Andrew Frisicano

Even as the recording industry struggles, the five boroughs—Manhattan, Brooklyn, even Queens—remain packed with live-music venues, from hole-in-the-wall dives to resplendent uptown theaters. On any given night, there's a daunting array of world-class acts performing around town. (Plan accordingly and you might be able to double up.) Here's a list of our favorite venues, which are a good starting point if you're looking for a gig to see. RECOMMENDED: 100 best things to do in NYC

So you’re looking to find a good jazz club in NYC? The city is the home of some of the best jazz in the world and has been since the 1920s. But recently, they, along with so many live-music venues around the city, have gone through a rough patch with skyrocketing rent and cost increases. That’s why it’s important to enjoy a night out at these bastions of great music. We’ve rounded up the top jazz clubs NYC has to offer from Greenwich Village, Manhattan to Gowanus, Brooklyn, touching on hallowed landmarks, swanky newcomers, cutting-edge outer-borough spots, no-frills joints, date-idea destinations and more. RECOMMENDED: Full coverage of jazz in NYC

As a wise man once said, ‘She’s a runner, she’s a track star.’ But are you? If the answer is a resounding yes, you’re in luck: we’ve found the very best running songs to keep you going mile after mile in the gym or on the hiking trail. These tracks are ideal for running, whether it’s for cardio or simply fleeing your responsibilities. Regardless of what’s driving you to pound the pavement, a propulsive playlist is a must. From thumping hip-hop beats to high-energy guitar jams (and even a little tough love from Britney), we got it all. So lace up your shoes, crank up the volume, and let these tunes be the soundtrack to your next run. Written by Sara Fay, Kate Wertheimer, Andy Kryza, Andrew Frisciano, Brent DiCrescenzo and Sophie Harris. Listen to these songs on Amazon Music RECOMMENDED: 📻 The best '80s songs🎧 The best disney songs💸 The best songs about money❤️‍🔥 The best R&B love songs📼 The best ’90s songs

Since New York is the greatest city in the world for music, we, of course, have the best record store. Think about it—there is simply nowhere else that has our storied history and incredible live music scene. And despite the loss of some beloved spots like Rebel Rebel and Other Music, there are still plenty of spots for both the serious vinyl junkie or casual collector perusing LPs on Record Store Day. Discovering that rare LP in a brick-and-mortar music store is a thrill you just can’t replicate online (we know—we’ve tried). These are the genre-spanning NYC record stores we swear by. RECOMMENDED: Best places for shopping in NYC

Love St Patrick’s Day? Well, we’ve got news for you. March 17 isn’t just about drinking gallons of Guinness and fighting your way through screaming crowds dressed in green (although, that is a big part). St Patrick’s Day has actually been around since 1631, and there’s a lot about Ireland’s complex history to be learned from it.  There’s a million and one brilliant songs for Paddy’s Day, from traditional folk song to belters by The Cranberries. Some of them can teach you a lot about the history of St Paddy’s, but all of them will make you want to sing along. And given we’ve lost two icons of Irish music in the last year, with the passing of Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor, there’s no better time to get into the spirit. We’ve rounded up the 15 very best Irish tunes to get those pipes going, ahead of 2024’s upcoming celebrations. Go grab a Guinness – it’s time to get green, folks. RECOMMENDED:🎤 The best karaoke songs ever made🎶 The best pop songs on earth

The year's most-watched musical performance wasn't at the Grammys; it was the Super Bowl halftime show. 2024 marked the second year Apple Music took the reins of the country's largest musical spectacle, bringing us 13 full minutes of Usher. The halftime show is a long-standing tradition that's featured some of the country's biggest stars, from Madonna to Prince to Lady Gaga. Every year, it brings us a thrilling performance filled with fireworks, splashy entrances, special guests and plenty of surprises to keep you glued to your TV set. It's also what gets many non-sports fans to tune into the big game.  But despite the many hits over the decades, we've also seen our share of halftime show misses. Below, we look back at the Super Bowl halftime shows that got us dancing, singing and discussing at the office the next day.  RECOMMENDED: How to watch the Super Bowl halftime show

