Saturday is shaping up to be quite the night for improvisational music in Atlanta. Geoff Achison, the acrobatic blues-based guitar virtuoso that Atlanta stole from Australia last year, will headline an Australian Day Festival with his band The Souldiggers at Shortys Pizza in Tucker, just outside of the jewel city of the south.

I was contacted by the Australian government just yesterday and they informed me that I had been chosen to MC the official Australian Day festivities in this years host city, Atlanta, Georgia, boasted the ten year veteran instructor at Jorma Kaukonens Fur Peach Ranch. Apparently over 906 cities worldwide vied for the opportunity to host the event but Atlanta won hands down as the most appropriate location on Earth to commemorate Australia Day 2008. One of the factors which led to the judges final decision was the proposed venue, Shortys Pizza in Tucker, which possesses facilities perfectly suited to the smokin Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers jam session the organizers had envisaged. I am deeply humbled to have been given this honor, and I cant wait to sink my choppers into one of those Vegemite Pizzas!

Also, over in the citys Little Five Points district, veteran Atlanta jamband Deep Blue Sun will celebrate the release of its first ever live CD, Live At Tree Sound, with party at the Five Spot in Little Five Points during which Yonrico Scott (Derek Trucks Band, Yonrico Scott Band) will join for the group for its entire show. Founding member Katie Moore says, it definitely builds the unpredictable nature of the showbut we LOVE danger.bring it! Other artists scheduled to take part are the pied piper of Atlantas music world, Ralph Roddenbery, the soulful Donna Hopkins, Stop, Drop & Roll, Electric Codpiece and Johnny Jordan.

The live CD should satiate the Deep Blue fans have often wondered why the band had only officially released studio efforts. This is a pretty real representation of the show, with nothing edited out of the mix, Moore says. We found it was the only real way to capture the groove. Even though most of our songs have changes and turns, theyre really not that buttoned down so this is just one snapshot of how they can unfold.

The Five Spot is becoming known as a hotspot for jam music in Atlanta. Were thrilled to see the momentum thats building at the Five Spot, says another original DBS member, John Marsh, it is quickly becoming a vibrant part of the Atlanta live music scene, and is one of our favorite places to play. Katie and I have deep musical roots in Little Five Points, so it feels great to be playing back here again.

Another venue starting to get noticed in Atlanta is The Loft, and it too will host a throw down on Saturday. Colonel Bruce Hampton will unveil a new version of his Quark Alliance and Tishamingo is slated to open. There has been much street talk around town that this will be Tishamingos final performance. However, the band’s enigmatic frontman, Cameron Williams says, it is true that we will be scaling back on touring in the near future as two of our band members are returning to school but there is no reason to call this the last Tishamingo show, its just the last one on the books for a while. Report by Rob Turner