Friday, December 28, 2018

Best Ways to Close-Out 2018 & Celebrate New Year's 2019. Fri, Dec 28 edition

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LATE ADDITION added right up-top... Dec 31st, 3:35 pm PST...

STUCK HOME, OR IN A HOTEL, OR IN AN EXPEDITION TENT? We've gotcha covered!

Stream Old Crow Medicine Show's NYE Concert LIVE
Featuring special guests The War and Treaty

Do you need plans for New Year's Eve? Grab your friends and gather around the radio or your mobile device to stream Old Crow Medicine Show's New Year's Eve concert LIVE from the Ryman Auditorium TONIGHT. 

The show kick-offs with special guests The War and Treaty at 7 pm Pacific

Then the boys from Old Crow Medicine Show take the stage at 8:30 Pacific

Depending where you are, you might have as many as THREE ways to listen:
  1. Tune to 650 AM on your radio dial if you're anywhere near Nashville.
  2. Download the WSM mobile app HERE.
  3. Click the LISTEN LIVE button below to stream on your computer.

Lonely just got partified to start 2019 with 650 AM WSM, Ryman Auditorium, The War and Treaty, and Old Crow Medicine Show.
 650 AM WSM | WSMonline.com 

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Now, here's our full edition before the above late update...

UPDATED NEW YEAR'S EVE, DEC. 31st, 6:55 am.

Here ya go. It's the Guide's "Guide to New Year's Tunefulness & Assorted Adventures!"  Things hereabouts have multiplied in scope, content, detail, and opportunities for everything from fun to tuneful immersion to things you'll remember the rest of your life. Sure, that's a mighty hefty claim. But we're here to prove it, having finally assembled, confirmed, organized, and now, published, all the additions to this edition.

Here are our best recommendations for stuff to do that you won't find in the big commercial sources

That includes alternatives you won't elsewhere -- and this go 'round, that includes the best obscure ways to ring-in the New Year without the drunks, crowds, stupid hooting, or bowl game mania with teams you don't know a damn thing about, anyway.

Herein are sections for:

☆  1)  NEW YEAR'S EVE EVENTS

☆ 2)   Laughing-in 2019 (without the insipid Ball-Dropping) 

☆  3)  Escape Urbanity with a "First Day Hike" 
            We also tell you about a Jan. 4th Annual Outdoor Event

☆ 4) Americana Music Round Up, Year-End Edition
          The best albums, singles, videos, collaborations, and news you might have missed.


Let's jump in!

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# 1 news feature...

NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTIES

WELCOMING 2019 STARTS MONDAY AFTERNOON AT 4 PM -- THAT'S MIDNIGHT IN IRELAND


Aye, 'tis true! CELEBRATIONS of the arrival of the NEW YEAR in IRELAND begin well before 4 pm at local pubs for all who are Irish at heart. Was there ever a better reason not to wait for St. Patrick's Day? What with all the IRISH MUSIC, Slainte!

IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, here are the places to be:

