If you can pay rent with the money you make doing what you love, you're lucky as hell--and this isn't lost on the guys of Nada Surf, who are celebrating the two loud and fast decades they've spent together making that dream a reality. "We really love playing together," says lead singer Matthew Caws, calling in from someplace between Washington, D.C. and Columbus, OH. "It's corny and simple, but it's why we've never broken up and have been around for so long. It's because playing together is really fun for us. If there are more than 10 people who want to come see us, well, there you go. We'll do the show. And there's no reason to stop, as long as you can pay the rent and play as many shows as you need to in order to make that happen."

As their two shows at the Bowery Ballroom Friday and Saturday have long since sold out, it's plain to see that Nada Surf will carry on in the name of alternative rock long past year 20. After a year of touring consistently behind The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy, their January release and the seventh record in their arsenal, Nada Surf will close out their final tour of 2012 with two sold-out nights at the Bowery Ballroom. The Bowery shows serve as a nostalgic return for the native New Yorkers, and Caws is proud of the fact that Nada Surf can contribute their demonstrated fervor to the musical fabric of the gritty city where they cut their chord-ripping teeth.

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Yes, apparently May 12 is the day where you're supposed to grab someone (whether a friend, a "friend," or a stranger) and, to quote the people putting this holiday on, "take a few minutes to enjoy what is probably the most singularly positive human experience ever." Hey, it's not a holiday that was made up outta nothing for economy-stimulating purposes, at least! Above, Unrest's fine tune "Make Out Club," which also inspired an early-adopter social network; after the jump, the best music-video makeout ever (and don't worry, it's not the Halle Berry/Fred Durst pairing from Limp Bizkit's "Behind Blue Eyes," which Vh1 once erroneously called awesome).

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The bilevel coffee shop/bar/venue/place for hangs Cake Shop turns six this weekend, and it's celebrating with a sixth-birthday party with a bunch of bands and "surprises." Cake Shop's gone through some changes over the course of its existence--R.I.P., for all intents & purposes, record store that took up much of the back of the ground floor and slowly got chipped away--but it's consistently booked fantastic indiepop bills and local bands, and it's nice to see it holding down the fort and slinging the still-relatively-cheap hooch in an increasingly unfun-to-visit corner of the Lower East Side. The fête tomorrow night includes a set by the quite lovely Kiwi act Surf City, who are keeping the New Zealand chiming-pop flame alive; full flyer (via BV) after the jump.

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Lil Wayne was released from prison last week, as you might have heard. He spent some time alone before rejoining his friends, first on Friday night in New Orleans, where he sat courtside to watch LeBron James and Dwayne Wade's Miami Heat take on his hometown Hornets. Saturday he took the stage in Las Vegas with Drake to perform "Miss Me." The above video is chaotic, with Wayne shirtless and cameras everywhere, but one of the song's strongest lines was adjusted into past tense: "I was gone till November, but I was never trippin', I knew Drizzy was gonna kill 'em." More from Wayne's wild weekend after the jump.

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