Several hundred people packed into the historic Riverside Church last night for an Occupy Wall Street vigil honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. The event featured performances by Patti Smith, Steve Earle, Stephan Said, Global Block, and St. Christopher's Gospel Choir, among others. Russell Simmons, civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. and Sumumba Sobukwe addressed the crowd. more ›

As part of a worldwide candlelight vigil tonight honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church in Morningside Heights is hosting performances by Patti Smith, Steve Earle, Stephan Said, Kozza Olantunji Babumba, and will include "inspirational words" from Yoko Ono, Russell Simmons, and Norman Siegel. The event, as envisioned by Stephan Said, begins at 7:00 p.m. as the protesters amass outside the church. The performances begin at 8:00 p.m. in the nave. more ›

Earlier this week the remaining residents of the Hotel Chelsea received an invitation to a private Patti Smith concert to be held inside of the hotel, which is currently under new management and undergoing massive renovations. A major criticism has been that the hotel is being gutted of its original character that current and past residents helped create, along with the Bard family, who ran the hotel for a majority of its existence until ousted a few years ago. In fact, Patti Smith, thanks to the Bard family, lived there on two separate occasions. more ›

The Bard family ran the Hotel Chelsea for many years, and specifically, Stanley Bard was a fixture there. Bard was ousted a few years ago, and now the legendary hotel is being gutted and stripped of any of its original character. Part of the hotel's storied past includes other legends, like Patti Smith, who lived there during two tough times in her life, thanks in large part to Bard. But now, it seems she's turned her back on the man that once helped her out. more ›

When Amy Winehouse died last July, punk icon Patti Smith put pen to paper and wrote a poem for the singer. Now NME reports, via an interview the singer did with Uncut, that she's recorded the song, and it will appear on her upcoming album: more ›

Timed perfectly to the demise of the Hotel Chelsea, word comes today that Godmother of Punk Patti Smith's tale of coming of age with Robert Mapplethorpe in New York in the '60s and '70s, Just Kids, is heading to the big screen. more ›

Musican, author, and all around legendary lady Patti Smith will appear on Law & Order: Criminal Intent tomorrow night. Which is pretty crazy, right? Even if it's certain that by the end of the Law & Order franchise, almost everyone will have appeared on the show. more ›

Over the weekend Patti Smith and Jonathan Lethem went face-to-face in the Great Hall of Cooper Union to discuss, you know, stuff. The Q&A format had Smith on the receiving end of questions from the author as well as some audience members. According to VanshingNY, one woman asked if it was still possible for a young artist to come to New York City and find a similar path that Smith and her contemporaries found themselves on decades ago. more ›

Click through for a look at Animal Collective at the Guggenheim; The Tibet House Benefit at Carnegie Hall; Akron/Family at the Music Hall of Williamsburg; and NY's newest festival, the Truck America Fest; and two "secret" shows by The National next week! more ›

Writer Jim Carroll died of a heart attack Friday while working at his desk inside his Manhattan apartment at age 60. Carroll is most famous for writing , his follow-up memoir about working in Warhol's Factory and attempting to get clean. Carroll is survived by a his brother, Tom. more ›

Because opening ceremonies for the Olympics are on Friday, most of the big studio movies are opening today. At the top of the heap is Pineapple Express, the new stoner comedy from Seth Rogen and southern art-house director David Gordon Green (friend of Gothamist). The action-packed romp, replete with an eponymous theme song by Huey Lewis, follows a stoner and his dealer on the run from some murderous thugs. Reviews are very mixed, with the Daily News deciding that “the movie's aspiration to be the little doobie brother of The Big Lebowski doesn't click.” The Village Voice, on the other hand, loves it as “a savvy nod to 1980s action comedies. But its greatest achievements lie in the tossed-off non sequiturs, the pop-culture (and Scott Baio) allusions, and the unexpected respites in the midst of all the bang-bang-boom.” more ›

For the second year running, the Food Bank for New York City and the Lunchbox Fund of South Africa have enlisted over 100 celebrities in their holiday fundraiser. Boldface names like Kanye West, Elton John, Cameron Diaz, Mike Meyers, William Wegman and, um, Urban Outfitters, have created personalized, autographed lunchboxes that are now onsale via online auction. At Thursday night's kick-off event at Saatchi & Saatchi, a lunchbox by Michael Stipe was snatched up... more ›

MOVIE: In the unlikeliest of scenarios, rapper (and jeweler) Paul Wall, his grills, Reggaetón king Tego Calderón and Wu-Tang's Raekwon traveled to Sierra Leone. The outcome is an informative documentary called Bling: A Planet Rock which focuses on "the flashy world of commercial hip-hop jewelry played a significant role in the ten-year civil war" in West Africa. more ›

Last night Bowery Presents new Brooklyn venue, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, was supposed to open with 'ol New York rocker Patti Smith. Perhaps it's fitting that the opening night didn't go as planned, and instead the new New York rock regime (Brooklynites Matt & Kim) will now christen the new stage tonight. more ›

