The Tar Heels may have fallen short of the Final Four in the NCAA tournament, but Chapel Hill's music community just made the top-four in a different countdown. Livability.com, a website that runs top-10 lists about the country's best places to live, puts Chapel Hill at No. 4 in its "Top 10 Cities With the Best Music Scenes Outside Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles" -- right between Omaha and Portland. Coming in at No. 1 is Athens, Ga.

I have to say, however, that the methodology is a bit peculiar. Rather than quote someone who actually lives in Chapel Hill or is familiar with its new-music quadrant, the piece quotes Doobie Brothers/New Grass Revival member John Cowan, apparently because he has played in Chapel Hill "many times since he began touring extensively in the 1970s" (which is probably code for, "He answered the phone when we called"). The list of acts with Chapel Hill ties is pretty dated, too: James Taylor, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Archers of Loaf, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk and Ben Folds Five, all of whom go back at least 15 years.

But at least it has a picture of modern-day hitmakers The Old Ceremony, barely visible onstage at Haw River Ballroom.

Just in time for Christmas, former Squirrel Nut Zipper Tom Maxwell has released "Jacob Marley" -- a song in tune with the times in this year of Occupation. In a statement, Maxwell explains the song's origins:

I wrote "Jacob Marley" after the economy tanked and the banks got bailed out. It was a disaster -- and rip off -- of almost mythic proportions. In the song, cultural icons like Brother Rabbit (a nod to Br'er Rabbit from the "Uncle Remus" stories) and Jacob Marley (Scrooge's dead business parter and spiritual benefactor in "A Christmas Carol") appear but can't change the situation.

Maxwell calls the Occupy movement America's "last best hope" to turn the country around, adding that, "Jacob Marley may not come back again, but we can handle this one on our own." Meantime, you can download "Jacob Marley" from iTunes here; or sample a live performance of it from earlier this year here.

So here's a primo example of the random interconnectedness of all things. I was at the doctor's office this morning, cooling my heels in the waiting room and not really paying attention to the cable news on the television -- until a Heniz ketchup commercial came on with a familiar horn riff. Sure enough, the commercial was set to "Suits Are Picking Up the Bill," a 1998 song by Chapel Hill's own Squirrel Nut Zippers.

After the appointment, I came into the office, and my e-mail inbox had a press release announcing the Zippers' first new album in close to a decade. "Lost At Sea" (Southern Broadcasting/MRI) is due out Oct. 27, a live album recorded in Brooklyn with the Zippers' reconstituted lineup. Here's the 17-song track list, which you'll notice includes the aforementioned "Suits":

Memphis Exorcism  
Good Enough For Grandad
It Ain’t You
Prince Nez
Put A Lid On It
Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
Danny Diamond
Suits Are picking Up The Bill
My Drag
Happens All The Time
Bad Businessman
Hell
Ghost Of Stephen Foster
You Are My Radio
Blue Angel
Do What
Missing Link Parade

As has been noted elsewhere, Carolina Hurricanes hockey games have quirky traditions unique to the Triangle. And yet the team is missing an opportunity to connect with its home town on an even deeper level, with the music played at the games. Most of what you hear during timeouts at the RBC Center is played-out wallpaper -- which is frustrating because there's so much fantastic indigenous music to work with. For example, isn't it a cool piece of local color that the Durham Bulls play Deep Gap native Doc Watson's version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch at their games?

So now that the Hurricanes are on the ropes in their Eastern Conference finals series, down 2-0 with games three and four happening in Raleigh tonight and Tuesday, I think it's time to freshen up and localize the playlist. And you know me, I've got suggestions. Here's a few songs to start with. Feel free to suggest more in the comments.

Flat Duo Jets, "Sing Sing Sing" (1989) -- When the Hurricanes score, the celebratory music is Blur's "Song 2" (plus a video of Ric "Nature Boy" Flair hollering, "It's a Carolina Hurricanes goal! Woo!"). Frankly, after three years, it's kind of stale. One potential replacement might be the 1936 Louis Prima standard, as rendered by Chapel Hill's late great Flat Duo Jets. A killer instrumental version that comes on like a runaway train, it would be just the thing to incite riotous celebrations (and I sure do wish I could find a version of it online; but check out "Pink Gardenia" here to get an idea).

