Got an update from Jim from Casper and the Cookies. Sounds like they’re very busy:

We’re wrapping up work on our next record and we’re really excited about it! We’ve been recording it ourselves with help from Bill Doss (Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Sunshine Fix) who has been lending a hand on the egineering side. Right now we’re getting ready for the annual Athens Popfest, which is thrown by our label, HHBTM. Though it will be hard to top Popfest ‘07 when we backed up Daniel Johnston, we will be playing mostly new songs and we can’t wait to hear what people think of them.

In the meantime, we’ve been releasing a video diary of our Febuary trip to Japan called “Watashi-Wa Vegetarian”. It features some of the new songs plus performance clips, cultural places of interest, and us losing our shit on a van ride to Kyoto (check episode three!). We’ve been uploading an episode every week, and we’re up to No. 4. You can find them all here.

Here’s episode 4:

A call for entries: The Austin City Limits Music Festival’s “The Sound and the Jury” competition is now open for entries. It’s kind of a battle of the bands where the winner gets to play the ACL Festival stage next year. Winners are decided partially by online fan voting. Last year, Athens’ Blue Flashing Light made it into the Top 5. Det the details here.

• Georgia Theatre: “Let’s Make a Deal”
• Tasty World: Crumbling Arches, Hello Spencer, Shallow Palace.
• Washington Street Tavern: Open Jazz Jam.