PARTY: Perhaps as a nod to Warhol, or simply as a reason to party, PBR has been on an Art Tour. Come check out their 18 PBR-inspired paintings, and more importantly drink free beer from 7 to 8 tonight as the tour hits the Knitting Factory. Music provided by DJ Awesome Derek, Cody Ranaldo, and Rezound. 7pm // Knitting Factory [74 Leonard St] // Free EVENT: The Women's Expressive Theatre storms the Angel Orensanz......

MTV is getting all old school and reporting on relevant music! The channel traveled all the way to Brooklyn for a piece on bands closely associated with the Todd P scene. Best of all, they declare Manhattan's LES dead! Not a great way to promote their new vLES, we suppose. MTVMusic VideosMTV ShowsEntertainment News The network focuses on some great Brooklyn-based bands: Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, The Muggabears...bands many music fans have been embracing for......

Since settling in New York in 2001, promoter Todd Patrick – known through his website as Todd P – has established himself as a major force in the avant-garde rock scene. In the fastidious spirit of a modern day Bill Graham – though without the passion for profits – Patrick has distinguished himself with his commitment to producing shows at atypical, under-the-radar locations like lofts, rooftops and funky, “illegal” clubs. Often eschewing such vagaries as......

Todd P is known around town as one of the hardest working men in D.I.Y. show biz. He created a scene out of avant garde bands, old buildings and some plywood -- and has given plenty of music lovers a place to hear good music for cheap, while sipping on a $2 beers and sweating in barely ventilated (or legal) venues. But what's this...Todd P is going on hiatus? To work on a print 'zine?......

EVENT: Berlin takes over New York this month with the Berlin in Lights Festival. Through the 18th you can soak up the German city through film, music, art, architecture and more. This evening you can check out a couple of Berlin-esque events. First up is the "Urban Design and Memorials" dialogue. A panel discussion which will touch on the "challenges of integrating memorials into the urban fabric, and how Berlin and New York address issues......

BEER: This one is pretty simple...there will be lots (58!) of New York beers, and a few bands to soundtrack your drinking them, at the Seaport tonight. Go, imbibe, enjoy! Friday // 5 to 10pm // South Street Seaport // $55 THEATER: Paso Doble was a sold-out hit at the 60th anniversary Festival d’Avignon last summer; for one weekend only sculptor Miquel Barceló and dancer Josef Nadj have brought their messy spectacle to St. Ann’s......

MOVIE: The L Magazine kicks off their summer movie series, Summerscreen, tonight at McCarren Park Pool. We're pretty sure we'll be attending most of these this summer (even though we feel there is a lack of horror filcks on their schedule). So bring something soft to sit on and head over tonight for the cheerleading film that introduced us all to spirit fingers, Bring It On. In two weeks: Dazed and Confused! Alright, alright, alright.......

DANCE: Since the Copacabana is closed for now, get your dance on under the night sky. WhatsUpNYC tells us that every Monday through July 23rd (though the NYC Parks site says through August 13th), the Parks and Rec department will conduct Dancing Under the Stars. Get dance lessons from the experts at American Ballroom Theater, then grab a partner and tear up the dancefloor. 6 to 7:30pm // Directions here // Free MOVIES: It's a......

THEATER: Gertrude Stein is regarded as an avant-garde intellectual whose adventurous prose has long overshadowed her plays – despite her Broadway hit Four Saints in Three Acts. (Who could forget?) A crack team of downtown experimental theater types are now hoisting six of Stein’s one-acts out of obscurity with a production in the East Village. The evening, irresistibly dubbed Steinese Takeout, boldly embraces Stein’s radicalism and runs with it. How radical are these plays? “How......

FESTIVAL: The New York Ukulele Festival has arrived. The weekend includes: "nonstop Ukulele Fun! Concerts, Vendors, Workshops, Jams! 40,000 Square Feet, Two Concert Stages! FREE BEER ALL WEEKEND. FREE UKULELE DOOR PRIZES AT EVERY CONCERT!!” Friday through Sunday // Noon to 5pm // Theatre for the New City [155 1st Ave] EVENT: Clock out early and head to the Apple Store this afternoon to catch producers/screenwriters/directors Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured). They'll be discussing the......

