Lindsay "Coco" Hames (that's her in the middle) is one of the most delightful characters on the alternative-rock circuit, a hilarious raconteur who can be entertaining in lots of different contexts -- including as singer/guitarist for the spiffy Nashville band The Ettes. It's good that she found her calling as a musician, because other occupations have beckoned over the years.

"I always wanted to be a spy," she said with a laugh in a recent phone interview. "I do a lot of traveling now, so people could use me for reconaissance. I play rock and roll in and around various subcultures, so I could get so much information! Well, mostly I guess I just enjoy drinking, so that's my contribution. But I would be a spy. We've talked about this. You spend all this time in the van, you have to talk about something."

For more, see the story in Friday's paper; check Hames' blog; and see the band's show Wednesday at Chapel Hill's Local 506.

Given the fact that he released a double-disc album last year, you might think that Charlotte love man Benji Hughes is constantly dashing off songs. But he actually doesn't write all that often.

"Some people write every day, just churm out a lot of material," Hughes said in a recent phone chat. "I kind of wait and let the batteries recharge, let some time go by and wait for something to come to me. I'd like to believe that my next set of songs will be as romantic as [the last album], but I don't know yet. I guess somebody else might have to hear it and tell me what they think. Who knows, it might be my most romantic batch yet. Then I'll really be in trouble."

For more yackin' and details about his Saturday show at Chapel Hill's Local 506, see the story in Friday's paper. And if you miss his show this weekend, he'll be back in the Triangle on Jan. 24 to perform at Raleigh's Pour House.

One of this year's most striking local releases is "The Love Language" (Bladen County Records), the self-titled debut by the Raleigh band of the same name and an amazing set of torchy love songs sung to an unattainable woman. And you might think the woman in question is the one on the album cover. Not so, says Love Language frontman Stu McLamb.

"The front picture is actually my aunt, who I never met," McLamb says. "My mom's sister, she died in a car wreck before I was born. That picture was in my parents' photo album, this modeling thing in Clinton from the '60s, and it's a gorgeous photo. And the back picture is my grandma, my dad's mom. The family thing seemed kind of appropriate. Taking things full circle -- and also another way for me to be on the cover, kinda."

For more, see the interview in Friday's paper (or this Spin feature); and check out a bit of live performance here. The band plays an album-release show Saturday at Local 506 in Chapel Hill.

ADDENDUM (4/10/09): Pitchfork review.

SECOND ADDENDUM (10/2/09): Merge deal!

So if you're in a band and you're curious about how people like me decide who, what, where, when, why and how we cover the things we do, here's a chance to find out. The latest installment of the Secondhand Freespace series about the music bidness is a panel discussion titled "Meet the Press," featuring yours truly and four other folks from both sides of the writer/subject dynamic. It happens at Local 506 in Chapel Hill Wednesday night, and the agenda is to demystify the process. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free.