A couple things that have been pointed out to me the past couple days: First, that there are some worth-seeing shows going on over the next few days, not the least of which is tomorrow night at The Dubliner, where The Darktown House Band is doing a reunion show. The gig was moved from The Darkroom Gallery, which I'm also told is closing in January. Opening the night at around 8:30 is Dan McCarthy. The Dubliner, to me, is the perfect place for this sort of shindig.

Another show that somehow fell off my radar screen is the annual Joe Budenholzer show at Mick's Friday night. This time Joe and his band will be doing up Iggy Pop's The Idiot in its entirety. Budenholzer will also be doing some tunes as Small Creatures. Expect surprise special guests, including (as rumor has it) The Faint's Todd Baechle. Dereck Higgins, who reminded me of this show, will be performing as part of Joe's band and may even play one of his own numbers.

In addition to those reminders, a few people e-mailed commenting on my 2005 predictions recap piece. Someone who reads the RSS-fed version pointed out that I was a might bit too hasty in saying that thrash rock and Mastodon didn't make it to the scene in '05, pointing to this LA Weekly article. Another reader pointed out on my webboard that I was wrong in saying I was right that we wouldn't be talking about Green Day, U2, the Simpson sisters and Gwen Stefani, while I also missed mentioning local bands Paria and Cellador having signed to Metal Blade Records. Who knows what kind of comments I'll get when '06 predictions go online Thursday morning.

Tomorrow I'll be posting the Year in Review story, which includes both my top-CDs and top-shows lists as well as details on how to win a copy of the Lazy-I Best of '05 compilation CD, which has become something of a collectable. Believe me, after you see the track listing, you'll want to enter to win.

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