DRINK: The raucous and ribald cabaret duo Kiki & Herb may be on semi-hiatus, but they’re resurfacing tonight for a very special ‘Eclectic Salon’ event at Bottlerocket, the “dog and child friendly” wine shop in the Flatiron district. It's not exactly clear what kind of performance is planned tonight, but the boozy surroundings are sure to provide ample inspiration. Playfully dubbed “The Year of Magical Drinking,” the evening features free wine tastings to wash......

PARTY: Haven't gotten your fill of holiday office party fun this season? Metro Metro reminds all of its faux-ployees that their office party is tonight! "This is a reminder going out to all fake employees about the Metro Metro Holiday Office Party. Please join us in celebrating the holidays by assuming a fake job title and hobnobbing with fake co-workers over genuine drinks. Need inspiration for potential job titles, such as Associate with the Bad......

Assuming MLB gives them permission, the Yankees will probably announce their next manager tomorrow. The team has conducted three interviews and according to Hank “Liitle Stein” Steinbrenner, that’s all they plan on doing. So, let’s take a look at the three candidates. First up there is the long shot, Tony Pena. Pena joined the Yankees two seasons ago as Joe Torre’s first base coach, but his biggest impact was on Jorge Posada. Under Pena’s tutelage,......

The MTA has announced the times of public hearings where the agency will discuss the impending bus and subway fare hike. There are eight meetings across the five boroughs, Westchester, and Long Island. We've all heard about the two kinds of fare hikes - a traditional across-the-board hike and another hike that would give discounts during off-peak rides. The a single ride would be $2.25, up from the current $2. And the early mentioned......

THEATER: At the end of December 2003, with her daughter in an induced-coma brought on by septic shock from a fatal bout with pneumonia, Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne unexpectedly died during dinner. Her struggle to navigate the subsequent minefields of grief formed the basis for her best-selling memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking. She’s now adapted the book into a one-woman play of the same name, directed by David Hare and starring Vanessa......

Yesterday, thousands were in Chinatown to ring in the Year 4705. The Year of the Pig is a very good year, according to the Chinese astrology, lots of prosperity and good luck. There are a bunch of great Lunar New Year photographs. AKinloch on Flickr took the photograph above of a red lion dancing. LW Lens has a nice Flickr set of yesterday's festivities, with lots of crowd shots like the one above. And......

It's the Lunar New Year this weekend, the first day of 4705 being this Sunday. The Year of the Pig is a very good year - pigs are fat and round, which means a prosperous and benevolent year. Some even think it's a good year to have babies, too! Chinatown will be celebrating the Year of the Pig this weekend and for the next few weeks. There's the Flower Market at Columbus Park today......

Towards the end of the year, it becomes sport to wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be. It's sort of like wondering who will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or who People's Sexiest Man Alive is (both are also Time Inc. publications, as it were). Time tried to get its readers excited, asking them to vote online for who they thought should be the Person of the Year, with choices being......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: The Investigators: Riker’s Island (CourtTV , Monday, 8 p.m.) CourtTV’s law enforcement documentary series takes a look at Rikers The Year Without a Santa Claus (WNBC 4, Monday, 9 p.m.) A new version of some Christmas cheese from NBC. If anyone cares Santa decides to take a year off and the elves have to cope. Sounds like hard hitting drama. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole......

MUSIC: Propect Park. TV on the Radio. Matt Pond PA. Voxtrot. Free. Need we say more? Bring a blanket. Friday // 6:30pm // Prospect Park Bandshell // Free READING: On of our favorite New Yorkers, Joan Didion, will be reading from her masterful book, The Year of Magical Thinking, tonight in Central Park. The book, which chronicles the year after Pulitzer-prize-winning Didion lost her husband John Gregory Dunne to a heart attack, was a taut,......

Another year, another slogan for the Mets. This year's: "The Team. The Year." Indeed it seems like that's the company line so far. At yesterday's "Workout Day," Cliff Floyd and David Wright both mentioned bringing a World Series to Queens. It was a notion that proved to be very popular with the 13,000 plus fans on hand. Perhaps it was the constant reminders that 2006 is the 20th Anniversary of the World Champion '86......

ART: The Year of the Dog is being celebrated in many ways, even through cute paintings of puppies, er, art. Elizabeth Berdann's witty, ultra-realistic oil-on-copper paintings of dogs are now on view. We think they're cuteoverload.com! Now through March 23rd // Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday 10am to 2pm // Lesley Heller [30 East 92nd Street, 3rd Floor] COMEDY PANEL: We can't imagine that disecting comedy is really all that funny, since laughing is somewhat a......

We reminded you last week to vote for the Plug Awards, and now is your chance to check out the actual awards ceremony. The awards are tonight at Webster Hall and will include a sampling of some of our favorite bands: Performances by: * BEANS w/ HOLY F**k (representing WARP's nomination for Label Of The Year) * CHAD VANGAALEN (nominated for 2 PLUG Awards - New Artist & Male Artist of The Year) * CELEBRATION......

Garrison Keillor noted during his opening speech for last night's National Book Awards that this week is the opening of another Harry Potter film. He said, "Most of us have stood in Barnes & Noble and opened a Harry Potter book, read a few pages and said: 'I could have done that. I could have done that while doing all the other things that I do. Why didn't I?'" An always curmudgeonly and brilliant Norman......

If Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the incomparable Kate Hepburn in The Aviator had you hungering for some of that original patrician flavor, head to MoMA this weekend. As a part of a tribute to director George Stevens, the museum will be screening the Hepburn/Tracy classic, Woman of The Year on Saturday at 8 pm. The original "they hate-each-other, they-love-each-other" rom com with Hep and Trac as warring journalists, it's a must. Aren't journalists in......

New York magazine's year-end double issue, It Happened This Year, is out. Gothamist thinks the title can only be a tribute to the great Sassy column, It Happened to Me (which can now be seen in Jane). Anyway, the whole issue is chockful of moments in our 2004-ness, but here are a few of the stories caught our interest (and Gothamist's stories on the topic): - The phenomenon of manholia - fear of manholes (Gothamist......