The earliest place to start is 11 am, and the Irish New Year's Celebration at the Auld Dubliner has become one of the largest gatherings of Irish Ex-Pats in Southern Cal. You can join in the fun, where "We wait for this day all year long!"  With Guinness for just $1 (from 2 to 3 pm) and live Irish music from KEN O'MALLEY all day long. At 4 pm, ring in the Irish New Year with passed appetizers and party favors. The evening entertainment is THE  CALIFORNIA CELTS, and they'll have a Champagne toast at midnight, PST. The Auld Dubliner, 71 S Pine Av, Long Beach, CA 90802; 562-437-8300; www.aulddubliner.com
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ED BELL AND THE WHOOLIGANS host an Irish New Year Celebration at O'Malley's On Main, 140 Main St, Seal Beach, CA 90740; 562-430-0631; www.omalleysonmain.com; more on the band at: www.thewhooligans.com
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"New Year's Afternoon at Muldoon's Pub" starts at 3 pm, celebrating on Dublin Time at "the Irish Heart of Newport Beach" with music by The Fenians' TERRY CASEY. Then, their NEW YEAR's EVE PARTY runs 9 pm to 1 am (California time), with THE SARCASTICS performing. All FREE!! NO COVER CHARGE, no prix fix menus. There's dancing, too.  Muldoon's Irish Pub, 202 Newport Center Dr, Newport Beach, CA; 949-640-4110; www.muldoonspub.com
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At 4 pm here, midnight in England, celebrate the New Year British Style with libations, food and a bagpiper, no cover, family-friendly at the world famous Santa Monica landmark, the King's Head British Pub & Restaurant, 116 Santa Monica Bl, Santa Monica, CA; 310-451-1402; www.yeoldekingshead.com; this one is a fine dinner option; only bad news here is the evening has a dj, not a live band.
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Want THE BLUES? There are a few tickets left for the excellent NYE party at the Arcadia Blues Club, with guitar legend JAMES INTVELD and rockabilly queen ROSIE FLORES & THE HOT ROD TRIO.  It's a "Country Swing Blues Dancing Farewell to 2018," and their NYE events are wonderful. Arcadia Blues Club, 16 E Huntington Dr, Arcadia, CA 91006; 626-447-9349; dinner package available and recommended; tickets available for this and all their concerts at: http://arcadiabluesclub.eventbrite.com
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Now, you could opt for the crowded and costly hoopla. There are things like the $260-$2,500 event at Union Station in downtown L.A. But seriously, now. It's billed as "The End of Prohibition," but with sucky disco instead of the 1930s big band jazz its title suggests.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, be mindful. Certainly no need to lecture you about not getting on the road after you've been drinking -- but we will remind you that less responsible types are out there, crashing and smashing their way across the landscape. So be watchful and mindful of others. And thanks to all in Public Safety professions who routinely give-up their chances to celebtrate, trying to keep others alive.

Oh, by the way: keep in mind that pets are traumatized by fireworks booming and flashing (not to mention the fire risks their reckless disregard brings), so take appropriate precautions with th' critters because of the pyrotechnic addicts.

That said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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# 2 news feature...


CAN'T TAKE THE INSIPID TV BALL-DROPPING, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO LAUGH-IN 2019? WELL, HERE YA GO...

"Redacted Tonight" went to Miami and filmed a new stand-up comedy special episode -- they reliably deliver the best sociopolitical comedy in these hopelessly tribal "Untied" States of America.  They skewer, take no prisoners, let you know what corporate cable's sacred cows are really up to,  and in finding the sheer absurdity in it, they'll have you laughing at the excruciating things you already knew and at what you just learned.


Every week, they do a show from their home base in Washington, D.C., "the belly of the beast." But now you can catch their road trip edition, FREE online. It's the whole cast -- Naomi, John, Natalie, and host Lee Camp. They all went down to Miami to film a special holiday episode packed full of stand-up comedy. If you need a half-hour of their FREE entertainment as much as we do, 


If you like it, they invite you to share it, also FREE.


THERE'S MORE... if you liked the "Redacted Tonight" stand-up special, then...

It's a safe bet that you would LOVE "Redacted" guru Lee Camp's full hour-long stand-up comedy special taped live in Los Angeles. 
Click here to watch a free clip

You can buy the full hour -- shockingly cheap --- and give it to your friends as a gift that's better than the combination knife-sharpener / sock stretcher you already got them. You can send Lee Camp's brilliantly hilarious commentary on our times to anyone you want.  
Just click here.

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# 3 news feature...


"Escaping Urbanity" department...

NEW YEAR'S OUTDOOR ADVENTURES THAT ESCAPE THE NOISE & TRAFFIC


Despite the Federal government shut-down over the stupid wall, your California State are there for you with a fine and fun assortment of structured and guided New Year's Day activities.

It's part of the nationwide "First Day Hikes" movement, established to offer everyone a way to kick-off the New Year by getting in touch with the natural world. You'll find something offered purt near everywhere, except this year in the National Parks, National Forests, National Monuments, and BLM public lands, due to the failure of Congress to do its job months ago and pass a Federal Budget, compounded by the intransigence of a Commander-in-Tweet and his penchant for Trumpertantrums. 

As for the "First Day Hikes" that ARE open and offering guided experiences, their difficulty and length, and tips regarding proper clothing -- all can be found at www.naspd.org

The experiences range from a simple lark to real workouts. America's State Parks are committed to promoting outdoor recreation in state parks as a way to address obesity, especially among children.  

Getting kids outside and unplugged from video games and other electronic media creates a unique connection with nature that promotes physical and mental well-being and encourages creativity and stewardship of our shared resources.

Here are some Guide-recommended organized events in the great outdoors!
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