The Village Voice has taken a page from MTV and begun to invade the cribs of rock stars. Okay, indie rock stars...who haven't quite broken out of their downtown bubble yet. First up on Indie Cribz (it's really called that): Team Robespierre. Mediocre band, amazing "semi-legal" apartment story. Bassist of the band, Mike House, lives in a former squat on 9th Street between Avenues C and D. In 2002 Giuliani sold the former squat to......

Today the Times’s chief food critic Frank Bruni revisits WD-50 (pictured) and elevates the Lower East Side avant-garde restaurant to three stars (a 2003 Times review by another critic had awarded it two). Chef Wylie Dufresne has made WD-50 a destination with his experimental, transgressive menu, and Bruni concedes that in the past “too many of his creations were gratuitously perverse… many visitors understandably feel that what they’ve experienced isn’t so much a meal as......

The only way to save Harlem for the benefit of its longtime residents is to economically cripple the neighborhood. So says Dr. James Manning of the ATLAH World Ministry church. He's proposing an economic boycott of the area in Manhattan between 110th St. and 155th St., from the Harlem River to the Hudson River. The plan is that once interloper businesses have been driven out via bankruptcy, Harlem will become a less desirable place to......

Last October, on the heels of 6-year-old Natalie Shea getting slapped on the wrist for her chalk graffiti, Ellis Gallagher was jailed for his own chalk art. The 34-year-old artist was in the middle of creating a piece as New York Voices documented his process. The cops saw him, tagged him as a graffiti artist, and took him in. After spending 17 hours in jail the charges were dropped -- but the story doesn't end......

When They Might Be Giants released their twelfth album, The Else, over the summer, The Village Voice called it “as tuneful and rockin' as all the rest, from the withering ‘I'm Impressed’ to the female-empowerment anthem ‘Take Out the Trash.’” Keeping it fresh is no small feat for a band with such an impressive body of work, accumulated over the course of the past 25-plus years. But a listen to The Else or, even better,......

Mayor Bloomberg may be finding that coy flirtation can be cute at first, but quickly becomes old and aggravating if carried on for too long. The New York Times has a story today describing a growing backlash against a Mayor who seems preoccupied with something big, but it's something big that he won't discuss, or even acknowledge. With the City on the verge of a fiscal meltdown and several controversial proposals like congestion pricing in......

MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of......

Over the weekend yet another production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic, Cats, closed. This hipster-ized version of the legendary musical used American Apparel styling for their look, and it all went down on Broadway...that's 1100 Broadway in the 11211 zip code. ArtCal points out that because the original Cats "ran parallel with corporate and municipal efforts to 'clean up Broadway' for big business," these hipster cats may be trying to make a point. Though......

Jaded gourmands looking to spice up their New Year’s Eve dining experience might be interested in the Dark Dining event at the West Village French bistro Camaje. The four course dinner is designed to accommodate a small gathering of guests who, upon arrival, don featherweight blindfolds for the duration of the prix fixe meal, which features wine pairings and mysterious performances between courses. While you surrender to the dark side, a team of attentive servers......

Todd P is known around town as one of the hardest working men in D.I.Y. show biz. He created a scene out of avant garde bands, old buildings and some plywood -- and has given plenty of music lovers a place to hear good music for cheap, while sipping on a $2 beers and sweating in barely ventilated (or legal) venues. But what's this...Todd P is going on hiatus? To work on a print 'zine?......

Chumley’s owner Steve Shlopak recently poured his heart out to The Observer, admitting that the former speakeasy is now “just a dirt hole” with only two walls still up! The 1831 West Village landmark was closed in April when a chimney collapsed during repairs on an interior wall. Shlopak went into further disheartening detail:The rest of the building is held up with construction scaffolding. There is no ceiling and there is no floor... It’s almost......

ART: Duke Riley brings his latest exhibit, After the Battle of Brooklyn: East River Incognita II, to Magnan Projects. Starting tonight and showing through December 22nd, the works imagine New York during the Revolutionary War and "interweave historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of overdevelopment and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political......

The Village Voice is questioning the merits of some top designers suing Forever 21 for "ripping off" their style. Over 20 designers in all are calling the store out for their fashion faux-pas, and they're led by Diane Von Furstenberg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, who has brought the case to Washington "attempting to get federal legislation passed that would make clothes-copying clothes a criminal offence." This isn't the first time......

FILM: BAM features the work of Al Santana tonight. The Brooklyn filmmaker "has been a fixture on the independent film and video scene for years and his work ranges from documentaries about the transatlantic slave trade to coping with 9/11." Santana will be on hand for a Q&A tonight as well. 7pm // BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn] // $11 THEATER: The New York Press deems “pastiche” performance artist Taylor Mac “one the......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Shanghai (repeat episode). This week on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Wednesday at 9pm on Fox, Ramsay makes over the Mixing Bowl Eatery in Bellmore, NY. On Top Chef, part 2 of the two-part season finale airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Rocco’s back as a guest judge, along with Todd English and Michelle Bernstein. The Village......

Yesterday we headed to the 3rd Annual Art Parade, an event that manages to make West Broadway a little more colorful for an hour each year. The scene is one of surrealism and modern day statements. Almost doubling in size from its first year, the parade yesterday boasted about 800 contributors. The Village Voice has more on the history of the event, and one main difference this year was that the usual post-parade party on......

