MEMO TO ALL you masters of the cease and desist order hoping to get rich off perceived similarities between Superchunk supe Mac McCaughan's other band, Portastatic, and legendary indie icons Yo La Tengo: "Step away from the legal fees buffet line. There's nothing to see here."

OK, so Portastatic's first tour – after a decade of existence – occurred recently in support of Yo La Tengo, and a while back Superchunk took Yo La Tengo's place in the orchestra pit at the San Francisco International Film Festival. So Portastatic's last studio album, released earlier this year, was named The Summer of the Shark, whereas Yo La Tengo's latest disc included a track titled "Season of the Shark."

That doesn't mean anything, right?

"Yeah, our lawyers got together, and we worked out a settlement," McCaughan, 36, deadpans.

McCaughan, who also co-owns Merge Records, handles all the sinister parallels with the aplomb of an old hand. Actually, the musician and Yo La Tengo are pals from way back, and he was even talking to YLT drummer-vocalist Georgia Hubley about using one of her paintings as art for Summer's inner sleeve.

Come Dec. 11 at Bottom of the Hill, budding entertainment lawyers and suspicious minds will have a chance to judge the case for themselves, when McCaughan brings Portastatic to San Francisco for the first time, in support of Autumn Was a Lark, an EP of live and acoustic radio recordings of songs from Summer and covers like Badfinger's "Baby Blue," Bruce Springsteen's "Growin' Up," and Ronnie Lane's "One for the Road."

Oh sure, McCaughan seems like an agreeable indie kind of fella, hyperarticulate, levelheaded, and even a tad analytical when it comes to breaking down his process and his many projects over the phone from his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. But who does he think he's kidding?

For some reason, Portastatic, which began life as "an outlet for things that don't make sense for Superchunk to do," is looking more appetizing these days; McCaughan is even considering recording another album this spring, while work continues on the next 'Chunk full-length, which he describes as "pretty straightforward punk rock-sounding."

Otherwise, when he's not touring, McCaughan busies himself with Merge matters, alongside co-owner and Superchunk bassist Laura Ballance. He tries to let his staff handle day-to-day matters, like, oh, whether to buy the 12- or 24-pack of toilet paper. "Sheeeh, hopefully that one won't reach my desk," he says. Instead, a typical quandary might be the next Lambchop albums, two Merge releases coming out the same day in February that are called Aw, Come On and, natch, No, You Come On.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle Another '90s rock survivor with yet another EP of odds and sods, Mark Lanegan sounds just as industrious as McCaughan, if considerably more like Keith Richards with his rasp and mumble. I catch him on the phone in the south of France – Montpellier, to be specific – on tour with his namesake band (which includes Lanegan's Queens of the Stone Age cohort Troy Van Leeuwen and Caustic Resin's Brett Netson on guitars) and stopping so his bus driver could catch some z's before they headed to Spain. Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers song-peddler Greg Dulli will join them on keyboards in Seattle before they head to S.F. and the Great American Music Hall Dec. 16.

The 39-year-old Lanegan treats it all like the pro warhorse he is, after 23 months of touring with Queens of the Stone Age and now his own band. With no resting place or hometown to his name, he rattles off side projects with the lack of affect and diligence of someone who has been nothing but focused, despite the death, debauchery, dirty deeds, and even the random Captain Beefheart cover ("Clear Spot") decorating his dark junk shop of an EP, Here Comes That Weird Chill (Methamphetamine Blues, Extras and Oddities), the precursor to this spring's Bubblegum album and fall's additional EP.

"It's cool. It's one of the first times that everything I recorded, I liked. This is maybe the 17th or 18th album I made in one guise or another. Some of 'em are like pulling teeth," murmurs Lanegan, who describes his first band, psych-grunge heavy-hitters Screaming Trees, as possibly the "most unlikely" band to succeed, his live show as "meat and potatoes," and his fans' intensity as "scary" but "cool."

"I've had a career in music for 19 years, and that's a lot more than most guys I know and a lot more than I probably deserve," Lanegan growls before going off to spend his euros doing laundry.

Now, why would he say that? "I don't know. If we all got what we deserved, we'd all probably be getting tortured somewhere." Ouch.

Get 'em young Set to play the Elbo Room Dec. 15, I Am Spoonbender have been busy working on a DVD and CD at IAS members Dustin Donaldson and Marc Kate's Lucky Cat Studios in the Potrero Hill area.... Donaldson's former band, Pansy Division, very well may have besmirched the purity of one of the Bush twins' eardrums. If we're lucky. According to MSNBC, Yale student Barbara happened into a New Haven club where the S.F. band were playing – and dedicating their anti-Bush number, "Political Asshole," to Babsie herself.... Zeigenbock Kopf's European tour was cut short last month when member Hans Bunschlapen got sliced up by broken glass and ended up in a London hospital with an infection and a chunk embedded in his knee.... Skiffington guitarist Manny Ponce's Pixies tribute band, Big Big Love, reunites for a free Dec. 20 show at Sadie's Flying Elephant, with the return of bassist Lori "Kim Deal" Campion.... "Yule" flip for the "3 Punk Bands and a Drag Queen" monthly event at Red Devil Lounge Dec. 18. Pepperspray's Princess Kennedy is scheduled to kick it with punker drag band the Yule Tides, alongside Angry Amputees and Hurting Crew. On a side note, organizer Alisha Amnesia tells me, "I always say drag queens can come free to shows, but they never come." ... Bottles and Skulls report that their van and equipment were stolen right off Mission Street in late November, and they're looking for any news on their vehicle and gear.... The rash of van break-ins suffered by local bands continues in Chicago – with the Heavenly States, who return after a four-month tour to play at Bottom of the Hill Dec. 18. On the upside, according to Future Farmer staffer Dana: Hardware Wars director Ernie Fosselius is ordering folks around for the band's new video. On the downside: "None of the band is getting laid." News you can use – or that'll make you feel used.