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• Come on already, 2009

Lots to cover, so we’ll jump right into Thursday, Dec. 18th's shows, which include Live Karaoke Band back at home at Cowboy Monkey (10 p.m., $5), which is where you should be if you want to wail. Otherwise, Mike ‘n Molly’s is celebrating its tenth anniversary by hosting a show featuring Lollipop Factory, Terminus Victor, and Scurvine. That’s a ton of rock at a great bar, so get out there for the 9 p.m. start.

Things get interesting on Friday, when the whole tribute band thing goes a step farther as the Canopy Club presents This Must Be the Band, a Talking Heads tribute that apparently recreates Stop Making Sense. This might be going a little too far, but you can find out for yourself at 9 p.m. for $8. Or, if you’re not feeling tribute-y, the Iron Post is putting up funk-soul rockers Beat Kitchen, with Curb Service on opening duties. That show also starts at 9 p.m. and it likely carries a five dollar cover.

Across the aisle at Cowboy Monkey, local (well, for now — sadly it looks like he’ll move to Nevada soon, so catch him while you can) emcee Krukid has assembled a solid lineup of indie rock and hip-hop acts into a mash-up kind of show. Krukid himself will open the show with DJ Belly backing him, followed by Columbus, Ohio, emcee Catalyst (featuring DJ Pos 2). Up next is Baton Rouge outfit We Landed On The Moon!, who will be coming off of a week-long tour out east with Elsinore in markets like New York City, Toronto, and Pittsburgh. The band will split with Elsinore to land here in CU before heading south towards home. Another Ohio hip-hopper, Zero Star (also featuring DJ Pos 2), will follow, before local rockers Santa unleash their catchy tunes. Closing the show is Mathien, a Chicago songwriter who mixes many of the night’s musical style into a full-band package of alternative hip-hop and soul. The show is set to kick off at 9:30 p.m., with a $5 cover if you get there before 10:30 or so ($7 after). Check out the show listing on openingbands.com (or by clicking on the calendar listing on the right-hand side of this page) for links to pages for all of the acts.

Saturday’s best bet is at the Clark Bar, where the Impalas (featuring Dawna Nelson) will play with special guests Ian Shepherd (Temple of Low Men, the Nadas) on drums, and Peter “Rudeball” Roubal on second guitar. Hopefully there will be a guitar duel between Roubal and Impalas guitarist Bruiser Rummenie. The Impalas have long been one of the best blues bands in the area, with Nelson’s soaring voice taking center stage. This show appears to be free, but you may encounter a small cover charge. The downbeat is at 8 p.m.

In a column earlier this year I highlighted a tour stop in town from former local pedal steel player (now famous and award-winning in the world of country music) Dave Easley. You can check out myspace.com/davefeasley for more info on all of the greats he has played with, but let’s just say he’s very good, and that he’ll be playing two shows while here in CU this week. On Sunday (21st) he’ll be sitting in with Jazz Sandwich (a band already full of virtuosos) at the Iron Post from 7-10 p.m. Then on Tuesday he’ll move just down the block to the Embassy Tavern where he’ll hook up with the Surreal Deal from 8:30-11:30 p.m. Both bands are loaded with some of the area’s best musicians, so adding a great pedal steel player seems like a pretty solid idea. Neither show has a cover listed, but there might be a small one or a tip jar out — whatever it might be, it’s worth it for these match ups.

Now we’re at Christmas and overeating and all of that, but once you’ve recovered, there is a New Year’s Eve Eve show for those of you who want to get your partying out of the way (or be drunk for more than a day). Cowboy Monkey will host a Darling Disarm reunion show (Kayla Brown will return from Nashville and Tyler Bundy will trek back from Boston). Can you call it a reunion if we only stopped playing shows four months ago? Sure, why not. Starting at 9:30 p.m., the show will also feature a set from Brandon T. Washington, Andy Lund, and Ian Shepherd (3/5 of Temple of Low Men) and Rocket Science (Dawna Nelson and Josh Quirk). More acts are likely, and it’ll just be an excuse for a bunch of musicians to sit in on each other’s songs.

Mike Ingram can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com.