December 26th-30th What’s In The Box @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Five nights, five bands, five bucks! Featuring local Toronto talent alongside the internationally acclaimed, such as New York’s Sepalcure, Doldrums, Keys N Krates + many more. www.thedrakehotel.ca/happenings/listings/

THURSDAY

7 pm Fort York Album Release @ The Dakota Tavern, 249 Ossington Ave. Celebrate the release of Fort York’s new album, “Feels Like Then”, with a great night of music! Doors at 6 pm, music at 7 pm. $6 at the door.

9 pm Boxing Day Special: Festival & Food Drive @ The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St. W. Help the needy while enjoying performances by local talent! Featuring OPOPO, Sports, Holy Mount, Soft Copy, and This Mess + DJ Wattnot, METZ DJs (in the front room), General Chaos Visuals, and MC Doc Pickles. $5 or 3 non-perishable food items, with all proceeds going to the Food Bank.

10 pm Switched On @ Camp 4, 1179 Dundas St. W. Jaime Sin and Pam Hong play indie rock, alt pop and campus radio jams.

10 pm Lucky Bandit @ Margret, 2952 Dundas St. W. DJ Nick “Lucky” Bandit spins rock tunes of the ages! The 50’s to the 00’s – punk, psych, garage, rockabilly, classic rock, and a bit of everything else.

10 pm Small Brains: A Worm’s Worth @ Holy Oak, 1241 Bloor St. W. Find out what a worm is worth! Featuring DJs Ding Dong (Alicia Nauta), DJ BJ (Sarah D’Angelo) and DJ Fancy Feast (Joele Walinga), who will be dressed as worms to impress + a worm pinata, gummi worms and Mr. Worm dance moves.

FRIDAY

9 pm Boxing Day Special: Festival & Food Drive @ The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St. W. Help the needy while enjoying performances by local talent! Featuring White Suede, The Guest Bedroom, Cave Baby, The Lava & Ash, and I.H.A.D. $5 or 3 non-perishable food items, with all proceeds going to the Food Bank.

9 pm The Pre New Years Comedy Blowout @ The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W. A comedy show with Ben Miner (XM Laugh Attack), Jon Steinberg (Comedy Now), Keith Pedro (Video On Trial), Mark Little (Picnicface, Comedy Now) and hosted by Dan Galea (The Boom, Video On Trial). $5.

10 pm Forget NYE – Let’s Shindig! @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. A dance party that’s all about the music! Sweet sweet 50’s and 60’s R&B on 7” 45 RPM vinyl records with resident selectors Splattermonkey, General Eclectic and Double K. Free before 11:00 pm, $5.00 after.

10 pm Dance Armstrong @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. No genre specific theme here, merely songs that make you want to dance like you’ve won. And won big. Anything and everything from Gorillaz to Bowie, Hot Chip to Jay-Z, Paul Simon to The Stone Roses, The Beatles to Postal Service to Digable Planets. And probably Hall & Oates. Only the most victorious of songs! $5.

10 pm Bad Habits @ Wrongbar, 1279 Queen St. W. New Year’s Eve warm up party! With DJs Doug Carter, Riviera, Faryl, Fathom, Tasc and a special surprise guest.

SATURDAY

9 pm NYE Fireworks @ Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. CityTV’s Toronto New Years Eve bash featuring a free outdoor concert by some of Canada’s top musical talent and a midnight fireworks display. Free!

Check out our NYE Hit List for our party picks!

SUNDAY

11:15 am Toronto Polar Bear Dip @ Sunnyside Beach, 1755 Lakeshore Blvd. W. Since 2006 the Toronto Polar Bear Dip has raised over $88,000 for Habitat for Humanity Toronto, an organization that works in partnership with families who are working to escape sub-standard, poverty housing. Registration begins at 11:15 am, dip at noon. Participants are asked to raise a minimum of $20 in pledges or donate $20 when registering.

11:30 am Pajama Jam @ Shanghai Cowgirl, 538 Queen St. W. The 9th annual New Years Pajama Jam breakfast party! Come eat and be merry in your PJs for the first party of 2012. Sounds by DJ Fathom. Until 6 pm.