We won’t know who is playing it until late January at the earliest, but we now know when it’s going down. The 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, its ninth annual, happens over four days on a Tennessee farm from June 10 to 13.

A special holiday ticket pre-sale begins on Black Friday, Nov. 27 at noon and concludes at 11:59 p.m., on Dec. 31.

There’s even a payment plan! From the good folks at Big Hassle: Bonnaroo will once again offer general admission tickets for five easy payments of $50 plus applicable fees through the holiday pre-sale. In addition, with each ticket purchase the festival will send a Bonnaroo holiday greeting card featuring a unique, iconic photo from Bonnaroo’s colorful past. To get a card, purchasers must place their order by Dec 16. A limited edition 2010 Bonnaroo Calendar will also be available during this period.

Last year’s Bonnaroo featured performances by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails and dozens of others, all while drawing more than 75,000 music fans to some place called Manchester, Tenn. Billboard called it the most successful Bonnaroo to date, despite some shoddy weather and the appearance of Jimmy Buffett.

Rocking the suburbs tonight? Then head over to Newbury Comics’ Norwood location, where local indie rock boys and gal Mean Creek will be doing an exclusive in-store performance around 7 p.m. The band was recently nominated for three — count ‘em, three!! — Boston Music Awards: “Best Song of the Year,” “New Act of the Year” and “Americana Act of the Year.” All are well-deserved.

They are also very nice people and will sign anything you have. Maybe.

Another Thursday, another round of 30 fliers highlighting some cool stuff going on around town this weekend. Some. Not all. What did I miss? Fill me in down below in the comments, and shoot me your event flier at mmarotta@bostonherald.com the Wednesday before the weekend to have it listed in this here space. Rock on.

Thursday, Nov. 19:  

Friday, Nov. 20: 

Saturday, Nov. 21: 

Sunday, Nov. 22: 

…Well, actually almost week of them, all set to go down at the House of Blues from March 12 to 17. A string of Dropkick shows around St. Patrick’s Day is now almost as big a Boston tradition as the Parade in Southie and getting wasted in the afternoon.

Tickets to all shows go on sale the day after Thanksgiving, so don’t drink too much with the relatives or you’re certain to oversleep and miss out.

Here’s the official word from the Dropkicks, which includes info on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and a new live album and DVD planned for the new year:

Hi everyone,

We are very happy and excited to let you all know that we have our act together early this year and would like to announce the dates for our Boston St Patrick’s Day shows for 2010. We will be playing from Friday March 12 through to Wednesday March 17 at the Boston House Of Blues. Tickets for these shows will go on sale next Friday Nov. 27. More details will be sent out over the next week.

The South Boston St Patrick’s Day Parade will take place on Sunday March 14 and there will be tons of other great stuff happening all week at McGreevy’s and around town. So come help us turn Boston into another giant DKM convention for the week of St. Pats!

Oh and while we are at it here’s some more good news. We are just finishing up putting together our “Live On St Patrick’s Day 2009” album release that will come out in time for next year’s shows, ready to get you in a festive mood ready for the 2010 debacle. The album will feature a completely different track listing from our first live CD that came out back in 2002. There will also be a bonus DVD version so we’re going to give you your moneys worth. We made sure there was no double dipping on the songs here!

See ya in Boston 2010!

Love, Dropkick Murphys

Last week my New Collisions EP release party note was buried headline-less in my Cheap Thrills column, so I re-posted it here in the Hotline blog. I’m giving this Designer Drugs party note the same treatment, because these New York City cats are pretty white-hot in the dance circuit right now, and anyone who enjoys an electro banger or two should have this on his or her radar. We’ll add some video-and-flier toys and trinkets in here to make it fresh… Here’s the Facebook invite page.

A DESIGN FOR CLUB LIFE
Electro dance party with Designer Drugs
Tonight from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., Ivy Restaurant, 49 Temple Place; 21-plus, $10

Now that Boston is a city not overlooked by big-name touring electro-house DJs, most of the headlines beamed like a strobe light across the dance floor have been reserved for Deadmau5 and David Guetta’s back-to-back shows at the Roxy next week. But with those parties carrying $45 and $80 ticket prices, respectively, the thriftier and possibly hipper clubgoer gets the banger fix tonight when white-hot New York City DJ duo Designer Drugs blow the roof off Ivy in Downtown Crossing. One of the most explosive acts on the always-dynamite, Los Angeles-based IHEARTCOMIX label, Designer Drugs have been giving pulsating electro remix treatment to the likes of Annie, IAMX and Little Boots all while unleashing their own ferocious production work. Their latest jam, a remix of Femme’s “Vestige,” might carry too much firepower for Boston sound systems, but this Future Classic/Night Society party is certain to be a booze-fueled rager on the cheap. DJ Voltran and Texas Mike provide the opening beats, and visual art is blasted by Jellz.
Info: futureclassic.net, myspace.com/designerdrugsclubmusic