Blind item! What downtown venue was behind screwing over yet another band? We never did like blind items, so we'll just tell you through part of this letter we received from the disgruntled band behind the latest booking botch-up:We had a really bad experience at the Annex, on Orchard St. last night. Basically we showed up for a 5:00 load in to find out that our show had been canceled. The two other bands on......

LECTURE: NYU and the Department of Sanitation present a trash talk tonight, titled: Gotham and its Garbage: A History of the Department of Sanitation. The illustrated lecture will include an exhibition tour and status report on the DSNY Museum-in-the-Making (which we wrote about last year). Robin Nagle, Ph.D., DSNY Anthropologist-in-Residence, and Haidy Geismar, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, NYU will both be there to lead the discussion. 6pm (also this Sunday at 6pm) // 136 W......

Oktoberfest has been over for quite sometime now, but that's never stopped us from enjoying good German beer and sausages. Which is exactly how we wound up at Austrian newcomer Cafe Katja last night. There's also something to be said for such hearty meat-laden fare as the mercury drops. And judging by how crowded the small dining room was when we left, a lot of New Yorkers felt the same way last night. While......

BENEFIT: Tonight catch a special performance by Alanis Morissette, while rubbing elbows with Matt Dillon...all for a good cause! The inaugural fundraising benefit for the Adrienne Shelly Foundation will be held this evening, and you can get in with a ticket from $150 to...well, $10,000 bucks. You'll be supporting the late Shelly's foundation which "supports the artistic achievements of female actors, writers and directors through a series of scholarships and grants." 6pm // Skirball Center......

ART: Secrets of Coney Island Creek opens at the Brooklyn Public Library tonight. The exhibit of photographs by photog/author/Coney Island native Charles Denson goes back to the 1960s "when the waterway was at a low point, surrounded by industry and suffering from neglect and pollution. Since then, portions of the creek have been reclaimed, drawing both wildlife and residents to its shores. The photographs in Secrets of Coney Island Creek document those early decades and......

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. 7pm // Book Court [163 Court St, Cobble Hill] // Free At a very different reading in Manhattan, Chris Matthews will be promoting his new political memoir Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About......

THEATER: Sarah Maxfield, the brains behind theater collective Red Metal Mailbox, brings THROW, the bi-monthly performance series she curates, to The Chocolate Factory in Long Island City. Imbibe cheap beer and vibe new work by Rebecca Davis, Betsy Miller & Dancers, and Tara O'Con. After each experiment, Maxfield moderates an exchange in which each performer interrogates the audience in hopes of culling constructive criticism from the increasingly lubricated crowd. Who’ll be the first to declare,......

MOVIE: Guess it's only fitting that Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Team America play somewhere tonight. This Bushwick theater is new and on an outdoor rooftop -- so check the sky before you head out. If it's all clear, get ready for food from their grill, drinks from their bar and the wind in your hair. 7pm // New Moon Theater [97 Moore St, Bushwick] // Free READING: Our favorite cabbie turned author, Melissa Plaut,......

THEATER: Described as Damn Yankees meets Ed Wood, the screwball musical LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND is a goofy retelling of the Faust myth, with a lowly production assistant’s assistant standing in for the good doctor. (Naturally, a film producer serves as the devil.) The fun begins when the peon signs away his soul for fame and fortune. Having killed ‘em in Buffalo, the production now takes Manhattan via the New York Fringe Festival. - John Del......

THEATER: The annual Soho Think Tank Ice Factory, arguably New York’s most impeccably curated theater festival, has been hosting an exhilarating array of new shows every weekend since July 4th . Starting tonight you can sink your teeth into Vampire University, in which “a struggling vampire family descends on an evangelical college in the Midwest, the dad’s mid-life crisis of immortality triggers a desire to come back to life and the gulf between first and......

