Be Your Own Pet Smacks Around Mercury Lounge There’s usually not much mystery to a Be Your Own Pet show. You get about a half-hour of nonstop, rapid-fire post-adolescent punk, with lots of shouting and shimmying from Jemina Pearl. There are far worse ways to spend an early evening in February. This Wednesday, however, things went down a bit different. About halfway through the set, some older creep started talking back to the charismatic young......

EVENT: Tonight Coney Island historian Charles Denson will be enlightening all about the "Genesis of the Coney Island History Project" at the American Folk Art Museum. He'll be discussing "the fascinating changes Coney Island has undergone" from its amusement park glory days to its struggle to survive. Expect to see some never-before-seen photos. More info here. 6:30pm // American Folk Art Museum [45 W 53rd St] // $10 MUSIC: We highly recommend getting over to......

EVENT: White Castle is sponsoring an "over the top" (heh) event today at Port Authority...it's the 30th Annual White Castle Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions. Over 100 ladies and gents will face off to become the arm wrestling champ! The event starts at 12:30 and the finals begin at 3:30pm. More info here. 12:30 and 3:30pm // Port Authority Bus Terminal [North Wing/Main Concourse at 625 8th Ave] // Free MUSIC: The Scotland......

There's a band looking for a frontman in Brooklyn...and they're bypassing Craigslist postings, MySpace bulletins and good 'ol fashion flyers to get the open position filled. They say "we like internet" and are therefore selling their frontman position on eBay in this Buy a Rock Band auction. The band currently has no name and consists of four members. The rhythm guitarist, Bill, is 25 and includes Fall Out Boy in his list of influences. The......

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......

MUSIC: Last week Craig Finn made a solo appearance amongst the books at Barnes & Noble, tonight he's with his rock band, The Hold Steady, playing another free show. Joining them are the Old 97’s, and newer band, Illinois. A triple-threat lineup with a can't-be-beat pricetag. 5:30pm // 7 World Trade Center [250 Greenwich St] // Free READING: Possibly known more for her role on Project Runway than her fashion direction with ELLE magazine, Nina......

We've survived the sirens for many years, and if this truly was the last Siren Fest ever, it certainly went out with a bang. Coney Island was packed full of thrifty music fans for the 7th annual Siren Festival this weekend. Despite the current trend of awful weather for every worthwhile free outdoor concert this summer so far, nobody could complain about the perfect day at the beach this past Saturday. We got down there......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Although the mass media informs us that our nation was monolithically united around last night's final Sopranos episode, we believe a small pocket of dissenters were tuned into CBS, where the 61st Annual Tony Awards were broadcast over the span of three hours. We know from The Playgoer’s pithy live-blogging that there were big musical numbers by each of the nominated musicals, a (“thankfully”) drunk Eddie Izzard and an appearance by American Idol sensation Fantasia......

Everybody wants to be a rock star, perhaps none more ardently than theater folk, some of whom have been prodding the form toward rock since the sixties. Sam Shepard famously insisted that he wanted to be a rock and roll star, not a playwright; recently the likes of theater company Les Freres Corbusier and playwright Adam Rapp (who moonlights in a band) have expressed a sensible desire to tap into the Bowery Ballroom demographic.......

READINGS: Jonathan Lethem reads from his new novel You Don't Love Me Yet. In it, Lethem leaves Boerum Hill for LA "to recount the near-fame experience of a Los Angeles alternative rock band". A girl, a boy and a band - sounds like a hipster love story to us! 7pm // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St] // Free Saul Austerlitz talks about his book Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video.......

Nicole Atkins is more than "just" a girl with a guitar. Her live shows are amongst the best we've seen - energetic, personable and with a sound so big there's little else to do but feel a part of the music. Tomorrow afternoon she'll take the stage at our show in Austin, and we suggest coming by if you're at SXSW. For New Yorkers staying in town, she'll be playing Bowery Ballroom on March 19th.......

In September, The Wordless Music Series had their inaugural event. It featured Nels Cline from Wilco, pianist Jenny Lin and composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp. At first we were a bit apprehensive of a concert without any vocals whatsoever, but we're warming up to the idea (the above video helped). Pairing classical and instrumental indie-rockers in a chamber music setting is actually pretty brilliant. Tonight we'll definitely be heading over to the second show of the......

Have you heard of Plastic People of the Universe? The band, from Prague, was a major part of the underground culture there. This underground culture is often linked back to starting just after Allen Ginsberg visited Prague, and was then expelled from Czechoslovakia, in 1965. It's also linked to a rare copy of the Velvet Underground's first record showing up there and inspiring those in the music circle. The PPU (who got their name from......

As we stated before, there is far far more to CMJ than our little series of parties. Over 1000 bands were in town last week, and while nobody could possibly catch them all, the idea is to see as much as you can and maybe discover a few new favorites. Rather than scrape together a drab roundup of the day by day, we decided to award certain aspects of CMJ for making a mark on......

