EVENT: For book lovers and the broken hearted, head over to the Knitting Factory after work for the book release party for "How Not to Date." The series of vignettes will make you feel better as they focus on nightmare dates, relationships and every sordid detail in between. Author Judy McGuire says, "There'll be snacks, a cash bar with happy hour prices, book giveaways, and some surprises (which may or may not include interpretive......

Professor, author and activist Robert Thurman is widely regarded as the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism, having been a major force in the widespread introduction of Tibetan culture and religion to the west. In 1962, Thurman became the first American ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, but after a few years he shifted from strict monasticism to the more conventional lifestyle of an academic. Though currently on sabbatical to write another book, Thurman remains......

MUSIC: Merkin Concert Hall is reopening, and to help celebrate some of the piano greats will be on hand for a free, six hour concert. Philip Glass and John Medeski will be amongst those who will perform. Get more details here. 2 to 8pm // Merkin Concert Hall [129 W 67th St] // Free We had a chance to catch Marla Hansen (pictured) last year, and the Brooklynite silenced the room with her hushed compositions.......

EVENT: Julian Schnabel will be screening clips from his latest flick, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly tonight. Lou Reed, who Schnabel recently documented in Lou Reed’s Berlin, will also be on hand. 7pm // Apple Store [103 Prince St] // Free READING: The Desk Set's "Drinks with an Author" series continues tonight at Greenpoint's WORD. This evening chat with Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer, authors of How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter......

Takeover BAM went down Saturday night after Sufjan Stevens’s last BQE show. There were 5 bands playing until 4am in the Opera House, bawdy burlesque shows, DJs and dancing in the swank BAM café, art by Mighty Robot and others, rock documentaries, a Lindsay Lohan Mid-Career Retrospective (“Mid-Career” – get it?) and $3 beer. It sounded like such a great time that we eagerly showed up at 11:30, only to realize that we weren’t the......

The serenader of the 50 states, Sufjan Stevens, grew his midwestern roots and reached New York in the late 90s -- where he has resided since. So it's only fitting a tribute to our state has arrived, after nearly a decade of soaking up the city. And perhaps separating himself from the rest of the city, he's found something special in the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. As announced this summer, Sufjan's latest muse is none other than......

Bright Eyes Shows Off His Friends Okay Conor, we get it: you have cool friends. This week, during the Bright Eyes 7-night run at Town Hall, the band promised a special guest each night. So far he's brought out the likes of Lou Reed, Steve Earle, Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones and Ben Kweller. Each played a few songs of their own mid set before joining in jamming with the rest of the group. On the......

Stephen Dima, Seaport Music...

For a long time we didn't listen to Wolfmother just because they had "wolf" in their name. We were sick it. Wolfmother, Wolf Eyes, We Are Wolves..."how could any of them be better than Wolf Parade?" we thought. Then in a warehouse in Austin this March, sometime around 3am, we were sipping on our nth PBR and who came on stage? It was that nice gentleman with the crazy hair that we rode the hotel......

Thank god the holidays are finally over and bands are getting back into the swing of things. Now we can sell off all our unwanted gifts on eBay (how much do you think we can get for a hypercolor "hip" bible?) and spend the cash on evil rock and roll, which is back with a vengeance in our fine, fine city. Why are secret shows never really a secret? The Mooney Suzuki play in semi-secrecy......

Move over Brooklyn Vegan, now there's something leaner. And tastier, too. Mmmm, meat. Hello, I'm Catherine's Pita (henceforth known as Gothamist), and I'm here to tell you about the shows most likely to satisfy your hunger for the rock this week. Here's what's on the menu: Monday starts things off with a bloody slew of interesting shows. Seattle will most certainly be in the house at the Knitting Factory (and Tuesday at Northsix) as Pretty......

Camera phone looky-loos, this one's for you. We're talking about the biggest band to hit small to medium sized NYC venues since Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and The Arcade Fire. We're talking about Montreal's latest buzz band Wolf Parade. You've got three chances to see them this week. That's three chances to see them before they come back to play Webster Hall. If you can't find a ticket to the sold......

