Local

The final Cafe Au Lait of the semester gets under way at the M-Shop tonight at 7:30 p.m. The multicultural event offers an excellent variety of music and spoken word, along with free food.

Friday, the Shop will also be showcasing one of M. Doughty’s first solo appearances since he and the other members of Soul Coughing decided to go their separate ways.

Regional

Meanwhile, Soul Coughing keyboardist Mark De Gli Antoni has already made plans for his next project.

Antoni and Deep Banana Blackout drummer Eric Kalb have joined legendary groove jazz guitarist John Scofield amid the second leg of his spring tour.

The new lineup, which also includes guitarist Avi Bortnick, finds the group stopping at larger venues than Scofield usually plays, but things seem to be going well as Scofield and company have played many sold out shows already.

The tour is partly due to the recent release of Scofield’s jazz-funk album “BumpM,” which continues the ’60s groove jazz direction that Medeski, Martin and Wood have begun to make more popular again.

MMW have a lengthy history with Scofield and have even appeared on some of his records in one form or another. The trio collaborated with Scofield on his 1998 album “A Go Go.” MMW bassist Chris Wood, who played on “BumpM,” may join Scofield and his entourage for the last half of the tour.

Scofield, who has performed and recorded with the likes of Miles Davis, played last year at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines and will be returning to Iowa with his new group later this summer.

Their only stop in the Midwest occurs on July 2 when they play at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, according to LiveDaily.

National

The creators of “Mission Impossible” will be cashing in on a sequel to the movie late next month. The “Mission: Impossible 2” soundtrack dishes out a predictable line-up of artists.

The theme song, “Take A Look Around,” has been instrumentally skewed by Limp Bizkit and also includes lyrics written by the band.

Adding to the more hardcore sound, Rob Zombie contributes “Scum of the Earth” to the soundtrack, while Godsmack and Metallica have also written songs just for the occasion.

Metallica’s new tune marks the band’s first recording since 1999’s multi-platinum release with the San Francisco Symphony. The song, “I Disappear” will be the first single from the soundtrack.

The Pink Floyd classic, “Have a Cigar,” is being covered by the Foo Fighters & Brian May while the Butthole Surfers and The Pimps add their own material to the release.

Ex Soundgarden frontman, Chris Cornell, also appears on the album with a reworked version of “Mission 2000.” The Hollywood Records release hits store shelves May 9. The Hans Zimmer-composed score, will be released later this summer.