Clubs looking to book entertainment for New Year's all too often settle for a DJ anymore, thinking that someone spinning records has a better chance of entertaining the masses than a band does. They're actually right in many cases, as some bands simply don't know enough songs to keep a diverse group happy, but nothing replaces having a live band rock you into the New Year and these are the bands worth skipping the same old DJ experience to catch tomorrow night...

Bryan Kirk and the Jerks at Croc Rock in Allentown- The admission is cheap ($10) and the Jerks are a bit of a New Year's tradition at arguably the most reputable club in the Valley, so they must have done good on New Year's Eves past. They're also a cover band with a set-list that covers everything from the 70s to now, but make sure you get there a little earlier to catch Weston, the local pop-punk darlings who are just now reuniting after making a respectable dent in the alternative scene in the mid-90s. It's not a reunion likely to last for long, so see them while you can.

Crystal Roxx at Montana West in Quakertown- Montana West is a love-it, hate-it type of place, and I'll be honest, I hate it (and after hosting a family night for a local radio station there a couple of years ago, I have every right too). It's got much more to do with the overall country-western vibe of the place more-so than anything else, as I'm mentioning them here because they are offering free shuttle service to three area hotels, something that very few places do but should. Admission is only $10 and veteran Valley cover band Crystal Roxx have been successfully entertaining for quite a bit.

Rubik and the Cubes at Errico's in Frenchtown- Here's some love to the people in Jersey for the New Year, though Frenchtown is farther away than anything I've ever recommended on this blog and I stick to my assertion that no one should travel tomorrow night if they don't absolutely have to (sleet in the forecast for midnight, idiots on the road, 'nuff said), ringing in the New Year with the Valley's best (by default?) 80s cover band is worth staying overnight in one of the more beautiful towns within an hour drive of here.

If you didn't catch the previous blog, info on the Unpronounceable playing in Easton was discussed and therefore not mentioned here, check them out if you want 2007 to start with a rockabilly bang. Whatever you do, please be safe and enjoy as I'd like to keep all 4 of you readers into the New Year.

-Ryan

There's a million different places offering the opportunity to party like a pageant queen this New Year's (yes, pageant queens now officially party harder than rock stars and have, in effect, started a new cliche), so let's just discuss the ones that aren't charging a cover Sunday night...

Starters Riverport, Bethlehem- You will get a champagne toast to kick off the new year, but expect it to be hard to raise your glass as you'll be crammed against the entire population of Bethlehem. Still a damn fun place to be, however, but better if you're part of a larger group (who's willing to get there early enough to grab a table).

Porter's Pub, Easton- You'll get noisemakers, hats and the obligatory champagne toast for coming, plus you'll be entertained by the Unpronouncable, reviewed a couple months ago on this blog. I would say this is the free place to be in Easton, but it's actually tied with...

Ocean- Not just free admission, but free hors d'oeuvres?!?! That seriously rocks, but Ocean is a more relaxed, upscale place that does require business casual dress, so you can expect drinks to be a bit on the expensive side (note that you ain't gettin' no complimentary champagne at 11:58). There will be a DJ spinning soul, R&B, techno and hip-hop, and my guess is that the place won't be as congested as other bars, so seriously consider Ocean if you don't mind dressing up just a little bit.

There are numerous other bars around that won't be charging a cover to come in, but they aren't necessarily throwing a New Year's "party" so much as all the regulars will just be drinking even heavier than usual. On that note, I must take a second to sound like your dad when I warn you that the forecast is calling for freezing rain/sleet to be falling here in the Lehigh Valley as the ball does in Times Square, meaning do whatever you can to not have to be on the roads Sunday night/Monday morning whether you're drinking or not, driving or not. Don't be a victim of someone else's stupidity.

Anyhoo, expect a post tomorrow discussing the best bands to catch Sunday night as our coverage of New Year's Eve 2006/2007 continues.

