MUSIC: Of course we're going to recommend you come hang out with us tonight at our 5 year anniversary show. Come on by and check out Pattern is Movement and The Forms, along with a special guest band at midnight. On top of all that, you'll get Craig Wedren deejaying between sets. What more could you ask for? Buy tickets here. Friday // 9pm // Union Hall [702 Union St, Park Slope] // $10......

ART: "Drawing Art and Politics" seems like a fitting event to have on the calendar today. "Spend an evening with New York’s renowned graphic artists Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel, as they examine the ways in which complex social and political issues are depicted by artists in today’s media. Jules Feiffer will moderate a discussion that explores the roots of political art and social realism in the context of John Sloan’s......

Photo of Crosby Connection space by Billy Chasen Photo of the meatball hero and a smoked gouda and ham sandwich (with apples) by Tien Mao On Crosby Street between Bleecker and Houston, there's a literally hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop called The Crosby Connection. Joey Cramarossa, an ex-cop from New Jersey, works out a tiny space to serve up unbelievably fresh, delicious, filling and reasonably priced sandwiches and salads at $5-6 each. The meatball hero (with......

ART: The Met opens its doors on a Monday for a special Christmas Eve event. They suggest stopping by for the 18th-century Neapolitan Nativity scene Christmas tree, along with some of their special exhibits -- the Age of Rembrandt, Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works and their fashion exhibit will stock your stuffing with eye candy. 9:30am to 5:30pm // The Metropolitan Museum of Art [1000 Fifth Ave] // Pay what you want MOVIE: The......

SHOP: Want to pick up some cheap(er) fashions by John Varvatos -- the rock n' roll designer taking over the CBGB space next year? Head to a sample sale today to get in on some 80% off clothing, footwear and accessories. 10am to 6pm, through November 4th // 260 Fifth Ave MUSIC: We've sort of been ignoring this band because of, or perhaps despite, their cutesy name -- but tonight UK rockers Holly Golightly take......

October 22: Wine Dinner at Aix This five-course wine dinner will feature nine top wines from Alsace, Austria and Germany paired with regional dishes such as Alsatian Onion Tart with Thinly Sliced House-Smoked Brisket and Raclette Fondue and Riesling-Marinated Poulet Rouge with Glazed Baby Turnips and Carrots Crispy Sauteed Spaetzle, and Riesling Jus. Doesn't that sound like fall to you? $125, tax and tip excluded. For reservations, call 212.874.7400. 7pm, Aix, 2398 Broadway at 88th......

MUSIC: It's CMJ, check out one of the zillions of bands playing. Since trying to pick just one show is tough, we'll suggest one for you. Head over to Brooklyn tonight for Dirty on Purpose, A Place to Bury Strangers, Sisters, Coin Under Tongue and Indian Scout. They'll be taking the stage at Death by Audio. Listen: Mind Blindness.mp3 - Dirty on Purpose 8pm // Death by Audio [49 South 2nd St, Williamsburg] And come......

RALLY: Barack is back! This time he's hitting up Manhattan with an evening rally in Washington Square Park. It's gonna be a big one, so get there early! At least this time there won't be any unhappy paying customers, because it's free! Check out his video invite: 5pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St and Fifth Ave] // Free, RSVP here EVENT: Tonight the Fall 2007 season at NYPL is in full effect as......

THEATER: In November, Tom Stoppard’s latest smash hit Rock ‘n’ Roll will transfer from London to Broadway (delighting Rushmore fans by bringing Brian Cox – AKA Dr. Guggenheim – in tow.) In the meantime, fans of our most intellectually dazzling living playwright can plug into Stoppard Goes Electric, an evening of three short teleplays that Stoppard penned for BBC early in his career. According to the Boomerang Theatre Company, which is producing the program, some......

This week NY Mag has a scathing analysis of Thomas Krens' tenure at the Guggenheim, calling the air around the museum during his 17-year reign "distorted and toxic." Writer Jerry Saltz says the museum is beginning to recover only now, two years after Lisa Dennison, who is now leaving to become executive vice president for Sotheby's North America, replaced him when he left to run the Guggenheim Foundation. Krens gets blasted for bungling what......

