London-based solo musician Yoav is a singer/songwriter who works hard to go beyond the usual “man with a guitar” conventions. By looping beats created with his voice and acoustic guitar, his songs are often inflected with an unusual drum 'n' bass flavor. His debut album Charmed & Strange crystallizes this aesthetic with an effect he describes as “DJ-ing with my guitar.” Yoav plays Mercury Lounge Saturday night at 7:30; tickets cost $10. You recently toured......

The police have charged Michael Cordero in the murder of his girlfriend, Boitumelo McCallum. Police sources tell the Daily News and Post that Cordero admitted to confronting McCallum on Friday. From the Post:Cordero told cops he visited McCallum, 20, a day after she threw a party there without inviting him, authorities said. After his arrival, the two lay on her bed and watched a movie he had brought - but Cordero was in a foul......

Now that Tiki Barber is working for the Today show, it looks like the producers are all up in his business. Well, at least when Tiki's bags get lost. On his way to South Africa for the show's "Where in the World" gimmick, Barber missed a connecting flight and his bags got lost in the shuffle. And since the former NY Giant was traveling with just "essential toiletries," Sean Reis, producer for Today, purchased almost......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In......

EVENT: As the Sopranos prepares to reach its end, creator David Chase will discussing "the fine art of whacking". Joining him will be many of the characters who have been whacked on the show, including: Steve Buscemi, “Tony Blundetto”, Drea de Matteo, “Adriana La Cerva”, Vincent Pastore, “Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero” and many more. 6pm // Museum of TV and Radio [25 West 52 St] // $15 COMEDY: Aziz Ansari will be at Union......

Yesterday, officials welcomed Barclays as the winner in the $400 million naming rights derby for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. The NY Times reports that the Nets looked at various entities to pitch the idea of becoming lucky one to pay lots of money to have its name on the Frank Gehry-designed arena and decided Barclays Bank "needed a game changer, that they don’t have as big a presence or brand recognition here as......

Two quite controversial and buzzed about movies hit New York theaters this weekend. So far the critical opinion of raving lunatic Mel Gibson's new foreign language feature, Apocalypto, seems to be pretty favorable. The movie about a Mayan family man and the invading nearby tribe, sounds like it is painstakingly composed but has quite a bit of gratuitous, sadistic violence. Lisa Schwartzbaum in EW even calls it "the weirdest, most violent movie of the year,"......

The city's new health curriculum will require teachers to start to explain what HIV is to their students starting on Monday. Even kindergarteners will be learning that HIV is a "germ" and "not easy to get," per the Daily News. If the city has figured out a way to make children understand that HIV is not necessarily a death sentence and may just be another illness that people can live with, way to go -......

A single lampost illuminates the sidewalk outside of the recently opened Grape & Grain, a dimly lit wine & tapas bar trying to find its niche on 6th Street between Avenues B & C. Formerly the neighborhood coffee and sandwich shop, Drink Me, four friends (including a set of brothers), took over the the neighborhood favorite -- furniture, dishware, chandeliers and all. Lit only with candles, Grape & Grain currently offers five white wines......

Gothamist has been on a Bordeaux kick lately. Perhaps it’s because we overdid on the Spanish Riojas, but lately the rich, complex notes of a great Bordeaux have us longing for just one glass more. And perhaps one more after that, but then we swear we’re moving on to South African wines (Mmmm…Pinotage). There seems to be a misconception that you have to pay a lot to get a good Bordeaux, and while some of......

Pinot Noir has captured the hearts and tastebuds of all of us. The soft velvet texture, the bright raspberry fruit, a touch of earthy notes – it’s pretty much perfection. Some may ask, how could you ever improve on Pinot? Perhaps the answer is you can’t, but South Africa has found a way to kick it up a notch. (We promise, no more Emeril references). Pinotage is a grape that is made by crossing the......

In addition to the two great events we mentioned earlier, there are also a number of other worthwhile art happenings going on this week. Plenty in fact to satisfy even the most dedicated fine art junkie. On both June 23rd and June 27th, the Public Art Fund will be presenting 9 Drawings for Projection, a outdoor performance and film screening of short animated films by renowned South African artist William Kentridge. The films, from Kentridge's......

He may not be anchor anymore, but Dan Rather did get a kiss from the HIV-positive Sesame Street muppet, Kami, at the Peabody Awards event last night. Awww, but alert Ken Tomlinson - this must be evidence of the so-called liberal bias of PBS! Rather received a Peabody for his 60 Minutes II report on the prisoner abuses at Abu Gharib; a one-hour documentary for South African Sesame Street to encourage adults and children to......

Gothamist loves Mexican food, and was therefore very pleased to find that Mexican fare had finally made its way to Fort Greene, Brooklyn. While Fort Greene is full of French restaurants (Chez Oskar, A Table are just two), as well as Middle Eastern and South African fare, it's been a long wait for tacos, guacamole, and the like.So what a pleasant surprise it was to stumble upon Peque�a a few months ago. As its name......

Manhattan User's Guide has a nice roundup of some new and old places for a drink. Gothamist is most interested in Shebeen (202 Mott Street) - "Irish name, South African owners, in the middle of Chinatown and Little Italy, occasional African music played." Also, MUG mentions the bar at Tom Valenti's newest UWS venture, 'Cesca (164 W. 75th Street). The bar is nice and roomy, plus provides some funny people watching. Apparently the bar menu......

The MTA and the People (as represented by the Straphangers and the Automobile club) go back to court to debate whether or not fare increases should be rolled back. The big issues are how the MTA deliberately misled everyone to believe that they were in financial dire straits and that the MTA is providing a costly service that probably will need some sort of fare and toll increases some point soon. More coverage from NY1.......