When Jennie Dundas and Alexis Miesen, founders of Blue Marble Ice Cream, discovered the lack of ice cream in Brooklyn, their shop was born. Just one year later they are now expanding their two organic, grass-fed ice cream parlors in the borough, and adding a third in Rwanda, naturally. With the launch of their non-profit organization Blue Marble Dreams, they'll "explore the transformative potential of ice cream not just as a source of fun and......

Department of Eagles, comprised of Fred Nicolaus and Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen, have been around for quite some time, yet are only just getting around to playing their first show. Prior to their highly-anticipated debut album release tomorrow, they'll be taking the Bell House stage tonight (and we hear Nat Baldwin will be joining the band for the set). Before checking them out tonight (or tomorrow night at Bookeaters), take a gander at their performance......

In 2002 Susan Brandt founded Rational Animal, an organization whose mission is to increase public awareness about at-risk animals in New York City. In continuing their mission to increase awareness about animals in need in NYC, they're hosting their 3rd Annual Gimme Shelter: Rock & Rescue benefit show on October 6th (tickets). Debbie Harry, Moby, Adrock, Gina Gershon, Earl Greyhound and many more will all be on hand in support of Brandt's cause. This week......

Kampuchea was one of two Cambodian restaurants recently profiled in the Times, where it was accurately pointed out that there is a dearth of Cambodian cuisine in New York. Chef/Owner Ratha Chau and Co-Executive Chef and Partner Scott Burnett are attempting to rectify that. Veering from a more traditional route, they base their menu on Cambodian street food, but add their own creative twists. Ratha and Scott took a break between lunch and dinner service......

There was a time when one might have been surprised to find an article about, say, Girl Talk nestled within the fussy pages of The New Yorker. But for years now Sasha Frere-Jones, the magazine's pop music critic, has been broadening the magazine's appeal with his perceptive and funny observations on everything from Radiohead to Coldplay. (Ha.) (See also: Miscegenation.) Jones is also that rare breed of critic who actually creates in his field......

Tao Rodriguez-Seeger is the grandson of Pete Seeger, and has been performing with the folk legend since the young age of 16. This weekend he and his grandad will be joined by Seeger's longtime friend, bluesman Guy Davis (son of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis). You can see the trio at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Chile Pepper Festival...but first, get to know them a little better. Can you tell us a little bit about your......

Despite claiming to like New Order over Joy Division, it's difficult not to hear a little bit of Ian Curtis in the Crystal Stilts sound. The Brooklyn band has been winning over audiences lately with their muddled, moody, mumble-pop, and there's plenty of shows coming up in the area where you can check it out for yourself. This Sunday they're at Market Hotel, followed by a slew of shows in October for CMJ. Earlier this......

During the nearly thirty years he's lived in Brooklyn, Paul Auster has become one of the most respected novelists writing in America today. He's published over twenty books, including The New York Trilogy and The Brooklyn Follies as well as written and co-directed the films Smoke and Blue in the Face. His latest novel, Man in the Dark, deals with a retired book critic who battles his chronic insomnia by imagining a parallel universe where......

Williamsburg art rock quintet TV on the Radio has just released their third full length album, Dear Science. It's an upbeat, danceable departure from their last opus, Return to Cookie Mountain, but listen closely to the lyrics and you'll find them as troubled as ever with life under the Bush occupation. Of course, main lyricists Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe are smart enough to favor the evocative over the polemical, and it continues to work......

Brattleboro, Vermont native, and sometimes-New Yorker Sam Amidon has danced, crooned and plucked his way into many music lover's (and critic's) hearts. Seemingly influenced from everything he's absorbed in his 27 years, his demeanor emanates both innocence and experience--making even the traditional folk songs he delivers seem to be off-the-cuff during a live performance. Catch him tonight at the Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Greenpoint, and next Wednesday at Glasslands in Williamsburg. How was......

I'm Too Young For This is a foundation made up of young NY area adults with cancer, founded by Matthew Zachary, a 12-year survivor of pediatric cancer survivor himself. Tomorrow night they'll be holding their 2nd Annual Stupid Cancer Comedy Show with comedians from "Last Comic Standing.” Zachary recently told us about his foundation, his experience with the disease, and what he'll do if Sarah Palin gets in the White House. You can buy tickets......

In Day 2 of the Sarah Palin Interview on ABC, the Republican vice-presidential candidate touched on a number of topics--abortion, earmarks, and Hillary Clinton. Yes--she's bringing up Clinton again, telling ABC's Charlie Gibson that Barack Obama might have second thoughts about his vice presidential pick, "I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way -- she handled......

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had her first big (elitist?) media interview yesterday. The McCain-Palin camp selected Charlie Gibson of ABC News to conduct it, and ABC News spread the footage out between World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America and 20/20 over last night and today. She told Gibson that she's "ready" to serve the country and did not hesitate when John McCain asked her to be his running mate, "I answered......

This Sunday's free Brooklyn Book Festival is a one-day-only explosion of authors, publishers, poets and scholars, all gathering for discussions on four stages about anything and everything related to books, which are those heavy things people drag around for times when they can't read blogs. Check out some of the bold face names who'll be participating: Joan Didion, Jonathan Lethem, Dorothy Jonathan Franzen, Chuck Klosterman, Jimmy Breslin, Walter Mosley, and many, many more. Seriously,......

That Broadway revival of Equus that's packing them in at the Broadhurst (93% attendance, giddyup!) has been getting a lot of press, much of it focused on Daniel Radcliffe's frenzied nude scene, in which [spoiler?] he runs amok and blinds some horses. Michael Riedel at the Post has dubbed the show's big attraction "Harry Potter's other wand" ha ha, but at least one person is not amused by the quip: Equus's author Peter Shaffer, who......

