Be Your Own Pet Smacks Around Mercury Lounge There’s usually not much mystery to a Be Your Own Pet show. You get about a half-hour of nonstop, rapid-fire post-adolescent punk, with lots of shouting and shimmying from Jemina Pearl. There are far worse ways to spend an early evening in February. This Wednesday, however, things went down a bit different. About halfway through the set, some older creep started talking back to the charismatic young......

New York City officials are planning for a Dunkirk-like evacuation of Manhattan island in the case of an emergency. In the early days of World War II, a "bathtub navy" was assembled between Dunkirk, France and Dover, England, in order to move hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Continent to safer ground as the Nazis advanced across France. Hundreds of small craft were sent across the English Channel to ferry stranded and cornered British......

Last week we were tipped off to a new, nearby festival temporarily dubbed Coachella East, because of it's relation to the mammoth west coast fest and their shared event producer. Now we learn the proper name, All Points West, and some more details from the press release:The three-day event is set for August 8, 9 and 10, 2008 at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. This historic location offers panoramic views of the Statue of......

Goldenvoice concerts, the people who bring the West Coast Coachella each year, are now planning a similar concert for us East Coasters. And it's set to be right in our very own backyard. Sort of. We're told the event will happen at an outdoor space that we are not allowed to disclose at this time, but we will say it's in Sopranos territory (and not Vineland). We hear you may just be able to reach......

So, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the first Son of Sam killings and today is another sad day in local history (*cough* Jersey *cough*). On July 31, 1916 Black Tom island, which was next to Liberty Island, literally blew up and off the map (what was left of the island is now part of the mainland in Liberty State Park). The island was a major munitions depot. And by major we mean "2,000......

"Where can I get a good view of the fireworks on 4th of July? Should I bring a folding chair? Can I bring alcohol? " If you haven't made friends with someone who has East River and/or Statue of Liberty waterfront views yet, we have some answers. The Macy's Fireworks Spectacular has 3 different fireworks launching sites this year (here's the map) - on the East River between 23rd and 42nd streets, between Liberty......

July 4th is three days away, but some of you might be unplugging and getting away for the weekend, so Gothamist has some information for you, in case you change your mind and want to stick around for the weekend. July 4th is one of the best times to be in the city, one of the top reasons being the Macy's July 4th Spectacular. This year, there will fireworks over the East River on the......

The last kite Gothamist flew prominently featured Rainbow Brite--but that might soon change. April is National Kite Month, and the American Kitefliers Association has put together a ton of activities in the New York area for kids, amateur fliers, and those, ahem, serious kite aficionados out there. Honestly, Gothamist can't believe the hipsters haven't reclaimed lovable, kitschy kiteflying as their weekend activity of choice. (It's the logical next step after rollerskating.) It probably has something......