Along the rough trails of American pop mythology, there remain a few eternally clear paths: If you want to become a movie star, you go to Hollywood. If you want to start a cool band, you go to New York City. In the seventies, you lobbied the bookers of Max’s Kansas City, CBGB, and the Mudd Club. By the nineties, it was Don Hill’s and Brownies, and early in this decade, playing renovated Lower East Side dives like Pianos could score you one of the last big-money record deals. Now, it’s all on the other side of the bridge.
Ten Shows to See in the Next Month
1. Pterodactyl, Fiasco at Death by Audio, November 13
2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Crystal Stilts at the Bell House, November 14
3. Awesome Color at Glasslands Gallery, November 15
4. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Local Natives at Bowery Ballroom, November 17
5. Dirty Projectors at Bowery Ballroom November 18 and 22; at Music Hall of Williamsburg, November 19 and 21
6. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson at the Bell House, November 19; at Mercury Lounge, November 20
7. Fuck Buttons at the Market Hotel, November 27
8. The Big Pink, Crystal Antlers, Von Haze at Music Hall of Williamsburg, December 4
9. The Antlers, Uninhabitable Mansions, Sharon Van Etten at Bowery Ballroom, December 15
10. Neon Indian at Mercury Lounge, December 16
Read It and Party
The definition of retro, the print-only, bi-monthly newspaper Showpaper compiles listings for all-ages shows from over 50 local venues. It’s this era’s nod to the bygone cool of mimeographed fanzines. By far the best feature, though, is the “I Saw You” sidebar, a series of hilarious, often super-dirty Missed Connections for art-school girls and boys. The Village Voice reprinted a best-of featuring this classic: “U were standing by the grill @ the Unamplified BBQ, turnin’ over sausages. I was the short girl w/white-rimmed glasses & black shirt. U let me try a little bite but I wanted all of yr sausage.”