No monkeying around

Baboon performs May 29 at Trees. Slow Roosevelt and Frognot open.

Scene, heard
Todd Deatherage relays the following piece of information with a slight chuckle, the kind that prefaces his statement with a hinted: I know this may sound silly, but... The Calways' frontman explains that he and a batch of top-notch local musicians--including ex-Hagfish drummer Tony Barsotti, bassist Kirk Tatum, and Cowboys and Indians multi-instrumentalist Jim Lehnert--have recorded a cover of "Accused of Love" off Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' new album Echo. The reason: A few weeks ago, MP3.com put out the call for musicians to record a new Petty song as part of a contest the Web site is running through May 30. The entries will be judged by Petty himself (or so the site insists), with the grand-prize recipient getting to join Petty and his mates on stage during the band's forthcoming tour. Deatherage says it's been his "lifelong dream" to play with Petty, so here's hoping. You can judge the tune for yourself by downloading it off MP3.com...

On May 27, Deathray Davies will play one of their final shows for some time to come. Frontman John Dufilho is leaving for Europe in a few days; he plans on backpacking across the continent, spending time with his brother in London and with the gone-but-never-forgotten Spyche, who's currently living on the west coast of Ireland. Dufilho and Spyche will actually do some shows together in Ireland, where Spyche has been making some extra money by playing acoustic gigs. "I'm gonna try to preach the gospel of Deathray over there," Dufilho says, "and see what happens." The Deathrays won't play again locally till later in the summer, which means the band won't get to play Barleypalooza in July. So catch them at the Barley House this week, with Legendary Crystal Chandelier.

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