The incoming president of the Obesity Society has filed a 33-page affidavit questioning the city’s new rules requiring chain restaurants to prominently display calorie information on their menus. Dr. David B. Allison (pictured), a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, cites a study indicating that dieters who get distracted by calorie information are more likely to overeat. And even if the daunting calorie details prompt diners to go for lower calorie......

Singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins has steadily cultivated a loyal following with his warm and thoughtful catalog of tunes. Subdued but soulful, and sometimes swinging, Perkins's debut album Ash Wednesday won critical raves for what Pitchfork called his "ability to merge instrumentation and lyricism to create a romantic's sense of atmosphere." Rolling Stone's review observed a somewhat sombre tone in the album and attributed it to Perkins's unique and rather traumatic family history: His father, actor Anthony......

Call us shamelessly grandiose, but when the dust settles on the first disheartening decade of our new century, we're certain that Andrew Bird will be widely acknowledged as one of the artists who best captured (and playfully tweaked) our era's portentous zeitgeist. Indie-rock critics and bloggers have been lauding him for years, and now Bird is finally selling out the big clubs (and touring in a BioDiesel bus). On his albums, his rich, multi-textural sound......

DJ Hazard is a comedian who's lived a wild life. He was a part of the wild Boston comedy scene of the 80's that spawned the likes of Stephen Wright and Bobcat Goldthwait, he's talked people out of killing themselves, and he's lived out of his car for three years as he traveled the country doing stand up. Someone get this guy a book deal! What are your earliest memories of comedy, of seeing......

It finally snowed yesterday, but it wasn't quite the Winter Wonderland we'd been waiting for. Because being pelted by sleet/freezing rain does not make the heart happy, nor does slipping on what looks like a cleared patch of sidewalk. There were winds in at least the 30+ m.p.h. zone, which also made it worse. Many roads were unplowed, and Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty admitted, "Sometimes I'd rather try and control a 12-inch snowstorm than......

It’s been a couple of year since Baltimore auteur John Waters has brought a new movie to the silver screen but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been as busy as ever. Whether it’s guest starring on TV shows or curating art exhibits, Waters puts his distinctive, off kilter imprint on anything he’s involved in, even the lowly mix tape. After adding oddity to your holiday soundtrack with his Christmas CD A John Waters Christmas, Waters......

Ooh, New York's Look Book captures John Waters on the subway!Do you always ride the subway? People always ask me what I’m doing on the subway, but I love it! Sometimes I like to ride in the front car and look out the window at the rats. I’m just glad I’m not crippled, because I hate the bus. Every block takes a hundred hours.Word! We'd love for his next movie to involve the subway system......

Brian Regan has been one of my favorite comedians for quite some time now. I noticed long ago that the Interweb is lacking in terms of interviews with Brian, so when I found out that he was coming to New York I knew that it was my responsibility to fill some of that void. So now I present to you my interview with Brian, which will probably later be used as research for other......

-- Good news: a New York judge stayed the possible demolition of St. Brigid's Church in the East Village until after Labor Day. -- It's funny because it's true: "Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood." -- Charlie Todd organized an astounding 215 people to conduct his latest prank: "Slow-Mo Home Depot." Deliciously pointless! -- In related news, Time Out NY devoted their entire issue this week to......

Maria Bamford is in town to tape her second Comedy Central Presents special. She discusses her years doing mall openings as a Star Trek character, her forthcoming CD and DVD, and putting on comedy shows in her house. What sort of place is Duluth, Minnesota? It's like Canada, but without the metric system. What sort of role did comedy play in your life growing up? My dad, sister, and I used to listen to Steve......

Kate Bornstein wants you to stay alive—whether you’re a “freak,” a teen, an outlaw, or President Bush (if only to give him a piece of her mind). The 58-year-old transgendered writer, who's best known for her works on gender theory such as Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us and My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, was spurred into......

Ever since bringing down seven clubs at the start of this month, the police have been cracking down on clubs, and clubowners are feeling unfairly targeted - not just from the police looking for drug dealers, but also from neighborhood residents. Clubowners say that the police are actually hurting the city's economy making them feel unwelcome while the police say the raids were prompted by community complaints. Ah, the double edged sword of gentrification -......

Rick Burnley, Poet/Activist ...

Mick Stingley, Low-Rent Rock Critic...

Brother John McCarthy, Street Preacher...

Darci Ratliff, Kittenpants ...

Incandescent Traveling Salesman ...

Bennett Madison, Author...

Noah Tarnow, Producer/Quizmaster, The Big Quiz Thing...

Sometimes I get invited to events that are out of my price range, like dinners at expensive restaurants. I don't earn much and can't always afford to go to these events. I want to hang out with my friends without seeming like a cheapskate. What should I do? Moneyless in Midtown Since nights out in New York rarely consist of one stop, why don't you see if you can join your friends after dinner? If......

We've had a chance to listen to the band Audio Fiction recently and thought they'd be perfect to tell you about this week. Why? Because the RNC is in town, and this band is most likely doing everything in its creative power to counter the Republican agenda. Stop. Pause. And thank them now. Not to pigeon-hole them as only a politically driven band they are catchy pop rock with a message. Check them out......

Reverend Billy, Street Preacher, The Church of Stop Shopping...

Girlynyc, Panty Blogger...

Caroline Castiglia, Comedy Queen...

Brian Bieniowski, Associate Editor...

I live about an hour outside the city, and I frequently take the train in on my days off from work. Occasionally, however, I drive, and as much as it humiliates me to admit this, I'm still somewhat confused by all the "no parking" signs and rules. I know about driveways and fire hydrants and all that, but occasionally I'll see a "no parking" sign with cars parked all around it. Or I'll get......

For lunch, I often frequent a salad bar that has an assortment of pre-made salads that you can add to your plastic container, all priced at one per pound rate. There is only one salad that has chicken in it, and often I�ll go and pick out the chicken for my container, not taking the accompanying overdressed lettuce. Sometimes I�ll get looks from other patrons when I do this, but I often see others doing......

Juliana Nash, Co-owner of Pete's Candy Store...

Rachel Kramer Bussel, Smut Editor/Writer...

Elizabeth Spiers...