Gang Gang Dance and Andrew W.K. are playing Santos Party House tonight
It’s almost 2009 and we’re ready to celebrate. Just 3 more weeks and Dubya is GONE!! If you’re looking for something to do, MyOpenBar and Flavorpill have some great ideas. We’ve already had too many Sparks (we’ve been hoarding them) to blog, so we’ll see you in 2009!

photo via flickr
Brooklyn Based dutifully compiled a list of last minute new years ideas (so did My Open Bar and Flavorpill…see above). Some of your options include:
Hardcore cover bands at Death by Audio, “Easy Lover Loft Party” off the Halsey L, a big party at Shangri-La in Greenpoint, Trapeze artists at Monkey Town, an annual nye Masquerade party with complimentary champagne at Huckleberry’s on Grand, Studio B’s last big hoorah of 2008 (and possibly, ever?), and the 200 most played songs of all time at Barcade(!). Click through for the full list.
Party on, party poopers, just don’t go rioting on Bedford this time, mkay?

MTV launched its new reality show “The City” last night and since we generally like any show/film intended for teenage girls we tuned in. In case you missed it, it’s a spin-off of the network’s popular monstrosity “The Hills,” only it takes place in Manhattan. The first episode revolves around Whitney—a fish-out-of-water with a brain that’s fittingly about the size of a herring’s. This big-eyed star of ‚”The Hills” has evidently just moved to the city and is trying to make it in the fashion industry. Along the way she meets Olivia, a self-proclaimed “uptown girl” who habitually rolls her eyes and throws catty cocktail parties where nobody has any fun. Whitney also gets courted by a creepy Australian “bad boy” who has calluses from tussling his hair. This Russell Brand-wannabe could be the new Fabio for pubescent girls.
About fifteen minutes in, around the time Uptown-Olivia begins waxing poetic about the downtown crowd’s lack of sophistication, we began feeling nauseas. But ironically it wasn’t because the show felt contrived. Au contraire. We felt nauseas because “The City” was nailing it. Manhattan actually feels this dumb and inauthentic. Our city (or at least Manhattan) has become a velvet rope playground where the freshly transplanted nouveau riche try to be bohemian by staying up-to-date on trendy restaurant openings. It’s become a place where L.A. jetsetters, like Whitney, can feel right at home and feign bohemian by drinking $12 cocktails beneath Houston street with the edgy “downtown set.”
Of course, we’ll stay tuned. Now that we’ve been avoiding Manhattan like the plague, ‚”The City” will be a great way to keep track of what’s happening on the island.

video c/o Gawker

From our mailbag:

I’m Ray Deter, owner of d.b.a. 41 1st Ave between 2nd and 3rd Streets in the East Village, and we’ve just opened the doors of a new, big, beautiful d.b.a. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at 113 N. 7 Street between Berry and Wythe Streets. We’re open every day from 4pm to 4am. We have 16 beers on tap, 3 Hand Pulled, Real Ale Lines, many whiskeys single malt, bourbon, rye, etc. We will be tequilas, and will hold regular tastings with artisinal cheeses, charcuterie, and other specials (last week we had a tasting and beer pairing with bacon brittle from Jonathan White’s Bobolink Farms, and may make it a regular offering due to its huge popularity.) The Williamsburg d.b.a. is bigger than the East Village d.b.a, with XX square feet, a brand new customized bar made of bamboo, and that warm and familiar, inviting d.b.a. atmosphere. Like the East Village d.b.a., the Williamsburg d.b.a. also has a back patio, which we will open in the spring.

via Buzzfeed

Overall, 2008 was a pretty good year for music, despite all the beards. We can’t defend the inclusion of Kanye West on our list, but some of us (uh Robert and Brian) have been loving his 808s and Heartbreak. Sure, autotune vocals are the dorkiest thing to take over pop music since Peter Frampton, but oh well, Robert likes Frampton too. Lisa turned us on to Lucky Dragons and Lau Nau. And our new music editor Elizabeth kept us in the loop with the best new releases all year.

In the end, we were perplexed by The Bug—wtf… they pretty much suck right? Intrigued to see crystal become the new black, since black had just become the new wolf. Annoyed that The Hold Steady—frat music for hipsters—won’t simply go away. Delighted to see another solid bootleg release by Bob Dylan (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs – Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006). Weirded out by Scarjo. And made blissfully happy by the most important music moment of the year: Hamster Eating Popcorn on a Piano. Thanks to all our writers and friends who helped us compile this list.

Have a great holiday. We’re signing off for a few days.