We don't know where to begin with show recommendations this week. Emily Haines is in town with her band Metric for shows at Bowery Ballroom and Southpaw. Today Pitchfork declared the new Broken Social Scene album, on which she appears, "best new music." Broken Social Scene's new label-mates, The Most Serene Republic, are opening both shows. Then there's the Decemberists. Back in town once again, they're also playing two shows - Webster Hall tonight......

Since it's late in the day, and the benefit show featuring Sufjan Stevens and Adam Green at Bowery Ballroom is sold out, we're going to quickly highlight one other show happening tonight in Brooklyn. The band is Architecture in Helsinki. The venue is Warsaw. "The best eight-piece art-hippie collective Australia has ever produced, Architecture in Helsinki, is all about some cultural mishmash. With a membership including a white dread, an unshod singer, a guy......

Gothamist loves Sufjan Stevens. We think Illinois is perhaps the best album of 2005 and that he is one of the finest songwriters of our generation. So maybe we just had too many expectations for one of our favorites. Or maybe it was too many margaritas at Festival while waiting for the (awfully late) 11:45 start time to come around. Hate to say it, but we were rather disappointed by Saturday night's show. There was......

Will the real Neil Diamond please step forward? The kings of (indie) rock n' roll converge on NYC this week. Each will attempt to outdo the other. Ben Gibbard impersonator Colin Meloy and his merry band of Decemberists return for their umpteenth NYC show since they first set foot here in May 2003. We aren't complaining. The Thursday night gig at the 5000 capacity Summerstage promises to be their biggest New York show yet, but......

There's a lot going on this weekend, as per usual. While we didn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo last night, nor were we at the New Order show...we are finding ourselves a little bit tired today. We blame the weather and lack of caffeine in our system, so we're hoping the sun will come out and we'll be able to motivate to some of these events: FILM: The Arlene's Grocery Picture Show is returning this Saturday.......

This is where Gothamist tells you what tickets to buy...before they sell out and you are left bargaining on Craigslist. First and foremost there is the Arcade Fire @ Bowery November 11th, it's sold out now but we bet that they'll add more tickets, so keep checking. Okay, so why is this a special edition you may be asking. Well, for the past month or two Gothamist has been putting together its first event. There......

Back in June Gothamist's favorite radio station, KEXP, came for a week long visit as it broadcasted live out of the Museum of Television & Radio. At that time we had a chance to sit and chat with morning deejay extroidanaire John Richards. Very (very) early in the morning, mind you. We also got a chance to catch some great bands in the intimate in-studio performance space. KEXP never ceases to amaze us with what......

Gothamist has retained its passes for the upcoming CMJ Music Marathon and is a bit overwhelmed by the schedule. Shows, lectures, panels and events we want to attend + time in the day is not equalling out very well, but we're going to load up on caffeine and do our best to attend and cover it all. Space-Time Continuum be damned, we'll be everywhere at once. Some highlights for us are going to be.........

It's a good week for live music, kids. Check it: Tonight, the Angel Orensanz Foundation hosts what should be a great show. Stephin Merritt (that's Mr. Magnetic Fields to you), Dudley Klute and LD Beghtol perform as The Three Terrors in one of the city's most unique venues. Ohio beer drinking machine Guided By Voices stop by Pier 54 tomorrow for the what should be a loud, drunken and fun gig. The indie rock legend's......

Just a reminder incase you didn't see this post last month: Gothamist has missed far too many sold out shows to know that buying tickets ahead of time is imperative. In that vein, every month or so we'll make it a point to update you with a list of shows we think may sell out. This way you can buy tickets ahead of time and avoid that last minute Craigslist surfing. Here is a list......

As with most three-day weekends, a great number of New Yorkers ditch the city to enjoy the extra day of R&R. Sunday night is pretty dead at most of the city's clubs, but all other nights are as happening as ever. For fans of African music, you can't do too much better than Bembeya Jazz's show at S.O.B.'s tonight. Tickets are $22/$25. There's a show at 9pm and another show at 10pm. Seriously. I guess......