Christmas

The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Weekend, 12/21/12

Here are the ten best concerts to check out around the city this weekend, in no particular order.

After Sandy: Randazzo's Clam Bar, Totonno's, and More Still Closed Near Coney Island

Some restaurants in Sandy-stricken areas like Lower Manhattan and Red Hook have been able to get back on their feet in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. But in Coney Island, the beloved Totonno's pizza and Boardwalk staple Cha Cha's are among the neighborhood spots that remain closed.

Eight Questions You Have Every Right To Ask About Eggnog

There are two nogs in this picture, see if you can find them. [Every day this week, FiTR will be offering posts about eggnog, the quintessence of Christmas as a food holiday. There will be recipes and reminiscences, and the occasional cautionary tale. This is the first installment.] 1. What's a " ... More >>

Holiday Guide: Arts Listings

Occupy the Pulpit

Religious involvement in OWS heads upstream

Live: Yo La Tengo Light The Menorah At Maxwell's One More Time

Lee Ranaldo & Steve Shelley w/Yo La Tengo, "Mote" Yo La Tengo: Hanukkah Shows Maxwell's December 20-27 Better than: Christmas. Hanukkah doesn't technically end until sundown Wednesday, but Yo La Tengo unplugged their electric menorah at Maxwell's last night, just after a post-midnight sign-of ... More >>

Radicchio Tardiva, Imported From Italy

Gnarly, and a beautiful shade of red-purple, radicchio tardiva is queen of the winter salad greens. Found this lovely salad green at a several markets just before Christmas; bought some and used it in a salad brought to a party on Christmas Eve, to universal approbation.

Handy Guide to FiTR Xmas Coverage, Including Last-Minute Gift Suggestions

​This year, Fork in the Road pulled out all the stops in our Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa coverage, given you hints on where to shop, what gifts to buy, and examining holiday rituals from a cynical point of view. Here is a guide to our coverage, in case you haven't had enough of the holidays al ... More >>

The Dead Celebrity Cookbook at MXYPLYZYK, Gift Suggestion #14

​The cookbook displayed in the window of MXYPLYZYK, against a backdrop of hamburger greeting cards and Ritz boxes. Help the Goth, Vamp, or just plain cynic on your list have a very morbid Christmas by picking up a copy of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by radio personality and raconteur Frank ... More >>

EXPLORERS WANTED

Where to find chow mein 
and dinosaur bones

The Vinatta Project's Michael "Kiwi" Camplin on His Ideal Dinner Party: Interview Part 2

Photo courtesy Michael CamplinMichael Camplin needs some sleep​Yesterday we spoke with Michael "Kiwi" Camplin, chef at the new Meatpacking District restaurant the Vinatta Project, about his upbringing in New Zealand and the intricacies of creating a small plates menu. Today we get a bit more p ... More >>

Abbie Heppe, Creator of the Pepper-Spray Baby Jesus Sweater, on Her Viral Sensation (There's a T-Shirt Now!)

via​Just yesterday, to her great surprise, Community Manager for Respawn Entertainment Abbie Heppe's ugly Christmas sweater pretty much blew up, spreading holiday cheer all over the Internet. Ugly Christmas sweaters and the Internet are a great pairing in general; this time it was extra-specia ... More >>

Four Excellent New Christmas Songs That Are Guaranteed To Be Drummer Boy Challenge-Safe

This week in the Voice I discussed The Little Drummer Boy Challenge, a sort of Frogger pitting your ears against "Christmas creep." The rules are simple: If you haven't heard "The Little Drummer Boy" in any form—including Justin Bieber's recent, Busta Rhymes-assisted update of the song—s ... More >>

Early Santa

Wall Street Bull Gets Snazzy New Yarn Coat, Briefly

via Bowery Boogie​Before the great snowstorm of 2010 got started, Lower East Side artist Olek, who really can crochet anything (cars, bikes, baby bikes, people), managed to crochet the Wall Street bull. Which would have made him a nice warm coat for the snow had city officials not ripped it aw ... More >>

ON THE JOB

Three great comics have Xmas covered

Ho! and Looking at Christmas Stuff New York's Stockings

New pieces by Brian Dykstra and Steven Banks join a Yule-logged season

Warpaint Wallow Exuberantly

Plus: Hall & Oates do the hits and redeem 'Jingle Bell Rock'

So, People Are Going to Give You Obnoxious Crap for Christmas

​What are the most obnoxious Christmas gifts ever? Gifts that are customized to remind the recipient of yours truly. This is why, despite what the Wall Street Journal is dubbing a trend of sorts ("The Rise of Holiday Me-Tailers"), you should never, ever, ever, give your girlfriend or boyfriend ... More >>

The Runnin' Scared Gift Guide: 100 Presents for the Drunks, Exes, Neurotics, Sex Fiends, and Loved Ones on Your List

#76, Golden Girls Xmas Ornaments​So many gift guides, so little time. But how many lists of gifts under $50, or gifts for moms-to-be, or gifts for boyfriends and girlfriends and dogs can you really look at before wondering, where is the gift guide to end all gift guides? Where is the gift guid ... More >>

That Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Gave Its Life for You, Okay?

