Joshua Camp, one part of the band One Ring Zero, will be paying tribute to Charles Ives this weekend, 100 years after his ground-breaking piece Central Park In The Dark -- with his own piece honoring Prospect Park. 8 Prospects is a suite for six musicians and "reflects Brooklyn’s most-loved park and a new century of urban sounds." It will be performed the next two Sundays at Brooklyn's Barbès, and hopefully one day in the......

(Le) Poisson Rouge somewhat quietly opened the doors to 158 Bleecker Street a little over a week ago. The renovated space is still undergoing some final touches before their grand opening in September, but they are currently partially open and hosting shows (view the calendar here). The venue has a pretty legendary history, from the press release:"The Village Gate operated at 158 Bleecker Street from the late '50s until 1993, and played host to icons......

Each summer the Met offers a free outdoor performance, and the one-night-only event is going down in Prospect Park later this evening. Two of the opera world's biggest stars, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, will be belting out duets as Ion Marin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Fun fact: Gheorghiu and Alagna were married backstage at the Met during a run of La Bohème in 1996...by Giuliani! Head over to the park (there's......

With venues closing down left and right, it's nice to see some opening as well -- especially in Manhattan where most are getting priced out. "(Le) Poisson Rouge is "an 800-capacity multimedia art cabaret founded by musicians on the site of the historic Village Gate." The space, located at 158 Bleecker, will be opening once their ongoing major remodeling work is complete. Right now there are some events booked for June, but they tell......

Photos via WireImage. Madonna, who recently stated that NYC gives her the zzz's, was stirring things up in town for an intimate performance last night. Her Madgesty took the Roseland Ballroom stage in front of 2,200 fans, for a show which demanded die-hards wait in line for what turned out to be 60 hours, just for a chance to get into. Fanatics? No. One of them, a Brooklynite, swears, “I’m not fanatical. But I......

Photo of Orphic Memory Sausage by Matthew Weinreb 2008, printed with permission from the artists: Mimi Oka and Doug Fitch. Lots of chefs consider their food to be art, but few artists see their art as food. A new festival called Umami – a Japanese word meaning "savory" or "meaty" – is trying to change all that. The ten day smorgasbord, which started Tuesday, spotlights artists and performers who use food as a medium, and......

I'm Not There Nails It We went into seeing I'm Not There yesterday afternoon kind of expecting to hate it, thinking it would be vague and pretentious and a chore to absorb. But boy were we wrong! The movie avoids many annoying biopic clichés, presenting 6 separate, yet surprisingly straightforward stories based on the life of Bob Dylan. While non-linear, the narratives are complete and engrossing. The film is shot beautifully, and needless to say......

THEATER: Eugene O’Neill’s early one-act plays get a rare blast of daylight in The Pioneer, a new production that stages four of his nascent gems plus a whimsical monologue O’Neill wrote from the point of view of his dog. The plays boast O’Neill’s signature assortment of furious, flailing characters that would come to dominate his full-length work. Writing for the Times, Rachel Saltz notes that the plays range from “interesting” to “wonderful” and concludes that......

City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein characterized last year's assessment test scores as "good," but critics say that they represent a lack of progress and a failure of Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to reform city schools. City kids' scores stayed flat on national assessment exams in math and reading, with a slight improvement in 4th graders' math scores and a drop in 8th graders' reading scores. "New York City’s eighth graders have made no significant progress in......

Performance artist and activist Bill Talen, AKA Reverend Billy, has been raising hell in New York City for so long now it’s hard to imagine this town without him. Since first seizing his sidewalk pulpit in the late 90s to combat the Disneyfication of Times Square, the reverend has been consistently down with a host of local and international progressive causes. With the help of his raucous Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, he also puts on......

SPA: FreeNYC tells us that "in honor of their 20th Anniversary, Nina's European Day Spa is offering up some free and discounted treatments!" Get there before 7pm and you'll get a free eyebrow threading or waxing, free mini microdermabrasion, and free hand treatments. Free: it's a beautiful price. 12 to 7pm // Nina's European Day Spa [5 W 35th St] // Free PERFORMANCE ART: Remember how in 2005, during a visit by England’s cricket team......

This weekend, you could take a trip back to the 1860s with a visit to Governors Island. It's the Civil War Weekend, and the 119th New York Volunteer Historical Association will "recreate garrison life on Governors Island during the Civil War, portraying officers, soldiers and guards in the Regular Army conducting drills, a guard mount and historic weapons demonstrations." Here's a schedule of events for both Saturday and Sunday: 10:00: Witness the morning calls......

Earth Day may have passed, but there are many ways you can be eco-conscious. Take fashion, for instance. Videographer Kelly Loudenberg gives us a look a few eco-fashion approaches:Last week, the Emerging Green Builders of New York presented the “Project Earth Day” fashion show, an eco-friendly fashion event celebrating Earth Day. Designs ranged from re-worked used clothing to new clothing made from organic or recycled fibers. Runway designer Amber Nelson said, “We tried to......

MUSIC: The Good, the Bad and the Queen play a sold out show at Webster Hall tonight, but before that they're playing a much more intimate show for free at the Apple Store. Not familiar with the band? It's headed up by Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz fame. 2pm // Apple Store SoHo [103 Prince St] // Free Loney, Dear are joined by Tunng and Moi Caprice tonight at Union Hall. Loney, Dear played......

Just a thought as we look ahead to this week's new releases. Someone should really take Diane Keaton aside to tell her that this series of increasingly painful looking romantic comedies where she plays an over-the-top meddling mom aren't good for her cinematic legacy. The newest installment is the Mandy Moore romantic comedy, Because I Said So, where Keaton plays a mother desperate to marry off her headstrong youngest daughter. Please Diane, after loving you......

