The old year may have exited with a bang, but this new one arrives with the whimper not atypical for this desolate time of year. The students are gone, those people with means have fled for warmer climes, those without are huddled under blankets debating whether or not to keep watching Black Mirror on Netflix. And we have to confess, this week, your incentives for braving the cold are few. Let's have a look.

Friday, Saturday: Phish in a stream

The good folks at Humboldt Brews invite you to experience Phish via a live webcast from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. It's free, boasts an appropriately early start time — 4:30 p.m. — and is the usual 21-and-over.

Saturday: The afterparty, a world of neverending happiness

Among those dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure are, thankfully, Matt n' Adam. Neither snow nor rain nor apathy nor gloom of night stays these DJs from the swift implementation of their appointed dance party. The dynamic duo invites you into the Palm Lounge, post-Arts Alive, for a night of horizontal desire, vertically expressed. The music starts bumping at 9 p.m., no cover, 21-and-over.

Looking ahead: An international affair

Parents and other supporters of Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy have lined up two evenings at the Arcata Playhouse featuring the music of German composer Kurt Weill, most famously known for "The Ballad of Mack the Knife." Weill, who fled Nazi Germany for America in 1935, enjoyed a rich career on Broadway and in Hollywood collaborating with artists including Moss Hart, Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash, Elmer Rice, Langston Hughes and Jay Lerner. Virgil Thomson called Weill "the most original single workman in the whole musical theater, internationally considered, during the last quarter century." (Since NPA is renowned for its international baccalaureate program and was listed as the nation's 21st "most challenging" high school by the Washington Post last year, this choice appears apt.)

The evening includes Weill's most famous composition and other selections from The Three Penny Opera, along with songs from One Touch of Venus, Street Scene, Happy End, Lost in the Stars and some of the composer's works written to support the American war effort in the 1940s.

Banding together (blame NPA for the pun!) to create this unusual performance are Gregg Moore, Tina Garsen, Virginia L. Ryder, Holly MacDonell, Jacqueline Dandeneau, Jill Petricca, Leira Satlof, Carl McGahan, Tone Haldrup Lorenzen, Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnee Hull, plus special guest artist, the also-internationally renowned Jenny Scheinman.

Shows take place Friday, Jan. 9 and Saturday, Jan. 10. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are recommended, available at Wildberries Marketplace, Brown Paper Tickets and by calling 822-1575. Tickets are $18 NPA students and Arcata Playhouse members, $20 general and $100 for table for four with a bottle of champagne.

Etc.

Full event listings in the Journal's Music and More grid, the Eight Days a Week calendar and online. Bands and promoters, send your gig info, preferably with a high-res photo or two, to [email protected].