Williamsburg will finally be getting their very own Crif Dogs location later this summer off the Bedford Avenue Stop.
Eater writes:

The only surprise in this story is how long it took them. Last night PDT’s Jim Meehan confirmed to Metromix that the owners of creative hot dog shop and St. Mark’s Place quasi-institution Crif Dogs is expanding to Williamsburg after nine years in business. He doesn’t spill specifics but notes it’s off the Bedford L stop on either Bedford or Driggs and will open in late summer. If it does well, they’ll consider expanding even further.

*Image c/o Flickr

I have to admit when I first heard Free Energy‘s “Dream City” I was enamored by it’s T.Rex-ian opening, and also a bit annoyed by the bubblegum flavor. But after finding itself on almost all of my playlists last summer, I decided my subconscious was trying to tell me that DFA’s Philly-based rocker boys were a crew to keep an eye on.

Since then, the band has released their debut full-length, Stuck on Nothing, and I’ve accepted that I want my classic 70′s rock to come back in a modern way (√† la high-waisted everything). The bottom line is, Free Energy knows who they are and exactly how they want to sound– bringing classic rock hooks and guitar riffs together with the pangs of indie-pop. No summer BBQ or nap in McCarren Park would be complete without them.

I got a chance to chat with two-fifths of Free Energy after they opened for the legendary Iggy Pop at last week’s Ray Ban party at Music Hall of Williamsburg about rock ‘n roll mythology, Bob Seger, and how it’s nice when buzz bands are actually good.

Check out the rest of the interview, as well as Free Energy’s video for “Bang Pop” which premiered on Myspace today, after the jump… And be sure to catch them at Bowery Ballroom with Jukebox the Ghost on 5/29.

If you had to explain your music to someone who has never heard it, what would you say Free Energy is all about?

Paul Sprangers: I just tell people Rock ‘N Roll or Classic Rock, I guess.

Geoff Bucknam: It’s kind of back to the air of Rock ‘N Roll as an expression of joy and lust and love. I think it’s Rock ‘N Roll stripped down to emotional drive. No? [looks at Paul] Is that too much for you?

PS: I mean, it’s pretty slick. It’s pretty composed and thought out, but as far as what we tell people it sounds like or what we describe it as… It’s just Rock ‘N Roll. Like, that’s what I tell my mom. I wanna add, too, that moms really like this band.

GB: And we love moms.

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Ronnie James Dio, balls-out amazing metal vocalist, passed away after a battle with stomach cancer yesterday May 16th at 7:45am.
We here at FREEwilliamsburg are very saddened by the loss of such an awesome guy to such a terrible illness. So lift up your hand in devil horn salute to Dio, and enjoy this great video of him from 1983 singing Rainbow In The Dark.

Ronald James Padavona was born in 1942 in New Hampshire and raised in Cortland, NY. In an early act of metal bad-assery, he changed his surname to Dio after mobster Johnny Dio and began using it professionally in 1961. He was offered a scholorship to Julliard but passed on it to pursue his true calling: Rock.
While performing with his early band Elf, he caught the attention of Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore. Blackmore later joined forces with Dio and other members of Elf to form the band Rainbow. Medieval-themed hard rock awesomeness ensued.
After leaving Rainbow Dio famously replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the frontman for Black Sabbath. It was here that he popularized the Devil Horns hand gesture known to metalheads the world over. Dio claimed that the sign came from his old-world Italian grandmother, who often used the symbol to ward off the evil eye.
In 1982, after revitalizing Black Sabbath’s career, Dio spontaneously left the band and formed his solo project, simply entitled Dio. In 1983 they relased their platinum-selling Holy Diver record, featuring one of Metal’s most beautiful songs, Rainbow In the Dark.
Dio continued with his solo endeavors, also founding the heavy metal incarnation of Band Aid/U.S.A. for Africa, called Hear N’ Aid, raising money for starvation in Africa. He briefly rejoined Sabbath for 1992′s Dehumanizer record, but eventually returned to his solo work, which he continued with for the rest of his life.
He is survived by his wife Wendy, who posted the notice of his death on his official website.
We will miss you Dio!
- Amanda Mottur

