Utility customers are invited to participate in a YouTube video competition sponsored by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division.

The videos should depict the ways customers conserve energy in these days of increasing fuel costs and rising temperatures. According to the MLGW Web site: "We want to see original and creative home videos about how you and your family save energy!"

Three winners will be chosen, and awarded Home Depot gift cards valued at up to $250. "The videos will be judged on the value of energy savings and creativity," according to MLGW.

Videos are being accepted through Aug. 31. For more information, visit mlgw.com and follow the link to the "YouTube Ways To Save Contest."

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394

Uncle Indie wants you!

The Indie Memphis Film Festival is seeking volunteers to help organize and run the 11th annual festival, set for Oct. 9-16.

Volunteers are needed to help out during screenings, which mostly will take place at Malco's Studio on the Square, and at various Indie Memphis parties and other events.

To sign up, visit indiememphis.com.

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394

Uncle Indie wants your music videos, too!

Entries are now being accepted for the fourth annual "Music Video Showcase" of the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

The showcase -- typically one of the more popular events of the fest -- is coordinated by Live From Memphis, a production company that also is responsible for a popular arts Web site.

Music videos should feature local or regional bands or be created by local or regional filmmakers. Past artists whose videos have screened during the showcase include Al Kapone, Elvis Costello, The Oblivians and Jim Dickinson, to name a very few.

For an entry form and more information, visit livefrommemphis.com/mvs.

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394

Remembering Isaac

Memphis' classic soul station WRBO 103.5-FM will be hosting a tribute to the late Isaac Hayes this week.

The station, which served as home to Hayes' long-running radio show, "Hot Buttered Love Songs," will air repeat episodes of the program each night between 7 and midnight starting today.

Hayes, the legendary Stax songwriter and solo performer, was found dead in his Shelby County home last Sunday.

Listeners are encouraged to call in for a special segment on Wednesday, a date that would have marked Hayes' 66th birthday. The archival shows will run through Thursday.

-- Bob Mehr: 529-2517

Olympic song

While you're tuned in to NBC for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, you just might hear "Slabtown Boogie," an instrumental penned by Middleton, Tenn., residents Lee McAlpin and Keith Sasser.

The songwriting duo wrote "Slabtown Boogie" six months ago, then Sasser sent it and two other tunes to Audio Brain, a New York-based ad agency that has an exclusive music contract with the 2008 games.

"It's a feel-good instrumental. I think a lot of people can tap their foot to it," says McAlpin, a country music veteran who has authored hits for mainstream artists ranging from Loretta Lynn ("Man of the House") to Eddie Arnold ("After Losing You").

"We've been working together every week for the last couple of years," says Sasser, who founded his own publishing company, WAKE Music, after years as a session musician for Jerry Lee Lewis, John Anderson and Sammy Kershaw.

"We'll be watching the Olympics all we can," Sasser says. "I've been told that there will be 3,600 hours (of competition) broadcast on five networks around the world. That's a lot of opportunities to play our song. We hope they play it a lot, but we won't know 'til the royalty checks show up."

-- Andria Lisle

Quilting history

The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville will hold a special quilt program and tour Aug. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m.

"Piecing Tennessee History: Stories from the State Museum's Quilt Collection" will feature a presentation of the museum's collection of over 300 quilts by senior curator of fashion and textiles Dr. Candace J. Adelson. One of the oldest documented quilts in the state, made by Rebecah Foster in 1808, will be displayed.

Admission is free, but registration is advised; call Beth Lekander at (615) 741-9255. The Tennessee State Museum is at Fifth and Deaderick. Visit tnmuseum.org.

-- Fredric Koeppel: 529-2376

Art stars

The Memphis / Germantown Art League has announced the award winners of its "Star Artist Exhibition," displayed through Wednesday at Askew, Hargraves, Harcourt & Associates, Inc., 3009 Davies Plantation Road in Lakeland. Winners were selected by well-known local artist Veda Reed.

Best of Show: Billy Bailey, "Back Alley" (watercolor).

Second Place: Susan Hyback, "West TN Woolies" (colored pencil).

Third Place: Kay Coop, "Decaying Elegance" (watercolor).

Honorable Mention: Eleanor Baker, "Sneakers" (watercolor).

Honorable Mention: Susan Hyback, "Autumn Koi" (colored pencil).

Judge's Award for Creativity: Mary Lawrence Allen, "The Restless Sea" (acrylic on aluminum).

Judge's Award for Use of Color: Betsy Bird, "Steppin' Out" (acrylic).

Judge's Award for Use of Texture: Ann Cobb Beach, "I'll Be Seeing You" (watercolor).

People's Choice Award: Betsy Bird, "Steppin' Out."

Art for Forum

For the fifth year, UrbanArt Commission will sponsor a competition for local art to be displayed in the First Tennessee Bank Club Level at FedExForum. A committee will select up to four artists whose work -- paintings, photographs, drawings, prints or three-dimensional pieces -- will be on view for a year. Each artist will receive a $2,500 honorarium.

Deadline for submission is Sept. 8. For project guidelines and submission rules, visit urbanartcommission.org.

UrbanArt has a new address -- 2549 Broad -- and a new telephone number -- 454-0472.

Wings artist of 2008

The Wings Cancer Foundation has chosen Karen Suddeth as the 2008 Wings Artist of the Year. Previous artists selected for the honor are Paula Temple (2007), Jay Etkin (2006), N.J. Woods (2005), Colin Ruthven (2004), Marlene Gwathney (2003) and Ann Cobb Beach (2002). The nonprofit group's gallery is at 100 N. Humphreys Blvd. Call 322-2984.

-- Fredric Koeppel: 529-2376