NYE Encore Edition! Tim’s Picks: Ring in that New Year
An encore edition of Tim's Picks: Line up your plans for New Year’s Eve, courtesy of your man Tim Brouk. Plus, a round of This and That/Other Reads.
Programming note: This is an encore edition of Tim’s Picks, previously published Thursday, Dec. 26, looking to help with your New Year’s Eve plans. Then, stick around for more BiL coverage, too.
Support for this edition of Based in Lafayette comes from Purdue Convocations. Didn’t get what you wanted? Shop our Year End Sale and save $5 on tickets to our biggest spring shows, including Hadestown, TEDxPurdueU: Parallax, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Chicago, and “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300” by Baroque chamber ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Valid through Jan. 1, 2025. Limit 6 discounted tickets per show, zones B & C only. SHOP THE SALE
And now, with plenty of suggestions for things to catch this New Year’s Eve, it’s the final edition of 2024 for …
NYE Encore Edition! Tim’s Picks: Ring in that New Year
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
New Year’s Eve is Tuesday, Dec. 31, and below are just some picks to help you ring, rock, dance, eat, drink and smooch your way into 2025.
SPOTNYE with DJ KYROBPAQ, 7 p.m.-3 a.m., The Spot Tavern, 409 S. Fourth St., Lafayette — After regular gigs for the past three-plus years, The Spot’s resident DJ KYROBPAQ announced that he will take a hiatus from the one’s and two’s for 2025 at the Lafayette club. But that’s 2025’s problem. 2024 will end with an epic, marathon eight-hour set from the young DJ now living in Indianapolis. Expect many forms of dance music and much sweat on the dancefloor — and behind the turntables. Free champagne toast at midnight. $5 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets.
Wyatt Hare, 7 p.m., End Zone, 2408 Veterans Memorial Parkway S., Lafayette — Local “one man band” and regularly featured at Neon Cactus, Wyatt Hare will make a special appearance at the End Zone. Get some prime rib while you listen to some feel-good tunes.
Today’s a good day to get a deal on the Based in Lafayette reporting project for 2025. Now through Jan. 1, it’s 20% off.
Slight Detour with Sacred Dollar and The Roundabouts, 8 p.m., Knickerbocker Saloon, 113 N. Fifth St., Lafayette — Lafayette alternative rockers Slight Detour will ring things in with a mix of covers and originals. Opening will be two other area bands in Sacred Dollar and The Roundabouts, giving the Knickerbocker a rare three-band bill.
Ebony & The Ruckus, 9 p.m., Digby’s Pub, 133 N. Fourth St., Lafayette — Funk and soul will welcome 2025 with enthusiasm thanks to the talented hands and voice within Lafayette’s own Ebony & The Ruckus. Champagne toast at midnight.
The Groove Band, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., Linnwood Tavern, 1244 N. 14th St., Lafayette — Party favors, champagne, rock, prime rib and ribeye steaks on special. $10.
We All Love the ’80s and ’90s NYE Bash with Takin’ Effect, Second Hand Remedy and P-Sullee, 9 p.m., North End Pub, 2100 Elmwood Ave., Lafayette — Classic 1980s and ‘90s rock, country and hip hop will canoodle for a big New Year’s bash at North End Pub. Cover bands Takin’ Effect (rock) and Second Hand Remedy (country) will strum your favorite songs. A little splash of interest will be added to this musical cocktail when P Sullee covers favorite hip hop songs. $5.
Daytime NYE alternatives
Face it, staying out until midnight is not for everyone. Here’s an afternoon alternative for you and your early-to-bedders.
Rabbit show, 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette — Perhaps the most anti-NYE event to fall on NYE in Lafayette’s history, the chaos kings/queens/people that comprise the Golden Prairie Rabbit Breeders Association decided to throw a big rabbit show to help Lafayette bunny lovers celebrate the close of 2024. $4.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
Still in play through New Year’s Day, this deal on local news for new subscribers: Get your first 12 months of a full-ride Based in Lafayette subscription at a bargain price. Good on monthly or annual rates, all at less than 20 cents an issue. Click the link below to get in on the conversation in 2025.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday directed flags to flown at half-staff through Jan. 28 to honor former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100.
Gov. Holcomb on Monday also announced, as summed up in an Indiana Capital Chronicle headline: “One-time bonus — but no pay raise — for state employees.” The news comes in the wake of the most recent revenue forecast heading into the second half of the 2025 fiscal year. Read the full story here.
Congratulations to Kaveh Akbar, a former associate professor at Purdue, on landing on The 10 Best Books of 2024 at The New York Times for his novel, “Martyr!” From the NYT write-up: “Cyrus Shams, an Iranian American aspiring poet and recovering drug addict, wallows in a post-college malaise in a fictional Midwestern town. He’s working dead-end jobs and halfheartedly attending A.A., while grieving his parents’ deaths and, increasingly, fantasizing about his own. Cyrus is lost and sad, but this captivating first novel, by an author who is himself a poet, is anything but. As Akbar nudges Cyrus closer to uncovering a secret in his family’s past, he turns his protagonist’s quest for meaning — involving a road trip to New York and a revelatory encounter in the Brooklyn Museum — into an indelible affirmation of life, rife with inventive beauty, vivid characters and surprising twists of plot.” This was the New York Times’ full review in January 2024, when “Martyr!” came out: “A Death-Haunted First Novel Incandescent With Life.”
On3.com was gathering reports in the past week that Ryan Walters, out as head coach at Purdue after two seasons, is close to landing with new Big Ten rival Washington Huskies: “Report: Washington finalizing deal with former Purdue head coach Ryan Walters as defensive coordinator.”
Support for today’s edition comes from Purdue Convocations. Didn’t get what you wanted? Shop our Year End Sale and save $5 on tickets to our biggest spring shows, including Hadestown, TEDxPurdueU: Parallax, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Chicago, and “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300” by Baroque chamber ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Valid through Jan. 1, 2025. Limit 6 discounted tickets per show, zones B & C only. SHOP THE SALE
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
A state that can't afford to give cost-of-living raises to its employees when there's not a recession is a state that is being fiscally mismanaged
Finally our governor is doing something good = flying the flag half mast for President Carter.