FOOD: Those with a taste for expensive ham and the means to pay for it will be tantalized by tonight’s one-night-only 5 course tasting menu at Suba, a Spanish restaurant on the Lower East Side. Chef Seamus Mullen has obtained the prized “Rolls Royce of Ham” – Jamón Ibérico – and will be offering it tonight with Ossabaw Island hogs and Iberian wine. There are just a few seatings still available for tonight's event, which......

Brian Cox is widely admired for commanding performances in films like The Bourne Identity, Rushmore and the original Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s Manhunter. But like most actors from across the pond, the Scottish Cox originally built his reputation on decades of tireless stage work in theaters around the word. Until the stagehands’ strike shut down Broadway, he could be seen in the role of Max, a diehard British Marxist and Cambridge professor in Tom......

Did contemporary art and music come together for the first time in New York? The holy (or unholy -- if you're not a Velvet Underground fan) union can be traced back to, where else, Andy Warhol's Factory scene. So why is the Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 exhibit being housed all the way in Chicago? The NY Times takes a look at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) show,......

Blender has a list of 100 Days That Changed Music, and not surprisingly a good amount of them took place in New York. Here are a few, see any missing? 99. December 11, 1965: The Velvet Underground play their first show, which was actually at a high school dance in Summit, New Jersey. The following year however, the Velvets became the house band at Warhol's Factory. 96. December 14, 1977: "Saturday Night Fever debuts in......

Rolling Stone has officially turned 40! We can't honestly say it's aged very well, but it sure is partying like it's 1967. Last year, at 39 and issue number 1000, Jann Wenner wrote, "The fact that we had John Lennon on the very first cover [pictured] was serendipity. We had a publicity photo from his role in the anti-war film How I Won the War. That photo, we now realize, speaks so clearly to the......

ART: As a "happy anniversary" to The Velvet Underground and Nico (40 years!), John McWhinnie honors the rock legends (and the release of that album) with a collection of rare memorabilia and art(rock)ifacts. Come by to check out film stills by Warhol, "never before published or publicly shown photographs of the band by Adam Ritchie, Paul Morrisey and Doug Yule," and original lyrics by Lou Reed. More info here. 10am to 6pm // John McWhinnie......

The skull of a carnivorous Tyrannosaurus dinosaur and the tusk of a mammoth from the Ice Age were sold at auction yesterday. The IM Chait auction was the first the company has had in New York, held in a Manhattan loft on 5th and 29th. While the pieces of history sold for high prices, the final bids were nowhere near as high as the one for the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, and only a few......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery in Coney Island, a Police motorcycle MVA on 54th Street and Park, and a Homicide on Nostrand in Bed-Stuy. The Christmas lights have started going up in Dyker Heights-- and Janelle and Gowanus Lounge have pix. Or go in person: the best lights are on 84th Street between 12th and 11th Avenue. Canadian black squirrels have begun invading Boerum Hill. Soon there won't be any jobs......

The following is an account of what someone purchased four years ago at a stoop sale in Chelsea, for 75 cents: "In September of 2002 Warren Hill of Montreal Canada was perusing a box of records at a Chelsea, New York street sale when he happened upon a brittle 12" piece of acetone-covered aluminum with the words "Velvet Underground. 4-25-66. Att N. Dolph" written on the label. He purchased the three records for 75......

Voyage, Tom Stoppard’s first installment in the three play Coast of Utopia series, crowned a month of breathless Times hype with a gushing Brantley rave. But good old Tommy “Can’t Stop; Won’t” Stoppard – famous for his perfectionism – still ain't satisfied. According to Michael Riedel, Stoppard has been staking out Lincoln Center during intermission and confronting any audience member with the temerity to jump ship during the (nearly) three hour tour. According to Riedel,......

Photo by Jamie Goodridge Last week Tall Hands played our Movable Hype show, since then we've seen them one more time. Yes, twice in one week, they are that fun! Mix a little bit of an up-tempo Velvet Underground sound with some Maker's Mark, add ice and shake nicely - and you'll get something that resembles this bands live show. A sound that amidst all the live energy, comes out crystal clear through 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......

