For live music junkies, the week between Christmas and New Year's can offer very little in terms of quality shows. The folks at The Drake Hotel are trying to remedy the situation with their What's In The Box? week of shows. Running from the 26th to the 30th, the Drake Underground and Lounge are featuring the best acts from 2006. Each day is five dollars and features five bands, leading to a nice "5 Bands 5 Days 5 Dollars" slogan.

The lineup for the week looks like this:

December 26th:
Pawa Up First
Liz Powell of Land of Talk
Woodhands
We Are The Take
Foxfire Forest

December 27th:
Sunriser
InUniform
Foxes
Stonefox
Ken Reaume

December 28th:
Russian Futurists
vitaminsforyou
The Ghost is Dancing
Fjord Rowboat
Now YR Taken

December 29th:
Mahogany
Off The International Radar
Detective Kalita
Hexes and Ohs
Sandro Perri

December 30th:
The Coast
Barons and Lengthy
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Graham Wright (of Tokyo Police Club)
Noyan Himli of Five Blank Pages

Whew, that's a lot of music! Oh yeah, your five bucks also gets you into the lounge to hear the year's best DJs spin. If there was one night that definitely stands out, it's the 30th. At least one of those bands will likely be getting a lot bigger next year. The 28th is probably your next best bet, but each day has at least one band that will make your ears prick up.

Photo of The Ghost Is Dancing from their MySpace