Friday September 6
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Music: Dirty Beaches
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Who doesn’t love Suicide. The band that is, and Dirty Beaches does a good job of channeling Alan Vega along with Elvis Presley to make some dark and daring music that is mesmerizing to hear. Also on board are SISU and Ell V Gore. 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.
Friday September 6
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Music: Depeche Mode
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Barbes
Food: El Viejo Yayo
Drink: The Gate
Miscellaneous: Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
One of electronic music’s greatest bands, Depeche Mode, make a rare tour appearance in NYC as part of their Delta Machine Tour. Don’t miss openers Bat For Lashes who are well worth the price of admission alone. Keeping the night going with Latin flavor, try El Viejo Yayo for dinner. This gorgeous and warm restaurant has an elegant dining room and an affordable menu offering Dominican/Latin cuisine. The Gate is a great Park Slope bar with excellent beers on tap and a outdoor courtyard to chill. If time permits, you must, and I mean MUST go to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., a non-profit organization that helps kids with their writing, that’s fronted by a store selling super powers.
Saturday September 7
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Music: Fall Out Boy
Venue: Barclays Center
Food: El Viejo Yayo
Drink: Buttermilk Bar
Miscellaneous: The Chocolate Room
With five studio albums under their belt and a following spanning the globe, Fall Out Boy return with a new album, the last being five years ago, but expect to hear lot’s of the songs you know and love. Also on board is Panic! at the Disco. Keeping the night going with Latin flavor, try El Viejo Yayo for dinner. This gorgeous and warm restaurant has an elegant dining room and an affordable menu offering Dominican/Latin cuisine. The outside of Buttermilk Bar may look non-descript, but looks are deceiving . . . just not in this case, as this low-key watering hole is where you can grab a cheap drink in a friendly atmosphere, while playing a board game or two. With a near insane menu of chocolates from coffee and tea to delectable dessert, and even beer, The Chocolate Room is a great way to end the night on a high note.
Saturday September 7
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 September 8
Location: Midtown East, NYC
Art: Ellsworth Kelly: Chatham Series
Show time: See website for schedule; Through September 8, 2013
Venue: MOMA
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park
In celebration of Ellsworth Kelly’s 90th birthday in May 2013, The Museum of Modern Art presents an exhibition of the first series of paintings the artist made after leaving New York City for Spencertown, in upstate New York, in 1970. The studio he rented in the nearby town of Chatham, in a building that had once been a theater, was more spacious than any he had previously occupied. After working there for a year, Kelly embarked on a series of 14 paintings that would become the Chatham Series. Each work takes the form of an inverted ell, and is made of two joined canvases, each canvas a monochrome of a different color. 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!