No genre knows love better than R&B. The Motown songbook alone contains enough lessons of the heart to fill several medical textbooks. Sure, many great soul songs are about the dark side of love – jealousy, betrayal, breakups, etc. But that’s not why you came to this list, is it?  It’s to find those songs that speak directly to the joy of being with someone else. Whether it’s innocent infatuation, all-consuming obsession or lustful intoxication, there’s an awesome jam out there to communicate exactly what you’re feeling. And not all of them are of the smooth, old-school variety either. Here, we’ve compiled the absolute best R&B love songs, and while you’ll find plenty of ‘60s classics, there are several modern, chart-busting pop bangers as well. So let’s get it on, shall we? RECOMMENDED:🏩 The best love songs of all time😭 The best heartbreak songs🍆 The sexiest songs of all time🕺 The best party songs of all time

Welcome 2023 to the sound of your favorite musical act (of the ones that are in town...). We've round up the top picks for New Year’s Eve concerts in NYC. After the show, you can watch the fireworks or stop by one of the many New Year’s Eve parties still going on around the city. For more music to take in the season with in December, make sure to hit up the best Christmas concerts in NYC leading up to the years end! RECOMMENDED: Full guide to New Year’s Eve in NYC

The myth goes that Inuits have 50 words for snow, and the pop canon contains many, many songs about it, too. It’s no wonder – few metereological phenomena can be at once so gorgeous and yet so devastating. On the one hand, songs about snow can conjure of being cozy and warm, snuggled up with a mug of hot cocoa next to a roaring fire as a winter wonderland forms outside. On the other hand, too much snow can also trap you inside, and thus serve as a metaphor for chilly feelings that cannot be thawed. In any case, snow has served as the inspiration for many great songs. Here are 11 that’ll help you appreciate the chilly months – or, if you live in a region without true seasons, experience them vicariously. RECOMMENDED: 🎄 The best Christmas songs🎅 The jolliest Christmas songs for kids🎺 The best Motown songs🎙 The best soul songs❤️ The best love songs😃 The best happy songs

Hanukkah might stretch for eight nights, but when it comes to popular holiday songs, Christmas has it vastly outnumbered. Even the most hardcore Hebrews would be hard pressed to name a modern Hanukkah song not written by Adam Sandler. But that doesn’t mean they’re not out there.  If you search around enough, you’ll find a trove of tunes worthy of a Festival of Lights playlist. Oddly enough, a good many of them are performed by gentiles. You’ve got the late, great Sharon Jones finding the funk in ‘The Dreidel Song’ and Too $hort rapping about latkes and pinching tuchuses. But there are also some gems from members of the tribe that aren’t widely known, including Bela Fleck, Matisyahu and, of course, the Jewish Elvis himself, Neil Diamond. We’ve collected them all here on this list of the greatest modern Hanukkah songs. Mazel tov! Listen to these songs on Amazon Music RECOMMENDED: 🎄  The best Christmas songs of all time🎉  The best party songs ever made🎤  The best karaoke songs🕺  The best pop songs of all time😊  The best happy songs

Let’s be frank up front here: there aren’t that many actual Thanksgiving songs in existence. No one’s out here singing about turkey, gravy and pilgrims, and while there’s probably a couple tunes about colonial genocide, that’d only spoil everyone’s appetite. So if you’re looking to put together a playlist for the big family meal, you’re forced to stick to the more figurative meaning of the holiday rather than the literal or historical implications – that is, showing gratitude. And in that case, there are a lot of bangers to choose from. On this list of the best Thanksgiving songs, you’ll find rappers celebrating their mamas, rock’n’roll cult figures raising a glass to their friends and funk legends giving it up to themselves. You have pop divas appreciating their exes and reggae icons praising Jah. And if you just really need a song that at least has some tenuous connection to the most gluttonous day of the year, we’ve dug one of those up, too.  Written by Rachel Sonis, Vivienne van Vliet, Andrew Frisicano, Hank Shteamer, Ro Samarth, Andy Kryza and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🦃 The most festive Thanksgiving songs for kids🎄 The 60 best Christmas songs of all-time👯 The 22 best friendship songs💑 The 60 best best love songs of all-time

