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• Youngsters battle it out in one of the area’s best venues

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The Champaign Park District will use the Virginia Theatre on Wednesday, March 11 to host a teen Battle of the Bands. The event not only serves as a chance for the area’s newest crop of musicians to stand on a huge stage and play to a crowd but also as a portal to the finals at this year’s Illinois State Fair. On top of the possibility of going to the finals, this local-level contest will also feature prizes, including recording time at Pogo Studios, a performance slot at this year’s Taste of Champaign-Urbana and more. The members of each participating band must be between the ages of 12 and 18, meaning some bands won’t be made up of just high-school students but also some precocious middle-schoolers.

One such act is The Band Geeks, a band with a pop-punk sound and an eighth-grader for a lead singer, along with freshmen marching band members. So it’s not just a clever name. Fresh Off the Boat, an Urbana outfit that skews a bit more indie, has a Death Cab for Cutie cover-up at http://myspace.com/foburbana. Three-Minute Brainwash is also from Urbana, and http://myspace.com/3minutebrainwash proudly proclaims, “We rock because we have no idea of what else to do,” which is as good a reason as any. Rusalka hails from Mahomet, and their list of influences at http://myspace.com/rusalkafriends includes Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Rós, which is great to see from high-schoolers. The Jips (http://myspace.com/thejips) are from Farmer City and are one of the few bands from the competition (of those I could track down) featuring a lady in the band, this time on the bass, which is awesome. And they like The Velvet Underground? Man, all hope is not lost.

From Champaign, Shark Bandit (http://myspace.com/sharkbandit) will be performing with a different lineup for the event since two of their regular members don’t meet the age requirement. Good thinking.

Other bands that are slated to play are Gandhi and the Triggerfish (Champaign), Graphic Violence (Villa Grove), Mind’s Eye, Saint Syke and Shoompy. Those without MySpace pages should probably get going on that, and those who have them should make sure to post shows and include ZIP codes when creating the listing so that they can be found when people are searching for shows in the area (actually, that’s a lesson ALL bands should learn). Head over to openingbands.com and update your band’s information, too. You’re a local band, so you should get to know that site. Also, I know you’re in junior high or high school, but you don’t HAVE to type as such on your MySpace page. Tickets for this event are $5 for students and $8 for adults and can be purchased directly from bands (which will help one of them win a prize) or from the Virginia Theatre box office. Show time is 6:30 p.m. on the 11th, so get out and observe the newest wave of bands from the area. You might be surprised.

Cameron McGill and What Army will again give Champaign a go on Thursday, March 5, this time as a part of a run down to Nashville that serves as a preface to next month’s nationwide tour. Though McGill grew up in CU, he has called Chicago home for many years now — his expert songwriting and world-weary voice becoming local to the Windy City instead. His music currently resides, though, on Urbana’s Parasol Records, which makes it hard to stay away too long. Eric Wilson and the Empty Hearts will accompany McGill this time around, making it the second time that the Nashville songwriter has made a CU stop (the last time solo). Elsinore’s Ryan Groff will provide local coverage, and Louisville’s Brooks Ritter will round things out. $7 gets you in, and the night starts at 9:30 p.m.

On Friday, March 6, you could go to the Canopy Club to see Lucky Boys Confusion slip further into the world of mediocrity and relative obscurity with opening act J’ynxd — truly one of the worst band names I’ve ever seen — or do something equally exciting like repeatedly running into a brick wall to see if you can make a dent. Other less painful options include the expert DJ work of DJ Delayney at the Highdive (10 p.m., $5) or Jason Bentley and Cara Maurizi at Bentley’s Pub (7:30 p.m., no cover). The Iron Post in downtown Urbana will also host a singer/songwriter evening with Liesel Booth, Darren Hackey and Matt Wagemann (9 p.m., $3).

Mike Ingram can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com. Give it a try.