or the Black Racers/Skeptic? show on Saturday, you really missed out. Both shows were a lot of fun.

This week, it looks like a show tomorrow night in Atlanta may be the most epic of the week. Rock Science is presenting Swank Sinatra, New Terminus and Mice in Cars at the Star Bar. If you were at the show Friday, the drummer for Mice in Cars (Nick, who is also in Brother Hawk) was filling in with Nigredo, adding some keys to their stuff.

The Organic Hippie/104.9 The Gump Thursday night concert series at It’ll Do Tavern continues on Thursday with the Honey Tree Band.

Head on the Door has Joe Wright on Friday, and Sound and Shape is playing on Saturday.

And Dead Not Dancing Productions out of Portland, Oregon just posted the Hail the Titans “Cesium” music video:

Jungol is a fantastic band from Atlanta. I’ve seen them multiple times and had the pleasure of sharing the stage with them a few times. Great music by great people.

And my friends in Vyathist put our their “Faceless, Dreamless” album out this past October. It’s loud. It’s heavy. It’s metal. It’s good. And they’ve got it set up where you can name your own price.

Anyway, here are some things to do this week:

I admit, I have been looking forward to this one for a while – this Friday, at Head on the Door, it’s Hail the Titans and Nigredo. You’ve probably heard every member of Hail the Titans talk about this Atlanta band before, and this Friday, we’re welcoming them to Montgomery.

I was thinking about calling this “The Night of Too Many Pedals,” which would be funny except for the fact that there’s no such thing as “too many pedals.”

It’s true. If you have too many pedals to fit on your pedal board, that just means you need to build a bigger board or get a second one.

Here is one of the… seven? (including both bands)… pedal boards that will be in attendance on Friday:

Yeah…..

Before our show, stop by the Tipping Point in the Hampstead area and hear Zac Martin. He starts at 7 p.m.

Also, our friends in The Great American Breakdown are playing with Sound and Shape at Egan’s in Tuscaloosa that night.

Saturday morning, the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is holding the “Welcoming Alabama Campaign at Biscuit’s Stadium and the Alley downtown. They’re looking for volunteers to be photographed while holding signs “personalized value-based messages reflecting an honest statement or belief regarding immigration or multicultural acceptance.” The event goes from 8 to 10 a.m. Details here.

After you get your nap in, be sure to go to Head on the Door that night to catch The Black Racers and Skeptic? (That’s a statement, by the way. The question mark is part of the band name.) Check out the Black Racers’ self-titled album below:

[UPDATE] I didn’t see an invite for Thursday’s Distant Kin show at It’ll Do Tavern; otherwise, I would have included it above. Yeah, the Organic Hippie / 104.9 The Gump Thursday night concert series continues this week with Distant Kin. Music there generally starts around 9 p.m. No cover charge.