	30. The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Grave
	29. GZA Pro Tools
	28. LUCKY DRAGONS Dream Island Laughing Language
	27. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
	26. NOUNS Nouns
	25. JOHANN JOHANNSSON Fordlandia
	24. JASON COLLETT Here’s to Being Here
	23. INDIAN JEWELRY Free Gold!
	22. THE WAR ON DRUGS Wagonwheel Blues
	21. GANG GANG DANCE Saint Dymphnia
	20. SHE & HIM Volume One
	19. HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR Hercules and Love Affair
	18. BEACH HOUSE Devotion
	17. KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT Split Series
	16. KANYE WEST 808s & Heartbreak
	15. HOT CHIP Made in the Dark
	14. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
	13. THE WALKMEN You & Me
	12. PORTISHEAD Third
	11. THE DODOS Visiter
	10. MGMT Oracular Spectacular
	9. JAY REATARD Singles 06-07
	8. LAU NAU Nukkuu
	7. GIRL TALK Feed the Animals
	6. BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
	5. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
	4. EL GUINCHO Alegranzo
	3. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
	2. DEERHUNTER Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
	1. SANTOGOLD Santogold

image from The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right
Robert Lanham’s got a new piece on Rick Warren over at Huffpost. Here’s a taste:

Rick Warren routinely claims to not be a part of the Evangelical Right when speaking to secular elitists at the New York Times, but he’s playing both sides of the fence. Warren has gone on record calming that he’s “firmly a cultural conservative.” He also believes opposing abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia are “non-negotiable” and “not even debatable” for people of values. He called the Terry Schiavo debacle “an atrocity worthy of Nazism” and according to ABC news, compared gay intimacy to sex with a horse. Prior to the 2004 election, Warren set-up voter registration booths on Saddleback’s church patio. Most tellingly, he sent letters to 150,000 pastors insisting they encourage their congregations to vote for Bush.
In light of the passing of Proposition 8–an issue Obama has yet to show leadership on–choosing Warren for the invocation is a slap in the face to homosexuals and Obama’s liberal base. As PFAW points out, Warren has “compared marriage by loving and committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia.” Sorry Rick, giving donuts to Prop 8 protestors doesn’t make your positions any more palatable.

Read it all at the Huffington Post.

This message is for Caroline Kennedy, who’s vying to become our new Senator, replacing Hillary. Everyone else, please skip this post. Go read about Crystal Castles or some shit.
Ok, now that we’re alone, Caroline Kennedy, why didn’t you stop by to check out my apartment yesterday?! You realize, I literally live RIGHT NEXT DOOR from Cono’s O’Pescatore, where you met with Vito Lopez, the “old-school Democratic boss of Brooklyn”, to talk about your new job (you hope). Don’t you realize I have some sweet XBox games? I’ve also got a couple half-opened bottles of white wine that we could’ve killed before you drove/flew back to wherever you came from. Also, my girlfriend’s got a sweeetz salt water fish tank that you would’ve loved. Do you like starfish? I bet you do. But if not, I also had Goldfish that we could’ve snacked on while watching day-time TV. I freaking love Goldfish.
Ben Smith is also reporting that Vito said, “I found Ms. Kennedy to be very knowledgeable and committed to many issues that are important to me. These issues include housing, education, environmental protection, and economic development.” Yea? Well guess what Caroline. I would’ve found you knowledgeable and committed to many issues too! Like, don’t you think we should get that Kent Ave. bike lane approved? Totally. And how about term limits for Mike? He should chill out, right? And tax the bridges?! Please. Caroline, we’d get along just fine, cause you had those freaking fantastic homemade noodles that Cono’s makes.
And in case you’re wondering what else Vito said, here you go:

“Ms. Kennedy was extremely personable and displayed a great understanding of these important issues, as well as a strong commitment to work on them as a U.S. Senator. Based on our meeting and a prior brief discussion, I am endorsing her candidacy for U.S. Senate and will be soliciting support throughout the City and State on her behalf. I look forward to working with Ms. Kennedy as the next U.S. Senator from New York.”

Boom! Consider yourself endorsed.

Matt & Kim are bundlin’ up for a chilly tour this winter, kicking off at the Music Hall o’ W’Burg on January 22nd. Then, they head up through Canada, Washington and Oregon, before trekking south through California, onwards through Texas, cross the mid-west, hit Terminal 5 in March, and wrap things up March 27th in Orlando, Fl.

While the sun has set over the hipster-gasoline beverage of choice, Sparks, there are a a number of ways around this minor little inconvenience. For starters, there’s cocaine. No, I’m joking. What I’m not joking about, however, is DIY Sparks! Waaaay cheaper than both cocaine and real Sparks.
See what you gotta do is grab a pack of Red Bulls. Then scurry out and get an armful of some cheap-ass 40 oz’s and do it yourself!
The basics are:
Step one: Buy the ingredients
Step two: Drink the 40 to the label, mix in the Red Bull.
Step three: Imbibe
Back in college we always preferred Country Club forties as the malt liquor of choice for this mixology, but I challenge you to try your own local flavors and let us know how they work out.
If you need more help on this very scientific experimentation, Let BuzzFeed show you the ways, and then watch their helpful and informational blind taste test below.