It's Monday night as I write this, and the Yankees still haven't told us when we can start the playoffs because, as we already know, they stink. I am riddled with Anaheim anxiety and am practicing my "Go Tigers" and "Go Twins" cheers so that, either way, I'm ready to bring the Yankees down.

Thankfully, there's no shortage of distractions to take my mind out of the bullpen and onto the stages of our local music scene. Speaking of which, how cool is this? Empire Dine & Dance in installing a local-music-only jukebox. So local musicians, bring your CDs to them tonight, and they'll load them onto their new-fangled iMAC jukebox. The music-maker shall reside now and forever in a place of honor on the first floor of the establishment so that anyone, anytime, can hear local music on demand with just the clink of a few quarters.

Indie-folk singer Malcolm Rollick is going to need a serious nap when all is said and done, but for now she's pulling into Portland on her bicycle as part of her Portland to Portland Bike Tour.

She departed Portland, Ore., in March, and since then has been more on the road than off. All told, it will be an eight-month odyssey during which she'll log a heck of a lot of miles and save a heck of a lot on gas. But that's not why you should pay attention to her.

Be it plane, train, automobile or bicycle that brings her into town, her music is the real star. I spent the better part of an hour at www.malcolmrollick.com and on her MySpace page listening to songs from all three of her records. "Breaking Strays" is from Rollick's 2005 CD "Scaffolds." "Mama been lookin' me down in the graveyard, mama knows I'm wearing black again," sings Rollick in a voice reminiscent of Lucinda Williams and steeped in solemn honesty.

On her records, there are guitars and keys and violin, among other ethereal sounds. But the thing that will really get you is her descriptive writing and a voice that comes from some place where tumbleweeds zigzag across a dirt road, graveyards are sunny and angels like to tread.

Malcolm Rollick's Portland to Portland Bike Tour. 8 p.m. Wednesday. One Longfellow Square, Portland. $8 in advance; $10 at the door. www.onelongfellowsquare.com; 761-1757.

Here's what I found out about El-P. He's one of the co-founders of the legendary hip-hop group Company Flow.

Underground lightning struck the group in 1997 with "Funcrusher." In 2000, El-P (aka El-Producto) founded Definitive Jux records, which is now a highly respected label. He is considered by many to be a ground-breaking lyricist and virtuoso producer.

El-P's collaborators through the years include Trent Reznor, Cat Power, the Mars Volta, Head Automatica and TV on the Radio. What makes this show all the more compelling is that it's his first appearance in Portland. Ever.

El-P with Yak Ballz, B Dolan and Brzowski. 9 tonight. Asylum, 121 Center St., Portland. Ages 21 and older. $16 in advance at Bull Moose locations; $18 at the door.

Cecil Colby is back.

Hey wait, isn't he a deceased character from "Dynasty?"

I digress. Per usual.

This Cecil Colby and former Zero Mentality bandmate Mick Majka, along with Chris Horne from the Brood and drummer Joe Potter from the Stains and Ghostwalks, are performing as Emperor Napoleon & the Vision of Ecstasy on Saturday night at Geno's. They're not divulging their setlist other than to say it will mix originals with off-the-beaten-track chartbusters that are, as they put it, "sure to bring guilty pleasures to every part of your body."

Emperor Napoleon & the Visions of Ecstasy with the Boffs, Jonee Earthquake and Thee Icepicks. 9 p.m....