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• 'Tis the season to be a DJ

Ah, Thanksgiving week. Let the holiday weight gain begin! Crap. Well, let's see what's happening on the night before Thanksgiving, that traditional evening when everyone is back in his/her hometown and eager to get wasted and judge old friends like it's a class reunion. Where might be a good place to do this? Well, the Canopy Club has you covered if you're looking for a rock show. Golden Quality, Cameo Turret, and Vvvvv are all slated to deliver a healthy dose of live rock starting at 8 p.m. ($5 cover).

Boltini being the site of the regular Wednesday night DJ set from DJ LEGTWO (also known as Curb Service or Larry Gates, mofos), it works out nicely that he'll be there on such a big drinking night. LEGTWO lays down one of the best DJ sets in town, with lots of old funk and soul and newer hip-hop of the indie persuasion. There is no cover and you can talk to the DJ about some VIP tickets. Starts at 9 p.m.

Soma will also be rocking a pre-Thanksgiving set, but my awesome parade of '90s hits and subpar DJing skills will be preempted by someone who is presumably much better. Don't cry for me; I'll be back next week with more SWV and Snow than you'll know what to do with.

Speaking of killer DJ sets, it's time for another in the long tradition of Hit It Run. The night (generally placed around a holiday off of work for maximum drinking and craziness) is filled with great hip-hop and dance cuts from the last few decades spun by some of the area's most talented turntable operators. This time around you can catch DJ Bozak and DJ Spinnerty, both back in town for one weekend only from their new homes in San Francisco. Hit It Run constant DJ Kosmo will be on stage along with DJ Wonderbread. Four DJs for the price of none, folks. No cover and it kicks off at 10 p.m. at Cowboy Monkey.

Spinnerty and Bozak will also slide over to Boltini on Saturday to spin with DJ Mertz at 9 p.m., while Cowboy Monkey's stage will replace the DJ table with the rock-solid blues playing of the Kilborn Alley Blues Band. The band is known across the land for its authentic blues sound, and recently its members put on the band's 1000th show. Start time is 10 p.m. and the cover is $5.

DJs, DJs, DJs. They're everywhere these days. Hey, that rhymed. Great. Anyway ... Nekromancy is still going strong at C-Street on Mondays. If you're a fan of the goth/industrial scene, this is the place to hit up on Monday nights at 9 p.m. The cover is only two bucks (finally on par with a gallon of gas — thanks, shitty economy!), and C-Street is a great place to dance or to just sit in the corner staring at the people who are dancing. Creep.

That gets us into next week, which will feature Mahomet-born singer/songwriter Todd Reese on WEFT Sessions (90.1 FM) at 10 p.m. on Monday. Shameless columnist Mike Ingram will do his '80s night at the Highdive on Monday, as well (10 p.m., no cover), and Zmick will continue their popular residency at the Canopy Club every Monday (9 p.m., no cover).

The Canopy Club continues to be the hot spot (I typed "stop" accidentally at first and decided that it could have stayed as it was) on Tuesday nights, with Sangamon's Shay Thiele operating as The Piano Man, ready to play all of the ridiculous songs that you can yell at him. It's funny that the Canopy's one-night-a-week piano guy residency is continuing to be better than the place in Urbana that opened to be an all-the-time piano guy place (88 Broadway). Canopy's Tuesday night starts at 9 p.m. and there is no cover (meaning more money to spend getting wasted on $3 Long Islands—a longtime staple of my own Tuesday nights in college when open mic there drew ridiculous numbers).

So, we've now entered that time of the year between Thanksgiving and Christmas during which every music-related website, publication, and blogger drops into high gear to start kicking out year end lists of the best and worst of any category you could ever imagine. The timing of this always bothered me, with so many new releases slated for arrival on shelves before the new year, not to mention the stuff that came out in the last few weeks that hasn't had time to be digested. But, nevertheless, here we are. Pitchfork is busy looking up new synonyms for overrated and underwhelmed, but not looking for a less annoying rating system, so be prepared. It's the season to be merry unless you're a music writer. I guess I should start firing up the list-generating portion of my brain, too, as ever crappy music writers are obligated to put something in order. More next week.

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