Liberty City Radio Far Better Than Actual New York Radio In a jarring fictionalization of an otherwise believable New York City sim, the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto 4's Liberty City are...actually quite good! Despite New York City's long history of disappointing FM radio, the music selections in the latest crime epic are incredibly deep and nuanced. There's a little bit for everyone...L.C.H.C. is the Jimmy Gestapo hosted hardcore channel, K109 is Karl Lagerfeld's......

Another Will Ferrell sports flick will inflate this weekend, capping off a nationwide “Funny or Die” promotional tour that brought him to Radio City Music Hall Sunday night. The movie is Semi-Pro, which stars Ferrell as Jackie Moon, owner of the 1976 Flint Michigan Tropics, a team in the maverick ABA basketball league. To keep his career alive against all odds, Moon initiates off a series of increasingly desperate publicity stunts to attract fans –......

Back in 2004 we talked to KEXP deejay John Richards, who was here broadcasting from the (then named) Museum of Television and Radio. KEXP is a Seattle listener-supported station, but while they're based in the Pacific Northwest, they are heard worldwide via their online stream. This month came the announcement of Radio Liberation, a collaboration between KEXP and Radio New York. Launching on March 24th the station "will air KEXP-produced programming Monday through Friday on......

Maybe you've received a flier to see a show at Radio City Music Hall called Chinese New Year Splendor, which is promoted as a holiday celebration of China’s diverse cultural riches. But mixed within the traditional Mongolian dancing, orchestral music and Buddhist parables are dramatizations of the Chinese government’s oppression of Falun Gong, a qigong-based spiritual practice that is banned in China. And the show’s political content is prompting audiences to walk out by......

MOVIE: Every national election year reminds us of that part in The Dark Crystal where the hideous Skeksis systematically drain the Gelfling’s “essence” and drink it to increase their power. If you don’t know the scene we’re talking about, you need to go see it on the big screen tonight – a regular-sized TV monitor just doesn’t do Jim Henson’s creepy masterpiece justice. The one-night-only screening will be introduced by one of the film’s puppet......

THEATER: Wolf Lane Productions presents Victims of the Zeitgeist (The Tragedy of Martin Luther King, Jr.), written & directed by Ellwoodson Williams. The production "offers an exciting and telling insight into just who Martin Luther King, Jr., was as leader and simply as a sensitive and intelligent human being who loved life and who had a sense of humor, a deep understanding of the human condition - its strengths and weaknesses - and a profound......

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

If you’re the type of parent who wears a Ramones T-shirt to a P.T.A. meeting, the idea of taking your kids to some sappy Christmas show is probably abhorrent; you wouldn’t be caught dead at Radio City’s spectacular and schlepping into Times Square to spend a fortune on “Grinch” is unthinkable. But if you’d still like to catch a holiday show with the whole family, there’s a limited-time-only alternative in the heart of the......

PARTY: Haven't gotten your fill of holiday office party fun this season? Metro Metro reminds all of its faux-ployees that their office party is tonight! "This is a reminder going out to all fake employees about the Metro Metro Holiday Office Party. Please join us in celebrating the holidays by assuming a fake job title and hobnobbing with fake co-workers over genuine drinks. Need inspiration for potential job titles, such as Associate with the Bad......

Alycia Lane, the anchorwoman from the CBS owned station KYW in Philadelphia , who was at one time linked to WCBS anchor Chris Wragge, sent bikini photos to a married man, and is frequently mentioned in the Post’s Page Six column got into some more hot water in Chelsea around 2 a..m. Sunday morning. The Long Island native, allegedly punched a female police officer from the 10th Precinct in the face at W. 17th Street......

With Christmas less than two weeks away, the annual holiday light display is raging through the nights in Dyker Heights, home of TV’s Scott Baio. Every year tens of thousands of people from around the world flock to the outer-borough Brooklyn neighborhood to gawk at the private homes decked out with millions of dazzling lights. It’s an epic spectacle that has to be seen to be believed, and it doesn’t stop at the lights......

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. Friday and Saturday // Noon to 6pm // BHS [128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn] ART: Too much is going on the First Friday of every month, so......

On any given night, visitors to The Stanton Social may encounter Executive Chef-Owner Chris Santos making his post-rush rounds through the dining room, or they might not: Problem is that the rush at the restaurant, which can feed (between its bar, lounge, and dining room) up to 200 people at a clip, sometimes just doesn’t let up. The 36 year-old Santos, who says he “feels 39,” is known for food that ditches ornate, mother-sauce heavy......

For the second year running, the Food Bank for New York City and the Lunchbox Fund of South Africa have enlisted over 100 celebrities in their holiday fundraiser. Boldface names like Kanye West, Elton John, Cameron Diaz, Mike Meyers, William Wegman and, um, Urban Outfitters, have created personalized, autographed lunchboxes that are now onsale via online auction. At Thursday night's kick-off event at Saatchi & Saatchi, a lunchbox by Michael Stipe was snatched up......

Filmmaker Ethan Coen has left his big brother behind and written three short plays all by himself. Called Almost an Evening, the triptych will be produced by the Atlantic Theater Company with a terrific cast that includes Elizabeth Marvel, who was riveting in Ivo van Hove’s unforgettable revival of Hedda Gabler, and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. The plays “unsuccessfully tackle important questions. In Waiting, someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In Four......