Blogs aren’t just for socially-awkward shut-ins anymore and we’ve got proof: many successful, outgoing theater types maintain weblogs. While they don't get as much glory (or contempt) as their influential music-blog counterparts, they do have their dignity. And there's sometimes drama! Here’s a small sampling of some theater blogs that keep us busy at work. If you like James Urbaniak the actor, you’ll want to know James Urbaniak the blogger. At Voucher Ankles, the man......

EVENT: Tonight at the Apple Store, the NYC photobloggers get together again. Come check out: Scott Heiferman, Kara Canal, Rebecca Smeyne, Will Sherman, Kamau Mucoki, Boogie and Martin Fuchs. There's an afterparty (TBA) so be sure too look nice, with all those cameras out and all. Friday // 6:30pm // SoHo Apple Store [103 Prince Street @ Greene] // Free SIDEWALK SALE: Have a bookshelf to stock? Head over to the Strand Bookstore. They're having......

This week the multiplexes seem practically flooded with new releases, in addition to the good things already out, so much so that Gothamist is starting to fall behind on our movie consumption. But never fear, we shall surely rally. Here's a few suggestions to guide your own weekend viewing. To get them out of the way first, there's two sequels coming out that might be worth your time if you fall into a certain demographic......

Michael Showalter has joined the faculty of the Peoples Improv Theater. The PIT is home of the most prestigious professional comedy writing program in the country and has added him as one of the four new teachers to their faculty. Showalter, who we all know from “The Baxter" (which we loved) and “Stella” (which we just weren't that into), will offer a 6-week course on “Writing a Comedy Screenplay” starting on March 20. The course......

The NY State Health Department launched a website, New York State Hospital Profile, where you can see performance reports for all hospitals in the state. You can even compare hospitals with tools on the site. The big performance indicators are Measure Name Performance learn more about Appropriate heart attack care "Appropriate heart attack care," "Appropriate heart failure care," and "Appropriate pneumonia care" (there's also, when applicable "Appropriate surgical infection prevention"). One of the big things......

We're sure you're all busy with office parties and hiding from the cold, cold weather. But it's one of the last weekends of 2005, so try to get out there (besides, who knows if we'll have subways after the weekend is over!) THEATER: When a beleaguered last-minute shopper is desperately trying to find the hottest toy of the season at All-Mart - a good 'ol fashioned holiday shopping brawl knocks her unconscious and catapults her......

The holidays are upon us. Tomorrow sees the release of two of the more eagerly awaited films of the season, and we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet! We've been hearing fantastic things about the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. It wowed audiences at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and now critics are talking about Joaquin Phoenix's performance as they did last year about Jamie Foxx. One huge difference: Foxx lip-synced everything in Ray;......

ART: For The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Gary Baseman taps into the id, the psyche of primitive impulses. Influenced by “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, a renaissance masterpiece by Hieronymous Bosch, Baseman creates what he calls "pervasive art". He uses both the channels of mass media TV, Film, Print, and fine art. [Right: Anita 11" x 8.5" Ephemera, mixed media] September 10th through October 8th // Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm // Jonathan LeVine......

Michael Showalter, comedian & filmmaker...

[Warning: The following contains MTV Movie Award spoilers! If such a thing exists.] "Sweet!" As if conquering the legislature wasn't enough, Napoleon Dynamite won Best Movie and the film's star, Jon Heder, won for both Best Musical Performance and Male Breakthrough Performance (must have been his awesome bo-staff skills....or perhaps, because it was a Paramount/MTV Films movie) at the MTV Movie Awards, scheduled to air Thursday night. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, the MTV Awards had,......

Friday the 13th stopped being scary for us when we were younger, rebellious and declaring things like "13, in fact, is our lucky number". We embraced the superstition and turned it in to our lucky day. Or, as it turns out, just another day. Anyway, we were hoping that some theater in this city would be showing Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, but no such...luck. You'll have to deal with these other non-scary events:......

If you aren't in Indio, California this weekend then you aren't seeing Nine Inch Nails, the Arcade Fire or Spoon. You also aren't going to be suffering from heat stroke in a desert and buying $8 bottles of water, so we think you made a wise decision to skip Coachella. This weekend in New York we say goodbye to April, which if the old saying is correct - no more rain! Right? So throw away......

This weekend it's going to be cold. Again. But don't stay inside sitting on your radiators just because it's snowing, head out there and warm up in theaters! Galleries! And bars! (Oh my!) Here are some suggestions. MUSIC: Tonight in Brooklyn the Village Voice proclaimed "Best Thrower Of No-BS Far-Flung Indie Rock Shows", Todd P, will be throwing a party for Deli Magazine. Described as an intriguing, multifaceted, impossible to ignore succession of inspired semi-maniacs......

Oh, Jerry. The Screen Actors Guild has given you a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, a now-posthumous tribute to your work as Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order. Though you face some tough (James Gandolfini in the Sopranos, Kiefer "Job/Sisyhpus" Sutherland in 24) competition, Gothamist feels your work ruled, because you created a character whose interior life we could imagine with just a wiggle of your eyebrow.......

Gothamist just finished reading Please Kill Me and recently read that Lester Bangs book. Apparently there's nothing more punk rock than a book. So it's only fitting that another one deciphering the life and times of punk rock royalty has popped up. This one is called Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer [by Antonino D’ Ambrosio]. And it comes with a kick ass rockshow at CBGB's [details below]. The......