READING: It's New York Murder Mystery Night with novelists Jed Rubenfeld, Joel Rose, and historian Ben Feldman. The trio will be discussing New York’s famous 19th-century murders, including the bizarre events behind Butchery on Bond Street. 6pm // 108 Orchard St // Free EVENT: The Hanger Bar is having a summer soirée tonight. Head over there for an evening of couture and complimentary cocktails. A mixologist and a Prada protege have been brought in to......

EVENT: The New York Book Club at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents…"Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered New York City". The panelists include "Hal Buell, longtime AP photo editor who put images of the Vietnam War in newspapers across America; Richard Drew, AP photographer who has covered New York events including 9/11; Edie Lederer, longtime UN correspondent and first woman to be the foreign chief of bureau; and Valerie Komor, corporate......

PARTY: It's hot out, so what better way to cool down than with a pool party? Impetuous Theater Company is having a fundraiser tonight on the roof of the Holiday Inn Midtown. Scenes from the upcoming aquatic theater festival will be performed, there will be free beer and wine from 7 to 9pm, and there will be a pool in which to fully submerge yourself (who needs a/c?). 7pm to 12am // The Holiday Inn......

EVENT: Together, the New York Book Club and the Gotham Center present "Resistance: A Radical History of the Lower East Side," with Michael Rosen, Al Orensanz, Jay Blotcher, and moderator Clayton Patterson. They'll tell you all about how the LES "experienced massive changes during the 1980s and 90s," including stories from the activists, writers, artists, and residents who lived it. More info here. 6pm // LES Tenement Museum [108 Orchard St] // Free MUSIC: Tonight......

MOVIE: By now you've all seen, memorized and lived your own version of neurotic New York love story Annie Hall, the classic Woody Allen film that's stood the test of time. But have you seen it under the open night sky? Didn't think so. Get there early for a seat. Get there even earlier for knitting lessons! In an unrelated event earlier in the day, the folks from Knit New York will be teaching those......

HAPPY HOUR: You read the Onion, and you probably drink whiskey...so why not combine the two tonight? The Onion crew enjoys the simple pleasures of life in WIlliamsburg with some free Jameson Irish Whiskey in the name of alcohol preservation. 7 to 9pm // Live at Rose [345 Grand St, Williamsburg] // Free, RSVP nypromo (a) theonion.com EVENT: Mikhail Baryshnikov, ballet superstar, has joined forces with illustrator Vladimir Radunsky in creating Because..., a children's book.......

MUSIC: Tonight The Ladybug Transistor (who sadly just lost a band member) have their record release show (band pictured at right). Joining them on stage will be Pipas and Alasdair Maclean from The Clientele performing an acoustic set. Buy tickets here. Listen: Sorry Love Medley.mp3 - Pipas 8pm // Union Hall // $10 Over on the LES, Apostle of Hustle start their residency at Mercury Lounge. Tonight they are joined by Ola Podrida and Murder......

Workers crammed into small spaces and contending with oppressive heat on the Lower East Side. Thank goodness for the labor movement of the early 20th Century. Or are the very people who commemorate those days enduring the same conditions? The Villager reports that workers at The Lower East Side Tenemant Museum are taking a page out of their own history books and forming a union. Their complaints include extreme temperatures and cramped workspaces. They want......

EVENT: The Brooklyn Kitchen is hosting a series of live in-store cooking demos with local rockers to help celebrate the release of Kara Zuaro’s new book, I Like Food, Food Tastes Good.. Tonight, Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington will school us all in ceviche while likely wearing one of his very own aprons. 7 to 9pm // The Brooklyn Kitchen [616 Lorimer St] // Free MUSIC: The Wordless Music series is pretty self-explanatory. Some......

READINGS: Russell Simmons has written a self-help book and will be at Border's today promoting it (okay, now all of this recent noise he's making makes more sense)! It's called "Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success." None of the laws include any of these three words. 1pm // Border’s [100 Broadway] // Free As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Tim Gunn will be reading from......

