Rock Picks: The Duke Spirit, New York Dolls, Lil Wayne

Also playing Friday:

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, UGLY DUCKLING at El Rey Theatre; LOS MYSTERIOSOS at Alex’s Bar; MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, UNDERGROUND ROAD TO CANDYLAND at Echo Curio; OZOMATLI, CECI BASTIDA at House of Blues; PIGEON JOHN, DAEDELUS at the Knitting Factory; JON BRION at Largo; PAUL ROESSLER, THE SNOWFLAKE ORCHESTRA at the Scene; VOICES VOICES at the Smell.

Tripmakers: Yahowa 13

Frank Gargani

X: A classic case of triskaidekaphilia

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More About

• The Duke Spirit
• Keyshia Cole
• Mike Stinson
• Lil' Wayne
• Darker My Love

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20

X, New York Dolls, Cracker at Club Nokia

If there’s any band who can smack the smug feeling of saccharine superficiality from this year’s dispiriting saturation of bland holiday music, it’s the longtime locals X, who plan on ripping through some seasonal tunes at this final show celebrating their 31st year in the entertainment industry. (Why 31? It’s the reversal of the superstitious group’s favorite lucky number, 13.) No matter how corny the song, the Cheshire Cat–grinning guitarist Billy Zoom and the reliably forceful percussionist Don Bonebrake will make everything sound fulsome and ominous, with a nonstop Ramones power. (While we’re on the subject of Xmess, here are a couple of thoughts for those holy-roller K-EARTH DJs: 1) There are actually some non-Christians in this city; and 2) If Barry Manilow’s, Ray Parker’s and Madonna’s muzak-y songs aren’t good enough to be aired the rest of the year on the oldies station’s incredibly shrinking play lists, then they aren’t any more tolerable during this “festive” season.) Where were we? Oh yes, you also get the sarcastic Camper Van Beethoven spinoff Cracker and, even better, the revitalized New York Dolls, who defied all expectations by releasing a stomping comeback album, 2006’s One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, even though four of its early members stubbornly remain dead. You’d think that surviving founders David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain would have more pride in their great new songs, but the Dolls’ otherwise enjoyable 2008 concert CD, Live at the Fillmore East (Sony BMG), features just two of the lesser selections from One Day in lieu of yet another roundup of their often-documented early classics. Perhaps 20 years from now, K-EARTH will finally get around to playing “Trash,” “Personality Crisis,” “We’re All in Love,” “Gimme Luv and Turn on the Light” and other lost hits from the blacklisted punk generation. Now that would be a miracle. (Falling James)

The Sway Machinery, DeLeon at the Troubadour

JDub Records and the social-justice group Brooklyn Jews launched “Jewltide: A Hanukkah Celebration” last year on Christmas Eve so that hipster New Yorkers (the ones not waiting for Santa Claus) might have something else to do besides the terribly routine Chinese dinner and a movie. The celebration was such a success that this year they’re taking their heaping helping of Hanukkah on the road, and loads of gelt and pontshkes to go with it — that’s chocolate coins and doughnuts to you, goyim. Expect a bouncing, chanting frenzy of Jewmongous proportions with the Sway Machinery — all dudes from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Antibalas and Balkan Beat Box — whose smart, Slavic folk meets klezmer blues and then kicks it out with the energy of a hopped-up marching band. Singer Jeremiah Lockwood’s cantorial blending of Yiddish, Aramaic and Hebrew — passed down through generations — adds a mystical shimmer to the mix. Stay for DeLeon, the 15th-century-style crooner who brings on the hypnotic Mediterranean grooves and makes all the ladies, Jew or Gentile, swoon. (Wendy Gilmartin)

Also playing Saturday:

WILL SHEFF, THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 8 p.m.; HEPCAT at El Rey Theatre; KEITH SWEAT at Gibson Amphitheatre; CHEETAH GIRLS at Honda Center; WAYNE HANCOCK, RUSSELL SCOTT at Alex’s Bar; LEGAL WEAPON, FATSO JETSON, CARNAGE ASADA, FERDINAND, BIBLICAL PROOF OF UFOs at American Legion, Post 206, Highland Park; EEK-A-MOUSE at Brixton South Bay; OZOMATLI, UPGROUND at House of Blues; THE WHISPERTOWN 2000 at Relax Bar; UGLY DUCKLING at the Roxy; KINGSIZEMAYBE at Taix; VERY BE CAREFUL at El Gallo Plaza Theater.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21

Lil Wayne, Keyshia Cole, T-Pain, Gym Class Heroes, Keri Hilson at Gibson Amphitheatre

He’s already got the year’s biggest-selling album (not to mention one of its best), and earlier this month Lil Wayne scored more Grammy nominations than any other artist, including one for Album of the Year. Of course, as his endless stream of online mixtapes has shown, Wayne is not a man easily satisfied, so now he’s out on the road headlining a star-stacked bill even a hard-hit recessionista could love. Oakland-bred R&B singer Keyshia Cole has a strong (and aptly titled) new album out called A Different Me on which she trades her trademark heartache for a lighter shade of soul. T-Pain’s pop-cultural ubiquity is matched by a quality-control impulse rare among his Top 40 cohort; that said, Pain is unlikely ever to improve upon “Can’t Believe It,” his mesmerizing Weezy collabo. (Perhaps tonight the two will offer a preview of their long-promised T-Wayne album.) With emo-rap dudes Gym Class Heroes and Timbaland protégée Keri Hilson. Also Mon. (Mikael Wood)