Straight off of their high-profile performances at Sullivan Hall this weekend, the Leeds-based funksters New Mastersounds return to the city on January 10 to headline the ninth-annual Freaks Ball at Southpaw in Brooklyn. The Rodney Speed Experience featuring RANA’s Scott Metzger, 2 Skinnee Js’ Eddie Eyeball, The Wildhearts’ Ginger, Bill Stites, Tragedy’s Phil Costello and Jake Szufnarowski as well as Joe Russo will open the festivites while Freaks-favorites RANA gets the late-night slot at the tastemakers’ party.

Tickets for Freaks Ball IX go on sale this week. Keep your eyes on the FBIX Facebook page for the latest info on this fantastic event.

Let’s take a look at what else is happening this afternoon…

• Paul Simon’s new book takes you on a lyrical journey
• R.I.P. Mama Africa - songstress Miriam Makeba
• Popmatters examines the state of Rock Poster Art
• Sirius/XM signs up for a fourth season of Tom Petty’s show
• David Byrne’s artistry earned him multiple standing ovations
• Find out what’s on Jared Followill of Kings of Leon’s iPod

Finally, Stories In High Fidelity published their list of 10 Guitarists That Only Guitarists Appreciate. We were surprised to see Alex Lifeson of Rush left off that list. Poor guy doesn’t even get respect from his fellow axemen.

Last weekend saw the return of RANA at NYC’s Mercury Lounge. We asked our friend Neddy of of the week to share his thoughts on the first two-set RANA show in nearly two years. Without further ado, take it away Ned…

There’s this band that’s been on a “hiatus” of an undetermined length that you may have heard about. Four guys – guitar, bass, drums and keys – who spent many a night making grown men pee their pants with unabashed, blazing rock and roll. A number of their acolytes – the ones who “got it” – have anxiously been awaiting their return, gazing at the stars, charting the planetary positions and slaughtering lambs at the altar of the music gods. Without warning, the signs started popping up like easy-to-read clues in a M. Night Shyamalan movie… was the rockphecy true? Would they return? Then it appeared: a pimple on the face of the NYC music calendar; a big, fat, glorious zit that you could not ignore and that you could not make go away… August 16th, Mercury Lounge… Ph… er, Rana was back, muthafuckas!!

Well, August 16th has come and gone, let’s go and assess the damage, crime scene investigator style. That’s right, it’s an episode of CSI:LES… we’ve got our victim here, mid-30’s, male, pupils fixed and dilated; the ME lists serious pain in all joints, with especially bad swelling in his fist-pumping shoulder and head-banging neck; his shirt is just back from the lab and shows unnaturally large amounts of whiskey on it, which points to either high concentrations of Jameson in his sweat or an unnatural amount of spillage (most likely the latter, brought on by an illicit mix of drinking and dancing); the vic seems dazed and confused, muttering “It isn’t love, it isn’t life, just rock and roll every night!” over and over, better get someone down here for a psych consult; and finally this toxicology report shows incredibly strong doses of Ranarock in his bloodstream… that explains it! READ ON for more…

RANA returns to the stage this evening at NYC’s Mercury Lounge for their first full show since 2006. If you can’t make it out to the Merc you can stream the rock gods performance over at Radio Johnson. RANA goes on at 10:30 PM for the first of two sets. Let’s hope this is just the first show of many for the Jersey boys.

• One of the weirder collaborations at last weekend’s Rothbury Festival was between Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass and General Motors. GM sent Gass to promote their brand new GMnext initiative and he wound up creating a few hilarious viral videos with some of our favorite jambands including Perpetual Groove. Here’s a clip of the Disco Biscuits helping KG recover from a nasty case of Manic Groove Loss Syndrome:

• Earlier this week we told you about RANA’s first gig since 2006 which goes down tonight in Troy. Well, ask and you shall receive because the Jersey boys are slated to play NYC’s Mercury Lounge on August 16. Something tells us tickets won’t last long for this one. In other news, Peter Shapiro of Wetlands, Green Apple Festival and Jammys fame told Gowanus Lounge that the new 16-lane bowling alley / rockin’ venue he’s opening in Williamsburg should be ready for action before the end of the year.

• Umphrey’s McGee and Sound Tribe Sector 9 kicked off their tour last night in Madison, WI after a lengthy rain delay. I’m surprised that no one from either band sat-in with the other band, but I guess it’s still early in the run. On a separate note, be sure to check out HT Contributor / UM Crew Member Wade Wilby’s first post on Umphrey’s official blog — The Floor.

If you’re a regular HT reader, you’re probably aware that we’re big time RANA fluffers, so we were thrilled to see this news story over at Jambands.com:

[Photo via Rana_The_Band's flickr]

RANA will take the stage for the first time since 2006 for what is being billed as a “one-off performance.” The New Jersey-bred quartet will open for the Benevento-Russo Duo this Friday, July 11 at Troy, NY’s Revolution Hall, which is located just north of Albany. RANA drummer Ryan Thornton will pull double duty that evening, also appearing with the evening’s other opening act Sam Champion. Meanwhile, The Duo will perform at Ridgewood, NJ’s Blend tonight. Since RANA’s last performance in December of 2006, guitarist Scott Metzger has divided his time between a number of projects, including Bustle in Your Hedgerow, American Babies and Ginger from the Wildhearts. [Jambands.com]

If you’re unfamiliar with the full-tilt jamrock stylings of this quartet head over to the Live Music Archive and thank us later. Let’s hope this “one-off” turns into a full blown reunion soon, especially since I’ve already got plans for Friday night.