Alright: time to get physical and also musical. Contrary to what the very ripped personal trainer at the gym keeps screaming at you, sometimes the best motivation for working up a sweat isn’t the grunting encouragement of a stranger clutching a protein shake. Often, you just need the right song to get your blood pumping, your body moving and you mind in the zone. The perfect workout song is, to some extent, an elusive beast that heavily depends on what type of music you’re into: presumably there are people out there who work out to showtunes, and good for them. The unifying factor is enough energy to power the national grid, and a decently fast beat to help you keep the pace up. Beyond that, all bets are off,  To help you on your fitness journey, we tapped our stable of music geeks – some of which are in much better shape than others – to scour their knowledge of hip-hop, pop, classic rock and for 55 high-energy motivators. Some may seem like pretty leftfield choices, but all of them should get your pulse racing. Strap on the sweatband and get ready to move.  Written by Kristen Zwicker, Marley Lynch, Hank Shteamer, Gabrielle Bruney, Brent DiCrescenzo, Sophie Harris, Andy Kryza, Andrew Frisicano, Nick Leftley, Tim Lowery, Carla Sosenko, Kate Wertheimer, Steve Smith and Andrzej Łukowski. RECOMMENDED:🏃 The best running songs💪 The best motivational songs🤩 The best inspirational songs🎸 The best classic rock songs⚡️ The best songs about power

The music of the Grateful Dead finds another willing host in this NYC-based tribute band, which focuses on the band's rootsy, jam-heavy early period. The group skillfully weaves between tuneful replication and psychedelic bedlam, both in the spirit of the original group. Its monthly gatherings at Union Pool's cozy back room are a haven for aspiring and experienced Deadheads alike, with trippy light projections and locals hawking bootleg shirts.

Holidays are a time for the fam, and all-star performers Rufus and Martha Wainwright exhibit the spirit of giving by inviting you to their clan’s holiday extravaganza, which benefits Stand Up to Cancer. Carrying on the tradition of their late mother, Kate McGarrigle, the pair will invite Emmylou Harris, Sufjan Stevens and their father, Loudon Wainwright III, to get jolly.

If her commitment to the season was in any doubt, Ms. Lauper released a collection of “Cyndi Lauper Loves Christmas” home goods earlier this year. She’s also returning with this charity concert, which aims to end homelessness among LGBTQ teens. She hosts a diverse range of guests, with Amanda Palmer, Natalie Merchant, Regina Spektor, Robert Glasper and A$AP Rocky slated to perform.

John Dwyer is mainly known as the guitar slashing, vocals yelping head of rock outfit Thee Oh Sees. That group's sound is largely defined by its ample use of distortion, disorienting echo and persistent rhythms, delivered by two drummers banging away at full steam. Its live shows are densely packed spectacles with unruly pogoing and ample sweat. Dwyer has a softer side too though. Making music as OCS, his songs take on a gentler tone. The group embraces slower tempos, string arrangements and folky ballads. It's not always acoutic, though sometimes it is. OCS first turned up in a series of early-aughts releases and again in last year's album Memory of a Cut Off Head. This year the monikier is back with a new concert double LP, Live in San Francisco (out Nov 2), which captures a 2017 performance, and several live shows at Brooklyn's Murmrr Theatre. For those you'll have the chance to see OCS perform as an 8-piece band featuring vocalist Brigid Dawson (a longtime Dwyer collaborator), along with bass, drums, keys, violin, viola and cello.

La primera película de Ant-Man: El hombre hormiga tuvo éxito debido a su enfoque de "menos es más": relleno con chistes visuales tipo "Querida, encogí al vengador". La película se apoyó fuertemente en el encanto inocente de Paul Rudd como el excriminal convertido en microhéroe —Scott Lang—, y en algunos brillos de su amigo Luis —Michael Peña— que se robaron la escena. Sin embargo, la hormiga vuelve en una secuela que se esfuerza por ser divertida, pero sin la misma irreverencia. Nos encontramos con Lang bajo arresto domiciliario por aliarse con el Capitán América, recordemos todo lo que pasó en Capitán América: Civil War. Por supuesto, no puedes mantener a un ladrón enmascarado encerrado en su casa por mucho tiempo.  Entonces aparece Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) —el gruñon genio— y su hija Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) que le piden ayuda en su búsqueda para salvar a la esposa de Hank, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), que durante 30 años ha estado atrapada en el reino cuántico, un lugar donde toda la lógica se dobla al servicio de la trama, pero al parecer Hank tiene una forma de rescatarla: Ant-Man con ayuda de Hope y su alterego, The Wasp.  En esta entrega, Marvel hace una búsqueda poco inspiradora y presenta fragmentos de una exposición pseudocientífica que tendrán sentido solo para aquellos con doctorados en física cuántica. Hay una secuencia de persecución sólida, utilizando algunos puntos emblemáticos de San Francisco, pero los villanos son sobresalen; la anodina Ghost (Hanna

