You may have missed it, but last week, on October 23, soul/hip-hop singer John Legend received the key to the City of Portland from Mayor Jill Duson. "Her assistant called me up and asked if it would be possible," says Tea Party Concerts booker Lauren Wayne. Does Legend have some kind of Portland connection? Uh, nope. Is the mayor a huge fan? "Apparently so," says Wayne. "It’s my first experience in having the mayor’s assistant call me about a key to the city." Years ago, giving out the key was de rigueur, with bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Barenaked Ladies, and Godsmack (we can’t believe that’s true! For shame!) pulling down the key, before it went out of vogue. This time, the mayor presented Legend with the key on stage, after his first encore. "She came out and went to the piano," reports Wayne, "grabbed the mic, and gave him the key — people were actually really stoked and cheering." As for Legend, "he was quite honored."

Dan Merrill, local singer/songwriter and sometime member of Under the Song Tree, last week cracked the US Adult Contemporary charts with his song "Hold Me (Like a Lover)," which he recorded with his newish band Simon Apple for their debut album, River to the Sea. The other two band members are in Philadelphia, and the disc features guest spots from Peter Gabriel bassist Tony Levin, Supertramp saxman John Helliwell, and Pat Metheny bassist Steve Rodby. A portion of all record sales goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Subject Bias have lately been in the studio with Frank Hopkins, Sweet Dream Recording honcho, working on their third full-length. Reports are that Hopkins has majorly revamped his outfit. Check out www.sweetdreamrecording.com.

The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, held in the Berkshires annually and a major stop on the summer folk circuit, will this year feature Portland songwriting stud Jason Spooner, playing as "one of the prized top four performer spots," beating out 19 other artists from last year’s festival. This also gets him a spot on the two-week preview tour that happens in May and travels up and down the East Coast. Check out www.falconridge.com for all the details if you want to play groupie.

After playing a few Katrina benefit gigs, new Cajun band the Douce played their first Portland-area club gig this past Saturday at the Bramhall Pub. Taking it directly from the email, "Fiddler and melodeon player Matthew Doucet, aka ‘The Douce,’ son of award-winning fiddler Michael Doucet of Beausoleil fame, has teamed with dobroist and chanteur Robert Sylvain of Boréal Tordu, and guitarist Brad Strauss (and Sam the sound dog) to form Douce (French for sweet). Matthew moved to Maine from Louisiana in 2004 to learn the craft of violin making. He now runs Doucet Violins in Westbrook and lives in Portland with his wife, Rebecca." Watch the listings for their next gig.