The Weekend Shortlist June 15 to 17
Friday June 15
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Music: Northside Festival: Jens Lekman
Show time: 5:30 PM
Venue: The Heineken Stage at McCarren Park
Food: SEA
Drink: Zablozki’s
Miscellaneous: Lovin Cup Cafe
Part of the Northside Festival, The lineup of folk genius Jens Lekman with Of Montreal, The Thermals, and Beach Fossils is a show filled with some of our favorite bands. This is definitely one of those must-see shows that you must-see. Just as much fun as any show and just as big a venue, SEA is one BIG Thai restaurant. Big enough to have a pool surrounded by tables as a giant Buddha stands above it. Luckily, the food is really great. Offering traditional Pad Thai ($7) to more involved dishes like the Mummy Fish ($14). On N6th, a street full of bars and restaurants, Zablozki’s is the local bar of the bunch, with a pool table and a friendly atmosphere and 12 beers on tap. Cafe, bar, restaurant and music venue (Cameo) in the back, Lovin Cup Cafe is an all-in-one that offers up some incredible stoner food like nutella and banana on grilled sourdough ($9), making this a fave joint if you’re in the mood for comfort food with a twist.
Friday June 15
Location: Union Square, NYC
Music: Mogwai
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Webster Hall
Food: Thai Me Up Sandwich Bar
Drink: McSorley’s Old Ale House
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe
Scottish post-rock band Mogwai make guitar based instrumental rock that will blow your mind and that’s the best reason to see them. 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.
Saturday June 16
Location: East Village, NYC
Music: Marissa Nadler
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Food: Oyama
Drink: Grassroots Tavern
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe
Making music for nearly a decade and creating art for a lifetime the ethereal songwriting of Marissa Nadler remains rich with imagery and beautiful textures. Before moving out on her own label, Marissa released her last two critically-acclaimed efforts, Songs III: Bird on the Water (2007) and Little Hells (2009) with Kemado Records. The former led to two nominations for the 2008 PLUG awards for “best female artist of the year” and “best Americana record of the year.” Also on board and worth seeing is Faces on Film. With sushi that’s 50 percent off all the time, you might think, “Something’s wrong with that?†but the fish is good and the rolls are inventive, making Oyama one of the best low-priced sushi joints in the city. Though St. Marks all of a sudden lost its charm, Grassroots Tavern hasn’t. This large dive bar has cheap drinks, darts in the back, and old men behind the bar, things a good dive bar should have. Excellent coffee served in a big mug and a healthy menu of food coupled with a year round enclosed outdoor backyard patio make Mudd Cafe a great little coffee shop in the area.
Saturday June 16
Location: Midtown East, NYC
Art: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII
Show time: See website for schedule; Through September 3
Venue: MOMA
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park
This exhibition is the U.S. premiere of Taryn Simon’s (b. 1975, New York) photographic project A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII . The work was produced over a four-year period (2008–11), during which the artist travelled around the world researching and documenting bloodlines and their related stories. In each of the 18 “chapters†that make up the work, external forces of territory, power, circumstance, or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance. The subjects Simon documents include victims of genocide in Bosnia, test rabbits infected with a lethal disease in Australia, the first woman to hijack an aircraft, and the living dead in India. 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!
Sunday June 17
Location: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Art: Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913–1919
Show time: See website for schedule; Through August 19
Venue: Brooklyn Museum
Food: Tom’s Restaurant
Drink: Soda Bar
Miscellaneous: Old Brooklyn Parlor
Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913–1919 is an exploration of the early journalistic career of American writer and women’s rights advocate Djuna Barnes (1892–1982). On view will be forty-five objects, including documentary photographs, drawings, works on paper, and Barnes’s stories in newsprint, including eight illustrations she composed to accompany her newspaper columns. Her work suggests a proto-feminist sensibility, emphasizing politics as something experienced on an individual, emotional level. 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.