TIP: Starting today and running through the 16th you can see some of Off-Broadway's best for only $20! Go here for more details about the 20at20 deal. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unstable building on Jewlett Avenue in Staten Island, a jumper down in Brooklyn and a double bank robbery (Commerce and Bank of NY) at 80 Broadway in Manhattan.
• Four winning MegaMillions tickets were sold, but in NJ, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. The numbers were 8-18-22-40-44 (with MegaBall 11), and a lump sum payment would be about $48 million.
• The fugitive businessman who donated thousands to politicians, including Senator Clinton, Governor Spitzer, Attorney General Cuomo, Representative Weiner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Councilman Liu, Comptroller Thompson, has finally turned himself in after 16 years
• Former NJ governor James McGreevery is headed to the General Theological Seminary on Tuesday as a student in a non-degree program.
• Also, if it's back-to-school for students, it's back-to-finding good fake ids for college students.
• onNYTurf is demanding that the MTA offer schedule data as a public feed. We'd be surprised if the MTA can wrangle that much data, but given that they're interested in collaborating with Google...
• Musician Patti Smith posted a poem for CBGB's founder Hilly Kristal on her website
• And in Minneapolis, 19 bicyclists were arrested during Critical Mass (see photographs here) - how was last night's ride?

Last month Reverend Billy was locked up for reciting the First Amendment in Union Square. Tonight he returns with a troupe of others to speak out against the outrageous new law that would limit public photography and filming in New York. more ›

North 6th Street has been quiet with music venue Northsix shutting its door in January, and with Galapagos pretty much closing its doors this summer. However, after murmurings of the upcoming Music Hall of Williamsburg opening, not opening, having problems opening...for months, there's finally a date to mark on the calendar for the venue, which has been slowly taking over the Northsix space (and thensome?). more ›

The store was founded by Ben Bass on what was known as Book Row, which at the time housed 48 bookstores. Today it's run by Fred and Nancy Bass. When asked how the business changed over the past 80 years and if people are still as literary as they once were, Fred Bass answered: more ›

Smith doesn't like to have her photo taken, so we left our camera at home. The Hotel Chelsea bloggers snuck in and took some shots of the action off-stage. Above is their photo of Smith entering the hotel before her performance. more ›

Last night at the Waldorf Astoria, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - the first hip-hop act to receive the honor! The South Bronx group pioneered the genre, being the first to incorporate deejaying and emceeing. more ›

Tibet Rocks more ›

One of the first Carnegie Hall shows we went to, years ago, was the Tibet House Benefit. The President of Tibet House is none other then Uma's dad, Robert A.F. Thurman. The annual show he has help put on is now in its 17th year, and this time around will take place on February 26th. The lineup has been confirmed (why the press release is giving Ben Harper top billing is beyond us) and some of the artists include: Laurie Anderson, Ray Davies, Philip Glass, Deborah Harry, Lou Reed, Sigur Ros (pictured), Patti Smith, Michael Stipe. more ›

THEATER: According to industry rag Variety, playwright Kristine Thatcher “has been deservedly attracting international attention. [Her] latest, Among Friends, is a whimsical and provocative deconstruction of hetero male bonding." The story goes like this: “Three old friends gather as often as possible to play poker. Matt is a struggling Sears appliance salesman; Will, a public school teacher; and Dan, a real-estate developer and award-winning humanitarian. But when Will discovers the lionized Dan cheating at cards, he decides to explore exactly how deeply the rot goes.” - John Del Signore more ›

THEATER: The Pearl Theatre Company, known for their deft handling of classic plays, has revived Molière's satire School for Wives. The play deliciously skewers the aristocrat Arnolphe, who so fears he’ll marry an unfaithful woman that he locks a little girl in a convent for 13 years, keeping her utterly isolated until she comes of age. The hi-jinks begin when he’s finally ready to fulfill his master marriage plan and finds himself outmaneuvered by a cunning young rival, bumbling servants and the bride-to-be herself. The Times says it’s “quite funny.” - John Del Signore more ›

A whole bunch of bands just came together to pay tribute to Bob Dylan. Here's some video from that tribute show, of Phil Lesh and Warren Haynes singing "Thunder on the Mountain". Also on hand were Patti Smith, Ryan Adams, Philip Glass, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cat Power, and many more. more ›

The above is from a set of panoramas taken at CBGB. If you ever feel the need to revisit the sticker wallpapered room again, now you can! more ›

Last night was the final one at CBGB, the (now even more) legendary venue shut it's doors for good sometime after 1am. For a ton of coverage on the last couple of nights there, check out Brooklyn Vegan. Bad Brains was one of the last bands to take the stage, a short video of that is below, and we expect a lot more video (of the last nights with Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, et al) will be showing up as the day goes on. more ›

After what seems like decades of dragging its feet, it really is going to happen. After tonight's performance by Patti Smith, CBGB's will close its doors on the Bowery for the last time. more ›