Clubbing in the new year

Oops, you did it again. Somewhere in the whirlwind of office parties, family gatherings, gift buying and kitchen slaving, you forgot to make plans for New Year's Eve.

Now you're worried you'll end up watching the ball drop from your couch, wondering how you got to be a social slouch. Put away the popcorn. We have the perfect solution for you lastminute planners: Check out your local clubs and hear some live tunes. Whether you want to rock hard, chill out or sing along, Springs nightclubs offer the perfect way to get your 2006 on.

ROCK OUT

For $15, you can see local hard-rock band -itis play one of its last shows at Union Station before it goes on hiatus.

Or cruise to SouthSide Johnny's and watch local rockers Martini bring energy and horns to the table.

Creating A New Sense will roll out funky acid rock at Manitou Springs' Ancient Mariner.

Just down the road at Meadow, the eclectic Arch Hooks will pair his big voice with some mean keyboard playing on covers and originals.

Hot Denver rockers Love .45 will heat up the night at the Ritz.

Cover band Wrestle With will breath new life into your favorite songs from bands like Weezer and Green Day at Jack Irish Ale House & Pub.

Head to Jose for a dose of jazzy rock from Velvet, or jam to the oldies with The Brothers at the Dublin House.

Red 40 will bring rock 'n' roll favorites to the Wayfarer British and Irish Pub. A $3 cover will pay for a night of rock with Social Grace at Laura. Or you can see Brotherly Luv whip out favorites from the past few decades at the Walkabout Pub and Grill for $10, or $15 for a couple.

GET MORE BAND FOR YOUR BUCK

The Black Sheep will host a variety of music with the harderedge sounds of The Nicotine Fits!, Harrison and Malakai; the poppier sounds of leer43; the ska of the Right Aways; and the rap of Black Pegasus. Adam (owner of the Leechpit) will host the show, and a Twister tournament. The show costs $10.

Classics will host heavy hitters Godless Promise Mechanism and Wasting Yesterday, jam-banders Porcelain Hand Jive and the jazzy- metal blend of Chebedda. The shows costs $10, or $17 for a couple.

Ginger's will deliver rock covers from the past 25 years at Rum Bay while Shades of Soul (S.O.S.) plays Club Vue. A $15 cover charge will earn you entry to both clubs.

GET THE BLUES

The Jake will expertly paint the blues in a rainbow of colors at the Townhouse in Manitou Springs.

SWING INTO THE NEW YEAR

Most people know the Dwight Bement Swing Band as former Continental Kid new crew. Catch these evergreen performers at Thunder and Buttons II.

CHILL

The Thirsty Parrot will host, a Jimmy tribute band. The national touring outfit will deliver all your favorites from Margaritaville for $10-$15.

KICK UP YOUR COWBOY BOOTS

Country Crossroads will add twang to the night at Bloom's Mill Hill.

EXERCISE YOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH

The Golden Bee will have a pianist and all-bar singalongs as usual. Here's your chance to sing "Auld Lang Syne" in style.

Club addresses and prices,

PAGE 20 Flashes of fireworks

About noon on Saturday, the Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club plans to turn hundreds of Pikes Peakarea people into flashers. It's tradition.

By then, give or take an hour or so, the group climbing Pikes Peak to set off New Year's Eve fireworks should have reached the timberline shelter where they will stop long enough to do mirror flashes alerting family and friends and everyone down below that they made it. In return, everyone's encouraged to flash them back. (Just mirrors, please.)

Back when the group started the climbing tradition in 1922, mirrors were the only communication back home. Now there are cell phones, but mirrors are more fun.

The AdAmAn Club, which adds one member climber each year, hit the trail this morning from Manitou Springs and will stop overnight at Barr Camp. There are 17 members and 13 guests on the trek.

At the stroke of midnight Saturday, the group's "two licensed pyros" will set off a fireworks display that can be seen -- Mother Nature cooperating -- for miles along the Front Range and out toward Kansas.

Their job complete, the climbers will be ferried back down the mountain by a four-wheel-drive group, arriving back in Manitou Springs around 2 a.m.

They're thankful for the modern vehicles, says spokesman Glen , because "way back when" they had to walk all the way to the 14,110-foot summit and then turn around and hike back to Glen Cove, 3,000 feet below, to be picked up. With a wind chill of 50 degrees below zero, that was a challenge, he says