Now that you're finished pretending you care about football, it's time for the music version of Monday-morning quarterbacking: What are you going to do with your week? To the videotape.... We're going to do things a little bit differently this week, just in case you can't be arsed to read the whole post, and start things off with what we consider to be the show of the week, the absolute don't-miss if you're a rock......

Damn, it's cold out there! Gothamist recently had a friend check weather.com before deciding whether to venture out of her home. News flash, folks: It's January! It's cold, finally! Put a coat on and let's rock: First up on the week's list of maybe-sees: Hard-Fi (at left) at Bowery Ballroom. What we've heard sounds interesting in a Clash-loving way, if not NME-freakout-worthy. Competent pop band Nightmare of You supports. Residencies still abound, with Richard Buckner......

CMJ is here. For New Yorkers, you've probably already seen many of these bands. Everybody plays here. But the number of shows and the number of people crammed into the clubs for these shows is greater than normal. Be careful out there. - The Donnas and Dogs Die in Hot Cars play a late show tonight at the Bowery Ballroom. The show starts at 1:15am. - Earlier in the evening, the Bowery hosts The Decemberists,......