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Mike can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com.

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• Feb 05, 2010 at 10:00pm
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• The Embassy Tavern to close at the end of March

Congratulations are in order for all of the teen bands that participated in the Champaign Park District’s Teen Battle of the Bands, including the winning band, The Jips, out of Farmer City. The band scored recording time and a handful of gigs that will place them in front of lots of new faces. Check out http://myspace.com/thejips to listen to songs. You’ll also find videos from their award-winning performance.

The dashing gentlemen of Live Karaoke Band kicked off their five-year anniversary festivities with a live performance on the WCIA morning news with reporter Amanda Evans singing “Black Velvet,” a video of which can be found at http://illinoishomepage.net or at http://livekaraokeband.com. The party continues tonight, Thursday, Mar. 19 at Cowboy Monkey for the official anniversary party. Things start at 10 p.m. (with a $5 cover), and it would be a good night to get there early to get onto the sign-up sheet.

Cowboy Monkey hits it again Friday, Mar. 20 as the dependable lads of Beat Kitchen, now even more action-packed with a horn section, are set to take the stage armed with a set of funk-laced cover tunes from artists like The Roots, and Toots and the Maytals. For five whole dollars, you can get yourself an evening of entertainment from Beat Kitchen and also Tree Thump, the experimental rockers with a didjeridu in their midst. Two of the band’s members have taken their love for the didjeridu and created the Tree Thump Didjeridu Company, featuring instruments made by hand from local wood. Each item is, therefore, quite unique in look and voice. See one in action starting at 9:30 p.m.

Mike ’n’ Molly’s offers another solid option Friday night, with a show featuring Chicago band PoundCake, whose MySpace page emphatically states that they are “not a Van Halen tribute band!!” They may not be a VH tribute, but they certainly do have disdain for the current indie-rock, girl-jeans-wearing trend — likening themselves more to ’90s alternative and torn jeans. They’ll be teamed up with local band Withershins and Kankakee outfit Sea Creatures. Look for a cover charge of $3-5.

Radio Maria has been packing people in Friday nights with the help of some local DJs, and this week you can find Larry Gates’ DJ LEGTWO starting at 10 p.m. with no cover charge. Enjoy tapas and/or some drinks while listening to underground hip-hop and funk. Requesters beware, unless you have a good one. I think this is where I’ll be if I’m in town, though the announced Urbana Civic Center show on the MySpace page of You Don’t Stand a Chance Like a Bitch with No Legs does sound intriguing. Intriguing ... is that what I meant? Oh, no, awful. Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say.

Hubers, the excellent neighborhood bar on Church Street in west Champaign, hosts music fairly regularly on weekend nights with bands such as The Impalas packing into the corner and rocking out with the help of guests who wander through the stage area on the way to the bathroom. This Saturday, you can find Say It with a Smile, the recent San-Diego-to-Champaign transplant consisting mainly of married duo Jaron and Katherine Kamin. Having made the same move myself several years ago, I sympathize with the Kamins in dealing with the snow and cold and winter that seems it will never end. They’ll start at 8 p.m., and Hubers doesn’t charge a cover, one of the many great things about Hubers (which also includes good food and giant mugs of Guinness).

Over at Bentley’s on Saturday, I’ll be trying to dodge errant attacks from Dawna Nelson — retribution for recent remarks made in this column — as we play from 9 p.m. to midnight (no cover). Look for hilarious happenings, like me singing the high harmony to Heart’s “Alone,” and particularly enjoy the incredible crassness of the moment when we try to squeeze an extra syllable into the fourth line.

If you’re wanting to stick closer to Urbana on Saturday night (and aren’t planning to have one last hurrah at the Embassy, which will be horribly missed when it closes at the end of the month), the Iron Post is set to host the excellent folk/bluegrass sound of Corn Desert Ramblers. Check out some sound clips at http://myspace.com/corndesert in case you’ve managed to miss them during their many gigs over the last few years (including a Tuesday night residency at the Rose Bowl). Saturday, they’ll start at 9 p.m., and $4 will get you in.

Pay close attention to the Canopy Club’s schedule next week as Us2 is scheduled to perform. Don’t get confused and think that you’ll be able to hear “Cantaloop” (that’s Us3) — Us2 is an acoustic tribute to U2. This public service announcement brought to you by a guy who got excited thinking that Us3 was coming to town before realizing what was really going on.