EVENT: The New York Book Club at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents…"Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered New York City". The panelists include "Hal Buell, longtime AP photo editor who put images of the Vietnam War in newspapers across America; Richard Drew, AP photographer who has covered New York events including 9/11; Edie Lederer, longtime UN correspondent and first woman to be the foreign chief of bureau; and Valerie Komor, corporate......

FILM: A tribute to Jean Genet on film begins tonight at BAM. The focus will be on films inspired by the French writer, as well as Genet's own Un Chant D'Amour. BAM describes the festival further: A writer, criminal, homosexual, activist, and self-styled renegade, Jean Genet creates incendiary work that offers dreamlike evocations of moral ambiguity in a repressed society, and is rife with homosexuality, outlandish fantasies of submission, and acts of violence. This series......

This May filmmaker/musician/actress/performing artist/writer Miranda July is going to unleash her book, "No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories", upon the world. She'll have several events lined up in New York, one with her biggest fan - David Byrne. In his online journal, he wrote: "I had recently read her book of collected short stories which is due out in about a month — No one Belongs Here More Than You — which......

SCIENCE: It's Secret Science Club night again at Union Hall. This week Gerry Moore tells us of The Secret Botanical Life of NYC. From the press release: "Is this city nothing but steel and pavement? Nein! We’re gushing with biodiversity. Put a nosegay in your buttonhole, and prepare for FLOWER POWER!" Also: the aromatic cocktails of the night will be "the walloping Planter’s Punch and the deadly Black Dahlia”...smells like a pretty drunk science club!......

Inside Edition, better known for covering tabloid stories and entertainment, has found something that mixes the best of both worlds: Looking for rats in NYC restaurants. Perhaps the most famous restaurant goers these days are city rats, and Inside Edition was on them like paparazzi on Britney Spears:INSIDE EDITION took to the streets of Manhattan between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM peering their cameras and flashlights into the windows of a wide variety of......

THEATER: At the end of December 2003, with her daughter in an induced-coma brought on by septic shock from a fatal bout with pneumonia, Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne unexpectedly died during dinner. Her struggle to navigate the subsequent minefields of grief formed the basis for her best-selling memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking. She’s now adapted the book into a one-woman play of the same name, directed by David Hare and starring Vanessa......

DISCUSSION: Is New York losing it's New York charm? Tonight contributors to the new tome "The Suburbanization of New York" will talk about just that (and is conveniently located down the street from H&M and Pottery Barn). The panel includes Marshall Berman, Eric Darton, Francis Morrone, Matthew Schuerman, Neil Smith, Michael Sorkin, and Suzanne Wasserman. 6:30pm // The Gotham Center at the CUNY Graduate Center [Elebash Recital Hall, 365 Fifth Ave] // Free EVENT: This......

The essentials: Exhibit: Athens-Sparta Gallery: Onassis Cultural Center Location: Olympic Tower, 645 Fifth Ave., NYC Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Cost: Free Exhibit closes: May 12, 2007 New York’s got a lot of history, but it certainly doesn’t go as far back as Greece. Now through May 12, you can see a selection of ancient art—we’re talking 8th to 4th centuries BC—from Greece for the first time in the United States......

MOVIE: The 10th Annual New York International Children's Film Festival commences tonight, starting with the US premiere of the French animated film U (which includes unicorns!). A kid-friendly catered reception will take place after the film. More weekend movies here. Friday (festival through March 11th) // 6pm // Director's Guild of America Theater [110 W 57th St] // $20 EVENT: It's the first Friday of the month, that means it's time to head up to......

February 17-18: Year of the Pig at The Spotted Pig The good folks at The Spotted Pig are ringing in the Year of the Pig with, you guessed it, a pig roast. 314 W. 11th Street at Greenwich. Call 212-620-0393 for details. Feburary 18: Year of the Pig at LeNell's LeNell's brings on the swine with free tastings of pork-related booze, including Wild Hog pinot noir and Pig Nose Scotch. 416 Van Brunt St between......

