Bottom, left: Mr. Dent May, folks.

Wuh oh, it looks like not even ukuleles can keep one safe from the Obama declared national emergency. This time around the swine flu has attacked the immune system of Mississippi romantic Dent May.

He and his magnificent ukulele have been touring with The Fiery Furnaces and Cryptacize. That is, until the menacing H1N1 reared its ugly snouted head. According to his blog, May was forced to cancel a handful of dates; unfortunate news for Hoboken, Northampton, Troy, and Toronto. If you were planning on going to one of those shows, cheer up and watch him perform “Love Song 2009″ live in the Levi’s/FADER Fort bathroom at CMJ. Thankfully, May shouldn’t be contagious come November 10^th where he’ll headline a show at Schuba’s in Chicago and then resume touring with his mates.

Canceled shows:

11.4 Hoboken, NJ
11.5 Northampton, MA
11.6 Troy, NY
11.7 Toronto, ON

Tour Dates:

11.10 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
11.19 Eugene, OR @ The Lorax
01.16 Melbourne, AS @ Summer Tones
01.19 Melbourne, AS @ The Empress
01.20 Sydney, AS @ Spectrum
01.21 Sydney, AS @ Troubadour

with Fiery Furnaces and Cryptacize
11.11 Ferndale, MI @ The Magic Bag
11.12 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
11.13 Madison, WI @ The Majestic Theater
11.14 St. Paul, MN @ The Turf Club
11.17 Vancouver, BC @ The Red Room
11.18 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
11.20 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
11.21 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

We miss Dead Moon, but they never really left. Fred and Toody Cole retired that band in 2006 and sure enough, up sprouted Pierced Arrows in its place months later. Word from our inbox is that the Coles, along with new drummer Kelly Halliburton, have opted to release the Arrows’ sophomore set of crusty punk tunes through Vice. Indeed, the label plans to share Descending Shadows on February 2nd, an effort the trio recorded at Portland’s Buzz or Howl Studios and according to the press release, “mastered to vinyl lacquer per tradition at Fred and Toody’s home.” Some things never change.

Best Coast neé Bethany Cosentino had people dancing last night during the set we caught at the Group Tightener party in the Monster Island basement.  A few hours earlier in the day she stopped by our suite (501!) at the Ace Hotel-slash-Levi’s®/FADER Fort in lower Midtown Manhattan to pirouette through stripped down versions of  ”Sun Was High (So Was I)” and “Brat.” The fuzz was gone, but the melodies most definitely were not. See what we mean in the Tripwire TV footage below.

Are you smiling yet?

Photos by Dorothy Hong

Best band in the world?
Yes. Unless Barack starts one
He’s great. Phoenix too