So if you're a high school student who would like to get your "Glee" on (only in a much cooler way), here's your chance: Community Chorus Project is looking for a few good singers. A few score good singers, actually.

Local arts entrepreneur Lauren Hodge assembled the initial Community Chorus Project last year, which debuted with fine performances of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Recorded and filmed at Manifold Recording Studio with arrangements by Shana Tucker and The Beast's Eric Hirsh, videos went out far and wide, earning the approval of R.E.M. Now they're looking to do it again in August, this time covering Radiohead, Ben Folds Five, Bruno Mars and others. Members of Lost in the Trees, Megafaun and The Old Ceremony are among the local musicians participating.

If you want in, auditions will be May 12 at UNC-Chapel Hill. For details, go here.

Wouldn't you know it, I was on furlough when word came down about a couple of area acts scoring impressive record deals. First up, peerless pop ensemble The Old Ceremony has signed with Grammy-winning local label Yep Roc Records, which sounds like a very fine match. The group's fifth album, "Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide" will be released bearing the Yep Roc imprint on Aug. 21.

Then there's the Durham Americana group Delta Rae, which has signed with Warner-distributed Sire Records. What makes the deal all the more impressive is that Delta Rae is the first signing in years by none other than Seymour Stein, the legendary record executive who also gave the world Madonna, the Ramones and Depeche Mode, among others. Stein called the band "an important addition to our overall roster" in a statement, adding:

"Their music, all original, is a mix of blues, country and gospel with a strong rock and roll influence.  I hate labels, but if forced I would have to call their music 'Original Americana,' not unlike what the English are sending over via Mumford & Sons and others.  I'm very proud to welcome Delta Rae to Sire.  I know you will love Delta Rae and their music as much as I do."

Sire/Warner will release Delta Rae's "Carry the Fire" album on June 19.

Last Friday brought the annual outdoor music guide, which is always a frustrating endeavor because a few more events invariably pop up after deadline. And here's a biggie in some quarters: For the first time in three years, the Allman Brothers will be back at Walnut Creek. They had been the only act to play the amphitheater every year since it opened in 1991, a streak that ended because of Gregg Allman's 2010 liver transplant. They'll start a new streak on Aug. 4, with Lynyrd Skynyrd also on the bill.

Also new to the schedule is My Morning Jacket, Aug. 26 at the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater. And here are a couple of concert series to add. First is Duke University's Music in the Gardens, which happens Wednesday (and one Thursday) evenings during June and July. This year's schedule goes like this:

June 6 -- The Beast + Big Band
June 13 -- The Old Ceremony
June 21 -- Dex Romweber & the New Romans
June 27 -- Bombadil
July 11 -- Mandolin Orange
July 18 -- Midtown Dickens with Special Guests
July 25 -- Megafaun

Tickets for the Duke series are $12, or $5 for Duke employees and students (and free for kids 12 and under).

Over in Raleigh, meanwhile, there's Oak City 7, with free shows along the lines of the old "Alive After 5" series. It will be every other Thursday evening between Memorial Day and Labor Day, on Fayetteville Street's City Plaza. And here's the lineup:

May 31 -- Tres Chicas, Antique Firearms, Saints Apollo
June 14 -- Katharine Whalen & Her Fascinators, Balsa Gliders, Nick Autry
June 28 -- I Was Totally Destroying It, Dark Water Rising, TBA
July 12 -- TBA, Chris Hendricks Band, The Broadcast
July 26 -- Annuals, TBA, LiLa
Aug. 9 -- Hobex, Jack the Radio, Paleface
Aug. 23 -- Big Daddy Love, Debonzo Brothers, Archbishops of Blount Street

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.

Oliver Gant isn't even in kindergarten yet, but he sure does have friends in high places. Young Oliver has been battling sacrococcygeal teratoma for the past year, so the local music and arts communities have been pitching in with a series of benefit shows to help out his family. The latest is "Racing the Cure," featuring an upper-echelon slice of the regional music scene playing multiple venues in downtown Raleigh on March 23. This might be the only time you'll ever see the Avett Brothers in a club around here where they're not headlining.

Tickets are $25 and allow entrance to all three clubs. They go on sale at noon today (Wednesday) at etix.com.

Kings
8:15-8:45 -- Jack the Radio
9-9:40pm -- Schooner
10-10:40 -- Filthybird
11-11:40 -- The Old Ceremony
midnight-12:25am -- Avett Brothers
12:30am -- Ivan Rosebud & JYU

Tir Na Nog
8:15-8:45pm -- Hooking Up
9-9:45 -- Hammer No More the Fingers
10-10:45 -- Whatever Brains
11-11:45 -- Lonnie Walker
midnight -- Annuals

Pour House
8:15-8:45pm -- Gross Ghost
9-9:45 -- Spider Bags
10-10:45 -- Patty Hurst Shifter
11-11:45 -- Birds of Avalon
midnight -- The Love Language

Onstage at last weekend's Hopscotch Music Festival, Django Haskins of The Old Ceremony spied Megafaun's Brad Cook nodding along in the crowd and gave him a shout-out. "If you don't love Brad Cook," Haskins declared, "that only means you've never met him."

That's one reason why Megafaun is pretty much my favorite local band nowadays. In addition to putting on a live show that's one of the best around, Megafaun's members are kings of the good vibes. Cook, his brother Phil and Joe Westerlund seemed to be everywhere at Hopscotch -- and you always knew you were in the right place when you saw them.

But the biggest reason I love Megafaun is that they're always doing very cool projects, like this weekend's "Sounds of the South" live recording session in Durham. For particulars on that, see the story in Friday's paper.

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. 

To judge from their road stories, the members of Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony seem like a magnet for weirdness whenever they leave town. For example there's this. And I've heard plenty of gross tales in years of interviewing bands, but maybe the most disgusting ever came up in an interview recently with TOC's Django Haskins and Mark Simonsen. It involved their accomodations for the night following a poorly attended show in Houston last year.

"A kid offered to put us up, bless his heart," Haskins recounted. "First our van and trailer got stuck in a foot of mud at his place, then we get inside and there are wires in the ceiling because he was stealing electricity from the neighbors. But the worst was the bathroom. He'd cut a hole in this brown corduroy recliner and put it over the toilet."

Ewwwwww...

"The smell was so awful, I went in there once and never went back," Simonsen added. "If I had to go, I went outside and down two flights of stairs. We've, uh, started getting hotel rooms when we can."

Still think life on the road is glamorous?

On a more pleasant note, see the story in Friday's paper for some talk about TOC's very fine new album. The group plays an album-release show Saturday night at Cat's Cradle.

ADDENDA(2/16/09): TOC live, and the "Walk on Thin Air" video.