The new Spudcast is here! The new Spudcast is here!

Yep, that’s right. The long-awaited, much-anticipated Episode 23 is finally available for your downloading pleasure. So stop reading and get clickin’, yo.

After an excruciatingly long and completely unplanned hiatus (Stephen got sick, Rommie got lazy), we returned to the inviolable sanctity of the NewsCenter studio yesterday to hop back in the multimedia saddle. And, by golly, it felt good.

It didn’t hurt that we had guests. Lots of guests. Quality guests.

For our first installment in an occasional series of Local Music Roundtables, we were joined by Scott Imrich (host of “Saturday Asylum” on WMNF, 88.5 FM), James Ferreira (local music editor for REAX magazine) and Jack Spatafora (Aestheticized concert promoter). We all oiled up and squeezed into the sound booth to talk about the local scene, its cyclical nature and where it is at the moment.

Check it out:

Couch Potatoes, Episode 23 [link]

Oh, and as promised in the podcast, here are links to most of the stuff we mentioned:

Bands we pimped included longtime local staples such as the late, great Immediates, the sorely missed Pee Shy, the still-vital Home and the should’ve-been-huge Dumbwaiters, along with newer and upcoming acts such as Tres Bien, Yo Majesty, Zillionaire, Giddy-Up Helicopter!, Life of Pi and Super Secret Best Friends.

We also mentioned Keith Ulrey’s excellent local indie label, New Granada Records.

Current local artists we absolutely should have mentioned include Candy Bars, Win Win Winter, Inertia, Nessie, GreyMarket, Magadog, Auditorium, Ronny Elliott, Rebekah Pulley, Military Junior and ... well, about a million others who are just as worthy.

We also overlooked Marshall Dickson’s great local indie label, 24 Hr. Service Station.

Among the venues we mentioned were: New World Brewery, Crowbar, The Orpheum, Transitions Art Gallery, The Brass Mug, Pegasus, The Emerald, The Garage and the State Theatre.

We also should’ve mentioned Skipper’s Smokehouse, The Globe, Kelly’s Pub and probably at least a half dozen others that are slipping my mind at the moment. All of these are great places to go catch live, local, original music without having to pay $20 to park and deal with ridiculous Ticketmaster service charges.

Bottom line: The scene is more vibrant than you might think. Now we just need to get off our lazy asses and support it.

Also check out the Tribune’s local CD reviews, including free downloadable MP3s.