Sometimes for critics of critics, there's a desire for the critical to set aside the sniping and actually make something. Film critics and bloggers Andrew Grant of Like Anna Karina's Sweater and Aaron Hillis, a writer for The Village Voice, Premiere, and IFC News [pictured right to left] are doing something like that with the creation of their DVD distribution company Benten Films and the release of their first title, LOL on Aug. 28. As......

Of Rebecca Curtis, Time Out New York has said, "This is a writer who astonishes with her versatility of styles and techniques," calling her stories, "Wise and often emotionally devastating" The Village Voice declared that her debut short story collection Twenty Grand, "Showcases the talent of one of the more promising short story writers in America today." And a boy who Rebecca had a crush on at 18 said, after being poisoned by her, "......

EVENT: "Home Buying for Hipsters" would like to help out all of you "creative non-traditional wage earners" during your quest to own a home. Buying property is an art, after all, so creatives may even have a head start! They "aim to specifically address your concerns and break down the process into steps you can understand." Their classes are free and open to everyone ("hipsters, non-hipsters, art stars, rock stars, designers, freelancers, sculptors, poets, part-time......

On Monday we visited the Hotel Chelsea to speak with Stanley Bard and some of the residents, and to get a little tour of the place before it turns into a shell of its former self. The long-time residents of the hotel are, along with Stanley, the lifeblood of the building. Upon visiting, what we already knew became even more apparent: if "new management" tampered with the residents, the hotel would change just as......

EVENT: If you haven't taken a trip back to the Summer of Love yet, head over to the Whitney tonight for the exhibit and enjoy their Whitney Live event. DJ Scientific and Dana Leong will be providing the tunes. Friday // 6pm // The Whitney [945 Madison Ave] // Free with museum admission MUSIC: Tonight at the Seaport Music Festival Menomena and Beat the Devil will rock the sun down. Menomena "makes experimental rock that......

It's Only A Movie: Horror Films From the 1970s and Today Museum of the Moving Image, Queens Boo! It's time to hide your eyes and scream with delight over at the Museum of the Moving Image, as they'll be showing six weeks worth of old and new horror films starting tonight. You could say that scary stories are always about what metaphorical bogey men society fears most, but that became particularly evident in the horror......

If you detected a frisson of fabulous excitement scorching the air this morning, it’s because the 61st annual Tony award nominations were announced! (For those who may not fathom the awesome significance of the Tonys, the awards are the Broadway theater world equivalent of the Oscars and named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer and who passed away prior to the first award show in 1947.) Turning a profit on Broadway takes a perfect......

EVENT: BKLYN DESIGNS 2007 kicks off today. The design expo will not only provide the latest trends and lots of fabulous things for your home - but all day panel discussions, interviews and of course parties, after parties and much more. All Weekend // St. Ann's Warehouse [38 Water St, Brooklyn] // $12 per day THEATER: Porn star-cum-performance artist Annie Sprinkle returns to the New York stage with her artistic and domestic partner Elizabeth M.......

Remember when a filmmaker claimed that a group of lesbians attacked him outside the IFC Center last summer? And it was revealed that the women felt they were defending themselves, with one woman saying, "I admit I did cut him one time for my own safety"? Well, the case has made it to court. Manhattan prosecutors say that Dwayne Buckle was viciously attacked - he was stabbed, punched, and kicked - by Patreese Johnson, Venice......

It was the coldest Easter Sunday in 67 years, but there were still lots of colorful and crazy hats on display during the Easter Parade. The parade also travels past St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Edward Cardinal Egan was smiling at the crowds. But the Post noted his Easter homily was more serious:There is so much information that is forced upon us. It's impossible to click through [television] channels without being shamed. There are obstacles......

THEATER: There’s a growing cultural phenomenon in Japan called hikikomori, in which young people (as many as 1 million) withdraw into their rooms and refuse any contact with the outside world, sometimes for years. (In America, it’s called adolescence.) The Attic, by acclaimed Japanese playwright Yoji Sakate, is about “a mysterious company that sells tiny ‘attics’ over the internet to people who want to withdraw from society. One man embarks on a quest to find......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A person was hit by a train at a Penn Station subway, a barricaded perp in the Bronx and large brush fire in Staten Island The Village Voice has named its latest editor - Tony Ortega. Let's see how he answers questions about minority hiring! Who knew that the Campbell Apartment was once a signalman's office AND a closet where the transit police stored its guns? Representatives from New......

Things were getting a little quiet over at The Village Voice, but now they've gone and started a racket again by firing their new editor, David Blum. At first watching the decline of the paper was somewhat amusing, but now it's just getting sad. At a meeting on Wednesday there were staff members that argued about the lack of racial diversity amongst the employees. This was promptly followed by two staffers mentioning Mr. Blum making......

Metro reports that the city’s ban on dancing in bars, restaurants and certain clubs is legal, according to the state appeals court. The law was enacted in the prohibition era. The Gotham West Coast Swing Club filed a lawsuit regarding the city’s 80-year-old Cabaret Law stating it illegally infringed on their right of free expression. The appeals court stated that “recreational dancing is not a form of expression protected by the federal or state constitutions.”......