Antifolk Festival

For a quarter century, artists working the margins of New York music have clustered under the antifolk rubric, a broad scene that has a safe haven in the back of the East Village’s Sidewalk Café—which has just reopened after months of renovations. Randomly dropping by Sidewalk can be a risky endeavor: Not every performer can be the world’s next Beck (to cite one artist who rose through antifolk’s ranks). A smart time to pop in is during the Antifolk Festival, which takes over the club for a week or so every fall. This week's performers include TONY fave Jeffrey Lewis, Jason Trachtenburg's the Pendulum Swings and Prewar Yardsale. Check sidewalkmusic.net for the complete lineup.