Since settling in New York in 2001, promoter Todd Patrick – known through his website as Todd P – has established himself as a major force in the avant-garde rock scene. In the fastidious spirit of a modern day Bill Graham – though without the passion for profits – Patrick has distinguished himself with his commitment to producing shows at atypical, under-the-radar locations like lofts, rooftops and funky, “illegal” clubs. Often eschewing such vagaries as......

Yesterday Imus returned to radio, which means somewhere Al Sharpton was talking about it. Happy with the changes, but not quite certain the controversial cowboy will stick to them, Sharpton announced at a press conference yesterday that: "I can only wait and see if his deeds will follow up his words. I know the statements that he made we will continue to monitor as we'll monitor others." He also commented on the new sidekicks, saying,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a scaffolding collapse on 5th Ave. and 115th St. in Manhattan, a stabbing on Franklin Ave. in Queens, and a homicide at 83rd St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn. The new Kaleidoscope Light Show is now on display at Grand Central Terminal's main hall. The Toshiba company returns to Times Square after being absent for several decades. The company signed a 10-year lease to capture the top sign spot......

Don Imus made his return to the airwaves this morning, with a mostly zinger-less show -- spending the first half hour discussing the comment that got him fired. The NY Times reports that after 8-months of off-air time, Imus came back with a vow that he "will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me.”......

EVENT: Earlier this year Holly Hunter encountered an interesting situation with an interviewer for a news station (we highly recommend watching the YouTube video of this). She discussed her tv series Saving Grace at the time, and she'll be doing the same tonight at the Paley Center (old Museum of TV and Radio). There will be a Q&A; as well as a screening of one of the episodes. 6pm // The Paley Center for Media......

The fatal shooting outside Radio Perfecto restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue between 118th and 119th Streets was prompted by a bar fight. Twenty-three year-old Delquan Kearns was shot in the head while his brother Stephan Jones, 27, was shot in the arm after they argued with another group of men over a drink around 3AM on Sunday. Their mother told the Post, "My sons said they were at the bar and that some guy grabbed one......

A reader wrote on Gothamist Contribute:Tonight, (Sunday, Dec 2) at 3am, there was a fight at 119th & amsterdam, in front of a bar. I was walking on the other side of the avenue, and it was clear that things were escalating. All of a sudden, I heard two gunshots -- like a 'pop', except louder, like a tire bursting -- and I saw everyone scatter; everyone walking down my side of the avenue......

Senator Barack Obama might be back in Iowa on the campaign trail, but New Yorkers are still buzzing over his coffee - and bacon and eggs and toast - klatsch with Mayor Bloomberg on Friday morning. The meeting was supposedly caught Senator Hillary Clinton off guard - and not just because it was two blocks away from her midtown offices. Bloomberg's press secretary Stu Loeser said Bloomberg wanted to talk national policy with Obama,......

The tree is lit, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is another tradition back for a 75th season. The well-seasoned Rockettes steal the show from Santa every year, and have quite a history -- they were originally called The Roxyettes and originated in...Missouri:The group was started by Russell Markert in 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri as the "Missouri Rockets". In 1927, Samuel Roxy Rothafel discovered them and brought them to New York City. They......

The Secret Science Club may be the best kept secret in New York. Forget your typical night of drinks, music or being parked in front of your tv for the latest Project Runway episode. Head over to Union Hall for some science! Each event brings out the inner-nerd in all of us, and recently we asked the founders a few questions about their brainchild. The next event is December 5th, which gives you a week......

DJ Star, who was fired from Power 105 after some remarks about a rival's child, will be coming back to radio stations. While publicists for the DJ, born Troi Torain, would not disclose where he'll be headed (not before tomorrow press conference, at least), the Daily News reports that it will probably be WNYZ, which is 87.7FM: "Its current format is Russian popular music, but with the hiring of Star, it will reportedly switch to......

MOVIE: BAM pays homage to the late Barbara Stanwyck tonight with a screening of Forbidden. The 1932 Frank Capra-directed film (which tells the tale of a librarian who has fallen for an unobtainable/married man) was supposedly influenced by his real-life affair with the leading lady. Critic and historian Elliott Stein will discuss the film after the 6:50 screening. 4:30, 6:50 and 915pm // BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene] // $11 Meanwhile, the......

A day after the NY Post served up a Thanksgiving day front page cover of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as a turkey, the embattled Thomas proclaimed he would stay in his job, saying, "I don't foresee there being any changes this year." Which the Post calls "LOAD OF BULL?" But really, if there's one thing that the Post and Daily News must have been thankful for, it's having such a spectacularly poorly managed......

If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have......

Have you re-read the classic coming-of-age JD Salinger novel, Catcher in the Rye, lately? amNewYork takes a trip down memory lane, and 5th Ave, with a pair of Holden Caulfield-tinted glasses. Apparently people like the Central Park Conservancy historian get a ton of inquiries about the New York references in the novel. The most popular question, "Where do the ducks go in the winter?" Referring to the ducks in the Central Park pond that our......