THEATER: John Fugelsang, the son of an ex-nun and a former monk, declares war on right-wing evildoers in his one man comedy All the Wrong Reasons. Targets include sex, politics, Klansmen, stem cells and the drug war (which Fugelsang recently skewered on the Huffington Post.) Theater blogger What’s Good/What Blows raves: “…once he settles in to tell the story of trying to get through Orlando airport with an 1/8th of weed in his sock and......

Recently at our show in Austin, the mayor of that city discussed the importance of keeping live music (and the venues it is played in) alive by supporting it (over, say, sports). You can watch his speech here. With that in mind, it seems New York has been losing venues left and right as of late. The latest word is that Mercury Lounge may be closing, though it's unconfirmed - and we're really hoping......

The much anticipated, David Bowie-curated High Line Festival has finally announced a lineup. Upon the announcement of the festival last year, David Bowie said, "I've been particularly excited about seeking out emerging artists and giving them a place in a festival that will also feature some very well-known names." In that vein, we thought there would be some lesser known bands (Todd P-style), and are surprised with the abundance of (very obvious) bigger names: Arcade......

Of Montreal Are Truly Amazing We've been down in Austin for South By SouthWest for most of the last week, but before taking off, we caught one of the most enjoyable shows we've seen all year in Of Montreal at Irving Plaza. For those who claim the show was boring, we don't know what they would have to do to satisfy you. There were costume changes, songs performed oh the shoulders of mustachioed, white......

The Forms (Steve Albini-recorded) shimmering rock is our new go-to comfort music after a terrible night finally ends. You know, when you've totalled the rental car but the stereo still works and all you need is something until the tow truck comes? This is that formally febrile, meticulously messy something. They're playing our show in Austin today, and will be playing a Todd P show in Brooklyn on March 30. Listen: Sunday.mp3 Let's get this......

READING: Jonathan Franzen reads at the Bam Cafe tonight, but not after a buffet that include wine from the Pine Ridge Winery and other treats. There will also be a live acoustic performance and a Q&A; with Franzen. The hefty price tag includes dinner, wine, tax, and tip. 6:30pm // BAM Cafe [30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn] // $45 THEATER: The first annual FRIGID Festival is breaking ice in the East Village at the Kraine, the......

READING: John Sellers will be reading from his book, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, tonight. Idolizing bands like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Guided by Voices, the book outlines how he developed his taste in music. It reads more like a blog, than a book, which makes sense since Sellers has one. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [675 6th Ave] // Free MUSIC: Todd P brings The Thermals (pictured......

Things are starting to pick up around here. The weather was nice, people were out leaving the cave from the post-New Years hibernation and getting back on their feet. It's still coming around, but the rock scene is starting to show some life as well... Matt & Kim Shake Up Studio B There was one show everyone seemed to be talking about this week, and that was the big Matt & Kim homecoming at Studio......

SIGNING: Just a few days ago LL Cool J was out signing his book (which, is actually a workout book). Tonight 50 Cent will be at Borders Bookstore with two of his writers for the launch of, wait for it...G Unit books! Some titles: Death Before Dishonor, Baby Brother and The Ski Mask Way. Get there early! 6pm // Borders Bookstore [10 Columbus Circle] // Free THEATER: RiddleLikeLove (with a side of ketchup) is based......

During CMJ, everything becomes a venue - from a living room to an abandoned storefront. During the rest of the year, Todd P keeps that sort of thing going on. And in the more "legit" world of venues, new ones are popping up everywhere. Maybe some clubs can't make it in the city, but others are thriving. The New York Times reports that in the next few months as many as five new spaces will......

