For those of you looking for an alternative to the hipster Hanukkah shows from veteran indie-rockers Yo La Tengo, look no further than across the river where Matisyahu will host his Festival Of Lights – splitting the shows between Webster Hall and the Music Hall Of Williamsburg. Now in its third year, the event has been expanded to run the course of the eight night holiday and will feature a diverse group of support acts including The LeeVees, U-Melt, Assembly Of Dust and Brett Dennen.

If reggae music isn’t your thing, than maybe one of these recently announced tours will interest you…

• Tapes ‘N Tapes kick off ‘09 with a three month long trek (begins: 01/15)
• Ska legends Reel Big Fish head out on a monster world tour (begins: 01/01)
• Former Kinks front man Ray Davies adds new dates to his solo tour (begins: 11/28)
• Bluegrass revivalist Hot Buttered Rum embark on an East Coast run (begins: 10/24)
• Gregg Allman hits the road for a short solo tour (begins: 12/27)
• Singer-songwriter Dar Williams lines up a cross-country jaunt (begins: 11/29)

Finally, for those of you that find yourself in and around the great state of Colorado next week you may want to consider checking out the special four-night run by The Motet who will be joined by former SCI keyboard player Kyle Hollingsworth. Together, the augmented act will play the music of the Talking Heads with the aid of Deep Banana Blackout guitarist Fuzz, vocalist/percussionist Jans Ingber, vocalists Liza Oxnard and Carrie Sangiovanni, keyboardist Joey Porter and bassist Paul McDaniel. The shows will take place at Ft. Collins’ Hodi’s Halfnote (10/29), Boulder’s Fox Theatre (10/30) and Denver’s Cervante’s Masterpiece Ballroom (10/31-11/1). So grab your tickets.