Làszlò Moholy–Nagy. Yellow Circle 1921. Oil on canvas. Gift of The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild–Kunst, Bonn

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Geometry of Motion 1920s/1970s
Show time: Sat to Mon and Wed and Thurs 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Tuesday closed, Fri 10:30 AM to 8:00 PM thru July 28.
Venue: Museum of Modern Art
Food: Supermac
Drink: Stout
Miscellaneous: Jack’s 99 Cent Store

This show compares the unconventional optical techniques that the “New Vision” generation of artists used in the 1920s (László Moholy-Nagy, Hans Richter, and Marcel Duchamp) and those same techniques that were used and improved on by artists of the 1970s (Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Smithson, and Anthony McCall). Though small, Supermac packs a hearty punch with it’s gourmet mac & cheese’s like the Mac Cheesesteak with shaved steak, caramelized onions, roasted peppers, cremini/shitake, provolone, and white American ($8.25 mini; $10.95 mega). A great place in NYC to get a full-bodied dark beer is at Stout. With a very detailed beer list with descriptions, I’ve never had a bad pint at this bar and restaurant, plus the food menu is American and quite good. Probably the biggest 99-cent store in NYC, Jack’s is three floors of some of the finest values you can find, especially in an overpriced area like Herald Square.

You Don't Have to be a Loser to see The Loser's Lounge. Illustration by Mott

Friday June 13

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Band: Friday the 13th Zombie Party with Pterodactyl + Fiasco + Puttin’ on the Ritz + Bat Attack
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Death By Audio
Food: Dumont Burger
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Verb Cafe

It’s Friday 13th, a day made famous by a hockey mask wearing psycho wielding a machete. (Don’t quote me on that!) At this show, dress up as a zombie and get in for the reduced admission of $2 and see Pteredactyl, Fiasco, Bat Attack, Puttin’ on the Ritz, and more. With one of the best burgers in Williamsburg, Dumont Burger offers theirs with gourmet toppings, sandwiches, salads, and their amazing mac & cheese. So you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and like to party. You can do all that and eat at Radegast. The Austrian/German menu perfectly compliments the 12 beers on tap and more than 30 German and Austrian bottles at this large beer hall. One of the oldest and best hipster hangout coffee shops, The Verb offers up excellent coffee and baked goods, a boho vibe, and big windows to watch the days pass while collecting unemployment!

Friday June 13

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Bang Camaro + The Giraffes + Demander
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Sammy’s Roumanian Steak House
Drink: Sweet & Vicious
Miscellaneous: Pravda

With at least six band members and a choir of 10 to 15 lead singers, Bang Camaro is not your typical 80s inspired hard rocking metal band. Joining them are local favorites The Giraffes, whose live show is always explosive and Demander, a female led rock trio with great songs. At Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse, expect an atmosphere involving some sort of scene, dancing, and plenty of vodka. The eastern European menu comes down to steaks and chops, and Jewish delicacies like Kasha Varniskes and Kreplach. One of the hipper bars in Nolita, Sweet & Vicious has an all-wood interior featuring big round circular fixtures with lights that make Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” come to mind, and the prices won’t burn a hole in your wallet! Want a $12 martini that’s worth more? Pravda has an extensive selection of Russian vodkas, and who knows vodka better than the Russians?

Saturday June 14

Location: East Village, NYC
Band: The Loser’s Lounge Tribute to the Kinks
Show time: 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Food: Oyama
Drink: Grassroots Tavern
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe

One of the top tribute bands in the city, The Loser’s Lounge pays respect to one of the greatest garage rock bands and songwriters in music history, The Kinks. Look out for special guest singers. With sushi that’s 50 percent off all the time, you might think, “Something’s wrong with that?” but the fish is good and the rolls are inventive, making this one of the best low-priced sushi joints in the city. Though St. Marks all of a sudden lost its charm, Grassroots Tavern hasn’t. This large dive bar has cheap drinks, darts in the back, and old men behind the bar, things a good dive bar should have. Excellent coffee served in a big mug and a healthy menu of food coupled with a year round enclosed outdoor backyard patio make this place a great little coffee shop in the area.

Saturday and Sunday June 14 & 15

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Band: Mission of Burma
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Wow, on Saturday Mission of Burma are playing their complete first EP from 1981, Signals, Calls, and Marches from front to back and on Sunday they will play their complete first album, 1982s VS. For fans of the Boston band, this is one of those things that may never happen again. At San Loco, the Mexican food is inexpensive, you can get a heaping amount of nachos for as little as $3.75, and telling by the heavy traffic, the place is doing just fine. What I like about Max Fish is that it’s a local bar for local artists. It’s walls play host monthly for art exhibitions, there’s a pool table in the back, and drinks aren’t pricey, like many new bars springing up in this neighborhood. For one of the best cupcakes in the city, Sugar Sweet Sunshine has 10 varieties, on top of cakes. Try the Sexy Red Velvet or the Bob, a yellow cupcake with chocolate almond buttercream.

