Two hands would be more than enough in most towns, but it won’t get the job done if you want to count the number of Village jazz venues offering classic, contemporary and cutting-edge music until the wee small hours of the morning. A half-decade ago, the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce began to recognize iconic read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  From the lobby greeter’s gentle disclaimer to the nervous pre-show audience chatter, there was no shortage of gallows humor surrounding the notion of spending an intense Thursday night at a show about close friends lost to AIDS — as if calling out the evening’s downbeat nature would take some of the read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  CRAZY 8 CARTOON FESTIVAL on EIGHTH STREET Close off the block, put up a screen, show some classic and cutting-edge cartoons and everybody will be happy — but the Crazy 8 Cartoon Festival has broader ambitions. Awaken your inner illustrator, by strolling a single block of West Eighth Street and taking read more here »

BY MARTIN DENTON  |  I’s late afternoon in a cheerful house in the American Southwest. A woman in her 60s is on her way out to do some errands when her son, Jimmy, runs in unexpectedly. Jimmy’s 15-year-old son Tyler has been taken to the hospital…because Jimmy beat him — senselessly, mercilessly. “There was a read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER    |  TENDER BUTTONS: OBJECTS ROOMS FOOD  Virtually impenetrable if taken literally — but quite possibly sublime if you can abandon the impulse to nail down a specific message — “Tender Buttons” has been inspiring raves (and rants!) ever since Gertrude Stein answered publisher Donald Evans’ request for a play with this “beautiful read more here »

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Whether you’re the kind of person who rails against change, stands on the sidelines in passive acceptance, or welcomes it with pom poms and a cheer, one thing’s for sure: New York is not the town it used to be — but at least 14th Street has managed to retain some read more here »

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN  (stephaniebuhmann.com)  |  WES HEMPEL  |  Wes Hempel explores notions of masculinity by setting portraits of present-day men against backdrops that resemble paintings of the historical Neoclassical and High Renaissance era — Nicolas Poussin and Guido Reni frequently come to mind. Hempel’s work especially reflects his interest in masculine sexuality as it has read more here »

BY TRAV S.D. (travsd.wordpress.com)  |  Company XIV has single-handedly spoiled it for all of the other New York indie theatre companies as far as I am concerned. They are so bloody good, they speak to me on so many levels, that the bar is too high for most of them to clear, and I’d just as read more here »

THE ONE LP PROJECT  |  From Graham Nash beaming with pride at the “Sgt. Pepper’s” album to Al Jarreau giving Les Double Six a thumbs up, to Johnny Marr paying Iggy and the Stooges’ “Raw Power” some somber respect: The One LP Project reminds us that those we have on heavy rotation started out as read more here »

BY MARTIN DENTON  |  The family I grew up in was the iconic nuclear kind: a father, a mother, two kids, living in the suburbs in a nice house. Whatever dangers lay beyond the doors of our house were faced together. Inside the doors was always and only safety, security, and certainty. In “Warm Enough read more here »