The New York Times ran a trend piece yesterday on a pioneering population of hipsters who have chosen to live their fringe lifestyle in more the geographic sense. The story goes: settling young artist types, who used to take root in Williamsburg for its low rent-to-space ratio, have started falling even farther from the Big Apple [tree]. Rosendale, NY, just 90 miles north, sounds like it has everything an emigrant from the borough could want: a cafe/nightclub with an “eclectic menu” and a “Brooklyn feel”, copies of The Brooklyn Rail, and the occasional Maggie Gyllenhaal sighting. Williamsburg expats may feel right at home in Rosendale, which ‚”lacks a supermarket but has a surprising number of restaurants ‚Äî four on Main Street alone, including the¬†Rosendale Cafe, a stalwart¬†vegetarian¬†and folk-music institution.”
So hipsters are getting out of town! For the internet’s sake, I hope this rural hipster migration is real because ‚”hicksters” is just too appropriate of a neologism to go unused.
Pictured- the new “just over the river,” from the town of Rosendale’s website.
[Original Article - NYTimes]

Wait, so how exactly can one fit 24 rooms into a 344 square foot apartment? Oh, by being an absolute genius.

It’s about time someone designed a place where the rooms come to me instead the other way around. Just think about how many more residents the Domino Sugar developers could squeeze in if they utilized this kind of design!

Last Saturday, Mr. Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion strayed from its home on the range to broadcast the 10th Annual Talent Tee-Off battle of the bands from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The grand prize was awarded to Williamsburg/Bushwick based April Smith and the Great Picture Show. (Thanks to my mom, actually, for bringing the show and April’s regional relevance to my attention!) If you want to listen to the show, go ahead and click here.
The retro outfit’s radio hoopla helped spark some contemporary success; their newest release, Songs for a Sinking Ship, had a commendable run on the iTunes charts. (Note: may make a good present for parents)

At Union Hall last night, Plants and Animals treated the audience to a whole bunch of new tunes from their forthcoming album “La La Land,” a worthy follow up for fans of their critically acclaimed, but perhaps under-appreciated, 2008 debut, Parc Avenue. Opening with the lead single, and album start-off, Tom Cruz (which you can stream, along with the rest of the album ), the band powered through 8 of the 11 new tracks, reaching into their back catalogue just once to pull out Faerie Dance. The tiny basement space was packed with a sold out crowd, and some of the most lush, dynamic guitar-rock I’ve ever heard from a 3 piece. I had my camera in tow to capture some pictures, and a video of one of my favorite new tracks, Undone Melody. Looking back, it seems the in-cam mic was almost as blown out as my ear drums, but hell, if you want to see and hear some new Plants and Animals, this is what I’ve got for ya.

More pictures and just a few more words after the jump…

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I hate these. But this…

Quoth the friend who shared this with me: “Hospitals need to give new parents crash courses on what you can put on the internet and what you can’t.” Indeed.

Do you ride a bike? Do you not wear a helmet? And is it not because you think it makes you look like a dweeb, but rather you’re frugal and personal safety is just one of those places where you cut corners? I’m not sure how many people that leaves, but if you’re one of them, you may be interested in the free bike helmet giveaway goin’ on at Pratt tomorrow, Tuesday the 30th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m in conjunction with Pratt’s “Green Week”. Say thanks to the D.O.T. after you grab yours in the center of campus (or in the Student Union if it rains [which it will]).

Free Bike Helment Giveaway at Pratt’s Green Week – via Clinton Hill Blog

Herein lies select responses and some commentary following a roundtable interview with James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem frontman, and more importantly for the sake of this interview, the original score artist in writer/director Noah Baumbach’s newest film.
Wantonly neurotic, fresh off of a mental breakdown, and finding himself once again in his family’s Hollywood hills mansion after having a pre-mid-life in Brooklyn (or, because he has to be more specific: Bushwick) – Roger Greenberg, of Noah Baumbach’s newest, Greenberg, rarely feels comfortable operating in the present tense, preferring instead to relish in the comfort of nostalgia. A similar sentimentality runs through many of the songs by James Murphy and his celebrated electro-rock outfit, LCD Soundsystem.
Baumbach, who got to know Murphy musically and emotively after he first heard ‚”New York I Love You.” It isn’t a stretch to imagine a character like Roger listening to a band like LCD Soundsystem. When the director started to consider what kind of soundtrack would be appropriate for Greenberg, he called up Murphy. What began as mutual respect and admiration between the two artists quickly became an amicable (and kind of adorable) professional relationship.

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… No, not at some hoity-toity political benefit. The word on Twitter (again, sorry, I swear I’ll use credible sources some day), is that Freelance Whales will be busking tonight at 6 p.m. at the Bedford L stop. Anyone know anything else about this? Is there anything else to know?

Via EardrumNYC (via georgiakral)

Like thighs? How about pies? Or maybe just fried chicken?
According to the masses (read: a Twitter search), Pies N’ Thighs is open for business as of today!


Mmmm. Was it worth the wait, y’all? I may have a date with the deep fryer tomorrow in the name of investigative journalism…
Update: And indeed they are.

Turns out, Rachel Ray isn’t the only star to recently honor Motorino; the New York Times’s Sam Sifton awards to the Williamsburg (and East Village) pizzeriarie a brave, solitary star in today’s restaurant review. Motorino is the first pizza place to which Sifton has ever given a star, and he assuredly states that ‚”It serves the city’s best pizza.” Hear that? Not debatable. Sorry.
But srsly, if you were planning on eating at Motorino any time soon, I think it’s safe to expect a longer wait than usual. Or if you vehemently oppose Sifton’s appraisal, feel free to suggest your favorite neighborhood alternative in the comment section below…