Friday March 15
Lower East Side, NYC
Music: Yellowbirds
Show time: 6:30 PM
Venue: Mercury Lounge
Food: The Stanton Social
Drink: The Magician
Miscellaneous: The Pink Pony
While Yellowbirds is the moniker for the latest musical exploits of Sam Cohen—guitarist/songwriter/vocalist in the psychedelic collective Apollo Sunshine, the music offers fuzzed up guitars to help make a psyched out landscape of sound. Also on board is Backwords. For dinner, The Stanton Social has earned a reputation for being a beautifully designed restaurant/lounge while serving up some delicious multi-ethnic cuisine. For drinks, a favorite of mine is The Magician, this bar’s chill atmosphere just may be the cure for a well-earned night of rocking. A great way to end the night? Stop by The Pink Pony. This boho café has been serving French food and coffee since the 80s and has a relaxing vibe. It’s as punk as that neighborhood gets nowadays.
Friday March 15
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Music: Anwar Sadat
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Death By Audio
Food: Dumont Burger
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Verb Cafe
Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, Anwar Sadat make indie-punk music that seems to be catching on. Also playing is Lushes. 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 complements 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 March 16
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Music: Coheed & Cambria
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Radio City Music Hall
Food: Sullivan Street Bakery
Drink: Rudy’s Bar & Grill
Miscellaneous: The Shops at Columbus Circle
Blending prog-rock, punk, metal, hardcore, and more, Coheed & Cambria have made several concept albums with a Sci-fi theme that have seen their fanbase grow along with their sound. Also performing are Between The Buried And Me and Russian Circles. Arguably one of the top bread makers on the east coast, and good to get gourmet pizza’s and sandwiches, Sullivan Street Bakery makes exquisite food using ingredients you’d see on the Food Network! More bar than grill, Rudy’s Bar & Grill is like going back to college, minus the books. The beer is cheap and by “grill,†they mean free popcorn and hot dogs. If you have trouble finding the bar, just look for the 6 foot tall fiberglass pig standing outside! To get out of the cold and see what an upper-class mall is like, stop by The Shops at Columbus Circle. Expensive restaurants like MASA and shops like Williams Sonoma are fun to browse through to see how the other half lives.
Saturday March 16
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 17
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.
