Results tagged “diy”

An interesting police strategy is described in this otherwise "non-story" on Free Williamsburg, which overall delves into a rumor that someone is out to bring down the Market Hotel, a Todd P venue in Brooklyn. The promoter has now addressed the rumors that were in the original story, which focused on a "raid" that took place last Friday and included baseless accusations that he was "being brought up on a slew of charges including weed and underage alcohol distribution."

Though not as impressive as this one, Lost City spotted a massive knitting project on West 37th Street last night. The car cozy was allegedly "a patchwork of separate pieces of knitting" that were made to fit snuggly around the car, as part of a Chashama exhibit that's running through the weekend. Countdown to a knitted bike cozy craze?

Let's say you are getting mugged and for whatever reason Ashton Kutcher isn't there to save the day. Well, now he can be, at least in the spirit of Punk'd. After a series of hipster muggings, one man has come up with a DIY solution: the decoy wallet (pictured).

Beautiful Losers is coming to town later this week, screening at the IFC Center from August 8th to 28th. The film documents and "celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation. In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the 'establishment' art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture." You'll get an earful from many of these artists, including Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine and Mike Mills.

As the creative class has grown in Brooklyn, it has been equally growing in the East Bay area of San Francisco. The NY Times is reporting on a bi-coastal trend that has Brooklynites flocking to the Bay Area, and vice versa, as both of the locales appeal to the DIY generation of freelancers.

In a few days the city will begin its promised crackdown on the glut of parking placards issued to civil servants. But according to Uncivil Servants, a website that documents illegally parked cars displaying city permits, employees of Park East, an Upper East Side synagogue, have been using bogus DIY parking placards for years. And since they don’t even work for the city, their privileges won’t be affected by the new rules.

Inhabiting what used to be an old retail shop near South Street Seaport is a new DIY space brought to you by the producers of the Seaport Music Festival. The venue is simply called @Seaport, and it's now up and running. The space will host a wide range of events, from art to music to comedy to readings; from the press release:

The producers behind the acclaimed Seaport Music series of outdoor indie music concerts at South Street Seaport, are bringing a bit of summer, indoors for select shows dubbed “On-the-Side” at the new DIY venue “@SEAPORT.”

Continue reading "New Venue Alert: @Seaport"

Instead of a lengthy 2007 “best of” food list, we proudly present you (via The Gurgling Cod) with this single edible, the latest and hopefully last stunt luxury foodstuff in a year remorselessly filled with them. It comes, somewhat improbably and definitely ironically, from the gift shop at the newly opened New Museum, and it’s got karats: Edible gold crumbled into capsules, a massive $275 for the starter set. Shown here to the left, a stunning collection of three at $91.67 a pop. But what a rush.

When The Villager broke the news that fancy East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co. would be temporarily shut down by the State Liquor Authority, no one was as publicly dismayed as Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni. In a blog homage to the elegantly dark nightspot, Bruni gushed:There’s a drink on Death & Co.’s latest cocktail menu with bourbon and rye, along with Courvoisier and bitters. I may in fact have had it – or...

Since settling in New York in 2001, promoter Todd Patrick – known through his website as Todd P – has established himself as a major force in the avant-garde rock scene. In the fastidious spirit of a modern day Bill Graham – though without the passion for profits – Patrick has distinguished himself with his commitment to producing shows at atypical, under-the-radar locations like lofts, rooftops and funky, “illegal” clubs. Often eschewing such vagaries as...

Todd P is known around town as one of the hardest working men in D.I.Y. show biz. He created a scene out of avant garde bands, old buildings and some plywood -- and has given plenty of music lovers a place to hear good music for cheap, while sipping on a $2 beers and sweating in barely ventilated (or legal) venues. But what's this...Todd P is going on hiatus? To work on a print 'zine?...

EVENT: In the book Love & Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships David Levy goes where no man has gone before. Hopefully. From the book's description: "Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.From a leading expert in artificial intelligence comes an eye-opening, superbly argued book that explores a new level of human intimacy and relationships—with robots." We're not even ready to see Lars and...

FILM: Ease in to Halloween with classic horror flick The Innocents, based on Henry James' novella The Turn Of The Screw. Evil and innocence, the strange and the everday, will mingle as you...enjoy complimentary vodka an tapas!

THEATER: The National Asian American Theatre Company is known for creating adventurous theater with an all-Asian American performing plays that often have little to do with Asian Americans. Their newest production is Blind Mouth Singing by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas; it uses a watery set and live music to tell a story of an “overly strict matriarch; her young son Reiderico who sneaks out of the house to visit his best friend who lives at the bottom of a well; her sister who treats syphilis patients in the open-air market; and her older son who bullies everything within his reach.” Martin Denton writes: “Authentic magic happens only rarely in the theatre… I'm talking about those rare wonderful moments when we see one thing on stage with our eyes, but our hearts tell us we're seeing something entirely different. Blind Mouth Singing is filled with such moments of magic.” John Del Signore

After several months of playing massive festivals around the world, The original blog-band returns home. And you know, just because blogs don't follow these fellas' every move anymore doesn't mean that the DIY posterboys aren't still out there selling out clubs and supporting their sophomore album. They played a few local shows this week and their ever-improving live act was tight and on point at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and Gramercy Theater (where Natalie Portman turned up to catch their set). These two shows kick off a good old fashioned cross-country club tour with Elvis Perkins and Deerland, which will wind back up here for 2 more sold out concerts at Bowery and Studio B in November. While they stuck to a set of already released songs this week, we hope maybe we'll hear reports of some new songs on this tour. Seems like they’re about due. We shall see. (pic via Tomiffy's flickr)

Tim Gunn's Guide to Style officially premieres tonight, but Bravo served it as a surprise aperitif to Top Chef last night.

