DRINK: The raucous and ribald cabaret duo Kiki & Herb may be on semi-hiatus, but they’re resurfacing tonight for a very special ‘Eclectic Salon’ event at Bottlerocket, the “dog and child friendly” wine shop in the Flatiron district. It's not exactly clear what kind of performance is planned tonight, but the boozy surroundings are sure to provide ample inspiration. Playfully dubbed “The Year of Magical Drinking,” the evening features free wine tastings to wash......

This photograph was spotted in Carroll Gardens; presumably there's someone someone named Sal who has a knack for busting evil spirits. We called to see how the paranormal business was going in Brooklyn, but the landline reached a woman who was utterly confused at our request to speak with Sal the Ghostbuster; while calling the cell phone landed us in voicemail. However, we're thrilled to report that since the call to the cell was made......

With McCarren Park Pool soon becoming a place where one will hear children splashing in the water instead of hipsters sighing whilst listening to their new favorite band, the search is on for a new outdoor concert space. Of course, the venue simply wouldn't do unless it was in the mecca of indie rock, Williamsburg/Greenpoint. Renderings of the watefront park via New York City Department of Parks & Recreation NYMag reports that "a leader of......

The fate of McCarren Park Pool turned around after being landmarked and given a $50 million gift from Bloomberg, yet its future look is still up in the air. Following the February 4th meeting, last night another Community Board meeting was held to discuss The Pool. This time architects Rogers Marvel and The Parks Department were on hand to present conceptual plans. Curbed has the reveal, but they note the renderings are merely "draft images......

Last night the first of two meetings to discuss the future plans of (the recently landmarked) McCarren Park Pool took place. The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and architects Rogers & Marvel unveiled their plans and how they will spend Mayor Bloomberg’s $50 million. The initial press release listed: renovating McCarren Park Pool for swimming, creating a year-round recreation center, and preserving and restoring the historic bathhouse building and entry arch, as top priorities......

Urban Rustic, the new Brooklyn grocery store whose shelves are almost exclusively stocked with food from within a 100-mile radius, opens tomorrow. Located on North 12th Street across from McCarren Park, the grocery is the brainchild of Aaron Woolf, a partner in the nearby faux-alpine Lodge restaurant/bar/general store. Woolf is also one of the producers of the indie documentary King Corn, which followed the misadventures of two neophyte corn farmers and their harrowing journey......

Yesterday Javier Téllez brought some wildlife to McCarren Park Pool for a new project based on the blind men and the elephant. Beulah (pictured) is apparently "39 years old and loves gumdrops, apples and empty pools," not unlike many Greenpoint/Williamsburg residents (though a tad older). NYC Art in the Parks has more info on the Creative Time project:Javier Téllez, Games are Forbidden in the Labyrinth November 2007 McCarren Pool, Brooklyn Artist Javier Téllez brings......

Drunken Polish prank, something more sinister, or just tomatoes that fell off a truck? Kurt Strahm sent us over some images of tomato torture in Greenpoint's McCarren Park. He spotted a strange scene on Wednesday morning with tomatoes lying in the street, being crushed by the passing traffic. That's not so strange, but seeing tomatoes impaled on the fence surrounding the park...very strange. Maybe it's the work of a lycopene-hating cult or someone with......

Unfortunately, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. Last night MTV took over the Strip and filled it with up and comers, the standard rock, rollers and rappers and of course...the token has beens. Last week The New York Times reported on some problems at the network over the past few years. For one thing, critics say the Video Music Awards, intended as a raucous counterpoint to more staid ceremonies, has become stale......

Last night Feist took the Letterman stage with a few of her friends. Nicole Atkins, A.C. Newman, Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew and members of Brooklyn bands The National and Grizzly Bear were her backup singers, taking a page from the Bright Eyes guide to stage wear and donning all white. Watch it below... Later most of the crew made it over to Pianos for rock n' roll trivia (some helping to host) -- not......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Sutter Ave. in Brooklyn, a water rescue off the Breezy Point Jetty in Queens, and a missing child on East 178th St. in the Bronx. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is upset that Coney Island native and Knicks star Stephon Marbury donated 3,000 pairs of his new Starbury basketball shoes to male high school basketball teams, while ignoring the female players. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the......

THEATER: With his zany imagination and distinctive bass-baritone voice, Joseph Keckler (myspace) has been generating buzz throughout the gooey honeycomb of the downtown performance art cabaret scene. Tonight he sprinkles his particular blend of whimsical catnip at Dixon Place with Cat Lady, in which a man re-enacts an ordinary day with his mother, who runs a community theater with cat actors out of her home. “Past lives are recalled, songs are sung, and finally a......

McCarren Park Pool is getting a $50 Million makeover. Do you have a before and after image in your head? Well the NYC Parks Department wants your opinion as they ponder the design and future programming of the pool. Take their survey here. The OSA (Open Space Alliance) has been working with the Parks Dept and between two community planning sessions, surveying at a concert and at McCarren's track & field they have surveyed 500......

THEATER: The annual Soho Think Tank Ice Factory, arguably New York’s most impeccably curated theater festival, has been hosting an exhilarating array of new shows every weekend since July 4th . Starting tonight you can sink your teeth into Vampire University, in which “a struggling vampire family descends on an evangelical college in the Midwest, the dad’s mid-life crisis of immortality triggers a desire to come back to life and the gulf between first and......

Before the Beastie Boys’ concert at McCarren Park Pool last night, Gothamist attended a press conference with the 3 MC’s and verified an interesting bit of trivia: Despite having formed in Brooklyn, rehearsed often at Adam Yauch’s parent’s crib downtown, and associated themselves with the borough constantly over the decades, the band itself had not yet performed in Kings County. Mike D broke it down like so, “When we came up none of the......