-Ryan

It's two days after Christmas and only a few until you have to stock up on the alcamahol for New Year's (or not, always an option), so I'm putting forth a free entertainment option for tonight that also happens to be one of the more unique I've discussed on this blog: a true, live audio-visual experience involving DJs spinning house music while an artist paints in a bar one could easily find in the East Village. This particular experience will be in Reading.

The DJs in question are Byron Stout and Chris Patrick, both doing separate sets but both of the "deep house" persuasion, while the artist in question is Matt Deifer, the Allentown native who's been making headlines this year as one of the men behind the area's hottest promotion company, Indaglo. I've mentioned Matt before in this blog; he was a college classmate of mine in Ithaca though we didn't quite realize it until only a few months ago. Matt's helped kickstart art galleries and cafes both in Ithaca and here, having assisted in laying the artistic foundation for the Wildflower Cafe's success in South Bethlehem. You can check out his current website here, but keep looking back for a new site launching very soon.

Matt is a strict believer in joining sound and sight into one overwhelming experience, and a short drive to Reading tonight will guarantee you just that. Even if this all sounds a little too heady for you, the Viva! Groove Lounge is still worth a visit as it is likely the most NYC-like bar between here and Reading (a place I, too, have never noted as having anything to do with the hipster scene). Come tonight, though, and I guarantee an experience out of the Lehigh Valley norm.

-Ryan

Christmas falling on a Monday this year makes for a busy time this weekend for everyone celebrating, meaning we'll need these next two nights for some serious recreational activity. Here's a couple Christmas parties to enjoy in the next two nights...

Keystone Pub in Bethlehem (tomorrow night)- I prefer this place in the summertime, when one can fully enjoy all the balconies overlooking Easton Road, but one takes their holiday parties wherever they can get them. Points also added for the fact that the pub is in the Butztown Hotel, even if you're not supposed to say it that way.

40Below in Bethlehem (tonight)- I know my girlfriend would particularly have a hard time turning down the chance at $2 chocolate-tinis from 9 to 11, but we'll be spending most of that time figuring out exactly what the #%$! to get our third cousins twice removed for Christmas. The club promises a knockout Secret Santa and "Santa's Sexy Helper," which only means weird things if you watch the Simpsons more than you club.

There are plenty of other shindigs around, these two just happen to be the more heavily promoted of the bunch. Allentonians, however, might be interested to know that an old-school rave (in this case, old school meaning 2000) is supposedly going on somewhere on the 300 block of Hamilton Street tonight, but the guy who sent the flyer to me took it down for some reason an hour ago... not so sure what's up there, but there were quite a few DJs lined up. Those who aren't in the mood to party will like the fact that all the college kids are gone, making everyone's favorite bars in the Valley much more chill than they were only a month ago.

-Ryan

We all knew it was coming, but we didn't know exactly where until this morning, when the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded a slots license to Bethlehem over Allentown. Combine this with the $5 million Governor Rendell gave the SteelStax project earlier in the week and it's obvious that one's view from the Hill-to-Hill Bridge looking east is going to change drastically, and soon. It's also obvious, however, that a culture war will likely break out between new and old Lehigh Valley.

The foundation for the "war" is tied to the irony in today's selection: the fact that there is quite a bit of public opposition to converting some of the old Bethlehem Steel buildings, including the blast furnaces, into the casino that Las Vegas Sands has envisioned and sold the Gaming Board on while in Allentown, where a Tropicana casino would have sat on old Agere land far away from residential neighborhoods, there's been virtually no opposition due in large part to the fact that the city desperately needs the revenue a casino would generate. Bethlehem, as evidenced by the SteelStax grant and its status as the only Pennsylvania city on Money Magazine's Best Places to Live list, is doing pretty well as it is and there's quite a few people who don't want to change it anymore than it already has been.

