The Weekend Shortlist August 20 to 22
Friday August 20
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Band: Admiral Radley Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Paladar
Drink: Welcome to the Johnsons
Miscellaneous: Economy Candy
Featuring members of Earlimart and Grandaddy Admiral Radley are a super group of sorts building on their past indie glory and making really great music. Here they unite and hit the road to share their love of California with their album I Heart California. Joining them are Hooray for Earth. Paladar, whose celebrity chef, Aarón Sanchez is from the Food Network show “Melting Pot,†delivers a Pan-Latino concept taking traditional Spanish fare and adding deliciously executed gourmet twists. Feeling retro? Then Welcome to the Johnsons is the place for you. It’s like being in your uncles wreck room from the 70s. With all wood paneled walls, plastic covered couches, and a Pac Man machine, this bar is out for a good time. Stop by Economy Candy and get a small taste of what it might be like to walk through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, minus the hijinks, as there’s all sorts of candy everywhere. A real NY landmark, it’s been around since 1937.
Friday August 20
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Das Racist Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Glasslands
Food: Dumont Burger
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Verb Cafe
The heavily hyped Brooklyn hip-hop trio Das Racist rock the Glasslands. Joining them are BBUand Lionshare. With one of the best burgers in Williamsburg, Dumont Burger offers theirs with gourmet toppings, sandwiches, salads, and their amazing mac & cheese. So you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and like to party. You can do all that and eat at Radegast Hall & Biergarten. The Austrian/German menu perfectly compliments the 12 beers on tap and more than 30 German and Austrian bottles at this large beer hall. One of the oldest and best hipster hangout coffee shops, The Verb Cafe offers up excellent coffee and baked goods, a boho vibe, and big windows to watch the days pass while collecting unemployment!
Saturday August 21
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Juliette Lewis Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Food: Fornino
Bar: D.O.C. Wine Bar
Miscellaneous: Verb Café
At this point, Juliette Lewis is sort of a cult actress having been part of such classic films as Natural Born Killers and what’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Now a frontwoman, she’s actually as good a singer as she is an actor, which is no easy feat. Joining her is Dearly Beloved. What also rocks is finding a decent pizza! Fornino offers just that, wrapped up in an original concept. Serving wood oven burning pizza, the menu is broken up into three generations, the first being your basic pizza ingredients while the second and third go off the gourmet deep end, giving you more than 20 options total. For drinks, the D.O.C. Wine Bar has a homey atmosphere and an excellent wine list of strictly Italian wines and small plates of food. If coffee is your thing, The Verb Café offers not only coffee but sandwiches, desserts, and soup. Chill at a table and write that novel, look for jobs online, or hang with a friend like everyone else there.
Saturday August 21
Location: Carrol Gardens, Brooklyn
Band: Asobi Seksu
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: BKLYN Yard
Food: Jake’s Barbecue Restaurant
Drink: Brooklyn Social
Miscellaneous: The Coffee Den
Shoegaze act Asobi Seksu make dreamy pop and play in support of last years Rewolf. For great Kansas City style BBQ, check out Jake’s Barbecue Restaurant where the use of dry rubs, sauce, and slow cooking make for some mouthwatering food. Try the Pulled Pork Platter ($14.50), the Half BBQ Chicken ($12.95) or any number of combinations. A former Italian Social Club, Brooklyn Social still has that old 1930s charm and a great drink menu with mixed drinks falling in the $8 range. As much of a fan I am of Dunkin Donuts coffee, I say skip it and try The Coffee Den. They have a nice selection of coffee’s from dark to light roasts and even have Gorilla Coffee, one of the best and darkest in the city.
Sunday August 22
Location: West Village, NYC
Event: 11th Annual Hudson River Park Blues BBQ Festival
Show time: 2 – 9 PM
Venue: Hudson River Park
Food: Koo Sushi
Drink: Blind Tiger Ale House
Miscellaneous: Peanut Butter and Co.
Nothing says summer better than BBQ and add some great blues and you’ve got a southern delicacy right in the heart of Manhattan. At the 11th Annual Hudson River Park Blues BBQ Festival performers include Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King Band, Janiva Magness,
Joe Louis Walker featuring Murali Coryell, Teeny Tucker Revue, and Cyril Neville with BBQ from Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, Char No.4, Dinosaur Bar B Que, and Fatty ‘Cue. A little known sushi joint, Koo Sushi offers affordable and fantastic fish with an impressive number of specialty rolls. For a bar that looks like any other, Blind Tiger Ale House offers an impressive number of beers including draught, bottled, cask and one called Louise’s Bloody Beer. Try it if you dare! If you’re in the mood for some comfort food, Peanut Butter and Co., offers some PB heavy hitters like the Elvis, a PB, banana, and bacon sandwich that tastes better than it sounds.
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