Tuesday, October 09, 2007

My pal Amy has a great post up at her food blog Cakehead called Essential Williamsburg, Brooklyn Culinary Experiences.  She’s a wonderful writer and knows her stuff about morsels, so check it out if you’re planning on dining in Williamsburg in the near future.

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/09/07 at 05:59 AM
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Thursday, October 04, 2007

The American Planning Association has picked Park Slope as one of the 10 greatest neighborhoods in America.  Great, now this place is going to be overrun with yuppies and baby carriages. Time to move back to Williamsburg before that’s discovered.*

And don’t be envious, Manhatters, 125th Street was picked as one of the 10 greatest streets. I’m guessing that’s based solely on the fact that the street is the home of not one, but two Jimmy Jazz stores.

* If you lived here, you’d know those last two sentences are drenched in sarcasm.

(via OTBKB)

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/04/07 at 12:59 PM
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

The first time I saw La Strada perform, they didn’t have a name yet and they were playing in the bowels of the NYC subway system.  They completely blew me away even though the most “electric” instrument they were playing was a little toy xylophone.  They have since moved on and have done the incredibly smart thing of getting a name and the even smarter thing of laying down three of their tracks. They are nothing short of amazing (imagine if Beirut knew how to be be joyous instead of melodramatic) and two rank among the best songs of ‘07 (“The Sun Song” & “Mama”—the song I saw them perform next to the tracks of the G train).  If you were smart (and I know that you are), you’d head over to MySpace right now and download those three “demo” tracks while La Strada is still graciously giving ‘em away. And if you were even smarter, you’d go check out Brooklyn’s “next big thing” at one of their three upcoming local shows while you can still get in the door.

Oct 4 2007 (10:00PM) Luna Lounge
Oct 10 2007 (8:30PM) Union Hall
Oct 13 2007 (8:00PM) Sound Fix Records (free show)

MORE: Weird.  As it turns out, rockin’ Robin posted about La Strada yesterday.  Since I’m no longer burdened with the horrible, horrible G train, I had no idea they were still playing that line.  Robin’s got a nice recording of them doing a new (?) song “Shapes In the Sky.”

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/03/07 at 07:10 AM
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Funny as hell and, unfortunately, pretty believable.  Let it play through the commercial at the end for additional footage.

Country Music Stars Challenge Al-Qaeda With Patriotic New Song “Bomb New York”

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/02/07 at 12:56 PM
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The Bowerbirds

The Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC sold out a while ago, but you can still catch this great two-fer tonight (Tuesday, 10/2) at Greenpoint’s Studio B. The Mountain Goats always put on a fine show.  John Darnielle is one of the most inspiring and engaging indie rockers working the circuit these days and watching his bordering-on-cult-like fans quietly mouth along with every one of his lyrics is something to behold.  The Bowerbirds released the drop dead gorgeous Hymns for a Dark Horse this year (without a doubt one of the best releases of ‘07) and since they live out in the woods in a trailer without electricity, they’ll probably get all excited about seeing the sparkly lights and rock the fuck out. Or, at least, put on a really good show. And if you can’t make the show tonight, you can catch the Bowerbirds (sans the Mountain Goats but not serif) for FREE at Sound Fix records in Williamsburg tomorrow (Wednesday, 10/3).

Bowerbirds Interview: Stereogum
Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds Live Photos: Pitchfork
Listen: The Mountain Goats & Bowerbirds

Posted by Kevin K. on 10/02/07 at 08:16 AM
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

If you’ve got some time to kill, local public radio station WNYC is asking NYers how much they’re getting gouged in their neighborhood for a six of Budweiser, a head of iceberg lettuce, and a quart of milk. Kinda interesting and somewhat depressing after that cruel, deranged woman from Columbus, OH lays out her local pricing. Bitch.

Posted by Kevin K. on 09/26/07 at 09:39 AM
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Friday, September 21, 2007

I can go to things like the Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s Chile Pepper Fiesta on Sunday, September 30th, if, ya know, I didn’t already have plans that day.  But I sure as hell would go if I were you because chile peppers fucking rule the world (unless they’re “Red Hot” and named Anthony) and, jesus christ, look at the size of the pots of chili in this video. I’d swim deeply through that shit if my eyeballs wouldn’t burn out of my head.

And, fortunately, I don’t have any plans this Sunday, so I can go check out the Budos Band (“the un-heralded emperors of Instrumental Staten Island Afro-Soul” proclaims their label, hopefully with tongue severing cheek) & Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori laying down some thick grooves by the Gowanus Canal at the Starry Eyed Festival. And, no, for the record, I wouldn’t swim deeply through the Gowanus Canal. I’m a big fan of my appendages. (via FREEpigfucker)

MP3:
The Budos Band—“Chicago Falcon” (The Budos Band II —2007)

Posted by Kevin K. on 09/21/07 at 12:30 PM
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