Those opposed to a casino in Bethlehem's South Side list the proposed building's proximity to churches and schools as a strike against it and claim that the traffic boon a casino would bring would be too much for the crowded South Side to handle. There are plans to widen many of the roads around the Steel sites, but they won't be done until after the casino opens (in the summer of '08) and because we're dealing with the Neanderthals at PennDot here, I could very well widen Rt. 412 myself before they even put a shovel to the ground. It will be cultural progress, but it will come at a price.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited as a Bethlehem resident for the casino but confused as a man who can (on rare occasions) have a logical thought as to why the Gaming Board would pick a controversial site without unanimous public support over another site without the controversy in a city that obviously needs the help. It's truly been sad to see Allentown, a city that once had a lot of promise, become the (excuse the term, but you know it works here) red-headed stepchild of the Lehigh Valley cities, with Bethlehem being the dean's list over-achiever bound for Harvard and Easton being the distant brother who doesn't really care about the other two. I've always been a fair play kind of guy, from my time as a high school soccer coach to the fact that I refuse to use cheat cards while playing Madden (even against the CPU, I must be sick), and there's a part of me that wanted Allentown to get the casino and the means to work its way out of the huge whole dug by a long line of corrupt politicians over the years.

This all being said, today's announcement is still a great thing for the entire Lehigh Valley, especially people our age. There will be a ton of new jobs and a huge upgrade in the quality of entertainment that comes to the area. I may actually see the comedy club I've always dreamed the Lehigh Valley could have sometime in the next few years thanks to this casino decision. I'm keeping in mind, though, that this casino project is not likely going to turn Bethlehem into a Philly or New York in the next fifty, let alone five years, despite anything the opposition might say.

-Ryan

With Chanukah starting tomorrow and only 10 shopping days left until Christmas, I'm betting that the wallets and pocketbooks of us Lehigh Valley 20-somethings are slimmer than Kate Moss in a girdle, or at least they soon will be. A weekend is upon us, however, in which we are being caught in a mean tug-of-war match between being able to buy your unappreciative little brother a used video game or being able to drink the thoughts of your little brother away. Here's a few cheap bars for those of us who need to keep this weekend low-impact:

The Willow Street Pub- They have $1 mugs of lager... on a Saturday!!! There will also be karaoke tomorrow night and the rest of the beer/food prices are very reasonable. There's no reason you couldn't have a good time here for about $10 (as long as you like lager- if you don't, you might want to consider another state of residence). You'll find it a few miles north of 22 after exiting at 15th Street.

The Your Welcome Inn- This may be the diviest of dive bars on Bethlehem's South Side, but it's an institution. One of the best jukeboxes in the Lehigh Valley and draft beers ranging from $2-$3 make the Your Welcome arguably the best cheap option in Bethlehem. It's on New Street between 3rd and 4th.

Driftwood Tavern- Easton's version of the Your Welcome, located on Wood Street near Hackett Park. Cheap drafts and really cheap well drinks make this the fashionable place to get hammered Scroogingly (should I have just said cheaply?) in the Easton area. Mac's Family Pub in Phillipsburg deserves a mention because I don't bring up Pburg often enough.

Those are just a sampling, you can also go to Merge's Eats/Drinks page and use the handy "Find A Place To Eat" thingy on the left to find the cheapest bars near you. Enjoy.

-Ryan

I'm not going to lie, I had no clue who the $#@! Whitestarr was before they came to town this weekend and I even laughed when my girlfriend told me she was going to interview them for WZZO (I think I made some sort of snappy Whitesnake joke, for the record). I did recognize the lead singer's name, sadly enough, when she told me he was dating Mischa Barton, the former OC actress, even though he is also the son of a famous producer. What I didn't know was that I would soon get a VIP pass to the rock equivalent of the circus, complete with video documentation and bare breasts.