The first ‘Ant-Man’ movie succeeded largely because of its less-is-more approach: a livewire heist caper stuffed with Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Avenger-style visual gags. It leant hard on Paul Rudd’s guileless charm as criminal-turned-micro-hero Scott Lang and some scene-stealing turns, spearheaded by Michael Peña as Lang’s motor-mouthed buddy Luis. Diminishing returns bite, though, in a sequel that strains hard to be effortlessly fun but lacks the same helter-skelter irreverence. We meet Lang under house arrest for siding with Captain America in ‘Civil War’ way back, trying again to go straight. Of course, you can’t keep a besuited burglar cooped up for long. Cue grumpy genius Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and still-underutilised daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) roping him into their quest to save Hank’s long-lost wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer, underemployed). For 30 years, she’s been stuck in the Quantum Realm, a place where all logic bends in service of the plot, but Hank may have a way of rescuing her, with Hope’s superhero alter-ego the Wasp helping out. Cue an uninspiring quest and chunks of pseudo-scientific exposition that’ll make sense only to those with degrees in Marvelology. There’s a solid chase sequence, using some of San Francisco’s very fine landmarks, but the low-stakes villains, anodyne superbaddie Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and out-of-place black marketeer Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) are anticlimactic after the charismatic dread of Thanos in ‘Avengers: Infin

The owners of Pine Box Rock Shop—that’s Jeff and Heather Rush and Colin Peer—have a thing for weird spaces. That Bushwick bar, if you couldn’t tell by its name, is housed in a former casket factory. Their new cocktail bar’s previous life gets a nod in its title too: It was once a metalworking shop and, more recently, a DIY event space known for hosting cosmic yoga classes, raves and body-healing workshops. Its current use speaks to the neighborhood’s shifting demographics and tastes—New Age music has been replaced by scruffy indie rock, disco lasers by Edison bulbs, sometimes-naked shamanic rituals by Tinder dates, hushed conversations and two TVs airing ESPN highlights. Precious Metal’s mission is less esoteric than the previous tenant’s, sure, but as a neighborhood bar, it does a good job of avoiding many of the pitfalls that come with gentrification: The decor is unpretentious, the beers and cocktails are reasonably priced ($7 and $12, respectively), and the selection is thoughtfully chosen enough to warrant a trip even if you didn’t just move into those CastleBraid luxury apartments across the street. ORDER THIS: Cocktails ($12) are the move here. A Tin Roof layers whiskey, simple syrup and lemon with a cabernet floater—the dryness of the wine dominates, with syrupy sweetness underneath and aromatic notes provided by a dusting of lemon zest and nutmeg. The gin-based Bunny Hop echoes the honey and lemon of a Bee’s Knees, substituting lime and grapefruit with an extra lupul

The BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! series—a bunch of mostly-free concerts and events in Prospect Park and one of the best things to happen in NYC every summer—has announced the first show of its 2019 season. That gig, on Tuesday, August 6th, will be headlined by the crown prince of playful indie-rock, Mac DeMarco, someone who we've had a cup of coffee with in Queens and interviewed a handful of other times over the years. Mac is a charismatic performer, wise-cracking banterer, noodly guitarist and, surprisingly to some, robust and affectingly emotional vocalist. While most of the concerts at the Prospect Park Bandshell are free (with a small donation), others are ticketed shows that serve as benefits for the series at large. This is the latter—so you'll want to pick up tickets when they go on sale January 18th at 11am. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! In addition to the park show, Mac's schedule includes stops at Coachella and Bonnaroo. He's also promised a new album, which will be the debut release on his record label, called of course, Mac’s Record Label. Since he'll probably be too busy to grill you a hot dog this summer, maybe offer him one of yours.

