Whether you're two-stepping into the new year or crying in your beer, there's something for you in our New Year's Eve country play list. There are a lot of throwbacks, like George Jones' "I Always Get Lucky With You" and Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm." A little Cajun flavor from Willie Nelson ("Stay A Little Longer"), some ballads from Patsy Cline and Alison Krauss, and something downright silly from Trace Adkins. There are also a couple names that might be unfamiliar to classic country fans, like Neko Case and Beaver Nelson. Plus a hidden track from Lyle Lovett (at least on the CD, it's easier to find on iTunes), that should be a New Year's Eve classic.

1. Lyle Lovett, "The Girl in the Corner"
2. Emmylou Harris, "Two More Bottles of Wine"
3. Willie Nelson, "Stay A Little Longer"
4. Johnny Cash, "Get Rhythm"
5. Kris Kristofferson, "Help Me Make It Through the Night"
6. Trace Adkins, "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk"
7. Patsy Cline, "Crazy"
8. Waylon Jennings, "White Lightnin'"
9. Alison Krauss, "Stay"
10. Lady Antebellum, "Lookin' For A Good Time"
11. Neko Case, "This Tornado Loves You"
12. Levon Helm, "Stuff You Gotta Watch"
13. George Jones, "I Always Get Lucky With You"
14. Dwight Yoakum, "Guitars, Cadillacs"
15. Sugarland, "It Happens"
16. Buck Owens, "I've Got A Tiger By the Tail"
17. Alan Jackson, "Don't Rock the Jukebox"
18. Dierks Bentley, "Sideways"
19. Montgomery Gentry, "One In Every Crowd"
20. Beaver Nelson, "Drive You Home"

New Year's Eve in Denver offers a host of fun activities, for partiers of all ages.

If you're not jockeying for position for the fireworks displays in Denver on New Year's Eve, there are plenty of other options for entertainment. The two downtown fireworks displays are at 9PM and midnight, so you may even be able to make some of these events and get downtown for one or the other.

New Year's Eve Ball 2010 Celebration (Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place): A fairly cheap ticket, at $30 per single person, $55 per couple. Four DJs in one newly renovated Grand Ball Room, a champagne toast at midnight, and a 5,000-balloon drop. 9PM to 2AM.

Comedy Works: Denver's biggest comedy club has two different acts at two different locations for three shows each. Downtown at Larimer Square has the incisive Billy D. Washington from the SELLOUT tour (6PM, 8PM, 10PM), and South at The Landmark has Roacky LaPorte (5PM, 7:30PM, 10PM).

Bluebird Theater (3317 E. Colfax Ave): Hometown boys Slim Cessna's Auto Club have been called the best live band in America, and you can ring in the new year with them at the Bluebird Theater, one of Denver's oldest entertainment venues.

Jazz at Jack's (16th Street Mall & Glenarm): Rocky Mountain Singles presents a night to mix and mingle, with a catered Italian dinner, dance music, and a complimentary champagne toast.

New Year's Eve in Philadelphia offers a variety of fun ways to kick off 2010.

The fireworks at Penn's Landing will start early this year, with a newly added 6PM show in addition to the midnight show. But Philadelphia has everything from live music to masquerade balls for your New Year's Eve entertainment. Here are just a few events you can find around town.

Glitter City Gala (National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street): This has to be one of the biggest parties anywhere on New Year's Eve, with 400 VIP and 1400 general admission tickets available. You get to meet Ben Franklin! All right, maybe that's not terribly enticing (disclaimer: not the real Ben Franklin). But there is live music, an open bar, and an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "most people kissing simultaneously in multiple locations" (they're doing it in other cities, too).

Beyond 5 (23rd Street Armory, 22 S. 23rd Street): Eagles big play superstar DeSean Jackson hosts this party, with music by Cobra Starship ("Good Girls Go Bad") and Nina Sky ("Move Ya Body"), plus DJ Rick Wonda and DJ N9NE, an open bar, hors 'd'oeuvres, and party favors.

Masquerade Ball (Brownies 23 East, 23 East Lancaster Ave.): A slightly cheaper ticket than the first two events at $40 ($45 at the door), an actual masquerade ball with live music, an open bar, and if you book ahead, a complimentary bottle of champagne for parties of ten or more.

