God I hate posting on Monday...

Nothing ever feels right.

Anyway.

There are a couple things I think are worth checking out this week...

If you're new in town, they're lighting the tree today at 5:30. Rockefeller Center. Just sayin in case...

Tonight at Pianos two fantastic bands are playing on the earlier side. The one not to miss is the UK's Long-View. They are about to release their debut album here in the States, and are already pretty big over there. They go on at 7:30. At 9:30, Elkland, who I've spoken about many times before, are playing. I know I've been saying this for a while now, but they won't be doing little spots like Pianos forever...Columbia Records will see to that. But anyway, both bands have very similar sounds, so if you already like one, I'm sure you'll dig the other. Long-View isn't playing NY every day...In fact I think it's their first time here...so catch them while you can.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to check out Buck 65 at Sin-E at 9:00. I caught them in London over the summer and was greatly entertained. It's best described at Canadian Country-Rap...so yeah, it's unique. But good I swear. They're playing a few shows here in the coming weeks, preparing for the US album release. Also, if you missed Long-View the night before, they're playing Mercury Lounge at 8:00.

Wednesday and Thursday is that mini megashow with Phoenix and Benzos and Inouk. It's kinda perfect, cause I don't think I'd go out of my way to see one of those bands, but all three might be worth checking out. If it's not sold out, I might head down there.

When I was in Ireland, everyone spoke very highly of a band called The Frames. It was consensus that they put on the best live show around, and everybody was raving about their performance from the year before on the Main Stage of the festival. Anyway, poking around MoreCowbell, I saw that they were coming to America next year, and would be hitting up NYC at the beginning of March. Then I noticed that they were playing Joe's Pub THIS WEDNESDAY! This is a band that sells out giant concert halls in Ireland, and they were playing the most intimate venue in New York this week? Impossible. But true. Needless to say, the two sets are both sold out, but I might wander over to see if I can try and get in. Everyone told me not to miss a chance to see these guys live, so I'll do what I can do.

Some other notes...

I loved coming back to read the Canadian Bloggers complaining about the lack of American posts over the last week. Sorry guys...you can take Boxing Day off.

I went down to the Apple store yesterday to buy a $30 iSkin protective case, and left with a $300 dollar Bose SoundDock...Tis the season I suppose. My first impressions of the speaker system are very very good. It sounds great in my living room, the remote works perfectly well, and, best of all, my iPod fits in the cradle with the iSkin on...not expected but extremely convenient.

I watched Gattaca for the first time in a long time last night on HBO2. I really liked it...more so than I had remembered. The story was good and all, but the costumes and the scenery and cinematography really make it stand out. Reccomended if you haven't seen it recently.

Finally, the Bloc Party album, 'Silent Alarm' is phenomenal. At first listen, it didn't really blow me away, and I thought these comments might be a bit of a stretch. But the more I listened the better everything sounded. The tracks pulled from the EP sound much better this time around (especially 'She's Hearing Voices'), but my favorite for the moment is a song called 'Blue Light', which sounds like a clean and sober Libertines tune. Needless to say's it's something special. Everyone should look forward to this album coming out. It's gonna be a winner.