The NY Times looks at some of New York's indie elite in their Men's Style Magazine this weekend. So incase you were wondering what last night's SNL music guests, Vampire Weekend, wear when they aren't decked out in their Columbia University alum apparel, now you know: Marc Jacobs. Or at least that's how The Times translates it. They include a tip to aspiring designers as well, those "searching for indie cred need look no further......

Most Overrated Live Band: Justice There is no denying the greatness of Justice's album, "Cross," and there is no argument from us that it isn't the type of music that is perfectly suited to be blasted in a massive dance club. But those two things alone do not automatically lead to a good live show. These two are sloppy, to put it simply. Too many changes were missed, beats were a half step off, and......

In 2006, at age 19, musician Zach Condon and his band Beirut exploded onto the indie-rock scene with a dramatic collection of Balkan-inspired arrangements for horn, ukulele, keyboards and strings. The bloggers raved, the venues got bigger, the haters left comments. But less than a year later, the teen’s too-sudden indie-rock apotheosis landed him in the hospital for “extreme exhaustion” and forced the cancellation of a tour that included sold-out dates at Bowery Ballroom. Condon......

Joe's Pub is going uptown and outdoors for some shows this month, and we've got your tickets to a few of the performances. First up, on September 26th, Beirut will take the Delacorte Theater stage as part of The NY Gypsy Festival. Joining Zach Condon & Co are Balkan Beat Box and The NY Gypsy All Stars. Listen: Mount Wroclai (Idle Days).mp3 - Beirut Digital Monkey.mp3 - Balkan Beat Box Kalajdziska.mp3 - The NY Gypsy......

Not too long ago Ronen Givony started the Wordless Music Series, which is pretty much just what it sounds like it would be. Sonic worlds collide and fuse classical with indie, jazz with electronic and listeners with instrumental-only music. In the next week audiences will enjoy the sounds of Do Make Say Think and Beirut from an intimate setting for just such an experience. How did you come up with the idea for the Wordless......

Designer Michael Bierut has details over at the Pentagram blog on how he and his team created the recently installed sign at The New York Times Building, the 52-story tower designed by Renzo Piano and FXFowle. At 110 feet, the sign, located on the building's Eighth Ave. facade, is a 10,116-point version of the paper’s Fraktur font. It is comprised of 1,000 custom-designed pieces, each a painted extruded aluminum sleeve a little more than......

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......

READINGS: Papermag points out an interesting reading tonight for "Queens of the Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay and Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks." Authors Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro explain how to have a gay ol’ time in Disney World. Their guide (now in its second edition) features “fairy facts,” culinary suggestions and where to find the “gay goodies” like Ellen Degeneres’s Ellen's Energy Adventure ride. Tonight’s reading is hosted by Michael Musto and......

Story of the Year: Beirut The story is so well documented it's hardly worth rewriting. And of course, that was the problem. A mountain of Blog Buzz was built before the band played their first New York concert ever. Before they had even fully formed the touring band. Always trying to meet the impossible expectations, their live shows were heavily scrutinized from day one, but the general consensus was that these guys were pretty darn......

Shock waves in West Chelsea: The Observer reports Amy Sacco wants to sell Bungalow 8, the club that made the area attractive as a late night hang out. Citing the increased police presence in the area after the death of Jennifer Moore, the 18 year old NJ resident whose drunken night at Guest House on West 27th Street preceded being kidnapped from the West Side Highway and then raped and murdered in NJ, Sacco......

THEATER: If you want to avoid the first, hottest days of Fringe fever, a quieter alternative would be Mary Gage's Evensong, which she wrote after interviewing 6 senior citizens in Michigan. Using a sort of jazz composition style, with solos and chorus, Gage weaves their very different tales and bits of life wisdom together into one coherent thread that affirms how much their generation struggled on behalf of this country, motivated by a belief in......

As we've said before, it can be hard to figure out how to write about the conflict in the Middle East when writing a 'blog about New York'. But then a photograph like this one comes our way. Here's the story behind the chalking, from the Beirut Update, a blog kept by a 30-year-old woman named Zena living in Beirut: so, i have not been able to draw or paint since the attacks started,......

-- What kind of jackass pays $6 for a hotdog on the street? -- Attention hacker graffiti supernerd artists: the R&D; Fellows Program at Eyebeam is accepting applications. -- Ouch! Firing DJ Star cost Power105.1 20% of its morning audience. -- Pot princess Julia Diaco is looking slutastic in Blender. Or do you prefer your bimbos from Long Island? -- Toughguy writer Mickey Spillane has died; did you know he was born in Brooklyn......

Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly, and representatives from the Port Authority and FBI gave a press conference about the tunnel terror plot a few hours ago. This morning, the Daily News revealed that officials had "foiled" a plot to flood the city Katrina-style (no matter how technically unfeasible it would be), sending people into a tailspin, both the "crap, no" and the "the government is making this too big a deal" kinds. From the......

Beirut is: Zach Condon We know what you're thinking...wasn't this guy SO three weeks ago? Perhaps, but what was lost in the amazing flurry of buzz and hype is that this kid has played like two shows ever. Not to mention he didn't even have his full band together. Now, after some deep breaths, he's back for real. With a horn section and everything. And we expect his already stunning live show to gain......

EVENT: The only thing better than a tag sale is a swap sale. It's pretty much like going through a friends closet and taking what you fancy. Tonight, free up some of your own closet space and bring down all the clothes you want to get rid of to Thrift On! Others will do the same, and you'll likely go home with some goodies to fill up all that newly found closet space of yours.......

Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown (despite having border problems) will be taking over Mercury Lounge two nights this week. Sunset Rubdown is Wolf Parade keyboardist Spencer Krug's side project, and he produced a beautiful album this year entitled, Shut Up I Am Dreaming. It got an 8.6 on Pitchfork, just a few points below last years Wolf Parade rating. Anyway, point is...it's good. If you go to the show tonight you can catch Beirut as......

Another week begins and it's time to start penciling in some shows. Tonight, The Concretes are back! The Scandinavian 8+ person band will be playing Bowery Ballroom. While over at Sin-e King of France, Less and Dawn Landes play a more intimate gig. Tuesday night Guillemots, Levy, The Marina play Bowery. The name Guillemots has been overwhelming our inbox lately, but we've yet to give it a good listen. From what we can tell they're......

November 10th: Vendy Awards The night you've been waiting for is finally here. Come support the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center and taste the wares of the finalists you selected at the Vendy Awards. There will be an open bar of wine and beer, and the finalists will be selling their food (at their usual street-level prices) to guests in attendance. A team of esteemed judges will determine the winner. After the......

Tonight through October 31, Solange Fabiao's video of Shanghai and Nanjing will be projected onto a screen at the corner of Canal and Centre Streets. The footage, part of Fabiao's Transitio series, is from the perspective of a car passenger going through various neighborhoods. At 40 minutes long, it loops from 6:30PM until 11PM each of the twelve nights. Fabiao's video of New York City was projected in Beirut last year, and projections in eight......

The New York Mets have fired their new "superscout," Bill Singer, for making racially insensitive remarks to Kim Ng, LA Dodgers assistant general manager. The Daily News and LA Times reported that Singer confronted Ng, the highest ranking Asian-American in the MLB, in a hotel bar after general manager meetings. Many deals and meetings are held after the days work and according to witnesses, the LA Times reports the exchange as: Singer: What are......