Make reservations now for the New Year’s Eve Reggae Bash at Providence Black Rep and AfroSonic Collective . Live reggae from Rooted Sound and DJs Ras Negus and Mardon Famous. Tickets are $25 at the door but discounts are available at Art Tix and Bright Night. More info at Black Rep Twitter.

Thursday, 8pm to 2am, 276 Westminster Street

Sure, there was some mention of a shiny ball dropping a few miles away, but the real story last night was the ‘mericans* and The Figgs ringing in the new year in Brooklyn, NY.  The Trash Bar (named for the trash can displayed at the front of the stage?) featured a friendly bear of a bouncer, old license plates, free tater tots, a G. W. Bush action figure, and comfy plush carseats.  Live music was in the back room, accessed through a little tunnel sort of like the one at the Paradise, except instead of glowing blacklights you got sketchy peep-show curtains.  Since the tunnel was dark, you just followed the sound. When your teeth vibrated, you knew you’d arrived.  (More after the jump, plus additional photos in side blog.) more »

It’s like a Pink Floyd show, but with a lot less Floyd.  Tonight’s Bright Night celebration ends at midnight with a laser light show in Kennedy Plaza that might look something like this generic photograph. Buttons for Bright Night activities cost $15 — for a list of events go here. Keep in mind that this includes the AS220 Café, which starts at 6pm with a poetry slam, continuing through the evening with Rory Raven, Matt the Knife a sword-swallower, and at 10pm Alec K. Redfearn and the Seizures, and 11pm to 2am a dance party with sideshow artists.

But the weirdest scene of the evening may be the act over at the RI Convention Center — a Swiss daredevil family with the totally metal name, The Nerveless Nocks (been in the business for nine generations).  Fun fact: The Nerveless Nocks performed with the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 16, 1964.  Nocks pix after the jump.

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Look who’s in The New York Times! In a feature on how to ring in the New Year in the New York City area without spending huge pots of money, some local talent gets a mention.

Yes, you can pay $699 for a V.I.P. table at Lady GaGa’s show at Webster Hall, and it very well might be worth every penny. But for $689 less you can see the Figgs, one of the best power-pop bands of the 1990s — and still mighty strong, thank you — at the Trash Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a bill with Sub Rosa, Heap, D.T.O. and the ’Mericans.

This does however create a punctuation-based style crisis for me.  I have long insisted that the ‘M’ in ‘The ‘mericans’ should not be capitalized. I’ve even had this argument with the guys in the band who can presumably call themselves whatever they want, and now they have The New York Times on their side…. but I am right. The Dose has sent a reporter down to cover this event (not Matthew, who has spent the few days desperately trying to scare up $699 plus the cost of the Chinatown bus).

The ‘mericans, $10, tonight, The Trash Bar, 256 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

you know, whatever….