READING: Head to the NYPL for the Borowitz Report On The Future - "in a totally improvised and spontaneous program, cybersatirist Andy Borowitz will answer the audience's questions about what the future holds for current events, pop culture, sports, business, and Paris Hilton, with the guarantee that he will be at least as accurate as the New York Post," runs the NYPL description. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // Humanities and Social Sciences Library [455......

To get to the 20th floor of 230 Fifth Avenue you need to walk past security, through turnstiles ready for keycards, past all the stores on the ground floor to a nearly private elevator and the cheetah in the foyer will let you know you’ve made it. And by “made it” we mean “are ready to spend $12 for a well cocktail” or $9 for a beer in a very, very narrow glass. The......

THEATER: Last time we saw the National Asian-American Theatre Co. http://www.naatco.org/ was in the charmingly quirky Cowboy vs. Samurai. Now, for something completely different: their next show, which opens tonight, is The Dispute by Pierre Marivaux, an 18th century French dramatist. In it, a prince confines two male and two female orphans to an artificial "Eden" until they come of age, then he sets them loose to see what happens -- who will succumb first......

PARTY: Rated X returns, again. This time to a new venue, the old Misshapes HQ: Luke & Leroys. With an open vodka bar from 10 to 11pm to get your night started off right, we're assuming they still have the discounted drinks for those who de-pant. Saturday // 10pm // Luke & Leroys [21 7th Ave] // $10 and $5 if you mention Shaw Promo ART EVENT: Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk06 features 100+ established and......

KARAOKE: Tonight is the MCFGHT, a LVHRD event. Michelle Collins is the master of ceremonies, presiding over a roomful of people cheering on those who take part in the nights karaoke showdown. If you've never seen Brian Battjer do karaoke, and we're guessing most of you haven't, you do not want to miss this. He'll be one of the contestants tonight. Check out the flyer here, and buy tickets here. They're $20 ($11 if you're......

FAIR: Tom of Finland Foundation is holding the 6th Annual New York City Erotic Art Fair all weekend. Thousands of works of Erotic Art by artists worldwide will be for sale, or just for looking at (pervert). This includes all media, gender & sexual orientation. There will also be life drawing workshops. The opening reception is tonight, so get the first peek. All Weekend // The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center [208......

Yes, we are aware of widespread reports of a line of 56 Mitzvah Tanks driving slowly through Manhattan. At first, we thought the Hasidim had decided to topple the godless Bloomberg administration in a bloody coup, but then we got this press release from Lubavitcher World Headquarters: New Yorkers and tourists heading out for lunch this Thursday April 6 2006 could be greeted by an unexpected surprise. A parade, consisting of fifty-six motor homes,......

MUSIC: Party with pretty much the only guy you should be partying with on St. Pat's Day. No, not a leprechaun. Shane MacGowan [pictured] of the Pogues! After their show the singer will be heading over to Brooklyn, and likely getting more drunk than the rest of you. BP Fallon organized the event, he's played with the likes of John Lennon, so it's sure to be a legendary evening. Friday // 8:30pm // Southpaw [125......

Valentine's day. We're on the fence. Getting flowers is nice, but we also like getting flowers on the 13th and 15th. Overall there is too much pressure put on the day, on singles and couples alike, and we hate when companies use it to wrangle up the former and pour lemon juice cocktails into their wounded, bleeding, unloved hearts (ahem, Fresh Direct). You can ignore it or embrace it but it's coming up tomorrow either......

Welcome to 2006! What's coming up in events around the city...sex, drugs, and rock & roll. And also some art and design (all downtown, of course). Some things never change, even with the passing of a year. First up, Parsons presents the first exhibition to explore one of the most avant-garde periods in 20th-century American Design, titled Anarchy to Affluence: Design in New York, 1974 -1984. The exhibit aims to examine important interior, furniture, fashion,......