Whitestarr made a bit of a splash around here despite their "who the $#@! are they" status for three reasons: their guitarist, "Rainbow" (real name: Jeremy), is an Allentown native who only moved out to L.A. a few years ago, they're being shadowed by a video crew taping their every move for a possible VH1 reality show for next year and yeah, the whole Cisco dating Mischa thing. Mischa wasn't at the Sterling Hotel for the performance last night and neither was I, as I got there just as the last note was played. I get the feeling that the show couldn't have been as entertaining as what was to follow, as Cisco was soon behind the VIP bar demanding shots for everyone despite the poor bargirl's sheepish insistence that he wasn't allowed behind the bar.

It all became kind of surreal, as here we were in Allentown, a good 3,000 miles away from Hollywood in distance and in spirit, but the cameras and the hyper pseudo rock star mentality made me feel like I got stuck on the set of a movie. Not that the band members were performing for the cameras, they actually preferred to stick their mugs right in front of the lens and tell it exactly what they were thinking at the time, but the people around them all seemed to be jockeying for some face time in one way or another. Yes, there were hot girls, and yes, they showed their lady lumps (though it wasn't in the presence of any VH1 cameras, unless they have a secret cameraphone that was among the many documenting that action), but that was as far as the debauchery went in front of me.

The most telling moment of the night came when the band, crew and hangers-on invaded Evil Eva's, a bar near the Bridgeview Apartments on Eighth Street I had never been to before. There were likely 10 people at the place before we got there at about 11, they were watching the Cowboys get smacked on Sunday Night Football and enjoying the peace, but were then suddenly barraged with at least 50 people including 5 rowdy-as-they-are-hairy rock stars and a bunch of cameras. Cisco and the boys started taking beers from the coolers and the drinking continued, though nothing noteworthy happened in the meantime.

My girlfriend and I left at about 12:30; lame by most rock star standards, except for the fact that we were followed out the door by Adler and a couple of his bandmates, who were heading back to the hotel to (from what they said) call it a night. Rainbow stayed back to hang with his hometown friends. I guess we'll find out if Rainbow got into any more trouble when the show airs next year sometime, but overall it wasn't the insane non-stop party one associates with rock stars, or at least people who dress like they're smack in the middle of 1973.

-Ryan

...but you'd still like to get her something completely different this holiday season. I am aware that this is an "events" blog, but if you're like me you've had to put off some of your "events" in order to afford presents, so instead of telling you where you should drink tonight (though I'll find a way to slip it in somewhere), I'm going to send you to South Bethlehem for another reason: to find the most unique gifts in the Valley.

We'll focus on the two or three blocks of 3rd Street located between the Fahy Bridge and McGrady's Pub, which consist primarily of art galleries and shops without a trace of big name recognition. Arguably the most innovative of these stores is Home & Planet, a space dedicated to selling items made from recycled goods and/or organic material. If you think a wallet made from a juice box or a purse styled from someone's old license plate would be the perfect gift for someone on your list, this place is for you.

While Home & Planet may be a great place to shop for your wacky friends, I know the harder people to shop for are usually in the family. Check out Cleo's Silversmith Studio & Gallery for Mom or for a girlfriend; they offer jewelry you won't find in the mall. Any female on your list go for something from Comfort & Joy, a toned-down Pier 1-type store without all the furniture. The "typical" guy might be harder to shop for on 3rd Street, but a Dad with an artistic eye would like anything from the art galleries along the way, although the majority of what's available will cost more than he'd want you to spend. The fall-back for anyone on your list can be found at Tallarico's Chocolates.

There are, of course, plenty of other places in the Lehigh Valley to find "unique" gifts, but I don't think you'll find a greater concentration of them than on 3rd Street. So feel free to get away from the mall and all the gifts that your less imaginative family members will be getting anyone else anyway and head to South Bethlehem; when you're done you can grab a drink at McGrady's with all the Lehigh kids suffering through finals week (there, that's the "event" part of this blog, please pay me now).

