A LITTLE LIGHT MUSIC: Who knew the calorie- and cholesterol-obsessed folks at Cooking Light could get down with the best of them? Way Past Close is an unironically enthused bar band drawn from the magazine's ranks and, somewhat like the Southern Progress division of Time Inc. that publishes the title, all-American in texture. Its playlist of covers fits the same bill: classic rock, Motown, a little country. The name, while on the surface a reference to late-night proclivities, some in evidence at the band's gig at Connelly's in Manhattan last Thursday, is also a wink to magazine publishing.

Last summer, Chris Allen, Cooking Light's publisher, discovered that one of his sales assistants had "quite the voice," and that a few account managers at Cooking Light and sales staff at Southern Progress had musical pasts. Way Past Close was born, and made its debut last year at a bar called Channel 4, near Time Inc.'s Midtown office. The event at Connelly's was billed as "Bridge to Birmingham," and, accordingly, the edit staff based there was in attendance. There was swing dancing and camera-phone snapping, and some of the dancers and snappers might even have been the invited advertisers. "We're not that good," said Allen modestly, "but we're good enough." — Irin Carmon