There are some things that just don't belong on Broadway. We can all agree that Bob Dylan's music is one of those things (even if the man himself enjoyed the show). Finally the powers that be have also realized this and have pulled the plug on The Times They Are A-Changin', after only a month on stage. Wonder what's next for Twyla Tharp? Let's just hope she doesn't think of a good dance number for......

The New York Times reports on The Misshapes once again (according to Gawker, the 10th time in under a year). Love them or hate them, and we're sure you hate them, our limited first hand encounters with these three have been fairly pleasant. We've been to their party a few times over the past couple of years, despite the fact we weren't sporting asymmetrical bangs or...whatever the kids are wearing these days (we did have......

Back in January of 1966, The Velvet Underground and Nico rehearsed at Warhol's Factory. This is an 11 minute clip of footage shot on that day, produced and directed by Andy, and with Nico's son Ari at her feet. The complete "Symphony of Sound" rehearsal footage is over an hour long, coming to an end when the police arrive and break it up (due to a noise complaint). The Factory, located at 19 E......

A documentary on the music scene in Brooklyn was bound to happen sooner or later. Luckily, Rockin' Brooklyn (despite the name) sounds like it will be a good one. It will delve in to the whole migration from downtown New York to Brooklyn, as high rent in Manhattan has forced artists out. Yes, Williamsburg is expensive these days too - however there is much more space provided for the money. Plus, artists don't really live......

ART: The Year of the Dog is being celebrated in many ways, even through cute paintings of puppies, er, art. Elizabeth Berdann's witty, ultra-realistic oil-on-copper paintings of dogs are now on view. We think they're cuteoverload.com! Now through March 23rd // Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday 10am to 2pm // Lesley Heller [30 East 92nd Street, 3rd Floor] COMEDY PANEL: We can't imagine that disecting comedy is really all that funny, since laughing is somewhat a......

When we are trying to recapture the thrill of living in New York (or at least avoid sounding like Tricia Romano when we talk about our home) we drink Manhattans in Brooklyn. They may not be everyone's favorite or the flavor of the month but Manhattans are like the whole experience of living here- pretty hardcore, an acquired taste and only right when you make it yours. We've tried Maker's Manhattans, as cold as possible,......

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,......

Lou Reed has some pretty New York City photographs up on the Steven Kasher gallery's website, although some are a little blurry. Probably just some residual shakes from 1970s excesses. Artnet has a description of the exhibit:Famed Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed exhibits his photographs for the first time in two simultaneous exhibitions at the Gallery at Hermès above the flagship store on Madison Avenue and the Steven Kasher Gallery at 521 West 23rd......

This week requires you to make some very important decisions. It all starts on Wednesday with the question, "will it be SPIN or Summerstage?" SPIN is celebrating their 20th anniversary at Webster Hall with an incredible lineup that includes Public Enemy, Death Cab for Cutie, LCD Soundsystem, Drive-By Truckers, Lady Sovereign, Diplo, and Afrika Bambaataa. All that can be yours for only $10 more than it'll cost you to see just Death Cab in......

Despite the fact that we've been under the weather for the past week, we refused to miss the first night of CMJ. After all, we had trecked all the way up to Lincoln Center earlier in the day to get our fancy silver laminated pass - we weren't going to let it go to waste. So we started the marathon off with the Dandy Warhols at CBGB's (luckily we bought a ticket - because......

Fashion week is in full swing in New York, celebrating the irritatingly recurring time of year that all of the self-congratulatory super-socialites take the opportunity to stop patting themselves on the back and pat each other for awhile.  Last night, Betsy Johnson took the opportunity to share the limelight with the Great-Uncle of Glam, John Cale, the founding member of the Velvet Underground, to celebrate the release of his new record, "HoboSapiens." For anybody mystified......

Novel and crazy, Charles McKinley shipped himself in a wooden air cargo crate from New York to Dallas. When the crate was at his parents' suburban Dallas home, he pried himself out shocking the deliveryman. McKinley, en-crate, had been shipped via a pressurized 727 and was arrested on outstanding Texas warrants after the deliveryman called the police. Authorities are trying to understand how this happened. An FBI agent from the Dallas field office says, "It's......

All the hipsters will be going to Irving Plaza to hear Williamsburg band Interpol perform tonight and tomorrow. The Daily News chats with the band in a feature that has obligatory references to the Strokes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Velvet Underground. Here's Interpol's official site.......