MOVIE: The new Hairspray has set up special Sing-A-Long screenings! They begin nationwide today, and there will be three right here in New York. If you don't like rowdy theaters, skip this one! All Weekend // Various Times // Regal Union Sq 14; Clearview Chelsea 9; AMC Empire 42nd 25 MUSIC: Head down to the Seaport for an evening of Billie Holiday tunes. Turntables on the Hudson will be celebrating the release of Billie Holiday......

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999. All Weekend // Various Times // UCB Theater [307 W 26th St] // $10 shows,......

That big empty cement pool in Greenpoint has become a landmark. The recently rejuvinated (but still dry) McCarren Park Pool was designated such by the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday morning. McCarren was the 8th of 11 huge pools built by the Works Progress Administration, it was opened in 1936 with a dedication ceremony on July 31st of that year (making it the ripe old age of 71 in a few days). With an original capacity......

MUSIC: Not long ago we saw the movie Once, and absolutely loved it. Busker meets girl, deep connection through music...you get the idea. Now the two main characters are touring and singing the songs from the soundtrack. The male lead was of course the singer of The Frames, Glen Hansard, and his female counterpoint is Marketa Irglova. Tonight they take the stage at Gramercy, so it's your chance to see them off the big screen......

THEATER: The Summer Play Festival is at full blaze over at the Theater Row complex on 42nd Street. At $10 a ticket it’s your cheapest way to catch new work by playwrights whose heat index is rising. Tonight you have your pick of four plays; insider theater blogger Surplus recommends Cipher, which concerns two clerks stuck in a secret location monitoring the thoughts of suspected terrorists. “When their assignment gets tough, they begin to ask......

EVENT: If you haven't taken a trip back to the Summer of Love yet, head over to the Whitney tonight for the exhibit and enjoy their Whitney Live event. DJ Scientific and Dana Leong will be providing the tunes. Friday // 6pm // The Whitney [945 Madison Ave] // Free with museum admission MUSIC: Tonight at the Seaport Music Festival Menomena and Beat the Devil will rock the sun down. Menomena "makes experimental rock that......

THEATER: System of Units, a performance group from Siberia, begin their site-specific collaboration with the local “interventionist performance group” TRYST outside today starting at 12:00pm, when the temperature will transcend 90°. So if you think it’s stinking hot, just wait ‘til you see how the Siberians hold up in this six-hour performance. Called Security Zone, the two groups will create "a mock construction site that plays with perceptions of labor and public space, expectations of......

MUSIC: There's no better way to end the week by heading over to the Seaport Music Festival on a Friday evening. Sit on the pier with a glass of wine and watch some bands as the sun goes down. The water and ships provide the perfect summer backdrop. Tonight Fujiya & Miyagi will get you moving with some dance beats and Black Moth Super Rainbow will stick to the synth-rock. Friday // 7pm // South......

MOVIE: The L Magazine kicks off their summer movie series, Summerscreen, tonight at McCarren Park Pool. We're pretty sure we'll be attending most of these this summer (even though we feel there is a lack of horror filcks on their schedule). So bring something soft to sit on and head over tonight for the cheerleading film that introduced us all to spirit fingers, Bring It On. In two weeks: Dazed and Confused! Alright, alright, alright.......

The 2007 class for the Hockey Hall of Fame was announced yesterday, and Mark Messier and Scott Stevens were both on the list. Messier, the former Rangers captain, and 2nd on the NHL's all-time point list behind Wayne Gretzky, helped the Rangers end their 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994. In addition to winning the Cup with the Rangers, Messier won five championships with the Edmonton Oilers. Stevens helped lead the Devils to three Stanley......

It's a big outdoor weekend, so good thing there are 51 outdoor pools opening up for the season around the city today (here's a "best of" list). If you prefer to stay dry, here are some options... EVENT: The Afro Punk series begins at BAMcafé tonight. The series kicks off with a spotlight on the Black Panthers, including "an Opening Night discussion with Black Panther co-Founder Bobby Seale, Gloria Rolando’s Eyes of the Rainbow (1997),......

Who doesn't love the ice cream man? Not many people. Which is why Matt Allen is pretty popular, since he is, after all, THE Ice Cream Man. Allen drives around the country handing out free frozen treats - so far his travels have taken him (and his '69 Chevy ice cream truck affectionately named Bessie) from St. Jude Children's Hospital to Bonnaroo to McCarren Park Pool (where he'll be this Sunday). Recently, we asked him......

White Stripes Shred Irving It seems that every time The White Stripes fade away for a year or two, people seem to forget exactly how amazing they can be live. Perhaps it takes a show like the one at Irving Plaza last Tuesday...filled with hardcore, line-waiting fans and eager and excited members of the media to really drive home just how good a show Jack White puts on, and exactly how impressive Meg is to......

Crafting has made a big comeback over the past few years, and the Renegade Craft Fair has done a good job of creating a platform for crafters to sell their wares. The Post says "Expect indie artists with an edge - not frumpy, mothball-tinged women in cat sweatshirts peddling macramé plant holders. This craft fair has got cred." From their website: The Renegade Craft Fair is a unique DIY event organized by Sue Blatt......

Forget Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and Dr. Peter Venkman, here come the real paranormal investigators! Lead by Certified Paranormal Investigator Dom Villella, Paranormal Investigation of NYC has been looking for ghosts since 2003. Gothamist sat down to chat with the leader of these real life ghost hunters. What are a few of the places in NYC that are haunted or rumored to be haunted that people can visit on their own? Trinity Church......