THEATER: Lear deBessonet culled material from sources as varied as Henrik Ibsen, Joan of Arc and Times contributor/author Russell Shorto (The Island at the Center of the World), scientific journals, and post-it notes from the desks of corporate secretaries to create the new play transFigures. She was also inspired by the Jerusalem Syndrome, the well-documented psychosis that causes ordinary tourists to channel Biblical figures, create togas out of hotel bed-sheets, and parade through the Holy......

MUSIC: Five O'Clock Heroes, The Octagon and Ford & Fitzroy play Mercury Lounge tonight. In an odd turn of events we're most excited for the opener, Ford & Fitzroy - who played our Movable Hype show in February (video here). Listen: The Weatherman's Refrain.mp3 - Ford & Fitzroy Vermeer.mp3 - The Octagon 8pm // Mercury Lounge [Houston at Essex] // $10 The Nublu Orchestra will be playing...Nublu tonight. A ton of jazz and electronic musicians......

VALENTINE PICK: Let Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) and Scary Mansion serenade you and your valentine tonight. Glasslands is advertising the night as a Valentine's Dinner. The venue was opened last year by artist Brooke Baxter and commercial real estate broker Rolyn Hu, who have created the perfect art-centric space/venue. 7pm // Glasslands [289 Kent Ave, Brooklyn] // Price TBD ANTI-VALENTINE PICK: It's not Valentine's Day without an "down with love"-esque sort of party.......

MOVIE: The First Time I Was Twenty is playing tonight as part of the New York Jewish Film Festival. According to Paper, French director Lorraine Levy "tells the story of a smart, chubby Jewish girl who endures rampant sexism and anti-Semitism in order to fulfill her dream of joining her high school’s all-male jazz band. Pretty in Pink it is not." 6pm // Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center [165 W. 65th St] // $10......

THEATER: Sentimental hogwash! Following in the tradition of the one-man theatrical renditions of Star Wars and The Godfather Trilogy, comic actor/impressionist Jason Grossman presents his It’s a Wonderful (One Man Show) Life! tonight. Time Out NY called it “a guaranteed laugh riot.” We’re just excited to see how he handles the Charleston contest! - John Del Signore 9pm // Manhattan Theatre Source [177 MacDougal St] // $15 COMEDY: Join SNL's Horatio Sanz at his Ho......

THEATER: The Scene, a black comedy by Theresa Rebeck that premiered at this year’s Humana Festival in Louisville, is now in previews at Second Stage. The satire is about an out-of-work New York actor (Spenser: For Hire’s Tony Shalhoub) — married to a news producer (Alien Nation veteran Patricia Heaton) — who has an affair with a fresh-faced Ohioan ingénue. Rebeck’s stated intent with The Scene is to skewer America’s “cultural collapse into narcissism”. -......

THEATER: The Transport Group’s season begins with Tad Mosel's 1961 play All the Way Home. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play is based on James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, so that kind of prize power should put this production on track for a couple OBIEs, at least. Set in Knoxville in the summer of 1915, All The Way Home explores generations of family relationships in a time of crisis, with an original......

+ Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: "Large Fight in Front Of Firehouse" at 12:02pm on 58th Street and a huge fire at the Memorial Presbyterian Church on 7th and St. Johns in Park Slope. + The Villager has a nice history of the L.E.S. Tenement Museum: "Built in 1863, with 20 apartments measuring approximately 325 square feet each and no indoor plumbing, ventilation or light, 97 Orchard St. was home to an estimated 7,000......

COMEDY: OMG, we get like so many creepy myspace friend requests but this one made us LOL. Actually, it’s two friend requests in one, from Braeson Herold and Alana Harrison. But they’re not just groveling for “the add”; they want us to come see their show called Fake Friends Tour! The title doesn’t really make sense, because they're not touring and whoever heard of fake friends on myspace? But the way they blog about it......

The VMA's are in town, but there's more to do beyond screaming outside of Radio City or attempting to hit up one of the red carpet parties... EVENT: If you're in to PDA then head uptown tonight, there's going to be a "makeout party". We prefer the sound of silence over the sound of hundreds of people smooching, so we'll probably skip this. Of note: they mention that "this is a kissing-only event, so all......