Click through for more on Spoon's big Radio City show, The Walkmen at Bell House, She and Him at Bowery Ballroom, and the return of Celebrate Brooklyn! more ›

A poignant week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

Food bloggers from around the world are offering delicious prizes as part of Menu for Hope 4. Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised an incredible $62,925 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. Want more details? Well, here’s the FAQ. From December 10-21, you can buy raffle tickets to bid on any on the food-related prizes being offered. Tickets cost... more ›

Except for the large banner hanging from the scaffolding outside Pasta Wafu, you would hardly know it was there. It is tucked in the long and narrow space behind the usually packed Ramen Setagaya, and the name on the door still reads "Oriental Spoon," it's former incarnation as a Japanese tapas restaurant, which itself only opened in July. But Pasta Wafu is all new and features Japanese style pasta, and sushi, and Italian food--all under one roof. Confusing? Yes. Tasty? Well, that too. more ›

, by Simone Ortega. more ›

This week Bruni one-stars Bar Stuzzichini. Says that overall the restaurant is “an honorable effort worthy of note. Its dishes include more successes than failures.” However, service is flawed, lighting unflattering and the space itself “evocative of…a Midtown mess hall.” more ›

What started off as an excellent concert lineup just got better and better as the date approached. The additions of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Kevin Drew were a bonus treat. Music, reading and charity aside, perhaps the biggest wow moment was show headliner Jim James' new closely cropped haircut. The My Morning Jacket front man sheared his trademark Muppet locks since the last time we've seen him about. Not that it affected the music in any way, which nearly stole the show from some other very capable performers. Check out more thoughts and pics at BV and Stereogum, and check out our interview with 826NYC's Sarah Vowell. (pic via Muzicspy's flickr) more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles. more ›

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco. more ›

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999. more ›

EVENT: The New York Book Club at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents…"Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered New York City". The panelists include "Hal Buell, longtime AP photo editor who put images of the Vietnam War in newspapers across America; Richard Drew, AP photographer who has covered New York events including 9/11; Edie Lederer, longtime UN correspondent and first woman to be the foreign chief of bureau; and Valerie Komor, corporate archives director of the AP." more ›

It's been something like 9 years since the last time Faithless played in New York. Considering that the band is one of the largest in England and the rest of the world, selling out soccer stadiums and headlining major music festivals year after year, their return to the States is a pretty big deal. Hitting a couple club dates on their way to Coachella, they stopped by Webster Hall earlier in the week and completely blew the roof off the place. Read more at Music Snobbery. If you're in Indio tonight, make it your business to catch these guys before they leave the continent. (pic via ultrahi's flickr) more ›

We here at the Gothamist Arts & Entertainment World Headquarters may disagree on what to think about Patrick Wolf, but there is a solidifying consensus that his performance at Hiro last night (his first NYC appearance in 4 years) was not too great. Our growing frustration with Hiro Ballroom is only magnified by how impressive their booking has been of late. For the first three quarters of the short set, the sound was grating. Nothing mixed together, vocals either came in too strong or not at all, and the intricate instrumentation on stage was impossible to decipher. It wasn't until the final song of the set, The Magic Position, where everything came together correctly, but by then the damage has been done. One of the saddest side effects of the closings of the many different downtown rock clubs is that the acts that should normally be playing in them are now getting gobbled up by larger, non-music venues where the concert attendee is considered an afterthought. Every time we have to suffer through a set at a place like Hiro, Annex or R&R, our anticipated longing for places like Sin-e and Tonic grows more and more. more ›

Urban Spoon has put up a fun mashup: more ›

Just listening to a lot of records, getting emotional about them, falling in love with them. more ›

Let’s start with some birth announcements. more ›

Looking ahead to this week's movie options, there's a few indie-sized pics and one massive, Super Big Gulp-sized car racing comedy. Ordinarily Gothamist is all about championing the cinematic little guy, but when it's this goofy, yet earnest we say go for the excess. more ›

You can listen to a couple of their songs here and here. More on Myspace. more ›

Not that you were asking, but we know you wanted it. The obligatory Best of '05 List. We chose to list off the Best NYC Shows in 2005. We compiled this list after closely surveying and consulting...ourselves. Here are our Top 11 NYC Shows of 2005. That's right, we said ELEVEN. more ›

Saturday: Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 80 degrees. Lows in the low 70s. [via WNBC] more ›

What a disaster yesterday was. After prominently featuring the Cloud Cult show at Knitting Factory last week, it ends up the show was never actually happening. If you bought tickets, contact Knitting Factory and/or Ticketweb and get your money back. The good news: we wouldn't have been able to talk about Cloud Cult on Gothamist otherwise, so hopefully you discovered a great new band (still haven't listened?). more ›

We're anxious to see if M.I.A.'s live show has improved since her last (and only) N.Y.C. show at Knitting Factory in February. Then again, we don't really care. After releasing one of the year's hottest albums, it's hard for the grimey Sri Lankan-born rapper to do any wrong. Diplo mans the decks Tuesday and Wednesday night at S.O.B.'s. You can also hear Diplo DJing at Rothko Tuesday night (after the M.I.A. show), and they'll both be back to play Summerstage on August 7th. more ›

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, is excited to announce the initial line-up for the 5th Annual Village Voice SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL(tm) at Coney Island on Saturday, July 16th from 12:00 noon - 9:00 p.m. Scheduled performers include Spoon, Mates Of State, Brendan Benson, VHS Or Beta, Dungen, Q And Not U, and The Dears, with many more to be announced.

Robbers on High Street more ›

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 your umbrella and head to the May Day Festival in Tompkins Square Park this Sunday. And in the meantime, check this stuff out: more ›

The Duplass Brothers, Filmmakers more ›

As is usually the case, the local concert schedule around Thanksgiving is a tad thin. Look at it this way: If you go out, you'll have a little extra elbow room. Or, look at it this way: If you go out, you may be seeing bands that are playing to half-empty rooms, and nobody likes to play to half-empty rooms. more ›

Eliot Shepard, Slower.net more ›

After the Guardian released its list of top 40 American bands (still playing), information leafblower took it upon himself to compile another top 40 list - this time coming from a panel of different bloggers. Here is the top ten: more ›

Morgan stars in the sharp-edged family comedy as father, husband and small-business owner Tracy Mitchell, who, with his beautiful, no-nonsense wife Alicia (Tamala Jones, �Head of State�), share their modest apartment with their two kids, 13-year-old Derrick (Marc John Jefferies, �The Haunted Mansion�) and 7-year-old Jimmy (newcomer Bobb�e J. Thompson). While at work at his auto garage, Mitchell is responsible for his other more dysfunctional family of mechanics -- Spoon (John Witherspoon, �The Wayans Bros.�) and Bernard (Heavy D, �The Cider House Rules�). Every day, they remind Tracy of the headaches of running a business as they contend with neighborhood characters and would-be customers such as Freddie (Katt Williams, �The Friday After Next�).