Friday October 30
Location: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Art: Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955–Present
Show time: Wed to Fri 10 AM to 5 PM, Sat & Sun 11 AM to 6 PM
Venue: Brooklyn Museum
Food: Tom’s Restaurant
Drink: Soda Bar
Miscellaneous: Old Brooklyn Parlor
In this exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955–Present (also part of the book by the same name by Gail Buckland just released) it’s the photographers who get center stage instead of the famous musicians they photographed acknowledging their role in the history of rock. From Richard Avedon’s photos of The Beatles to David LaChapelle’s pics of Lil Kim, the history of rock is told in photos. It’s the place where Susanne Vega wrote “Tom’s Restaurant,†but Tom’s Restaurant is just as famous for its food. With a near insane breakfast menu, expect items like pancakes with apples and pecans to be brought to you by the sweetest waitresses in Brooklyn. Soda Bar is a great place for drinks. The alcohol is cheap, there’s surprisingly excellent food, and there’s even another room where DJs spin. If it’s too much, you can hang outside in the backyard patio under the stars. The Old Brooklyn Parlor specializes in old school drinks like the Brooklyn Egg Cream and the Lime Cherry Rickey, making it an excellent anchor to this neighborhood.
Friday October 30
Location: Gramercy Park, NYC
Bands: The Day Before Halloween Party
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: SPiN New York
Food: New York Burger Co.
Drink: Rodeo Bar
Miscellaneous: Organique
Come celebrate Halloween a few hours early as Susan Sarandon hosts The Day Before Halloween Party, which includes a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the new table tennis venue SPiN New York. Oh, and it’s okay to wear a costume. Taking burgers to the next level, New York Burger Co. builds their burgers with high quality ingredients, delivering a better take on a classic. More white trash than urban cowboy, the Rodeo Bar offers live music, Tex-Mex food, and daily Happy Hour specials like margaritas for $5 and draft beers for $3. For the health conscious, Organique offers organic food including soups, coffee, omelets, burgers, and sandwiches.
Saturday October 31
Location: Noho, NYC
Event: Nightmare: Vampires Get Tickets Here
Show time: See website for performance schedule; Through November 7
Venue: Noho Event Center
Food: Babbo
Drink: The Dove
Miscellaneous: Café Reggio
If you take your Halloween seriously, you’ve probably already planned your costume out and have been practicing your naughtiest faces for a while now. Now that it’s finally Halloween, you can finally transform from ordinary worker bee during the day to blood thirsty monster by night. If you’re not hitting up the parade, check out Nightmare: Vampires, an original horror story set in the Museum of Vampyric Artifacts (MoVa) that sees you confronting Vampire legends from the media, movies and from around the world and running for your life from them. Looks like the Halloween season is upon us! One of the six Italian eateries of celebrity chef Mario Battali, Babbo takes Italian American cooking to another level. While the food can be expensive and reservations would be the best way to get a table, this place is highly regarded among food connoisseurs is is nothing short of amazing. Disguised as a lounge The Dove is really a neighborhood bar dressed up in red, white, and gold décor with a nice selection of beers on tap and a very good mixed drink menu featuring delicious martini’s. One of my favorite coffee houses, Café Reggio has the most literate and West Village atmosphere I have been to. A real slice of New York, it was also in the movie Superfly. Go there or be square!
Saturday October 31
Location: Soho, NYC
Event: 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade
Show time: 7 PM
Venue: Sixth Avenue
Food: Souen
Drink: Ear Inn
Miscellaneous: Alidoro
New York does Halloween right. You can’t deny it and we block off 6th Avenue to prove it. At the 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade see hundreds of puppets, 53 bands, dancers and artists along with thousands of New Yorkers dressed up in their scariest best costumes. Whether you live here or are a tourist, this is a must see for all. For fans of macrobiotics, tofu, seitan and even fish, Souen is great for healthy food that won’t have you feeling like you shouldn’t have ordered that. Try the Broiled Tofu Okabe, which sees thick slices of tofu, broiled and topped with a sesame and sake paste ($11). One of the oldest bars in the city, Ear Inn offers cheap pints in a timeless environment. Walk through the doors and it’s like you’re in the early 1900s, though the occasional ringing cell phone will bring you back to reality. Possibly one of the best sandwich shops in the city, Alidoro has 40 kinds of amazing Italian sandwiches, all named.
Sunday November 1
Location: Union Square, NYC
Event: Reverend Billy & the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir Get Tickets Here
Show time: 1 PM
Venue: Highline Ballroom
Food GoGo Curry
Drink Stitch
Miscellaneous Leisure Time Bowl
A plitical statement in the form of preaching of the gospel, Reverend Billy & the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir try to educate their audiences on the evils of too much consumerism in our lives. Add on performance art, live music, theater and humour and you have one of the most addictive events to see in NYC in recent years. The owner of GoGo Curry is obsessed with the Yankees Hideki Matsui and his Jersey (55). The menu’s theme is baseball and katsu, a fried meat, chicken, or shrimp cutlet served in a curry sauce is the specialty here. Portion sizes are Walk (small), Single (Med.), Double (L), and Triple (XL) and are inexpensive. The mascot, a gorilla for some reason, is plastered everywhere, making this place even quirkier. In the heart of the garment district, Stitch, a cozy after-work bar/lounge, stocks a cocktail menu with a design theme. If you still have energy and are in the mood to bowl, check out Leisure Time Bowl. Located in the Port Authority, this place is stylish and fun.
