Today is President's Day, the federal holiday celebrating the birthdays of George Washington (born February 22, 1732) and Abraham Lincoln (born February 12, 1809). The NY Times, which refers to the day as Washington's Day, notes the closings today—government offices, post offices (but the main branch on Eighth Avenue is open), schools, no sanitation pickup, financial markets—plus the fact that NYC subways and buses are on a Saturday schedule (the LIRR is on a holiday/weekend schedule while Metro-North is on a Saturday schedule). Yes, some people heading to work today got the rude awakening that the F was running along the A line between West 4th Street and Jay Street/MetroTech. more ›

Today is a federal holiday honoring the birthday of first president George Washington. Washington was actually born on February 22, but in 1971, the holiday was "shifted to the third Monday in February, by the Uniform Monday Act" (per Wikipedia). Given that Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12, some state governments call the holiday "President's Day." And then the marketers got involved, making this day for sales as well and many presidents in one fell swoop. more ›

Just when we thought we were finally done having to think about the music of 2006, we get one last hurrah of ultimate listage. The 34th annual Pazz and Jop poll finally made landfall this week, and unsurprisingly, there were few shockers. Some feigned outrage/interest that Bob Dylan's latest overtook the otherwise consensus disc of the year by TV on the Radio (see image), but a few minor swaps at the top won't be enough to change many opinions at this point, as we approach Presidents Day 2007. The one thing this (hopefully) final 2006 list brings to our attention is just how, and we’ll just say it, mediocre the last year in music was. A good chunk of these albums were seen as letdowns upon release, yet they find their way up on here regardless. With the exception of TVotR, many of the albums on the final list are seen as some of the respective band's weaker efforts. Few fans thought the newest Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Decemberists, or even the very well received Hold Steady albums were their best to date, yet they all comfortably make the list. Perhaps when we look back at 2006 as the year that "indie rock" started heading towards the mainstream, this list will act more as a tribute to many of the bands that pushed the undefined genre towards the breaking point, rather than a direct celebration of the works themselves. For now, it's just a final reminder that there was so little we truly fell in love with last year. more ›

The prediction is for snow to start tonight, with 5-7 inches to falling before it begins to turn to rain Presidents Day. So while things will clear up by the time we all head back to work, the remnants will surely be messy. (chuckle). more ›

Ah, Presidents Day Weekend is here. Really not much to say about that, except those of you with office jobs can add an extra day to your weekend. Which probably means that the LES bars will be equally annoying on Sunday night. To fill up the extra 24 hours of non office time, here are some suggestions which include (but are not limited to) porn and existential clowns: more ›