Fast forward

Performances Jan. 11 and 12 will benefit the 11-year-old needle exchange program Clean Needles Now. The Saturday show at the Garage features five acts, including Brian Jonestown Massacre and Wayne Kramer, and Sunday at Spaceland the Tyde and Nebula head the bill.... Bobby Bognar revealed his strummy side last week when he joined the parade of L.A. pop performers who celebrated the holidays and bade farewell to Third Thursday at Highland Grounds. Expect no such restraint Saturday at the Troubadour, when he and his Piper Downs bandmates open for the Young Dubliners. The Downs' latest release, "Varying Degrees of Failure and Tunelessness," is as ironic as the band's live show is raucous.... Buchanan is not due to release its debut album, on Ultimatum Records, until the spring, but the Jay Buchanan-led foursome has earned a devout following in Orange County and environs. The band brings its bracing rock and lyrical snap to the Knitting Factory on Jan. 7.

--Kevin Bronson with Jeff Miller