Brooklyn-based quintet The National have spent the last nine years slowly and steadily evolving from bar-band hobby to indie rock royalty, a success built out of old fashioned techniques like laborious songwriting, tireless gigging and the organic cultivation of their own distinct sound: a bruised, moody elegance that swells and crashes under the dreamy baritone of front man Matt Berninger. Their fourth and most recent album, Boxer, was a usual suspect on critical top ten lists for 2007, and the acclaim snowballed into a spot on the bill touring with Modest Mouse and R.E.M. this June. On Friday and Saturday night they play two sold out shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music opera house. more ›

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to celebrate his accomplishments as a civil rights leader and to remember there is still work to be done in many areas, from racial equality to living a more peaceful, understanding existence. King's birthday is actually January 15, 1929, but the federal holiday has been observed on the third Monday of January since 1986 (the first time all 50 states observed the holiday was in 2000). more ›

The Brooklyn Academy of Music kicked off their fourth season of Eat Drink & Be Literary last night at the BAMcafé. The sold-out event revolved around author George Saunders, a craftsman of absurdly hilarious short story and essays that lovingly lift American consumerism and mass media to surreal heights. His laugh-out-loud short story Pastoralia, for instance, concerns a man and a woman portraying full-time troglodytes in a theme park exhibit. In 2006, Saunders, who has a degree in geophysical engineering, was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant for “bring[ing] to contemporary American fiction a sense of humor, pathos, and literary style all his own.” more ›

In Samuel Beckett’s 1961 play Happy Days, a decidedly upbeat woman named Winnie spends Act One striving valiantly to make the best of her sticky situation: she’s irrevocably buried up to her waist in a “low mound.” True, Winnie has her reticent companion Willie for company, but she cheerily defies the barren void by holding forth for a seemingly nonexistent gathering of spectators. And Act Two finds Winnie still determined to make a go of it, despite a marked deterioration of her condition: she is now buried up to the neck. 47 years after Beckett finished it, the brutally funny and moving Happy Days is now the hot ticket at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. more ›

The NY Post has video and renderings of what downtown Brooklyn will look like in 2012. With $9.5 billion in development projects in the works, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is proudly touting its future. The DBP's president Joe Chan told the Post, "This sends a message to the entire city - and even the world - that Brooklyn is in a period of unprecedented growth." more ›

READING: Our interviewee from yesterday, Adrian Tomine, will be reading tonight at Book Court. The graphic novelist not only has his work in some of the more prestigious rags, he's also got a full length graphic novel, titled Shortcomings. more ›

more ›

BAM Cinématek more ›

In honor of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday, the city of Vienna commissioned a special festival of visual art, music, dance, architecture, and film called New Crowned Hope. The name refers to the Masonic lodge Mozart co–founded, a venue in which he made his last public appearance. more ›

Brooklyn Academy of Music more ›

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration. more ›

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. City offices, post offices and other government buildings are closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Public schools are closed, as well. more ›

THEATER: Dance-theatre maverick Pina Bausch returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music with Nefés, which is described as an ode to Istanbul, 'the city of water'. Originally conceived in 2002, Nefés (Turkish for "breath") “quickly became a life-affirming response to Istanbul's bouts with political upheaval. But rather than echoing the violence, Bausch invests her signature humor and emotional pathos with an acute sense of calm. Set to an eclectic score featuring Turkish songs, tangos from Astor Piazzolla, and classical guitar, Nefés also features massive video screens with which the performers interact.” - John Del Signore more ›

"Can you feel me? Can you motherfuckin' feel me?" Adira Amram belts out on her song "Wanna Make Out," which she sings while dressed in leotards, a Betsey Johnson push-up bra and suit jacket, or other attention-getting garb while pounding away on a keyboard or piano. Amram, the daughter of composer David Amram, started out as an actress but has taken to performing her hilarious “keyboard fantasy” songs at local comedy gigs. The 25-year-old performer is at The PIT Fridays in October with her latest work, Adira Amram Is An American Idol (tagline: “Let Her Spangle Your Banner”), which is fitting for a woman with a former President’s photo on the cover of her CD, Me and Bill (North Street Records). more ›

more ›

READING: Head down to the awesome 192 Books to catch New Yorker A.M. Homes read from her latest, hyperbolically-titled novel - This Book Will Save Your Life. A.M. Homes, whose dead-pan morbidity brought us , brings her eye to the world of Richard Novak, a day-trader determined to change his life. Some of the reviews have been less than celebratory, but Homes is a fascinating character on the literary scene and certainly worth seeing live. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras more ›

You have the long stem roses and box of chocolates on tap, but what else? What else to plan for your cinema-lovin' sweetie? Hey, nothing spells l'amour like dinner and a movie. more ›

Newsday has an article detailing the difficulties some churches have with King's anti-war stance. For more information about Martin Luther King, visit The King Center and take a look at this Wikipedia entry on him. more ›

Gothamist managed to get on over to the new IFC Center this weekend to see Miranda July's excellent Me and You and Everyone We Know and decided to check out the food as well. We had heard that there was going to be an adjacent restaurant serving a gourmet take on pub fare and wanted to see if it was any good. more ›

, set to be released theatrically later in March, will kick off the series with a screening tonight at 7:30 pm. more ›

For more about MLK, go to The King Center, with an essay about the holiday from Coretta Scott King (she also did a rare recent public appearance last week). And InfloPlease has links to many MLK-related events. more ›

would be interested in political movies during an election year. Tonight at BAM Cinemathéque he will present films that "give an insider’s look into America’s presidential campaigns." more ›

Bob McKee, Local Music Now more ›

BAM has an excellent slate of programs right now - from Wong Kar-Wai films and Homebody/Kabul to the upcoming Dance Africa, Atlantic Avenue is the place to be. more ›

BAM's Rose Cinema will be showing the films of Wong Kar-Wai starting this weekend, in their program, Living in Dreams: Films of Wong Kar-Wai. Wong's work is romantic, and moves between being hilarious to unbelievably sad. The first film, on Friday, is Happy Together, with the late Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung as lovers in Buenos Aires, and on Saturday, Chungking Express will be shown. Chungking Express is one of Gothamist's favorite films, with two stories in one film, both of which jump out with more life than a month of Hollywood release. And In the Mood for Love, which screens next Saturday, on the 22nd, is one of the best films in the past five years, period. Even less acclaimed films like Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time and Fallen Angels are great to get more of an idea of Wong's stylization. more ›