Friday March 22
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Music: Garbage
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Terminal 5
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park
Shirley Manson leads her band Garbage back to the stage covering their hits and some newer material from their 2010 album Not Your Kind of People. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!
Friday March 22
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Music: Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Alt folk rock band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down recently released their fifth studio album We the Common to great reviews with lead singer Thao Nguyen’s rich vocals holding down each song. Also performing is Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside. At San Loco, the Mexican food is inexpensive, you can get a heaping amount of nachos for as little as $3.75, and telling by the heavy traffic, the place is doing just fine. What I like about Max Fish is that it’s a local bar for local artists. It’s walls play host monthly for art exhibitions, there’s a pool table in the back, and drinks aren’t pricey, like many new bars springing up in this neighborhood. For one of the best cupcakes in the city, Sugar Sweet Sunshine has 10 varieties, on top of cakes. Try the Sexy Red Velvet or the Bob, a yellow cupcake with chocolate almond buttercream.
Saturday March 23
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Music: Esben and the Witch
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Knitting factory
Food: Fette Sau
Drink: Spuyten Duyvil
Accessory: Union Pool
English goth-rock act Esben and the Witch recently released their second studio album Wash the Sins Not Only the Face to positive reviews and are definitely worth seeing live. Openers Heliotropes are also worth getting there early to catch. If you’re feeling German BBQ, you can head over to Fette Sau (fat pig in German), where the owners of nearby bar Spuyten Duyvil have opened up this meat only restaurant serving up some of the best pork and beef in NYC. For drinks, Spuyten Duyvil is a beer lovers dream, with a selection from all over the world, friendly and knowledgeable bartenders and a neighborhood feel, it’s no wonder this place has been so successful. If you’re still ready for more, you must hit Union Pool, where there’s always a band playing, great DJs, and plenty of action.
Saturday March 23
Location: Union Square, NYC
Event: The Awesome 80s Prom
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Webster Hall
Food: Thai Me Up Sandwich Bar
Drink: McSorley’s Old Ale House
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe
Relive the best and worst of coming of age in high school at The Awesome 80s Prom. This interactive show is part musical and full-on party as the audience gets to drink, dance and vote for the Prom King and Queen. For eats, check out Thai Me Up Sandwich Bar, a sandwich shop offering Thai sandwiches with 7 Steamed Fried Vegetables and a choice of chicken, veggie, tofu or beef on a baguette with 3 types of sauces for $7. One of the city’s oldest bars, at McSorley’s Old Ale House you can feel the history when you enter as memorabilia, since its beginnings in 1854, are all over the walls. Aside from it being a frat hangout nowadays, it’s worth the trip. You’ve seen that orange Mudd coffee truck parked on Astor Place and on various other streets, but check out their Mudd Cafe on East 9th for coffee and a healthy, vegan, and vegetarian menu.
Sunday March 24
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
Location: West Village, NYC
Art: Dieter Roth + Björn Roth
Time: See website for schedule; Through April 2013
Venue: Hauser & Wirth
Food: Le Gigot
Drink: ‘Ino Café & Bar
Miscellaneous: Washington Square Park
Dieter Roth + Björn Roth, is a landmark exhibition of masterworks that highlights this remarkable twenty-year collaboration and, through it, the diversity of the practice that has established Dieter Roth as one of the most inventive and influential artists of the second half of the 20th century. Afterwards, skip your main course and go straight to what’s most important—dessert. Le Gigot offers some of the best sweets, especially their Le Gateau au Chocolat à la Crème Anglaise and La Banane Flambée au Cognac. Later, head over to ‘Ino, and take hold of something full-bodied and European. No no, I don’t mean that mysterious Parisian man behind the counter, I mean a nice chianti or merlot! And to finish off the evening, a delightful stroll in Washington Square Park.
