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

More or less on-schedule, Schoolkids Records up and moved down Hillsborough Street to its new location this week -- 2114 Hillsborough St., right next to Sadlacks and across from the NC State belltower. The phone number remains the same (919/821-7766).

Even though the new space is smaller, Schookids is still doing free in-store performances. Upcoming shows include The Howlings on Saturday; Annuals on Monday; and Dexter Romweber Duo on Feb. 10.

This year has seen a ton of fantastic local records perfect for gift-giving -- just check the tags on this post for a few suggestions on acts to look for. And for further specifics, click here.

Meanwhile, the annual "alternative" musical gift guide is coming on Dec. 14. Check previous years' installments here.

It's fortunate that Annuals turned out to be such a fruitful undertaking for Adam Baker, because it's difficult to imagine him doing anything else. Baker leads the Raleigh band, currently touring with an excellent new album, and he admits he had few prospects outside of music.

"I don't know what else I would've done if something hadn't happened with this band because I had no options," he said in a recent interview. "Maybe some sort of park-ranger job? In what little spare time I have, I hike a lot and take pictures of animals. It's like hunting, just not killing, which is exciting to me. Apart from that, I'd probably be an aspiring producer and engineer. I feel like that's what I'm best at, and that would be my focused contribution to the world."

Annuals play a hometown show Wednesday night at Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre. For more, see the rest of the interview.

Well, Tropical Storm Hanna is playing havoc on the outdoor-live-music portion of today's Raleigh Wide Open celebration. One change in the schedule is that Chuck Berry's headlining set at the Fireworks stage has been pushed ahead to 7:30 tonight, to try and finish before the storm's heaviest rains are expected to hit.

What this means for the rest of the schedule is still not clear. Annuals are scheduled for 8:00 at the Cherry Bounce stage, and I hope they'll be able to play. Funny piece of timing, though, I just heard from Annuals' publicist, who sent along the cover to their upcoming album "Such Fun" (coming Oct. 7). It's a landscape by the late Bob "The Joy of Painting" Ross:

This weekend brings Raleigh Wide Open to downtown Raleigh, with a bunch of free music. Click through for some explanatory verbiage.

A: Superchunk, George Clinton and Annuals.

Q: What acts are cited as North Carolina's "all-time best band," "all-time best solo artist" and "best new band" in the Boston Phoenix's "50 Bands 50 states" feature, released just in time for the fourth of July?

(Thanks, Doug.)