IT'S always nice to see your old mates doing well.

I mean, just look at Steve Wilson and The Innocent Bystanders (Bridport Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm, £8/£6 concessions, tickets from 01308 424204 or on the door).

Ten years ago, Steve was regularly at my side, ducking bottles and barstools in a variety of insalubrious dives and slophouses as the non-deformed half of the semi-legendary, semi-conscious duo Comfortably Naff. Now, he's headlining gigs in arts centres, no less.

I first ran into Steve and his brother Tony in a very literal sense - outside Westwey House about 13 years ago, when they rashly crossed the road behind some stationary cars into the left-hand filter lane and I mowed them down in the decaying Volkswagen Beetle I was impelled by circumstance to drive in those days.

Luckily, I was only doing around 6mph, which was that particular vehicle's top speed in a tail wind. The car was so badly traumatised by the incident that it had to be shot, but Steve and Tony were not only unharmed but in all probability redeemed by the experience.

Once the lawsuits were settled we became fast friends and the intervening years consequently saw us coalescing in a bewildering, ever-morphing array of line-ups as bands like Elmer Fudd, Stocky Lamaar and Cheese were painfully birthed.

Throughout this period, Steve was stockpiling a goodly cache of original material, having already received an encouraging response for the songs he wrote during his tenure with The Little Green Men.

Having already borrowed and lost every kettle lead in Dorset, Steve was forced to move to London for a number of years in search of the Morphy Richards motherlode, but on his return he had the makings of an entire album. And, tragically, a cordless kettle.

The resulting CD, Steppin' It Up A Notch, will be highlighted at this weekend's arts centre gig with the aid of peerless musicians and all-round loves Holly McIntosh, Clive Ashley, Jon Burdon, Jess Upton and Ady Milward. We here in the Live page arboretum wish them all the very best of luck and God speed - which must be very fast indeed, thinking about it, what with The Big Feller being omnipresent and all.

Now, when I hear a songwriter's material described as 'dark and melancholic, interspersed with witty and eloquent stories', I immediately become intrigued. I can't help it, I'm wired that way. Such is the stock-in-trade of Michael Weston King (Club Hobo, Royal Oak, Bere Regis, Wednesday, £7 on the door), known to many as the founder and leader of British alt.country pioneers The Good Sons.

Michael's reputation as a songwriter is absolutely formidable, as amply illustrated by the company he keeps. We're talking about collaborations and performances with the likes of Nick Cave, John Cale, Roger McGuinn, Nick Lowe, Ron Sexsmith, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Chris Hillman and Jackie Leven, who was so impressed after playing Club Hobo's first meeting earlier this month that he has offered to return to play with his old friend Michael.

All this and covers of the Carter Family's I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore and Townes Van Zandt's Waitin' Round To Die - food and drink to me, and indeed to anyone who likes a song to carry a bit of weight every now and again.

Finally, here's notice of a Hampshire-based band competition which is also open to Dorset bands, namely Bandanza, which carries a £2,000 first prize as well as the potential to be signed by Wellstreet Records. Go to it, bandicoots - full details are available on www.wellstreetrecords.com