Results tagged “theend”

Saturday was the day the music died at McCarren Park Pool (well, not really), but one couldn't have asked for a better note to go out on than one provided by Sonic Youth ("Expressway to Yr Skull" was a perfect finale from the post-punk pioneers). The NY Times spoke to concertgoers and locals about the venue, which could return to its original function as soon as 2011. An elderly resident declared, “This music, very noisy. Swimming, O.K.” but one man noted, “I love this music. I come from Mexico, and in Mexico there is little music like that." And some businesses have enjoyed a 30% increase in sales on show days. The Times said hipsters claim they won't come back to swim because they think it'll be "too dirty" [insert dirty hipster joke here].

The Times ran a follow-up today about their investigation that found abnormally high levels of mercury in fish served at area restaurants. Toxicology reports from 44 pieces of sushi, ordered from places including Nobu Next Door and Sushi Seki, may in fact contribute to some New Yorkers’ 3 times higher-than-average blood levels of mercury. It turns out, however, that most New Yorkers just don’t care.

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light more down the stretch. So did Omar Minaya's complete neglect of the roster's periphery. The Mets trotted out inexperienced and ineffective pitchers down the stretch, and the bullpen that Randolph had to deal with wasn't that good to begin with thanks to some questionable trades. What this means for the 2008 season remains to be seen, but it cost the Mets fans Lastings Milledge, another symbol of the collapse. He was dumped dealt to the Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.

RALLY: Barack is back! This time he's hitting up Manhattan with an evening rally in Washington Square Park. It's gonna be a big one, so get there early! At least this time there won't be any unhappy paying customers, because it's free! Check out his video invite:

MUSIC: There's not a whole lot going on musically tonight, but the show at Cake Shop seems pretty...sweet. By The End of Tonight and Multitudes will be taking the stage -- the former is described as "the perfect marriage between the math-rockiness of Hella with the glistening, soaring guitars of Explosions in the Sky."

MOVIES: With another version of Hairspray hitting the big screen this summer, it seems to be a season of decades past and, of course, hair! Movies With a View brings back the musical tale of Central Park hippies, small town boys headed to Vietnam and the '60s as they show the film Hair tonight.

WABC’s Bill Evans is the latest local news talent to author a disaster novel about the city with his book “Category 7”, which he co-authored with Marianna Jameson. The book is the story about a man made hurricane heading towards New York. The book shouldn’t be confused with the 2005 made for TV movie Category 7: The End of the World, which was also about a deadly storm. Evans will be doing a book signing Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble, just a couple blocks away from WABC.

What better way to get out of the cold than to party in an art gallery? This Saturday there are two—count ’em, two—Brooklyn galleries sticking their tongues out at the weather and celebrating art with live music and festivities. And the best thing is, you don’t have to chose between them because they’re at different times: first, head to Secret Project Robot for the opening reception of Cameron Michel’s “A New Polymorphous Reality,” then make your way to 3rd Ward for The End of Ice. Read on for details involving grog and light-up costumes.

MOVIE: The 10th Annual New York International Children's Film Festival commences tonight, starting with the US premiere of the French animated film U (which includes unicorns!). A kid-friendly catered reception will take place after the film.

THEATER: It’s “go time” for The Butane’s Group’s Operation Ajax, which ingenuously sets the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of Iran’s first democratically-elected government in the context of a casino. “Constructed from no less than 25 text sources (memoirs, documentaries, plays, poetry, novels, films, reality tv shows), the densely-layered performance explores how the addiction to risk and gambling has become a potent metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.” (For an enhanced theater experience, explore the show’s thorough bibliography, with links to all source material.) - John Del Signore

Home stretch! Today is the final day to swing by The White Rabbit and check out our little home we've been chilling at all during CMJ. You know the drill by now...Free to come, Happy Hour all day and great music, non-stop. 145 East Houston between Eldridge and Forsyth. Here's the lineup for today:

Today is officially the first day of CMJ! Starting this afternoon and going strong through the weekend, every music club in the city is going to be jam packed with hours upon hours of the hottest up and coming bands from all over the world. Seeing that we'd expect your regular Gothamist reader won't be equipped with a $500 badge, we decided to highlight some of the standout free events this week. While you will still be able to get into nearly all the night showcases by paying at the door, many of these bands will be playing for free anyway while they're in town.

We mentioned a little while back that we will be holding a series of day parties while CMJ is going on. With only a few weeks to go, we'd like to officially announce the lineup for the Saturday show, which will run from 2 till 8pm on November 4th at the White Rabbit on East Houston street. Each of the bands will perform a special acoustic or otherwise stripped down set. As we mentioned before, the shows will all be free and open to the public, so anyone (21+, unfortunately) is welcome to stop by, grab a drink and check out the bands! There is much more to be announced very soon, including the lineups for the rest of the days, so stay tuned!

The Times today reports on some funny numbers running around the theater district. Here's what we understood of it: In 1998 legit theater, which like the Apple Computers of yore is always somewhat "beleaguered", was having some trouble getting patrons in the door to watch anything that a theater snob might call "passable." Money was desperately needed to kick things into gear. So the city struck a deal with a group called The Broadway Initiative, led by Gothamist-idol Stephen Sondheim, to provide more money not only for theater owners but for the theater community as well. The deal was simple: 25 theaters in the theater district (that'd be between 40th and 57th Streets and 6th and 8th Avenues) were given permission to sell their unused air-rights to any property also located in the district (instead of only to the usual rules which only allow air rights to be sold to neighboring plots). In exchange for this lenience anyone who bought up one of these theater's air rights would have to pay an extra $10 per square foot on top of the regular price. That extra money was to be then given to a new Theater Subdistrict Council which would spend 20 percent of it on monitoring theater conditions and the rest on bringing poorer city residents to the Great White Way. Sounds like a good, simple, idea, no?

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You can listen to a couple of their songs here and here. More on Myspace.

For some reason there doesn't seem to be a lot going on this week. Tonight Cold War Kids take over Pianos, catch them there before they're headlining Bowery (and then having that show switched over to Webster Hall to accomodate all of their fans). What we're trying to say is...there is buzz.

There is a band playing Northsix tonight called Duran Duran Duran. We don't know anything about them, but based on their name alone we'll suggest checking them out. If you want to go with the safe bet though, head to the Delancey where Pela starts off their April residencey tonight.

The New York Times has a nice spotlight piece about Paul Ford today. We've been big fans of Paul's work at FTrain for years-- and he was nice enough to sit for one of our first interviews:

, written by Greene and directed by William Carlos Menzies. Last week the Film Society of Lincoln Center web site indicated the program was sold out, but now it looks like tickets might be available. Worst case, there will be a stand-by line, and chances are some people will get in. (We've managed to do so via that line on more than one occasion.) This promises to be a great evening for film and book lovers everywhere.

Lindsey Caldwell, Hustler/DJ

Steven I. Weiss, Journalist/Blogger

Toby Leah Bochan, About.com Editor

Geoff Wolinetz, Freelance Satirist

Scott Lapatine, Stereogum.com

Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics Editor in Chief

Kenny Kramer, Entrepreneur / Wacky Next-Door Neighbor

Buboo Kakati, Filmmaker

Nicole Beland, Writer/Girl Next Door