Yesterday we were lucky enough to experience all of our favorite Williamsburg and Greenpoint restaurants in one location at the Taste Williamsburg Greenpoint food benefit/festival. Over 34 eateries were in attendance including An Nhau & Banh Mi, Antek, Aurora Ristorante, Bakeri, Bedford Cheese Shop, Blackbird Parlour, DOC Wine Bar, Dressler & Dumont, Fabiane’s Cafe & Pastry, Fatty ‘Cue, Fornino, Juliette, Karczma, Le Barricou, Lodge, M Shanghai, Manhattan Inn, Mesa Coyoacan, Miranda, Nita Nita, Pies ‘n’ Thighs, Rabbithole, Rye, Sel De Mer, Sweetwater, Taco Chulo, Teddy’s Bar & Grill, Traif, Van Leeuwen’s Ice Cream, Walter Foods, Wine Cellar Sorbets, and Wombat. We were unclear about how much food would be given in the vaguely described ‚”tastes” but quickly discovered that there was more than enough food to go around.

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When we heard that the recently shuttered River Barrel Caf√© had been reborn as a Korean restaurant named Mrs. Kim’s, we were excited to try out Greenpoint’s only Korean joint. We were slightly confused about the reason for the transformation until we heard the story of what transpired. The story goes something like this: Mrs. Kim was the owner of River Barrel Caf√©. She lost her chef, and asked Brooklyn-Based chefs Jonathan Meyer (who formerly worked at t.b.d.) & Will Griffin to be the new chefs of River Barrel Caf√© with the idea that they’d cook the same American food as before. Meyer and Griffin decided that rather than serve the food that wasn’t selling well before it would be a much better idea to start from scratch with cuisine inspired by Mrs. Kim’s Korean childhood. They decided not to change the interior decoration of the restaurant. Everything remains the same, including the beautiful massive glass chandelier that serves as the centerpiece of the room.
Read more after the jump.

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As you already know, FREEwilly loves you! That’s why we’re committed to making your weekend the best ever with a pair of tickets for the Dr. Dog show at Terminal 5 tomorrow night. They’ve sold out basically every show on their current US tour supporting their newest release, Shame, Shame, and will be playing with our other favorite folk love affair, Deer Tick.
So hurry and get over to our Facebook page to comment on the contest thread for your chance to win! We’ll be announcing our winner in just 2 short hours!! Good luck!

ROA has a solo exhibition opening at Factory Fresh tonight. From Wooster Collective:

Tonight ROA comes to Brooklyn and the “inside becomes the outside” at Factory Fresh. After searching for scrap materials and painting furiously inside Factory Fresh for the last eight days and nights the doors to ROA’s concrete jungle will open at 7pm (Friday, May 14)
Factory Fresh is located at 1053 Flushing Avenue between Morgan and Knickerbocker, off the L train Morgan Stop

ROA will be on view through May 30th.

Ever sit in McCarren park and just wish the cup of coffee would come to you? Well starting this Saturday it will, thanks to the boys at Kickstand Coffee and their custom-made bicycle-powered mobile coffee stands.
For the past few weeks Kickstand founders Peter Castelein, Neal Olson and Aaron Davis (all veterans of Gimme Coffee), have been furiously building, welding and brewing. So far they’re serving coffee from Cafe Grumpy and Gimme, all with as little environmental impact as possible. They’ll be officially launching their DIY transformer-like bike kiosks at
Artists & Fleas in McCarren park this Saturday (and every Saturday this summer), but you can also track their location on their website and twitter feed.
We got the chance to sit down with the boys pre-launch and geek out about bikes, welding and, well, coffee.

Neal, Aaron and Peter. Image Taylor Long All other images via Kickstand Coffee.

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The director of Ke$ha’s ‚”Your Love Is My Drug” music video provided Flavorwire with some exclusive scene-by-scene commentary. It’s fantastic! Like this, for starters:

‚”It was sweet the way Ke$ha bonded with the elephant, so we didn’t have the heart to break it to her that elephants and American Indians never co-existed.”

Ke$ha’s ‚”Your Love Is My Drug” Video with Director’s Commentary

eMusic is interviewing The National this week on the heels of the release of their latest album, “High Violet,” and they want you to submit your questions.
To submit, just tweet your question to @emusic w/ the hashtag #AskTheNational by 5pm today.