It's not easy maintaining a healthy relationship when you're fully immersed in the not-so-healthy restaurant and bar industry. So Time Out NY has come to the rescue this week, highlighting personal ads from local chefs, bartenders and club owners who are on the prowl. Anita Lo (pictured), chef and co-owner of Bar Q, is attracted "to pretty girls" and wants "someone who eats everything." Alex Day, a bartender at fussy cocktail lounge Death & Company,......

Since former governor Spitzer's first public comment after his fall from office was to support to the NY Sun, we suppose Time Out NY's questionnaire (he's one of the "New York 40 for the Time Out organization's 40th year) is his first interview. While he didn't answer questions like "How it felt, for the first time in decades, not be intimately involved directing the future of the city?" the Steamroller answered ones like "What’s your......

LECTURE: NYU and the Department of Sanitation present a trash talk tonight, titled: Gotham and its Garbage: A History of the Department of Sanitation. The illustrated lecture will include an exhibition tour and status report on the DSNY Museum-in-the-Making (which we wrote about last year). Robin Nagle, Ph.D., DSNY Anthropologist-in-Residence, and Haidy Geismar, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, NYU will both be there to lead the discussion. 6pm (also this Sunday at 6pm) // 136 W......

FAIR: Attention vinyl junkies! WFMU is hosting their Record Fair starting this eve and running throughout the weekend. "Hundreds of dealers specializing in the out sounds that WFMU is adored for delivering year round will gather for three days of merciless hawking o' the wax, and thousands of area music geeks are already trembling with nervous anticipation!" There will also be live performances this year, check out more details here. Friday, 7pm to 10pm and......

Bad news is staggering down from Young Frankenstein’s extravagant Broadway castle: When critics begin gathering with pitchforks and torches next weekend, the show’s star, Roger Bart (he plays the titular role Gene Wilder made famous in the film), may be benched with a herniated disc. A monstrous problem indeed, as the part demands extensive dancing, and according to Michael Riedel, Mel Brooks is panicking. (Isn’t Larry David available?) A little birdy tells Riedel: "One scenario......

FILM: Ease in to Halloween with classic horror flick The Innocents, based on Henry James' novella The Turn Of The Screw. Evil and innocence, the strange and the everday, will mingle as you...enjoy complimentary vodka an tapas! 6pm // Mantra Lounge [986 2nd Ave] // Free, RSVP here EVENT: Neurologist Oliver Sacks explores "the complexities of human response to music and its powerful ability to move us physically and emotionally" tonight as he shares experiences......

Time Out NY has a list of PETA's most wanted in the city. The organization has 25,000 of its 1.6 million members based right here, and while we wish they'd have a crack team of those members targeting folks like Brooklyn's Cruella DeVil, here are some of the big offenders. • The Ringling Brothers circus is back in town in March 2008 and PETA is again questioning the way the circus treats its animals. The......

In June of 1972 (just months after his divorce) Elvis Presley performed a 3-day run at Madison Square Garden. These shows were the first full concerts he put on in NYC, and the first since he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. Excitement was in the air, and Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Art Garfunkel, all of Led Zepplin and half of The Beatles (John Lennon and George Harrison) were in the audience. Another......

MOVIE: The new Hairspray has set up special Sing-A-Long screenings! They begin nationwide today, and there will be three right here in New York. If you don't like rowdy theaters, skip this one! All Weekend // Various Times // Regal Union Sq 14; Clearview Chelsea 9; AMC Empire 42nd 25 MUSIC: Head down to the Seaport for an evening of Billie Holiday tunes. Turntables on the Hudson will be celebrating the release of Billie Holiday......

READING: It's New York Murder Mystery Night with novelists Jed Rubenfeld, Joel Rose, and historian Ben Feldman. The trio will be discussing New York’s famous 19th-century murders, including the bizarre events behind Butchery on Bond Street. 6pm // 108 Orchard St // Free EVENT: The Hanger Bar is having a summer soirée tonight. Head over there for an evening of couture and complimentary cocktails. A mixologist and a Prada protege have been brought in to......

The NY Sun has a report on the city's largest music festival in history. We mentioned Make Music New York back in April when it was all still being pulled together. This Thursday, it begins. Aaron Friedman has been at the center of it all, coordinating with city officials to put on over 560 performances in one day, in both real and makeshift venues throughout New York neighborhoods. See musicians on the Brooklyn Bridge, in......

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......

SCIENCE: Since we spent the weekend thinking about the Earth, spend tonight learning about Mars with NASA Solar System Ambassador Dr. Ken Kremer. He'll take you on a tour of the planet through 3-D orbital views. 6pm // The Explorers Club at 46 E 70th St // $20 THEATER: Project Shaw is dedicated to presenting concert readings of everything – every sketch, full-length and one-act play – written by George Bernard Shaw. This month’s reading......

The Sanitation Chronicles, a new play by and about New York’s Strongest, premiered on Wednesday. Actor/playwright Paul Brno, who’s been moonlighting for the Department of Sanitation for the past 17 years, says “every day is still a great day to be on a garbage truck.” The “slice of life” play explores the daily prejudices, anger and violence faced by “Sanmen”, all of which is exacerbated when one of the guys shows up for work dressed......

THEATER: Theodora Skipitares is a Greek-American playwright, director and puppeteer who uses near life-size puppets and Greek tragedies to look at our current situation in Iraq. (Her rendition of the Iliad and the Odyssey was a sold-out hit at La MaMa last year.) Her new show, which features puppetry and video, is The Exiles, an adaptation of the Orestes/Electra myth. “In this particular story of betrayal and vengeance, these puppets are an eerie construction of......

