With Musikfest starting this weekend, it's probably on a lot of people's minds to just lay low until Friday. Not to mention that it feels like the depths of hell outside right now. So, sticking to the living room in front of a fan is probably the only plan you have for this week. I'm here to tell you that you don't have to seal yourself inside your house because there are some interesting NON-MUSIKFEST events going on over the next couple of days that you might not want to miss.

TUESDAY NIGHT
The Tally-Ho has been hosting a Battle Of The Bands every Tuesday (9:30 or 10ish). Local acts are performing and competing for a paid Saturday night gig at The Ho. This week is around the halfway point so get in on the music.

THURSDAY NIGHT
Warped Tour 2006 will be at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ. It's not that far to venture for a full day of kick-ass music.

In Philly, they're showing Napoleon Dynamite outside at Penn's Landing. You know you love that movie and by Thursday night it should be nice and cool (compared to the weather now, anyway).

And don't even get me started on Friday night. There is plenty beyond Musikfest to do (yes, even in Bethlehe). Stay tuned for our This Weekend feature and Friday's Daily Newsletter for more on that tip.

Or SEARCH for your own stuff to do in our database of events and venues.

- Judianne

Happy Hour is a great thing.  I'd like to offer up a collective thanks to all the bars out there who run one, because it's a truly excellent service, and often the perfect way to end a long day at work.  Unfortunately, a lot of happy hours are over by 6 p.m.  Some places run until 7 p.m., but I'd still like to see the standard stretch a little longer into the evening.

Yeah, yeah, it wouldn't be happy hour if the specials ran all the time, but still - sometimes by the time I get out of work and round up a few friends, it's too late to hit the deals.  Sure, it'd be a perfect world if we could get all the bar wishes we desire, but this is my humble request of the moment.  Give us 'til-8 happy hours, or I'd even take 'til 7:30.

So what's the best happy hour in the Valley?  And if I'm missing any extended happy hours, let me know so I can hit those up ASAP.

    -Tucker

Maybe I've been under a rock or something, but what the heck is the deal with all this Christmas in July stuff?  I don't ever recall seeing events, sales, etc. around this strange, made-up holiday ever before.  We've got a Merge Party Crew event on Tuesday at Keystone Pub, which I'm sure will be a great time, but what a weird freakin' theme.

First of all, why do we have to start pounding the hell of Christmas already?  Hell, in a month or so the stores will start putting up their crap, can't we put it off for just a little?  Second, it's not exactly the "halfway there" thing either.  Yeah, it's July 25, Christmas is on December 25, I get it - but wouldn't it technically have to be June 25 to make sense? That's the halfway point.

It's weird, but if it makes a decent excuse for a good time, I'm down.  See you all at Keystone Pub tomorrow for some "Ho-Ho-Holy-shit-it's-hot-out-and-we're-celebrating-Christmas" action.

    -Tucker

I came across an event called Brain Show Mania at the Fernwood Hotel & Resort in Bushkill. It sounded odd so I called for more info. That didn't help - no one seemed to know what exactly it was or how to describe it. "It's different," said one lady. She also said "it's about audience participation" and "it's a Jeopardy-type thing." That didn't clear up a lot so I took to the Web. The site doesn't really say much more but it does indicate a possible "cheese" factor: "offers all the authentic fun and excitement of a real live TV game show including colorful podiums featuring computerized lights and sounds." WEEEE - colors, lights and sounds! I'm skeptical. Then again, it might be fun to be on a game show just for the hell of it without taking a trip to New York or LA and standing in line for hours to maybe sit in the audience. It's happening again tonight, so if you're brave, check it out (I think it's a once a week deal) at Fernwood.

It's that time of year again when fan boys (and girls) drag their kids out to sit in the sweltering sun and watch some pseudo football. The Eagles Training Camp is back at Lehigh's Goodman campus starting this weekend. It's cool that we get to have it all happen so close to home (except for the traffic that results in that area).

The team will be there starting at 8:45 a.m. every day July 21 through August 16. Check out mcall.com for regular updates if you just can't bring yourself to get there in person.

Even if you aren't an Eagle-specific fan, you can still enjoy it for the pro football experience that it is. Everyone can be an Eagles fan this next month - GO EAGLES!

- Judianne

This was my first year actually catching the fireworks as an Allentown-area resident, and I have to say I was pleased.  It was a nice, long show - definitely over 45 minutes - with good variety and a couple of nice finale-fakeouts.  At the end after a short pause, there was a few minute burst that had a rather lackluster end.  Then there was a long pause, and we figured it was just a relatively lame ending and started to walk away - but then it came.  It was a good five-minute barrage of everything they had, the works.

When it was all finally over, we heard basically the whole city cheering and clapping.  It was one of the coolest things I've ever heard - people from all sides around us, all over the city.  The staging location was perfect.  We never really found exactly where it was, but we just parked (illegally) on a random street and sat on somebody's lawn.  It's what pretty much everyone was doing, and I'd have to imagine the view was just as good from about anywhere in the city.  Thank god for low-rise.

It was a good bit of A-town and American pride, the right way to end a decent holiday.  The weather cooperated, the show was good, people were out and happy.  I couldn't think of a better way to finish off a well done Independence Day.

    -Tucker