Where have you gone, Thulium?

Have you ever looked at a bottle of Jim Beam bourbon and wondered, "What have you done for me lately?" Of course you have. Finally, for the second year in a row, the distillery is looking to provide some of its biggest supporters with an answer to that question that doesn't involve aspirin or antacid. At least that's what might happen if you are a musician who is lucky enough to share in the $75,000 that will be given away as part of the company's Benefiting Emerging Artists in Music (that's right, B.E.A.M.) program. Last year, the program's inaugural year, Jim Beam gave away $50,000 to 27 different bands, which comes out to slightly more than $1,800 per winner. Not a bad haul for a contest that costs nothing to enter.

The university entrance-style applications are available online at www.jimbeam.com to those 21 and older, and the rules say all applications will be judged by the B.E.A.M. Advisory Board, chaired by Pat DiNizio, former frontman of The Smithereens. DiNizio and his seven-member board are supposed to review all publishable and non-obscene applications based on three criteria: originality, creativity, and professionalism. Unfortunately, DiNizio and the assemblage of major-label schleps around him have never been judged on these criteria themselves, so remember whom you're writing for when you're describing your greatest influence, your use for the money, and why you deserve it -- all in 250 words or less.

If you're still feeling lucky, you can fill out an application for Jim Beam's other rock-related marketing tool: the Jim Beam Rock Band Search, which has a deadline of March 15. Ultimately though, all this proves to be one more reason to rationalize drinking that bitter liquor, in that now it's like taxes: The more you put in the kitty all year long, the more they'll pay out each spring.

For one glorious day last week, the members of Thulium felt like Joe DiMaggio. That is, Joe D. on that day when NBC ran the crawl saying he'd died while he was really sitting in his hospital bed watching the report. It seems that the Lawrence-based rockers were victims of a mean-spirited prank that also threatened to remove the group from the hearts and minds of their local fans before their time.

"It happened because of this long story between me and some people in this other band that I was kind of helping out with shows and stuff," says Steve Nick, minister of the group's copious e-mail updatings. "We all got kind of busy, so I kind of stopped helping them. I thought things were cool, but they were kind of holding a grudge against me the whole time."

Come to find out, Nick says, things weren't exactly "cool." Actually, he found out about the same time 75 other people on Thulium's mailing list did last week when everyone got a message from "Thu1ium" claiming the group had just broken up. It seems the little pranksters had opened a Yahoo account under Nick's name with the handle "Thu1ium69" which replaced the letter "l" in the group's name with a number one. Much like the Yankee Clipper, members of the group were not amused, and they are currently navigating the Internet's murky legal waters in the hopes of some further resolution. In the meantime, the show must go on, and for Thulium that starts Thursday, Feb. 17, at The Bottleneck with Manhattan pop pups Podstar and the newly rechristened Kindir, formerly Starsky. The rebirth continues two nights later at the Topaz Cafe (87th and Quivira) on Friday, Feb. 19.

It wasn't even six months ago that the dim prospects of hearing local music on the radio were being beaten like a dead horse. Now for the third week in a row there is mention of another station asking the hometown talent to send in suitable submissions for the airwaves. However, if the demise of The Lazer has taught us anything, it is that one night of local music for a few hours does not a scene make and that maybe less on the radio means more people at the shows. Regardless, Justin McBee and Richie Haile have thrown their hats in the local DJ ring for their love of the music, and to combat the lack of love for the Northland.

"We kind of wanted to bring some local stuff to the Northland area," says McBee. "I think the people up here are kind of missing out, and there are a lot of people up here who want to listen to local music, but they don't want to drive two hours (to Lawrence) to see it. Even when The Lazer was on, it was hard to get up here on most days. So we saw a need and kind of went with it."

The powers that run William Jewell College's station, 91.9 KWJC, apparently saw the need too. After McBee and Haile pitched the idea, the two received a Saturday afternoon time slot for their program, The Session, though neither man is enrolled at William Jewell. "It started out as a joke when we were talking about it a year ago," admits McBee, who now takes the job seriously -- for volunteer work. "But we've both been around this scene for a while, and after The Lazer died, there wasn't really an outlet for local music and not even one that could take it on. So after we came in and talked to them, they were all for it."