Superchunk, "Hyper Enough" (1995) -- Superchunk songs have occasionally graced the RBC Center's Hurricanes playlist, but it's time the group graduated to regular rotation. And here's something to prime Hurricanes power plays, an anthemic fist-waver that stacks Mac McCaughan's yelp over crushing waves of guitars and a chorus perfect for mobs to yell along with: I think I'm hyper enough as it is!

Megafaun, "Lazy Suicide" (2008) -- You know those interludes between periods, when everyone is staring the Zamboni driving in circles to clean up the ice? This is what I want to hear then.

Petey Pablo, "Raise Up" (2001) -- By now, this one is pretty corny; and you sure couldn't play the whole thing without some serious editing, given the plethora of four-letter words in the lyrics. But looping the chorus over and over to turn it into a chant could be fun: North Carolina/C'mon and raise up/Take your shirt off/Twist it 'round yo' hand/Spin it like a helicopter!

Connells, "Stone Cold Yesterday" (1990) -- For the past 12 years, the Hurricanes have taken the ice to Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (a song with some truly unpleasant lyrics, but that's another story). I'd like to hear them give the anthemic "Stone Cold Yesterday" a try -- a song that should've been a gigantic hit back when it was current.

The Old Ceremony, "Papers in Order" (2007) -- Picture-perfect pop, with a jaunty piano hook that practically dares you to sit still. A delight.

Squirrel Nut Zippers, "Put a Lid On It" (1996) -- Hurricanes netminder Cam Ward is one of the best goalies in the NHL, and what he needs is a signature song that plays after an amazing save. So skip that funereal organ riff they play now and try the sassy hook from this song.

Rosebuds, "Get Up Get Out" (2007) -- A game played on ice calls for chilly music, and it don't get a whole lot chillier (or catchier) than this.

ADDENDUM: Here also is Mac McCaughan's arena playlist; plus a bit more on that. 

My colleague Ryan Beckwith is taking suggestions over at the N&O's political blog about what should be North Carolina's official rock song. A few states do have them, and a dust-up erupted in Oklahoma recently after the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" proved to be a controversial state-song selection with more conservative members of the state legislature.

If they put this to any sort of vote, it's a lead-pipe cinch that James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind" would win. And that's a lovely song, sure, but way too obvious. I'd put in a vote for something more left-field -- Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Put a Lid on It," say, or the Connells' "Stone Cold Yesterday"; perhaps Let's Active's "Every Word Means No." Or, in honor of the state's growing Latino population, Rey Norteno's "Raleigh."

Over to you, what should it be? Weigh in here, or at Under the Dome.

Years before Merge Records became the commercial powerhouse it is today, Mammoth Records was the local record label that was going to take the Triangle nationwide. They had a pretty good run, too, earning platinum records with Squirrel Nut Zippers and Seven Mary Three before selling out to Walt Disney Inc. While that deal injected millions into Mammoth's coffers, it also created unreasonable sales expectations the label could never live up to.

Eventually, Disney shut down Mammoth's Carrboro offices and absorbed its operations into Hollywood Records. For all intents and purposes, Mammoth hasn't existed as a stand-alone entity for nearly a decade. But Mammoth left behind a pretty solid legacy and catalog, some of which will be acknowledged at a show set to mark the label's 21-year anniversary. That happens April 25 at Cat's Cradle, right across Main Street from Mammoth's old office space in Carrboro. Katharine Whalen from the Zippers, Dillon Fence and John Strohm from Blake Babies are among the Mammoth alumni who will perform.

Yes, I'm rather dismayed that we're running holiday preview stuff in today's paper -- 13 days before Thanksgiving, for cryin' out loud -- because I'm not ready for the season to start yet, either. But holiday-type stuff has already been happening, so I guess it's time to dust off the wreath and get on with the merriment.

Anyway, here's a story about upcoming seasonal shows in the Triangle. And here's another show that came in after deadline:

Holiday Showcase, benefiting the InterFaith Food Shuttle
Nov. 30 at Fletcher Opera Theatre, Raleigh
David Dyer & the Crooked Smile Band
Jim Crew's PCB
Big Mama E & the Cool
The Shucks
Wrecking Season

UPDATE: Yet another -- Squirrel Nut Zippers' holiday bash, Dec. 3 at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. 

Friday's paper has a story on them there Squirrel Nut Zippers, and thereby hangs a tale. Click through for literally tons more.