New Year's Eve Dinner Cruise (Leaves from 31 N. Columbus Boulevard): The cruise special includes food, drink, and DJ, plus the usual complimentary champagne toast for midnight, but the most intriguing thing is the line about a "talented wait-staff" delighting you with "up-beat renditions of popular favorites." The DJ kicks in at some point, or I'd imagine those renditions would get considerably less upbeat as the evening moved on.

Some like to ring in the new year a little louder than others. For those of you who, like Kiss, who love it loud, this is your playlist (you can add "I Love It Loud" to this list, too -- it's your iPod). There's no better song to play at 12:01 than Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight." Anthrax and Dethklok should be a nice shot of adrenaline to wake you up when you're getting tired. Get ready to bang your head this New Year's Eve -- and don't forget to turn the volume way up.

1. Judas Priest, "Living After Midnight"
2. Primus, "Tommy the Cat"
3. Krokus, "Ballroom Blitz"
4. AC/DC, "You Shook Me All Night Long"
5. Nirvana, "Come As You Are"
6. Dethklok, "Hatredcopter"
7. Anthrax, "Caught In A Mosh"
8. Van Halen, "Dance the Night Away"
9. Foo Fighters, "This Is A Call"
10. Scorpions, "Blackout"
11. Led Zeppelin, "Rock and Roll"
12. Queens of the Stone Age, "No One Knows"
13. Metallica, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
14. Ratt, "Round and Round"
15. Iron Maiden, "Run to the Hills"
16. Queen, "Stone Cold Crazy"
17. Kiss, "Rock and Roll All Nite"
18. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
19. Aerosmith, "Mama Kin"
20. Muse, "Uprising"

Have room for a dance floor at your New Year's Eve party? We've got the tunes for you on our Top 40/Dance playlist. There's plenty here from 2009, a few slightly less recent, and a couple of throwbacks, to make your older guests feel, well, older. Plus, just for fun, we've included both Kanye's "Stronger" and the song he sampled for it, Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" for a side-by-side comparison. Bust out your biggest hair bow and get ready to dance.

1. Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
2. Madonna, "Ray of Light"
3. Black-Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow"
4. Digital Underground, "Humpty Dance"
5. Beastie Boys, "Intergalactic"
6. Justin Timberlake, "SexyBack"
7. Shakira, "Hips Don't Lie"
8. Kanye West, "Stronger"
9. Sean Paul, "Get Busy"
10. Rihanna, "Disturbia"
11. Pink, "Funhouse"
12. Flo Rida, "Low"
13. Usher with L'il Jon and Ludacris, "Yeah"
14. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
15. New Kids on the BLock, "Hangin' Tough"
16. Ne-Yo, "So Sick"
17. Ciara with Justin Timberlake, "Love Sex Magic"
18. Flipsyde, "Someday"
19. Daft Punk, "Harder Better Faster Stronger"
20. Katy Perry, "Hot N Cold (Bimbo Jones Remix)"

The movies on this list don't have a lot in common -- animated features, buddy comedies, adaptations, hero stories, and documentaries -- except they were all entertaining and well-made. A few possibly worthy films didn't make it, simply because I didn't manage to catch them or they weren't out yet ("Public Enemies," "Pirate Radio," "Sherlock Holmes"). Another, "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," made it because, though it ran the festival circuit in 2008, got its main theatrical run in 2009. So as always, feel free to add your vote below in the comments section, and share what movies you liked and why.

"Up": This Pixar triumph is several movies rolled into one. The first 15 minutes is a touching tragedy, the middle an adventure comedy, and the end an action film, everything executed to perfection.

"The Men Who Stare at Goats": A modern day fairytale about believing you can make a difference despite all evidence to the contrary, with fine comic performances from George Clooney (in just one of the roughly 10,000 films he released this fall), Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, and Ewan McGregor.

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If you're looking for a rocking New Year's Eve sound track, then this is the playlist for you -- no teenybopper Top 40 here! There are some just plain fun songs (Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling" is a great party sing-along that's sure to be a hit), some rave-ups (The Kinks, Creedence), and a touch of melancholy (Paul Simon, Elvis Costello). Throw on a mini skirt and a skinny tie and dance in the New Year with these classics.

