I, like many of you, hate the goddamn holidays—family's weird, shopping sucks, it's cold as shit. But for some reason, the season isn't weighing as heavy on my shoulders this year, even though it probably should. Hope you feel the same.

While you're on your yuletide swagger, hit up Nectar on Thursday, December 11, for Everybody Say Ho, which is, incredibly, a "Beastie Boys & Run-D.M.C. Tribute Night." What about that sounds wrong? Not a damn thing (I hope)—I'm sure you can expect a rousing version of "Christmas in Hollis," which my colleague Megan Seling should appreciate. I love that damn song myself, as it never fails to remind me how awesome Die Hard was. This show will also play host to a Lightheaded reunion—yezzir, Braille, Othello, and the homey Ohmega Watts (now a Seatown resident) will reunite one of Portland's finest crews to bring you the greatest gift of all: the gift of music.

Fittingly, the very next night sees a return of one of Seattle's favorite crews: Lace Cadence, Rockwell, and Take One, collectively known as Clockwork. While they've all been making moves, individually and collectively, domestically and overseas, the Clock have been somewhat MIA (no "Paper Planes") as a unit in town since the 2005 release of After Midnight. But the hiatus was not for nothing—the dudes have been hard at work on their newest album, the long-awaited Future Pastime. If you're for real, then you know the deal—Clockwork make tunes to bang in the rides, to smoke that legally obtained medical marijuana to, and to get the ladies open (so to speak). If that doesn't sound like your tightly packed bag of sticky, do not pass go. Otherwise, crank that shit—the talented trio are on top of their game, with some solid production from their Blast Off crew, particularly from their guy House. The crew are celebrating the release of Pastime with a party at Nectar on Friday, December 12, with no less a parade of characters than Macklemore, Candidt, Xperience, and DJ Marc Sense. I sense an epic, tequila-soaked party on the horizon.

While we're on this page, let's also look to a new local crew that represents that vibe to the fullest—Beacon Hill's own Helladope. Composed of Jerm (who you damn well better already know for embarrassing cats IRL and for rocking well in Alpha P) and MC/producer Tay Sean. Sean is cofounder of the larger clique that Helladope rep, Cloud Nice, a conglomerate of Southside rappers and producers that are truly cooking up some marvelous shit. But for starters, hit up the HD MySpace (/helladoper) and peep my favorite song this week, "Shine On," a three-minute slice of summer debauchery in the middle of winter. Helladope are dropping their LP Return to Planet Rock this summer—keep your freakin' earballs peeled.