AARON: To that extent, I'd say Benten is a sort of fan-based promotion.

BAM Cinématek

Tod Seelie’s stunning photographs chronicle the wild lives and raw vistas of the international DIY counterculture. On his must-read weblog Sucka Pants, he adds cryptic comments about his travels and other observations about life as a starving-artist Brooklyn cycling photog. Seelie has been spending the first part of his summer with the Miss Rockaway Armada, a collective of artists, dreamers and misfits who, for the second year running, build and sail a group of vessels down the Mississippi River. We recently spoke with Seelie from the trip about how the adventure has gone so far.

The fair is going on all weekend at McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg (11am to 6pm each day). We plan to hit it up, and suggest you do too if you're in the area. Two years ago we purchased some Andrew Bird artwork from Jay Ryan there. Doesn't look like he'll be around this year, but check out all the other vendors that will be, here. Photo from today at the fair via Hoimoi's Flickr, who says there are "lots of carefully selected and interesting vendors."

Coming slowly but surely to a grocery store near you is 5 Boroughs Ice Cream. What started with little more than a couple’s wedding present followed by some kitchen experimentation has become a quest to endow every New York City neighborhood with its own signature ice cream flavor. 5 Boroughs owners Scott and Kim Myles are the Big Apple’s Ben and Jerry, sans Birkenstocks. With 8 themed flavors, such as the Jackson Heights Mangodesh (Mango ice cream with a cardamom edge), 5 Boroughs Ice Cream is now available at places like Gourmet Garage and Cobblestone Foods. 5B was founded with a strong grassroots approach- the milk for the ice cream comes from Mercer’s Dairy upstate, a collection of 7 independently owned family farms. 5 Boroughs is also involved with community building and several local charities. Gothamist had the chance to speak with ½ of 5B, Scott Myles, in his Astoria living room last week.

-Food and Wine magazine released its Best New Chefs 2007 list earlier this week. April Bloomfield, the 32 year-old chef and co-owner of West Village gastropub The Spotted Pig, is among the ten honorees to be featured in the magazine’s July issue. Eater attended Wednesday night’s announcement party at 7 World Trade Center and watched “everyone who has ever been on an episode of Top Chef” party like it was 1999, the not-so-distant year that Rocco DiSpirito was named a F&W Best New Chef.

We've been down in Austin for South By SouthWest for most of the last week, but before taking off, we caught one of the most enjoyable shows we've seen all year in Of Montreal at Irving Plaza. For those who claim the show was boring, we don't know what they would have to do to satisfy you. There were costume changes, songs performed oh the shoulders of mustachioed, white bodysuit wearing men, and music from what is perhaps the best album released so far in 2007. Not sure what more one could ask for. (pic via Leia Jospe Flickr)

READING: Jonathan Franzen reads at the Bam Cafe tonight, but not after a buffet that include wine from the Pine Ridge Winery and other treats. There will also be a live acoustic performance and a Q&A with Franzen.

Last Friday, crowds packed into Studio B to see the NYC return of laptop mashup extraordinaire Girl Talk deliver his most satisfying local set to date. 90 minutes of ADD jamz that kept the capacity crowd moving the entire time. This might sound odd, the best parts of a Girl Talk set are the mixes that don't work perfectly. They're few and far between, but sometimes two songs just don't work together. The remarkable feat is that Gillis is able to quickly realize this and seamlessly correct it right there. It's a reminder that he's not just pressing a button and letting the whole set roll, but is actually constructing these mashups on the fly. Nothing made this clearer than when after trying and failing to somehow successfully mix JT's 'My Love' with a variety of songs, finally hitting gold by matching it with the oh so timeless 'Whoop, There it is.' Ever so subtle, the trial and error made the end result that much more rewarding. Getting a peak inside how his head functions in real time gives an added sense of legitimacy to what is an already amazing performance. (Pic via Ben Shapiro's flickr)

It’s been said that one of the defining characteristics of punk rock – besides the anti-establishment attitude and DIY ethos – is the urge to transcend the barrier between the performer up on stage and the traditionally passive spectator. In that sense, there are few artists in today’s theater more punk than Wallace Shawn – which may come as a surprise to those who know him as “that guy” from such movies as The Princess Bride and Clueless.

Remember doodling in your notebook while your teacher droned on and on and on and on like Ben Stein? Well, pull that Bic from behind your ear and start scribbling. The drawings from These Bagels Are Gnarly: Ballpoint Pen Group Drawing Show are on sale for up to $1200 at Cinders Gallery (103 Havemeyer; Brooklyn). Unlike in a high-school cafeteria, everyone finds acceptance at Cinders. Simple rows of crosshatches like the kind kept to pass time in prison are on the same wall as meticulously detailed portraits of animals; amateurish cartoons face social commentary.