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival
Stanley N. Alpert
Putnam




Having survived a kidnapping, Stanley Alpert wrote a book as a catharsis for what was a difficult and damaging experience. Unfortunately, he may have also written it because he thought it would be an impressive piece of writing. The Birthday Party is readable, mostly interesting, and the author’s memory of events and survival are impressive. However, it reads like a piece done by an amateur writer who desperately wants to impress the reader. It is an incident pushed into a book for 306 pages, told in an earnest though unsuccessful attempt at presenting detail without much of an understanding of craft.

It is a somewhat shocking story, whose fangs are pulled by flat storytelling, and an ending given away in the very beginning of the book. One day, a Hollywood trained screenwriter may be able to mine this for suspenseful film that will do the experience justice.

--Gidalya

Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Band: Venue: Isaac Hayes
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell
Food: Press 195
Drink: The Gate
Miscellaneous: The Chocolate Room

Opening Celebrate Brooklyn’s 30th summer season of outdoor concerts in Prospect Park is Shaft himself, Isaac Hayes. With his distinctive voice that oozes soul, expect a kickass show from this soul legend and icon. Taking the pressed sandwich to the gourmet level, Press 195 offers 30 kinds of hot pressed sandwiches that make this place hard to get tired of. One of the more social bars in Park Slope, The Gate is a great bar with a wide selection of local beers on tap and an outdoor patio overlooking the park. A great little dessert and coffee shop, The Chocolate Room has a menu filled with everything made with some form of chocolate. Try the hot chocolate, you won’t regret it.

Nomo
Ghost Rock
Ubiquity Records






Do you like music that's unique, music that takes elements of music you love and transforms it into something totally different and amazing? If your answers to those questions are yes, then you need to check out Nomo's new album Ghost Rock.

Nomo is a jazz fusion band out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. While they have a sound reminiscent of Afrobeat, they're simply too unique to classify. They have an aggressively dynamic horn section that cuts hard horn lines over an even nastier rhythm section.

Ghost Rock, the band's second release with Ubiquity Records, accentuates an other-worldly electronic vibe that brings in an entirely new element to their already incomparable sound. Nomo will simultaneously make you dance and expand your mind. If you haven't heard their first full-length album, Nu Tones, go out and buy it today to tide you over until Ghost Rock comes out on June 17th.

--Marc Amigone





Ladytron
Velocifero
Nettwerk





Remember how you thought Ladytron was good? You were right. This is dirty, champagne drinking, I’d go to the club, but I’m too cool for that music. If you were a really good DJ, and a robot took over your brain, this is music you would make. Dirty synths and drum machines doing a theatrical Gary Glitter thing. They loop over and over till you’re back where you started and aren’t sure how you got there. Prozac vocals lay on top of all this with the nonchalance of a model from Antonioni’s Blowup. You get the idea. So stop reading this review and go buy the CD. Then put on a very small dress (guys too), buy an 8 ball, and get home 3 days later.

--Gidalya

Location: Upper West Side, NYC
Band: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with T Bone Burnett
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Beacon Theatre
Food: Josie’s
Drink: Candle Bar
Miscellaneous: Emack & Bolio’s

At first, the thought of legendary Led Zep frontman Robert Plant collaborating with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss sounds like an odd pairing, but after hearing their album Raising Sand, it’s clear that these two will probably put on one of the more memorable shows this year. Dairy free, organic, and free-range are things that come up often on the menu at Josie’s, that include several tofu and seitan specialty dishes and the Freshly Ground Char-Grilled Brandt Natural Beef Cheeseburger ($15.75), so everyone here will walk away happy. Comfortable and dimly lit, the Candle Bar has a pool table in the back and drink specials daily. For some of the best and most interesting ice cream in the city, Emack & Bolio’s offers some eclectic flavors like Deep Purple Cow (Black Raspberry ice cream with white and dark chocolate chips and blueberries). This place thakes their ice cream serious.

Radiohead
Radiohead: The Best of (DVD)
Capitol Records





Capitol is going all out to celebrate the best of Radiohead - even if the band isn't exactly on board with their plans. Regardless, there are no fewer than five different planned "best of" configurations, one of which is a DVD featuring 21 videos from the adventurous rockers. Radiohead always put the same amount of energy and focus into creating their videos as they did their songs so it's not surprising that they attracted major talent in the filmmaking field. Noted directors who had a hand at making a video or two include Michel Gondry and Sophie Muller. Casual fans of the band will be happy to see the more popular favorites like "Karma Police" and "Just," but what really makes this collection are the inclusion of experimental pieces that were created for songs that did not get an official "single" release and nine videos making their DVD debut.

--Amy Wagner