Beyond that, not one, not two, but three members of another of my favorite local bands, The Church of Philadelphia, tied the knot recently, two of ’em to one another. Singer/guitarist Chris got married recently, as did guitarist/etc. guy Brian & vocalist/keyboardist Lindsay.

The latter two were sweet enough to invite yours truly to the Memorial Day festivities, although I unfortunately couldn’t make it out for the happy event. Once Brian & Lindsay get back from their honeymoon, they’re off to Jinja, Uganda for a one-year-but-maybe-more stint working at some local businesses owned by Brian’s cousins. It sounds very, very cool, the experience of a lifetime, and I wish ’em all the best.

The downside is that with Brian & Lindsay in Africa for at least a year, The Church is pretty likely to, um, go on hiatus for an extended period of time. Which bums me out, esp. since I was looking forward to the band/project’s next release. Brian assures me that he & Lindsay will keep doing things musical, though, and hinted that the band might well go on without ’em. Guess we’ll have to see what happens, eh? Either way, best wishes to Marshall, Brian, Lindsay, Chris, & their respective partners!

Then there’s Les Veines, the new side deal of Something Fierce‘s Steven G., which is noisy and pretty-but-raw, with almost dreampop-y guitars, nearly subliminal drums and keys, and S.G. doing his best New Wave detached-vocal thing. Recommended for fans of Rough Trade stuff, I’d say. And I can’t forget the highly-lauded Black Congress, which includes Roy from the Fatal Flying Guilloteens (and a million other bands) — the band’s ferocious & math-y, with a fury that brings to mind bands like Drive Like Jehu or Paul Newman, and supposedly there’s an EP on the way.

Less on my radar is Balaclavas side deal Meat Gloves and a project called Foes Like These (or Thieves Like Us; I’ve seen both listed) that includes members of Sharks & Sailors and Sinews — I haven’t yet heard ’em, but hey, given the pedigrees, they’re all bound to be worth a listen…

There’s also BLACKIE, who used to be known as The Alsace Lorraine — not a side project, really, but a fairly major name change & it seems like they’ve shifted gears a bit. There’s a new album out now, too, reportedly called Wilderness of North America.

On the plus side, the band is still releasing their full-length, Shark Week, hopefully sometime soon, and I’ve been assured that Jason’s gonna be back in town occasionally for a sporadic Rustler show. In the meantime, the two remaining Rustlerites are scouting around to start a new band. Keep your eyes out for that…

Back on the bad, nasty, evil side of the news, David Arquette-beloved/-loving rockers The Black Math Experiment have also sadly decided to hang up their outfits… They’re apparently not strictly “breaking up,” but are going on indefinite hiatus after their DVD filming June 14th. From the sound of things, the band’s just moving on to other projects, and aren’t necessarily slamming the door on coming back together at some point later on.

In more long-term comings-back, local Celtic folk legends Clandestine have recently reformed and have released a new CD of their own, besides, entitled Red. I haven’t heard it yet, but pretty much anything these folks have ever done has been great.

There’s also the long-awaited Sharks & Sailors full-length(?), due out August 1st, which I’m very much looking forward to. The new songs I’ve heard are almost dreampop-y, with sweet, sweeping vocals and less fist-pumping roar than I’m used to, but I’m finding that I honestly don’t mind; I like the new shit nearly as much as the old. The “new” S&S draws a serious line back to mid-’90s indie-rock, with some nice chiming guitars and Spent-esque vocals.

Possibly even better than even the S&S deal, though, is news that tough pseudo-pro/math-rock The Jonx are putting out a new one, too. According to Jonxite Danny Mee:

The Jonx working on new CD: Anyway, we’ve been hard at work on songs for our third full-length album. As yet the album is untitled, although we’ve already rejected “Passion of the Jonx,” “the Unbearable Lightness of the Jonx,” “God Emperor of the Jonx,” “Sex and the City (and the Jonx),” and numerous other titles that didn’t live up to our exacting standards of obliqueness and difficulty of recall. If you have any suggestions let us know. We’re currently under the working title “Out Before the Sharks and Sailors CD.”

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

Another one that I didn’t see much press about, though, was the death this past May of Kirk “Guitar” Carr, a fixture of the ’80s/early ’90s scene ’round here. He was in a band called Non Dairy Creamers back in the day (before my day, in fact), and also played in The Hightailers and probably a ton of other bands besides. Kirk was diagnosed with late-stage cancer and passed away May 12th, sadly. I don’t know the details beyond that, but it’s a damn shame… Check out Carolyn Wonderland’s blog (linked above) for a heartfelt tribute to the man.

Gah. Okay, now my brain hurts. Time to go, y’all…if anybody’s got any other news they’d like to share, def. let us know, eh?