The band and the statement you’ll make after seeing them Saturday
Friday May 22
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Morrissey’s 50th Birthday Party with Kaki King
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Glasslands Gallery
Food: Wild Ginger Pan-Asian Vegan Café
Drink: Teddy’s Bar & Grill
Miscellaneous: Verb Café
Singer/songwriter and guitarist Kaki King helps celebrate Morrissey’s 50th birthday with a performance at Glasslands. Joining her are Beta Beta, Bodega Girls, and Stationary Set with DJs Rude Dudes. For vegetarians and those not in the mood for meat, Wild Ginger offers Pan-Asian cuisine in a relaxed earth-toned environment with a menu featuring veggies, tofu, seitan, and soy. The best thing about Teddy’s Bar is that it’s just got this great neighborhood vibe that’s warm and friendly, while also having a great menu of drinks and American bar food favorites like burgers, salads, sandwiches, and steak. A great place to get good coffee, take a seat, and watch the passing hipsters stroll by, Verb Café even has excellent sandwiches and baked goods to snack on before the show.
Friday May 22
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Band: Grand Masters of Gypsy Music
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Mehanata Bulgarian Bar
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Menahata Bulgarian Bar (113 Ludlow St.), which seems to center around Balkan music and Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz who spins records often there also offers live Gypsy music as the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music perform. It’s world music with a punk aesthetic! Let’s face it, San Loco does not serve the greatest Mexican food ever. But it certainly isn’t bad. The prices are 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 May 23
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Holy Fuck + A Place to Bury Strangers + Crocodiles
Show time: 8:30 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Social
Drink: 151
Miscellaneous: Bereket
How awesome is it to get three great bands playing one show? Holy Fuck’s ridiculous live show includes two members tweaking and turning knobs with a live drummer and bassist, as they churn out some great electronic induced rock. A Place to Bury Strangers also features electronics but takes a more experimental and sonic route while Crocodiles are heavy on the rock with a retro feel. Where to go afterwards? Go straight to the bar, and that bar would be 151, where happy hour is 7 days a week from 6pm till 10pm and includes 2 for 1 drinks. For those that don’t want a liquid dinner first, check Social for comfort food including the Mac and Cheese (Macaroni covered in Three Cheese Truffled Mornay Sauce and topped w/Seasoned Bread Crumbs). For a late night eat, a favorite spot of mine is Bereket for falafels and to watch drunks succeed at spilling their food all over themselves and failing at picking up chicks. Not for the faint of heart!
Saturday May 23
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Emanuel & the Fear + Darla Farmer
Show time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Mercury Lounge
Food: Pukk
Drink: The Magician
Miscellaneous: Mason Dixon
Taking upbeat rock and adding electronics, orchestral instruments and a pop feel, Emanuel & the Fear make pretty damn good rock with enough members to actually be an orchestra. Darla Farmer on the other hand write a heavier kind of rock with a big band cabaret feel with punk vocals that sound like they will eat their audience alive, in a good way though! Pukk serves up some delicious vegetarian Thai food. With a futuristic design, plastic and green tint everywhere, the menu offers everything from Pad Thai to Spicy Watercress Duck, only the duck, like all meat here, is made of vegetarian soy. A chill bar to go for a drink and not be bothered with loud, annoying drunks is The Magician. This place, which has no visible name, is across the street from Welcome to the Johnsons. With a southern theme, the draw at Mason Dixon is being one of only two bars in NYC with a mechanical bull. For $10 you can ride it. Expect to be thrown off in 5 seconds, if you can stay on that long!
Sunday May 24
Location: East Village, NYC
Theater: Thank You For Being A Friend: The Musical
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Kraine Theater
Food Supper
Drink 2A
Miscellaneous Whole Foods on Bowery
When gay pop star Lance Bass moves next to Miami’s favorite retirees, Dorothea, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia, all hell breaks loose as well as plenty of hilarity, wise cracks and tons of Broadway tunes in this unauthorized parody of The Golden Girls musical in drag. Those looking for good and inexpensive Italian food should most definitely check out Supper. Do yourself a favor and try the “Priest Stranglers†pasta with Marinara and soft Ricotta di Pecora cheese. A good nearby bar is 2A. With two floors of windows, it’s great for watching the remaining hipsters who can still afford to live in the city pass by. If all your dinner/drink plans fail and you need an all-in-one, the Whole Foods on Houston Street is your upscale go-to-grocery store for dinner and snacks.