1. Chuck Berry, "My Ding-A-Ling"
2. Beatles, "I've Just Seen A Face"
3. Buddy Holly, "Not Fade Away"
4. Bill Haley and His Comets, "Rock Around the Clock"
5. U2, "New Year's Day"
6. Rolling Stones, "Waiting On a Friend"
7. Prince, "1999"
8. The Who, "Join Together"
9. Lou Reed, "Satellite of Love"
10. Elvis Costello, "Allison"
11. Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run"
12. Bonnie Raitt, "Something to Talk About"
13. Tom Petty, "Yer So Bad"
14. The Kinks, "All Day and All of the Night"
15. Janis Joplin, "Piece of My Heart"
16. Joan Jett, "I Love Rock and Roll"
17. Bob Dylan, "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35"
18. Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Travelin' Band"
19. Paul Simon, "Still Crazy After All These Years"
20. Elton John, "Tiny Dancer"

Anyone avid music fan knows there were more than ten good albums this year. But, as it is the end of the year, it's time to choose ten of the best (with a couple of honorable mentions). This list represents my own search through the new music I found this year, including releases big and small, Americana, rock, country, hip hop, and a mix of different styles. We'd love to hear your thoughts as well - give us some of your own choices in the "comments" section below and let us know what music captivated you this year.

The list, in no particular order:

K'Naan, "Troubadour": This most addicting album of the year. Despite some heavy subject matter of life and death on the streets of Somalia, K'Naan rarely sounds anything less than celebratory (check out "T.I.A." which stands for "This Is Africa," shouting hooray even while acknowledging gangs armed with Uzis). K'Naan can also shift styles easily, throwing pop, hip hop, heavy metal, and world music into a surprisingly cohesive mix. "Dreamer" is the most infectious of the bunch, which is why you heard it in commercials constantly during Super Bowl season.

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This is our "Mad Men," jazz, and lounge playlist for your New Year's Eve entertainment. It's a mix of styles and across the decades, all in the spirit of hanging out in a hip club in the mid-sixties with a martini or two. We have some classics (Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney), some modern voices (Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr.), and a few right from the "Mad Men" soundtrack (The Decembrists). Watch Holidash for more lists and mix and match.

1. Frank Sinatra, "The Way You Look Tonight"
2. Tony Bennett, "If I Ruled the World"
3. Esquivel, "Mini Skirt"
4. Harry Connick Jr., "Auld Lang Syne"
5. Diana Krall, "Fly Me to the Moon"
6. Mel Torme, "Comin' Home Baby"
7. Billie Holiday, "The Very Thought of You"
8. Sarah Vaughan, "Perdido"
9. Ray Charles, "What'd I Say"
10. Tom Waits, "Little Trip To Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)"
11. Ella Fitzgerald, "Manhattan"
12. Dean Martin, "You Belong to Me"
13. Rosemary Clooney, "Botch-A-Me"
14. Peggy Lee, "Fever"
15. The Decembrists, "The Infanta"
16. Dusty Springfield, "I Only Want To Be With You"
17. Cy Coleman, "Playboy's Theme"
18. Perry Como, "Blue Room"
19. Ann-Margret, "The Swinger"
20. Louis Prima, "Just One of Those Things"

Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and Frank Sinatra are all back on the Christmas music shelves this season thanks to three reissues -- Cash's "The Christmas Spirit," Charles' "The Spirit of Christmas," and "Christmas with Sinatra and Friends." All three are worthy additions to your Christmas collection, depending on your taste for tradition.

Frank Sinatra, "Christmas with Sinatra and Friends": A very laid-back album with a lot of familiar voices -- the "friends" are Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett with Bill Evans, and Ray Charles and Betty Carter. This is almost Christmas comfort food, with Sinatra singing favorites like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "The Little Drummer Boy," but with some lesser-played tunes like "Mistletoe and Holly" and "An Old Fashioned Christmas."

Tony Bennett delivers a stunning vocal on "A Child is Born," with beautiful, shimmering accompaniment from pianist Bill Evans. Clooney takes on "White Christmas," and Mel Torme sings the song he co-wrote, "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)." You also get Ray Charles and Betty Carter singing, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which brings me to the next album.

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