Earlier this week, we traveled backwards through time to check out the New York Public Library's fabulous collection of the Thanksgiving menus of yesteryear. Today, the NYPL is trying to archive the Thanksgiving menus that your great great grandchildren will look upon fondly. The Library is looking for photographs, stories, videos and audio clips of different Thanksgiving traditions, old and new alike, and they need your help. more ›

It comes as no surprise that newly released audio recordings from the morning of 9/11 are extremely heavy, but it's also strange to find that something so disturbing could also be so difficult to turn off. Go to the NY Times website, click play at the beginning, and listen in as various air traffic controllers, hijacked passengers, and other helpless authorities try to piece together what the hell is happening. It's sickeningly immediate, as if that horrific morning were unfolding again right in front of you, and maybe if you could just scream loud enough, maybe you could do something. more ›

Last month, James Franco was at the 92nd Street Y discussing his portrayal of Allen Ginsberg in the movie Howl, and how he developed his voice for the part. Now the 92Y has an mp3 of Ginsberg himself reading “Mind Breaths” during a 1977 appearance there. They say the poem was inspired by his study of samatha meditation, which Ginsberg has said "is paying attention to the breath leaving the nostril and dissolving into the space in front of the face. There is constant daydreaming and drifting away from that attention to the space." more ›

[UPDATE: This wasn't the first time!] An air traffic controller at JFK airport brought his young son to work last month and let the bright young lad do his job for him. Now the FAA is investigating all the employees who were in the tower that day, and an audio recording of the child's instructions to pilots has surfaced. Listen: more ›

For the past year or so, photographer Stephanie Keith has been going to the Flatlands in Brooklyn for dead-of-night vodou ceremonies. Her audio slide show about her experiences is killer. While we've been sleeping the night away, she's been dancing to drumming and watching spirit possession in a rum-soaked basement. By the end of one "party" there were about seven people all possessed at the same time! Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to take pictures when the Gede spirit "mounted" participants, but still got off some great shots. "I keep telling my friends I wish I could get mounted by a spirit, but that never happened," Keith wistfully remarks. She's actually attended ten vodou ceremonies so far, but Gede is still playing hard to get. [Via Boing Boing] more ›

The Bloomberg camp is hoping some offensive remarks made by a disgruntled restaurateur about Council Speaker Christine Quinn will do some damage to city Comptroller Bill Thompson, a mayoral hopeful. Thompson—not Quinn—was present during an intimate meeting with small business owners at a Village restaurant on Wednesday morning. According to audiotape provided by the Bloomberg campaign to Politicker, Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, the co-owner of the restaurant Tea and Sympathy, called Quinn "a whore, and you can quote me on that!" Okay! And during the ensuing laughter, Kavanagh-Dowsett added, "I'll drop my trousers, and she can kiss my ass." The tape does not record Thompson saying anything to denounce the remarks, and one witness tells the Post that "Thompson laughed with discomfort and shook his head while looking at an aide, and covered his ears for a brief moment." Kavanagh-Dowsett insists he won't apologize because he thinks Quinn, who works closely with Bloomberg, is anti-small business (and pro-prostitution?). Thompson's campaign issued a statement saying, "Bill has great respect for Speaker Quinn and believes the comments made yesterday—at a forum open to the public—were inappropriate and offensive." more ›

Who wants a personal tour of Central Park from Kevin Bacon? Well, you can sort of get that, though it won't put you any degrees closer to the actor. The NY Post reports that Bacon, along with a slew of other NY-based celebs like Yoko Ono, Jerry Seinfeld, Isabella Rossellini, Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg will "share bits of history, trivia and personal remembrances about the park's many landmarks on a new audio tour visitors can access with their cellphones" (samples here). The mobile tour launched today, with signs containing the number posted throughout the park. At the Naumburg Bandshell Paul Shaffer will tell you about the strait-laced commissioners only approving of classical music, he says "It took until the 1920s for parkgoers to enjoy what today we know of as popular music." Now, if only we could add recent GPS navigator Homer Simpson to the audio. more ›

EVENT: In the book Love & Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships David Levy goes where no man has gone before. Hopefully. From the book's description: "Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.From a leading expert in artificial intelligence comes an eye-opening, superbly argued book that explores a new level of human intimacy and relationships—with robots." We're not even ready to see Lars and... more ›

