• While looking at the countless New Year’s Eve options Wednesday night and seeing the bloated cover charges, you may be thinking of a night at home with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and watching, uh, whoever counts down the ball-drop in Times Square these days (are they still propping Dick Clark up this year?). But there are plenty of musical events going on in the clubs Wednesday night that won’t having you breaking into your 401K funds. Outlaw Country master Dallas Moore and his band the Snatch Wranglers are playing Kick’n, a new Cheviot club, for free Wednesday (see To Do, page 15, for more info). And there are lots of other cheaper options available to you.
• At the Southgate House in Newport, there are actually three top-notch NYE events. In the ballroom, rockin’ Roots faves The Legendary Shack Shakers will shake the shack, along with Alabama’s Pine Hill Haints and local Bluegrass group, Mt. Pleasant String Band. In the Southgate’s Parlour room, catch the superb new local group The Emeralds, who are joined by one of the best live bands in the city, Buckra. And in the Southgate’s Lounge area, you’ll be able to catch local faves The Seedy Seeds (along with Towhee and Happy Birthday, Amy!) for free. (southgatehouse.com)
• There’s a cool little twist to Dirty Jack’s “R.I.P. 2008” party/show Wednesday night. Each of the bands performing is being brought back from the dead — yup, all three are reuniting for one night only. Getting the band back together that night will be rockers Helifino, Tornado Green and Cherry Bang.
• It’s always free to get into the Northside Tavern (thus, the huge lines to get into see the Heartless Bastards there a few weeks ago) and New Year’s Eve is no exception. Headlining the night will be Indie Pop duo Bad Veins, who are capping off another extraordinary year, which included much-buzzed-about South By Southwest and CMJ appearances, a CityBeat cover story and the recording of their incredibly anticipated full-length, which will finally see release in 2009. The band recorded the album in Cincinnati, Covington, Richmond, Va., and Los Angeles and is still hammering out details for the release (they are exploring a few options at this point). The Veins will no doubt be playing most of the album at the Tavern Wednesday, so those waiting anxiously for the new record can get their fix. The show is presented by Dance_MF, a monthly dance event at the Tavern run by the fine folks of PROJECTMILL (which features Bad Veins drummer Sebastien Schultz and several other local artists, musicians and filmmakers). Most intriguingly, the PRO- JECTMILL folks are promising “live reports from … correspondents around the globe. Or, at least, the parts we like.” My advice — get there early (see: Heartless Bastards comments above). (theprojectmill.com)