Never forget: This tree, that one year.​About that Rockefeller Center Christmas tree -- this year's is a 74-foot Norway spruce from Mahopac, New York, to be lit up this very evening to the delight of 2.5 million holiday gawkers. The tree in Rock Center is one of those things that New Yorkers t ... More >>

Winter Guide: Lesley Manville Is the Toast of Mike Leigh's Latest Film, Another Year

A guide to winter movie releases

On Mariah Carey's Agreeably Bizarre Yuletide Sequel Merry Christmas II You

Hugh Romney, Before He Was Wavy Gravy

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. December 19, 1968, Vol. XIV, No. 10 The Hog Farm Commune: A Geodesic Christmas by Joe Pilati The 365-day expanse the Yippies have already designated "Year of the Pig" is almost upon us. It will be a time of bemoaning Richard the Chicke ... More >>

NYPD Quote of the Day: "Brooklyn North Inspections Is Not Very Happy"

​Chad Griffith​Graham Rayman's "The NYPD Tapes: Inside Bed-Stuy's 81st Precinct" chronicles hundreds of recorded hours of cops talking about their jobs between June 1, 2008, and October 31, 2009. Parts 3 and 4 will appear in the next issues of the Voice. Here's today's outtake.

The Debate Society Puts a Spin on the Police in Buddy Cop 2

The Ontological Incubator gets some racquetball

A Studies in Crap War on Christmas Special: '30s Kids Crave Toys, Neglect Jesus, Attempt Minstrelsy

Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power.​ St. Nicholas for Boys and Girls Date: December, 1932 The Cover Promises: Exa ... More >>

And, At Milano's, the Bells Were Ringing Out for Christmas Day

Christmas lights and bleary vision were on tap at Milano's last night.​The kind of place where everyone knows your name has become a rare thing in New York. But, at Milano's on Houston, the bartender greets you by name as you enter and the regulars are all old mates. Last night, they came out ... More >>

SantaCon NYC 2009: A Jolly Good Drinking, Puking, Open-Container Ticketing Time

all photos by Paul Quitoriano, more from SantaCon herePublic-urination Santa SantaCon may not be a traditional holiday activity, and in fact, it probably ruined the faith of countless young children who witnessed a slew of drunken Santas stumbling through the streets of lower Manhattan on Saturday ... More >>

Snuggies Will Save Christmas

​I have the answer to all our economic woes! Buy Snuggies! You know Snuggies. They're those very chic wearable blankets that they advertise on TV and which have apparently fallen off so many trucks that everywhere from Duane Reade to K Mart now carries them in bulk. I bought a bunch of them ... More >>

Unsubtleties

Lionel Hampton brazenly guides jazz's evolution

Hope You Had a Merry Effing Christmas

On the holiday-concert trail with Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, and . . . Twisted Sister

Naughty Gifts for Your Cyber Ho Ho Ho's

From high-tech tools to sequined nipples, what to buy your sexy online sweetheart

Brick Theater's The Baby Jesus One-Act Jubilee: Second Coming

I Am Legend Star: I Am Straight!

Wynonna's backwoods backstory (and other therapy issues)

Young Frankenstein's Big, The Glorious Ones Tiny. Both Look Recycled

Old Jokenstein

Special Year-End Edición

Come All Ye Unfaithful

Untraditional yuletide offerings

Behind the Bar

Talking with Tanya Dias, a Reif's Tavern bartender

No Thanks for the Memories

Folkies Show How the Irish Saved Jesus's Birthday (This Year)

Strangers on a Train: Wobbly Cartoon Spectacle Lacks Human Element

Holiday Humbug

Yes, Virginia, there is a limit to Christmas pageantry

Best Porn Stars of 2002!

Crack That Nut, Girl

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

A Short History of Fruitcake

Film

Horoscope

Holiday Happenings

Pier-Less

The Cancellation of a Favorite Antiques Show