It's the classic story of boy meets girl and form an electro indie duo. High Places are Mary Pearson and Robert Barber, who met in 2005 while Mary was amidst getting a music degree in bassoon performance and Rob was teaching at an art school. The former moved to New York in 2006, they picked a band name, Pitchfork gave them some love, and the rest is history. Catch them tonight at (Le) Poisson Rouge,......

Ryan McGinty is a sandhog, a construction worker (or urban miner) who excavates bedrock beneath the city for projects like the Third Water Tunnel, the East Side Access Project, and the 7 Subway Line Extension. In order to keep the projects on track, the work is never done, with three 8-hour shifts a day. McGinty is a shift boss on the 7 Subway Line Extension in Manhattan and is one of the men featured in......

East Village Radio hasn't been around forever, but it sure seems like it has. The station runs out of a storefront on 1st Avenue, a quirky characteristic that intrigues those who walk for the first time, and this year they're celebrating their fifth year on the air. To do so, they're taking the music to the Seaport tomorrow for a full day of live performances and much more. More details are here, but expect Lil'......

You may know Kristen Schaal from her role as Mel the stalker on Flight of the Conchords, or from her stand-up around town, or from her contributions to The Daily Show (she's even been in episodes of Mad Men, Law & Order and How I Met Your Mother). In 2005, years after moving to New York, she earned the NY Mag title of one of the 10 Funniest Comedians You've Never Heard Of (they called......

For a good six years, the mysterious Swoon has been pasting her evocative and eye-catching cut-outs on walls around town, slowly and steadily establishing herself as one of the more intriguing street artists in the game. The work eventually won her gallery showings at prominent venues like Deitch Projects, where she returns Sunday with a solo show at the gallery's Long Island City satellite. The installation is part of a bigger, collective project called......

Scott Gold loves meat and isn't afraid to admit it. This New Orleans native is so passionate about meat that he took on the daunting yet often delicious task of attempting to eat 31 different types of meat in 31 days and to eat his way through various parts of a cow (which he lovingly calls the tour de boeuf), all for the sake of his heartfelt and often hilarious tribute to meat, The Shameless......

The New Yorker has a characteristically sprawling profile piece on Alec Baldwin in this week's issue, and the 30 Rock star is characteristically candid about life, his career, and his future. Or, as his brother William puts it, “There’s always something for him to fucking whine about.” Indeed, the profile, titled "Why Me?", is chock full of Baldwinning quotes. On his failed marriage to Kim Basinger: "Think I’m walking stiffly?” Baldwin asks. “Yeah, there’s a......

Angie Pontani and her "world famous sisters" are arguably the brightest stars in the city's booming burlesque scene; or at least the most recognizable to mainstream audiences who don't spend much time at the Slipper Room. Pontani is currently starring in a funny/sexy revue she co-wrote with incorrigible cut-up Murray Hill, who emcees the evening. Called This is Burlesque, the two-act extravaganza tap-dances along a fine line between unrepentantly ribald humor and classy, atavistic......

Young New York-based band The Virgins, who presumably picked their name with the untapped jihadist demographic in mind, play sweaty yet tightly-coiled garage rock that recalls a dirtier, pre-Interpol era. They've been generating buzz through relentless touring in the U.S. and Europe, and the single off their self-titled debut album, "Rich Girls," has been on Gossip Girl and a bunch of other shows we won't cop to watching. (Hear it on their MySpace page.)......

Every article you'll read about Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson mentions what a tough life he's had...and he has. From addiction to homelessness, you can hear the experience of rock-bottomness in his voice. The likes of Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor and TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone were amongst those who recognized his talent, and have helped him record his material. He'll be hitting the road soon, but you can catch him at Music Hall of......

This summer the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Trucks (there are two now) have successfully elbowed their way into New York City's booming "dessert truck" market by peddling a creamy, gourmet ice cream that makes Kool Man look like Fool Man. Made with meticulously sourced ingredients and an emphasis on sustainability (the ice cream comes in cups produced from Bagasse, a chemical-free fiber made from sugar cane; the spoons are made from cornhusks), it's a dessert......

New York-based photographer Mark Seliger has photographed everyone from Johnny Cash to Kurt Cobain. He was the chief photographer at Rolling Stone for over a decade, and has now compiled many of his images for The Music Book, due out this fall. He has also released his own album (called Luck’s Changing Lanes), recording original songs under the name Rusty Truck that were produced by the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow.......

At 26-years-old, Nico Muhly has an impressive resume; on top of studying at Julliard and being the subject of an extensive New Yorker piece, the musician/composer/wunderkind has worked with Philip Glass, Rufus Wainwright, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), Björk and even Brooklyn boys The National. If you're not impressed yet, just take a listen to his latest album, Mothertongue, or his 2006 debut Speaks Volumes--and you'll understand that he doesn't need the big names......

In June of this year singer/songwriter Aimee Mann released her sixth solo album, called @#%&*! Smilers; in August she played two sold out shows in New York, as well as a free show at Barnes & Noble. At the end of that week she told us about a quintessential New York moment she had that started at the latter show and ended at the rooftop of the Hotel Chelsea, as well as how to pronounce......

Hamilton Leithauser's voice sounds older than its years. The singer of The Walkmen adds an experienced rasp to the band, and if there's any innocence to counterbalance, you'd have to strain to get a glimpse. Leithauser has often been compared to Bob Dylan (when Bob Dylan was at his best); a barstool baritone with a troublesome tone. The Walkmen are just about to put out their fifth album, You and Me, and in support of......