THEATER: In September 2005, theater director Peter S. Petralia embarked on the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting with artists from around the world for as long as the train stayed in the station. He would give them an art "package" and they, in return, would send something back to him. His collection of art objects and stories have culminated in Invisible Messages, currently running at P.S. 122 through Sunday. The multimedia work uses Petralia’s art-experiment as a......

Sam Shepard once declared that he didn't want to be a playwright, he wanted to be a rock and roll star. So the current rock and roll revival of his 1972 play, The Tooth of Crime, would seem to be a perfect match for his ambitions. The play is loosely structured as a Greek tragedy (with unity of time and place and a doomed protagonist) to tell the story of Hoss (Ray Wise), a fading......

Just after their premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Gothamist interviewed local filmmakers and brothers, Jay and Mark Duplass. Now their hilarious, sweet little indie movie, about a road trip to deliver a purple barcalounger, The Puffy Chair is finally getting a theatrical release in New York at the Angelika. Gothamist sat down to chat again with director and co-writer Jay about DIY movie marketing, getting the perfect indie soundtrack and how to do a......

Right now we feel like the bear climbing the mountain of previews, knowing that in a couple weeks we'll reach the top and see a whole slew of shows opening (at least, that’s how we like to sing the mountain-climbing bear song). We can hardly wait for later in March when everything’s in full swing, but there’s more than enough to keep us awash in Playbills…er, hand-folded programs…for now. It feels like the fall EATFest......

Now that you're finished pretending you care about football, it's time for the music version of Monday-morning quarterbacking: What are you going to do with your week? To the videotape.... We're going to do things a little bit differently this week, just in case you can't be arsed to read the whole post, and start things off with what we consider to be the show of the week, the absolute don't-miss if you're a rock......

CELEBRATION: There's nothing like flowers to cheer you up in the dreary month of January. The Museum of Chinese in the Americas presents Arts in Full Bloom at 3rd Annual Lunar New Year Flower Market. The Flower Market reinvents tradition by incorporating performers and artists as the colors and fragrances of auspicious plants and blossoms linger in the air and atmosphere. The flowers are widely used decoratively as symbols of prosperity, fortune and abundance. Friday......

If there's one week that folks might be at a loss for things to do in the city, this is the week. You might think not a creature was stirring, but how many times do we have to tell you? This is New York. The kids are definitely not nestled all snug in their beds. What to your wondering eyes should appear this week? Take a look.... You may be done with Christmas, but Yo......

Adam Gardner and Dave Schneider, The LeeVees ...

Pickings this week are slimmer than last month's turkey. If your Christmukkah party schedule allows, give yourself an early present and forage for some rock and roll scraps. Monday kicks things off with Spin magazine's Year in Music Party at Rothko, with We Are Scientists, the Spinto Band (at left), and the Five O'Clock Heroes. Of course, it's a private party, so you'll have to call in a favor or two or be creative at......

Move over Brooklyn Vegan, now there's something leaner. And tastier, too. Mmmm, meat. Hello, I'm Catherine's Pita (henceforth known as Gothamist), and I'm here to tell you about the shows most likely to satisfy your hunger for the rock this week. Here's what's on the menu: Monday starts things off with a bloody slew of interesting shows. Seattle will most certainly be in the house at the Knitting Factory (and Tuesday at Northsix) as Pretty......

THEATER: PS 122 & Act French present The Itching of the Wings (La démangeaison des ailes) as part of the series which brings new French theater to us. The play itself is an "autopsy of daydreams" and presents, among other things, a visit from a rock band dimensionalizing the polyphony of music, movement, text and image that is a history of the history of art and ideas. With music by Stockhausen, Kid Koala, Raymond Scott,......

The Art Brut hype started around June when the critics universally praised the UK rock band's debut album. Tiny Mix Tapes wrote, "I feel strange writing this review considering how big Art Brut will become over the next few months. No American dates are scheduled thus far, but they’re doing the UK festival circuit this summer and are poised to win just about everyone over." Eventually American dates were scheduled, and as usual NYC......

Wow, Apple puts U2 on an iPod and all of a sudden, U.S. politicans want a piece of the Irishmen! The New York Times says that the globally conscious band is "distancing" itself from campaign fundraising, as Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Rick Santorum are both planning fundraising events tied to U2 concerts. According to the article, in response to a report from NewsMax about Bono "teaming up" with Santorum, Bono's Debt AIDS Trade Africa......

Shonali Bhowmik, Leader of indie band Tigers and Monkeys, member, Variety Shac...

It's an exciting night for hip-hop in NYC. There's a big who's-who Katrina benefit show at BB King Blues Club with M1, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, the Beatnuts, and many more. Multiple members of Wu-Tang will be at Northsix in Brooklyn, and hip-hop meets indie-rock-electronica at Irving Plaza tonight with Notwist and Themselves as 13 & God. "Take a rock band that isn't really a rock band and a hip-hop group that isn't really hip-hop,......