The Times Square thing is overhyped. So many people feel this need to celebrate some Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve-type thing, complete with party favors, streamers, goofy glasses, noisemakers and a "the more, the merrier" atmosphere. If you want a more intimate New Year's jubilee, then heading down to the Jackpot to see Minus Story and Old Canes may be your kind of celebration. Old Canes is the side project of Appleseed Cast frontman Chris Crisci; it's the sort of yarn-spinning, warm, front-porch folk that's good for heating your soul during cold winter nights. Minus Story, whose singer, Jordan Geiger, occasionally moonlights with Old Canes, is just as homespun but a bit looser and more raucous. Together, they provide an uplifting soundtrack for closing out the old and ringing in the new, all while celebrating hometown pride.
