As some of you might know, Merrimack Valley representative and enduring Mass hip-hop producer -MC D-Tension spent more than a little bit of time in the hospital this past year. With that said, he has returned, and, apparently, has resumed dropping projects about the mundane shit that most MCs ignore - like almost dying in an ICU (for something other than bullet wounds).

BILLY RUANE came home last night.

The relentless local music adventurer, who passed away unexpectedly in October, had been lauded in both song and spirit. From Lady Lamb the Beekeeper’s moving onstage sentiments as word spread the night of Ruane’s demise, to the overflow crowd at his wake and the subsequent gathering at ZuZu, and finally as his ashes wafted out over the sold-out downstairs of the Middle East at the conclusion of his memorial party in November, his path led inevitably back to Central Square.

Praise Bobby Orr for updates like these. I missed last night's BOSTON ACCENTS because I was out between Harvard and Inman Squares witnessing Doomstar apply poke and stick tattoos on the Phoenix correspondents P. Nick Curran (also of You Can Be A Wesley) and Addison Post. It was the first time for all parties involved.

So hey, it's Friday, it's cold, and we're all about to ghostown this newsroom for a post-holiday company party. So in order to not leave On The Download hanging dry today, let us present to you the first entry in our new Awesome Video Alert series (AVA, for short).

Ladies and germs -- we give you "Nephicide" by Los Angeles duo JOGGER

It was just another NECRO show at the Middle East last Friday night with the self-proclaimed king of death rap performing for his usual crowd of degenerate drunken assholes and tatted-up groupies all too eager to flash their tits.

Everything was going swimmingly -- the mosh pit was fired up after Rite Hook’s raucous set, groupies were begging to lick Necro’s balls, and there was plenty of displaced aggression to go around when some obviously inebriated and possibly deranged kid managed to catch the death rapper’s attention.

So yeah, this weekend is insane. Forget about touring bands and national-act blowhards rolling through town armed with a bearded bouquet of ticket fees and endless beer lines, the next few days are all about Boston rock. Here’s our quick recap of the shows we’ll be hitting up, drawn from recent features, Stacked Bills: Winter Preview and Class of 2011: 11 New Bands to Watch, as well as recent blog post and other shit found in both the print and online editions of the Boston Phoenix.

Perhaps the most famous ribs in Boston last year were the ones Jacoby Ellsbury fractured, ribs that forced the Red Sox outfielder to sit out most of the 2010 season. Now that the Fenway heartthrob is all healed up, 2011’s ribs to watch are of the rock-n-roll variety. One of the louder members of our Class of 2011, RIBS the band are poised for a breakthrough.

As you probably know by now unless you've been hiding under a cock, the New Kids On The Block and the Backstreet Boys are playing Fenway Park on June 11 – one week after their already sold-out gig at the Garden. Some of us here at the Phoenix just got back from the press conference, where we ate what would have been several hundred bucks worth of hot dogs had we bought them at a Sox game.

This afternoon at a cold, snow-covered Fenway Park, a decades-old question with deep-rooted Boston implications was finally answered: How do you make Aerosmith look badass? By having the ballpark’s annual summer concert followed up by NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK.

Oh, well. The summer jam sesh in the shadow of the Green Monster has been a fairly rocking tradition since 2003, welcoming the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, the Police and last year, Aerosmith and J.

On sale Thursday, January 27

Jessica Lea Mayfield | April 2 at the Brighton Music Hall, Allston | $10 | On sale at noon via ticketmaster.com

Yacht | April 30 at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston | $15 | On sale at noon via ticketmaster.com

Architecture in Helsinki | June 13 at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston | $20 | On sale at noon via ticketmaster.

A few years ago I brought you all the news that no-talent reggaeton dipshit Daddy Yankee was supporting Republican corpse John McCain in the presidential election. Now here's a story about how he may be a thief, too, as he stands accused of hiring a bunch of Mass artists and locking them inside a room with uncomfortable furniture while they cranked out his mega-hits (or something like that).

I wish I had a time machine.

Because if I had a time machine I'd go back a few weeks and re-do my entire Class of 2011 new local music feature and write up Rice N' Beats 11 times. I'd have something new and fresh to say in each blurb, too. This is so much hot on a cold day like this, I think I have reverse hypothermia. #Rockamole #Annas4eva

This Just In, a note from the Middle East: "First customer at 5pm next Tuesday gets a free Deerhoof print from Jim Mazza!"

Check it out, the fine folks at the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Cambridge's Mental Square have updated the operating hours of their box office, the only destination for no-fee concert tickets.

Yesterday we teased this morning's announcement that the Big 4 were coming to America. There was even a poster telling us our prayers, nay, our DEMANDS, would be answered. Then came the announcement 15 minutes ago: One Effing Show, April 23 in Indio California, the weekend after Coachella.

Thanks, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax -- we knew there was something to all that fine print.

Hey look, it's the first Phlipcam video of 2k11! After a brief hiatus we're back in action with footage from Saturday's MISTLE THRUSH reunion at the Middle East downstairs, a part of the 2nd annual Soozapalooza. It's been nearly eight years since the last Thrush show, as noted in this week's Cellars By Starlight column, but the late-90s alternative rock band showed few ill effects from the extended layoff.