-Ryan

I had a little holiday moment last night while getting pizza with the girlfriend in Bethlehem's South Side involving a crooner and a Christmas song I thought was dead to me. See, I've worked in radio for most of my professional career and have therefore come into more than a few holiday seasons fearing the glut of hacky Christmas pukers put out by pop stars looking to fulfill a contract obligation. I found last night that the classics still get me, though, so hearing Paul Anka or Perry Como or Bing Crosby or whoever it was sing a Christmas traditional while sitting in the middle of the Christmas city put me right into the "spirit." It's too bad that a Christmas tradition in the next city over will end as of Sunday night, however.

The Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert has been going strong for 10 years now, but as you may have read in the Morning Call, it's become too much work for the husband and wife team who have been putting it together since 1996. I'll be honest, this year's show will be my first, but it's sad to see any kind of localized showcase go by the wayside disappear after ten years. Never mind the fact that the show has long been a great collaboration of the Lehigh Valley's best, as the same people who walked away with about six thousand Lehigh Valley Music Awards on Monday will be on stage at the Civic Theatre this Sunday, it's the simple fact that a collaboration of local musicians crossing musical genres even occurs. Set in the Civic's beautiful theater in the height of the holiday season and you've got something that should go on for much more than just one decade. Don't be surprised if the Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert does, in fact, come back next year as people willing to help shoulder the planning of the event do come out of the woodwork. More power to anyone willing to fight off the Clay Aiken's and Kenny Gs of the Christmas music world.

This being said, there are a couple interesting holiday CDs out there for those of us who can't quite take the 564,328th butchering of White Christmas. One is a Target (yes, the store) "alternative Christmas" CD I've sampled a couple times now while my girlfriend asked strangers whether or not the gift wrap she had matches her sweater; I normally see through the marketing of these so-called "alternative" compilations, but they had me at The Polyphonic Spree. There is also the emo-riffic Taste of Christmas for those who don't mind a bit of grown men cryin' with their sleigh bells jinglin'. Seriously, though, the Street Drum Corps version of John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" is not only really damn good, but especially damn topical today.

Take it from a jaded radio industry insider, there are still plenty of holiday music experiences out there that are well worth your time. Catch the Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert just in case it does not come back and look a little harder for holiday favorites with a new twist from your favorite artists; just because they're not stupid enough to put out a whole Christmas album doesn't mean they're not creative enough to contribute to a kickass compilation.

-Ryan

The 8th Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards will be held tonight in Hellertown, where many familiar names can expect to add more pieces to their busy mantles. The majority of the awards are picked by fans, who voted online throughout the last month, but their votes are likely to prove again that the Lehigh Valley music scene is still, like the area around it, a work in progress where a few dominate and many others are still working for recognition. They will also prove, however, that the scene is just as diverse as the populous.

Bands like 39 Goodbyes (emo whether they like it or not), KEF (jam band whether they like it or not) and the Mississippi Pig Farmers (whatever they are, I think they like it) are slated to perform. Add them to almost 10 more bands covering the jazz, hip-hop and folk genres and you get the closest thing to a Lehigh Valley mixtape since they released the CD honoring the last group of LVMA nominees. It's looking at the past winners, though, that shows a lot of the same names seem to win the awards- names such as Jake Kaligis, Sarah Ayers and Craig Thatcher who deserve all the accolades they get, but trend towards older audiences. These names also appear in many of the overwhelming number of categories (Best Entertaining Band AND Best Live Performance?), making it even harder for a newer artist to break in. I don't have the time or the knowledge to go through all the categories and make picks, but these younger/newer artists have the best chance to walk away with awards tonight: 39 Goodbyes, Tug McRaw, The Swimmers Union and KEF.

Tonight's show at the Meadows in Hellertown is slated to kick off at 5 with a buffet that you can get into for just a $5 dollar donation to the Salvation Army plus any canned food or new toy you'd like to give; all who do are automatically entered into a drawing for a $50 grand prize later in the night. The awards are still a great opportunity to sample everything the Valley has to offer as the organizers have done a great job of showcasing diversity in the performers they chose for tonight, even if the list of winners doesn't turn out to be nearly as  eclectic.

-Ryan