by Tim Hetherington, World Press Photo of the Year in 2007.

Tim Hetherington, a former Williamsburg resident (in the photographer building off Kent, appropriately), was killed in Libya today. Hetherington was nominated for an Oscar for Restrepo, a documentary he helped film over a year with the Second Platoon in Afghanistan.

Big campaign going on for the street vendors, kiddos.

Street vendors as it stands end up paying up to $1,000 dollars for infractions like not displaying their license during set up, being too far from the curbs, potentially just inches, and the like. A parking ticket from the city for “parking at an angle to the curb” is 65 dollars. The Street Vendor Project, a member organization that is part of the Urban Justice Center, is campaigning to lower the tickets and introduce a better education system for the vendors. And while the Post thinks the street vendors are plenty capable of “haggling” their way to a better deal, the Street Vendor Project suggests that the Merchant Associations and business groups in the city have more sway and helped impose the obscene fees on their streetside competitors in the first place. Conspiracy? Maybe. But I love me a good NYC business conspiracy.

Intros 434 and 435, with 15 co-sponsors at City Council, are trying to lower fines and reduce the byzantine bureaucracy around street vendors laws. So, the question is do you want to be able to book browse with abandon this summer or not?

via a street campaigner and www.streetvendors.org

The brilliant WNYC program Radiolab is into its 9th season now. If you haven’t listened to the show, imagine This American Life -esque stories with the sound design of a Matmos song addressing some of the biggest questions in the universe and breaking them down into bite-sized hour long radio shows. Accompanying the most recent episode, “Desperately Seeking Symmetry,” is this beautiful video made by Everynone. It is simple in its approach, but absolutely heartbreaking in its execution. Plus, Sufjan Stevens provided the background music! Check it out and go back and listen to the new episode on your commute today.

The former BKLN Yard location on the banks of the lovely (eh…) Gowanus Canal will again see a weekly party this summer! The appropriately named little brother of the former Mister Saturday Night, it will be called Mister Sunday and will kick off on Memorial Day. From the creators:

If you ever came to Sunday Best at BKLYN Yard, you’ll know the place: it’s the same canal-side, tree-spotted plot of land at 400 Carroll Street between Bond and Nevins in Brooklyn, now rechristened Gowanus Grove.

If you never made it down, let us count the ways you’re going to love it. First, kids and dogs – you can bring them. We love them, and we don’t get to see enough of them on Saturday nights. Second, superb food – we’re teaming up with Brooklyn Flea to install a small but ace team of food vendors. Right now, we’ve confirmed Mile End, who will be serving a bunch of stuff you can’t get at the storefront in Boerum Hill, and we’re soon to confirm at least one more. Third, our friends from Botanica, the best little bar in the five boroughs, are taking care of the booze.

And last, but certainly not least, is the music. The Mister Saturday Night residents, Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, the gents that pull the strings to bring it all together, will be playing records each and every Sunday through the summer on the big, blue soundsystem. There’ll be guests alongside them occasionally as well. Moodymann, Todd Terje, Horse Meat Disco, Optimo and Space Dimension Controller will all take their turns, and on opening day, Four Tet will drop by.

What a perfect way to kick off another fabulous Brooklyn Summer.

It’s almost not warm enough to post this — this is clearly summer music and it’s barely early spring — but what the hell. Grab the single “California Sunrise” from San Diego three-piece Dirty Gold below. The EP, which reminds us of a more sunny Beach House, just dropped on Autumn Records April 12. [via]

MP3: California Sunrise

From TribecaFilm.com:

Acclaimed actor Michael Rapaport (Zebrahead, Mighty Aphrodite) paints a remarkably personal portrait of the characters behind the group’s sonic genius through their five albums, their highly publicized breakup in 1998, and beyond. Emotionally honest and forthright interviews with group members are intercut with electrifying footage of live performances, music videos from back in the day, and commentary from Common, Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, De La Soul, Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, Ludacris, and the Beastie Boys.

Check it out this Wednesday or Thursday at the Tribeca Film Festival. (A longer trailer after the jump.)

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Le Poisson Rouge was decked out as a sort of lounge-y dinner theater, a look very becoming of the dark, artsy (fartsy?) space. It was a nice setup, being that neither acts Friday night were really bands, per se, but delivered more intimate deliveries. Anticon labelmates, former tourmates, and genuinely cool guys Yoni Wolf (of WHY?) and Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott) Performed sets of almost entirely new material. Lott has a new record coming out at the end of the month called We Are Rising, written and recorded (and in-depthly documented) during the month of February. Yoni, on the other hand, has been taking his time with coming up with songs for a new WHY? record, spending tine at his parents’ home ad recording, he says, 19 demos for an upcoming release. (more…)

Why is everything changing? Apparently, big summer concert bookers can’t just let summers stay the same. First the confusion with Williamsburg Waterfront shows, now the Village Voice’s decade-old Siren Festival has been cancelled and will not be returning to Coney Island this year.

Luckily, the Voice is going to be replacing Siren with a new festival, 4Knots, which will take place July 16 at the South Street Seaport. According to a press release:

“We’re extremely excited about the launch of the 4Knots Music Festival this summer,” commented Village Voice publisher Josh Fromson. “Music fans from all five boroughs and all over the world have circled the date of our summer music event on their calendars each year. We feel this new festival will not just live up to the glory of our past events, but sets the stage for continued success in the future.”

The 4Knots Music Festival will feature renowned and emerging artists from today’s music scene performing live all day in front of what is sure to be an extremely large and enthusiastic audience. A full lineup of the day’s events will be announced in coming weeks.

Summers ain’t what they used to be, but still sound like they will be fun as hell.

The Tumblr is worth a visit too.

Saturday is the 4^th Annual Record Store Day! Give thanks to that fragile black disc and the (dwindling amount of) shops that champion it by getting up extra early and waiting in line to look through stacks of music before leaving without buying anything. I kid, I kid! Seriously, you should buy at least one 7”, you lousy bum.

Stores throughout the city will be hosting bands to complement all the give-aways, promos and special releases from bands like Deerhoof, Kate Bush, Big Star, Caribou, Nirvana, The Decemberists, Bad Brains, Panda Bear, Wavves, OFF!, Built to Spill, Ryan Adams, The Boss, Sonic Youth and Grinderman.

Below are the bold-line performances at your fave area shops. Visit the official Record Store Day site for more participating stores.

Kim’s Video opens @ 9:00a: Folky folks Angel Olsen and Bow Ribbons play the East Vill institution at 5:00p.  

Sound Fix opens @ 10:30a: Sound Fix opens early with undisclosed deals. Dream-pop duo Damon & Naomi play at 7:00p

Other Music opens @ 11:00a: Be one of the first 100 folks to buy Regina Spektor‘s new Four From Far record and get a pass for her intimate show (where she’ll be recording next year’s RSD release) later that day.

Generation Records opens @ 11:00a: Obits, The Jay Vons, I Hate Our Freedom and Spa Castles play and Yo La Tengo (all three!) and WFMU’s Tom Scharpling DJ.

Fat Beats opens @ noon: What I don’t know about hip hop would surprise and disgust you. That being said, even I can sense this is a pretty rad RSD setup: pop-up shop in a warehouse with 9 hours of performances, contests, discounts and food.

Cake Shop @ 5:00p: Not officially an RSD entrant, Cake Shop is still offering goods and a show. Eternal Summers, McDonalds, Natural Child, Widowspeak, Hands & Knees, Overlord, Night Collectors and Twitchers play. Entry is $8