At 11AM tomorrow, the Saint Patrick's Day Parade will start at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue and will travel up Fifth Avenue to 86th Street. And, keeping with the grand tradition of controversy regarding who does or doesn't march in the parade, parade organizer John Dunleavy has ruffled more than a few FDNY feathers by moving the FDNY from the front of the parade (behind the NYPD) to the middle of the pack; if......

THEATER: The Sisyphean life of an “emerging” playwright is often confined to a seemingly endless series of play readings, half-baked workshop productions, and audience-feedback bull sessions that often culminate not in a real production but more of the same. Tonight a group of theater people get together to bitch have an exchange about this now-entrenched play development process. The symposium is moderated by Time Out NY theater critic David Cote and features Richard Nelson, Playwright......

Wallace Shawn has long enjoyed a fruitful career as a character actor in mainstream movies (Clueless, Princess Bride, Chicken Little). He also happens to be one of the world’s most significant dissident writers. His plays The Designated Mourner, Aunt Dan and Lemon and The Fever – to name just a few – have garnered much praise (and controversy) for their unflinching examinations of brutality. Shawn’s plays are political but not polemical; through his writing he......

MUSIC: We've been enjoying us some Ford & Fitzroy, and are eager to hear what they've got in store sonically (as there is only one track available online right now). But the ex-Asobi Seksu bassist and his talented bandmates have got us hooked off just that one tune. Give a listen at their MySpace. And check them out tonight with V2's Roman Candle. Friday // 11pm // Sin-e [150 Attorney St] // $10 THEATER: Radiohole......

THEATER: Sentimental hogwash! Following in the tradition of the one-man theatrical renditions of Star Wars and The Godfather Trilogy, comic actor/impressionist Jason Grossman presents his It’s a Wonderful (One Man Show) Life! tonight. Time Out NY called it “a guaranteed laugh riot.” We’re just excited to see how he handles the Charleston contest! - John Del Signore 9pm // Manhattan Theatre Source [177 MacDougal St] // $15 COMEDY: Join SNL's Horatio Sanz at his Ho......

Got some downtime? You've got the rest of the day to work on an entry for The Decemberists video contest. They filmed themselves in front of a green screen and want the rest filled in, but we're sure you've heard about this already. Here's a timeline (with slightly unrelated topics added for drama!): • Chris Ott starts verbal slapping match with The Decemberists Colin Meloy. • Stephen Colbert calls Meloy a "thief". (Video above)......

Let's face it, this weekend was made for bonding with your couch, napping and eating leftovers. But if you really want to go against the flow, here are some things to get you out of the house... THEATER: Gutenberg! The Musical did so well at the recent New York Musical Theatre Festival that it’s moved on up to 59E59. (The show was directed by Alex Timbers, who most recently helmed Hell House.) In this two-man......

The mention of the Time Out NY 50 Best Blocks in the City article in Extra Extra yesterday really got some conversation started. Here are some of those comments: Hmm, that is a pretty weird list. Other than 20th between 9th and 10th, I can't agree with any of those picks. I have to say it: this is utter and irrational reverse-snobbism. Having grown up on the UES, I am completely aware of that......

THEATER: Beastie Boy Adrock (who turns 40 next month!) was but a wee homey when his father, Israel Horovitz, penned his hit play “Line” 32 years ago. That dark comedy is the longest-running play in off-off-Broadway history. It’s about five people stuck on line and their shameless machinations to get to the front. The theater’s website boasts that the play has been performed in 25 countries and split the sides of 100,000 theatergoers. Who will......

-- Good news: a New York judge stayed the possible demolition of St. Brigid's Church in the East Village until after Labor Day. -- It's funny because it's true: "Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood." -- Charlie Todd organized an astounding 215 people to conduct his latest prank: "Slow-Mo Home Depot." Deliciously pointless! -- In related news, Time Out NY devoted their entire issue this week to......

Okay, Valentine's Day is Tuesday and you still haven't pulled anything together. What the hell have you been waiting for?! In addition to checking out Open Table you'd better hit up some of the options listed in the various V-Day roundups (visit each one for individual links): Time Out NY gives you a range of options, from $48 to $850,000, depending on your budget. If you really love them, we'd suggest the $850,000 option. HA!......

A few months ago Indie Night School asked us to be a panelist, we obliged and promptly discovered our near paralyzing stagefright. Because of this we feel we owe them, ergo, tonight Fringe Benefits and Indie Night School are putting together a Katrina Benefit at Mo Pitkins (you know, Jimmy Fallon's bar). We're really exited to be a mere audience member for this one! All proceeds from this event will go to WWOZ New Orleans,......

It's one of our favorite advertising slogans courtesy Time Out NY... 'Welcome to New York. Now get out." The NY Times answered a question from a reader yesterday about coastal evacuation signs that are posted high on lamposts in Astoria wondering what sort of impending doom prompted those. If a hurricane hits our low-lying city, the biggest risk comes not from the winds (although, they could be bad yes), but from the storm surge,......

Now, if you've been in Midtown, near areas where there are lots of delegates and police, you may have noticed that it's pretty smelly from all the horse poop around. And the buses aren't making it any better, by just driving through it. Anyway, it made Gothamist think of the Time Out NY cover with the elephant poop. The NY Times reports the magazine was originallysupposed to be made available at the convention, but the......

Too bad the New York Times didn't have this fact to put into their premature yet still fun chart comparing last summer to this summer (our main beef, aside from the summer being halfway done, is that there was no Republican National Convention at the end of the last summer): The City's new zoning laws are allowing restaurants to create sidewalks seat (previously not allowed), with a quarter of the new seats for smokers. Also,......