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

'PBS NewsHour' aired an interview last night with the Concord, N.C. band, the Avett Brothers. In the interview, they talk about feeling homesick for North Carolina when they're out on the road. Watch it below.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Reason enough to tune in to tonight's Grammy Awards Show: North Carolina's Avett Brothers (left) will perform with Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons. David Menconi has more on that over at On the Beat (he'll also be live-blogging the show all night).

Eminem leads nominations with ten, followed by Bruno Mars with 7. Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum, and Lady Gaga each have six nominations. Barbra Streisand will be honored as Person of the Year.

Here's a full list of nominees.

Scheduled to perform: Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Arcade Fire, Cee Lo Green, Miranda Lambert, Justin Bieber, B.o.B, Bruno Mars, Monáe, Muse and Jaden Smith. 

Mick Jagger is said to be performing a tribute to the late soul singer Soloman Burke.

The show airs at 8pm tonight on CBS.

Here's another excellent little coup for Concord's Avett Brothers: They're playing Sunday night's Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, even though they're not nominated. But wait, it gets better: They're playing with Bob Dylan, as part of a three-song "special salute to acoustic music" that also includes Mumford & Sons (a.k.a. the British Avett Brothers) in addition to Dylan. That might be even cooler than the Johnny Cash star turn the Avetts did last year. "Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise" is on the set list.

The Grammys will be on CBS from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Back in October, the Avett Brothers played Walnut Creek to 7,000-plus screaming fans -- their first Triangle headlining show in the Triangle in more than two years. Less than three months later, they're headed our way again, and playing in significantly more intimate surroundings this time through. They've just announced a last-minute show Wednesday night at Cat's Cradle, heading up a terrific bill that includes Bombadil (playing its first show since the summer of 2009) and The Low Anthem. It's a benefit show for two worthy causes, so tickets are $40. Expect a quick sellout.

UPDATE: Quick sellout is right. Looks like it took less than a minute...

Finally, two-plus years since their last headlining show around these parts, quasi-hometown heroes the Avett Brothers played Raleigh on Friday night. Click on through to see how it went; and be sure to check the photo gallery.

It's been more than two years since the Avett Brothers headlined a show of their own in the Triangle, in which time they've started hitting the upper reaches of the charts. They're still on the rise, and a new live album just came out this past Tuesday. They'll be onstage tonight at Raleigh's big shed, which is nearly triple the size of the last venue they sold out here. I'm curious about what kind of crowd they'll draw, among other things.

Meantime, check the interview in Friday's paper for some talk from Scott Avett about what's happening with the group these days.

I was beginning to fear that Concord's Avett Brothers would never headline a show over here again, and I was starting to get cranky about that. But they've finally come through with a local date, Oct. 8 at The Big Shed. It will be their first closing slot in the Triangle since July 2008 in Cary. Ticket details are still to come, but for now: Yay!

Here are a couple of late additions to the upcoming show schedule, both worth making time for. First, the great singer/songwriter Gillian Welch plays at Cat's Cradle next Tuesday (yes, six days from now). Tickets go on sale at noon Thursday.

Then on Wednesday, April 28, St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark, of Sufjan Stevens and Polyphonic Spree fame) plays UNC-Chapel Hill's Memorial Hall with local favorites The Love Language opening. UNC began giving out free tickets to students this week, but public tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday.

And in other show-schedule news, Concord's Avett Brothers STILL don't have a Triangle performance booked -- but they're playing Merlefest on May 2. It's being billed as their "only spring/summer North Carolina appearance in 2010." Which means they won't be here until fall at the earliest. Great...

It's not surprising that Scott Avett would use painting (with a spot of levitation) to announce the Avett Brothers' latest piece of news -- check that here, although you should be warned that it has some potentially NSFW material.

Avett got an art degree at East Carolina University and he still paints, including this self-portrait at left and the group's album covers. And he has four paintings on display in Raleigh this month at Lee Hansley's galleries at 225 and 126 S. Glenwood Ave. They're part of a show called "The Paul Hartley Legacy," featuring works by Avett and 99 other former students of the late ECU School of Art and Design painter (who died on Thanksgiving day). The display runs through Feb. 27.