We're a little confused by this new club, Studio B (pictured), brought to us by the people who gave Miami Studio A. Brooklyn Vegan posted this quote from New York Magazine: "The rockers behind the Delancey and Studio A in Miami have commandeered a onetime Polish nightclub on the outskirts of Greenpoint and are using its over-the-top lights and smoke machines, industrial flavor, and gigantic dance floor for live performances (promoter Todd P. brought......

Matt and Kim are: Um, Matt and Kim These two will never get very far without drawing the requisite Mates of State comparisons, but they do well by avoiding too many of the lovey dovey glances and stick to just plain rocking out. It works for them to keep with much of the same boppy beats, but with a distinctive Isaac Brockian howl often replacing the cuddly harmonies. Between extensive touring and playing every......

THEATER: The end of the Fringe Festival draws near, and the dilemma sharpens: what should you not miss? Of the shows that are still on, a good bet is Chris Harcum's http://www.chrisharcum.com/ Some Kind of Pink Breakfast, a solo comedy (but multi-character) with music by Debby Schwartz that melds '80's songs and movies with events from his own experiences, making for a hilarious yet poignant retro performance that should be a perfect way to end......

The Ballet are: Greg, Craig, Marina and Ginger The self-proclaimed "sissy pop band" first gained some attention when they were added to the lineup of the recent Brooklyn Vegan/Todd P collaboration at the Syrup Room With Tokyo Police Club, Land of Talk and Ramesh from Voxtrot. They have a pleasant, narrative Magnetic Fields/Belle and Sebastian type sound that is almost inoffensive to a fault. Lighthearted music with occasionally dark and dire lyrics layered within.......

ART: Tonight Dreamland: Coney Island 1905-1925 opens. The exhibit is opened through August 19th and features "original drawings, blueprints, and vintage photographs of New York City’s favorite amusement park, Coney Island." Opening Reception 6 to 8pm // Ricco Maresca Gallery [529 West 20th St] // Free THEATER: The year's not half over, but we'd bet good money that Men Eat Mars Bars While Touching Their Penis, which opens tonight, would win the prize for most......

This summer there's a series of (expensive) concerts going on at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. The site has been closed since 1984, and last year started undergoing renovations. Recently we received the following email from an unhappy local: This pisses me off. Clear Channel paid off the parks department to take over the McCarren Park pool site for a series of 6-10 $30 concerts (+ $14 service fee) this summer. They "improve the......

Unless you are in Sonic Youth...you probably love the Pixies. At the very least, you loved the song Where Is My Mind? after hearing it in the movie Fight Club. This Thursday author Ben Sisario will be reading from his new book called "Doolittle," as part of the acclaimed 33 1/3 series. The book takes a look at the 1989 release of the Pixies sonic masterpiece of the same name, gaining insight from the band......

We were really knocked out by Mazarin at Pianos last week. Very fun band. One can only hope that this week holds such surprise awesomeness. Some potential candidates: Party-pop masters Ok Go (at left) made a hilarious choreographed dance video in their backyard that captures the energy and fun of their live show. Plus, ladies may just fall in love with frontman Damian Kulash's gigantic Mick Jagger lips. With dance punks Controller.Controller and spirited psychedelic......

FESTIVAL:: The 9th Annual D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival begins today and runs through the weekend. The schedule includes our faves: the Architecture Walk (today at 4pm), open galleries and lots of music lined up by Todd P. All weekend // d.u.m.b.o Arts Center [30 Washington St, Brooklyn] ART: For more than thirty years, Creative Time has helped artists animate unusual public places, from unlikely landmarks to neglected, abandoned areas. The Plain of Heaven......

A few months ago Indie Night School asked us to be a panelist, we obliged and promptly discovered our near paralyzing stagefright. Because of this we feel we owe them, ergo, tonight Fringe Benefits and Indie Night School are putting together a Katrina Benefit at Mo Pitkins (you know, Jimmy Fallon's bar). We're really exited to be a mere audience member for this one! All proceeds from this event will go to WWOZ New Orleans,......