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... more ›

FILM: Ease in to Halloween with classic horror flick The Innocents, based on Henry James' novella The Turn Of The Screw. Evil and innocence, the strange and the everday, will mingle as you...enjoy complimentary vodka an tapas! more ›

MUSIC: It's CMJ, check out one of the zillions of bands playing. Since trying to pick just one show is tough, we'll suggest one for you. Head over to Brooklyn tonight for Dirty on Purpose, A Place to Bury Strangers, Sisters, Coin Under Tongue and Indian Scout. They'll be taking the stage at Death by Audio. more ›

THEATER: The National Asian American Theatre Company is known for creating adventurous theater with an all-Asian American performing plays that often have little to do with Asian Americans. Their newest production is Blind Mouth Singing by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas; it uses a watery set and live music to tell a story of an “overly strict matriarch; her young son Reiderico who sneaks out of the house to visit his best friend who lives at the bottom of a well; her sister who treats syphilis patients in the open-air market; and her older son who bullies everything within his reach.” Martin Denton writes: “Authentic magic happens only rarely in the theatre… I'm talking about those rare wonderful moments when we see one thing on stage with our eyes, but our hearts tell us we're seeing something entirely different. Blind Mouth Singing is filled with such moments of magic.” John Del Signore more ›

MOVIE: The 2006 Clark Kent hit the big screen in Superman Returns. Tonight catch the superhero do his thing all over again at the River Flicks outdoor film series. Free popcorn, free film and a nice cold summer breeze. Bring a blanket! more ›

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999. more ›

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. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, the midtown walls outside the Museum of Modern Art and surrounding buildings were bathed in a beautiful, expansive new video installation from artist Doug Aitken. The work, Doug Aitken: sleepwalkers, was commissioned by both the MoMA and Creative Time, and it turns the museum into public art space. A total of eight screens (outside the MoMA on West 53rd Street, in an empty lot onto Museum of Folk Art's exterior wall, and on the MoMA's walls on West 54th) show the stories of five different New Yorkers. more ›

"Socially, there is very little difference between a multitude of people all having their own private aural experiences and a multitude of people stoned out of their gourds." more ›

The fact is, nothing much is going on. Just a lot of people trudging to work, and the whole city waiting for the announcement that the strike is over. That hasn't stopped New York's intrepid community of photographers from trying to find some interesting shots, though. So far, we've seen three or four classic types emerge: the train station entrance with police tape, tpeople walking on the Brooklyn Bridge, empty avenues closed to all but emergency vehicles, and amusing signage (like the example above, by Brainware3000 on Flickr.) We'll be compiling a list of photo galleries all day, so be sure to send yours in or link it in the comments: more ›

I'm back with this week's show rundown. We realize it's frustrating to find out about a show and then find out it's sold out. This week we start the post with FIVE (actually SIX) recommended shows that are not yet sold out (some even free). more ›

Radio owners can tune on over to WFAN 660 AM and spendthrift technophiles can listen to baseball game this season for $14.95 with MLB's Gameday Audio. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:10. more ›

Hot 97's apology consists of its morning staff contributing one week of salary to tsunami relief, but hiphopmusic has contact information for Emmis Communications (Hot 97's owner) plus other advertisers for people to complain to (we are going to complain). And when you listen to the clip, you'll hear the Miss Jones in the Morning crew square off against Miss Info. more ›

Hmm. Some other things Gothamist will expect: Mention of the West Side Stadium and/or NYC's Olympic bid as part of the future of NYC's economic livelihood; how his overhaul of the school system is successful; some jabs at the City Council and/or other possible political opponents. And at a press conference at the Bronx Zoo yesterday, to announce the record tourism levels, the Mayor annoyed Bronx residents with his remarks, implying that animals in the Bronx might vote, which in turn almost seemed to mean that Bronx residents were animals ("The crowd, made up of community leaders, zoo employees and elected officials, let out a collective "ooh" and a handful of people giggled nervously"). Good move, Bloomby...it's not like you weren't gunning for those votes.
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Scott Lapatine, Stereogum.com more ›

We've had a chance to listen to the band Audio Fiction recently and thought they'd be perfect to tell you about this week. Why? Because the RNC is in town, and this band is most likely doing everything in its creative power to counter the Republican agenda. more ›

I tried my imagination, but I was disturbed. more ›

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