The churn of NYC nightlife spots continues. Not long after Output, Cielo and Cornelia Street Cafe shut their doors (all at the end of 2018), another casualty has arrived. This time it's Chelsea concert venue and party space Highline Ballroom. While it hasn't been formally announced (see below for an update), organizers like party mainstay Daniel Nardicio have posted that they've been informed that February 8 would be the club's last day. For a time, Highline Ballroom, which opened in 2007, was one of the more eclectic venues in the city—the shows I personally saw ranged from avant-garde piano great Cecil Taylor to pop singer Tinashe to ska-punk band Less Than Jake. Last year also saw the closing of Times Square venue B.B. King Blues Club, which was run by Highline Ballroom owner Blue Note Entertainment Group (they also opened Sony Hall in the same area). Update Friday, January 11, 3:04pm: Steven Bensusan, owner of the Highline Ballroom has released the following statement about the closing: Unfortunately after 12 years our landlord has decided not to renew Highline Ballroom's lease. For over a year we were led to believe that a renewal was imminent, however it is now clear that the landlord has other plans for the building. This is obviously a growing trend within the New York real estate market impacting various entertainment venues and businesses. We plan on reopening Highline Ballroom at a new location in the Chelsea/Meatpacking District and are currently looking at optio

Now that New Year's hangovers are finally starting to fade and we've had time to revisit the best albums of 2018, it's time to start making some plans for the year ahead. Last week Coachella announced its lineup, with Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino and Tame Impala as the headliners. Now the Governors Ball lineup is here. The 2019 Governors Ball Festival (May 31–June 2 at Randalls Island) brings Tyler the Creator, the Strokes and Florence & the Machine in the top slots. For the Strokes it'll be the band's third appearance at the festival. Florence & the Machine too is a repeat visitor, having played the fest in 2015. Along with those there's a sizaeable amount of recent breakout acts including hip-hop group Brockhampton, Harlem rapper Sheck Wes, Kanye collaborator 070Shake and Bay Area rap crew SOB X RBE. Anyone who enjoyed last year's critical hits like Kacey Musgraves's Golden Hour, Mitski's Be the Cowboy or 1975's A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships will be pleased to see them on the lineup. In fact a good chunk of the acts playing had outstanding records in 2018, so maybe don't close that best albums tab quite yet. Tickets are on sale now for the fest (including a small today-only "announcement day" discount).   Governors Ball 2019 Lineup The Strokes Florence + The Machine Tyler, The Creator Nas Sza Major Lazer The 1975 Lil Wayne   Brockhampton Gesaffelstein Jorja Smith Kacey Musgraves Zhu Vince Staples Blood Orange Lord Huron Sheck Wes Beast Coast (Joey Bada$$ + F

For the bulk of Oh Sees’ 22 years, the band’s unmistakable calling card has been its live show: a throbbing din made of loud, distorted, reverberant guitar, yipped, gutteral vocals and driving rhythms at breakneck tempos. Its music—garage-rock fueled by caffeine and weed and stretched out with heavy riffs and hypnotic drumming—is made for pogoing, stage diving and generally getting soaked in sweat (if not your own, then your neighbors’). For this week’s show at Murmrr Theatre, the band explores its softer side. Expect frontman John Dwyer to strum an acoustic guitar (as in the photo above, from a similar show in San Francisco last December, which was recently released on LP). Joining him are longtime collaborator and vocalist Brigid Dawson, drummer Paul Quattrone, bassist Tim Hellman and a string trio. Though Dwyer & Co. tour the globe stirring up mosh pits, the mellow tack isn’t totally unheard of for the band: Its earliest albums, released under the name OCS, which it’ll use for this performance, were weird dispatches of twisted bedroom pop and freak folk. “Ironically, the music was less hectic, but there was way more drugs,” says Dwyer. As the project evolved, the group added Dawson, along with one drummer (later two), another guitarist and layers of fuzz. But even on its heaviest releases—this year’s excellent prog-metal LP Smote Reverser, for example—there are moments of quiet and respite mixed in with the cranked amps and thundering drums. Last year, the OCS name returne

Output will be shutting its doors for good at the end of this year. The club made the unexpected announcement on its Facebook citing reasons including "rapidly shifting social trends, unfavorable market conditions and weakening financial outlooks." The venue has been open on the corner of Wythe Ave and North 12th St since 2013, booking techno and house DJs on its two indoor stages and in the summer on its roof. As one of the best NYC clubs, Output was notable for its no-bottle-service, no-camera policy and hosted memorable sets by the likes of DJ Harvey and James Blake and performances by Giorgio Moroder and Roy Ayers in recent years. For its final bash, Output will host a New Year's Eve party with John Digweed. Before then, you'll have the chance to see DJs such as Francois K, Reade Truth, Lil Louis, Seth Troxler and Hot Since 82 spin at the club as you say goodbye. Read the message from the club's founders below.

A contemporary art exhibition celebrating the work of musician Leonard Cohen is coming to NYC's Jewish Museum this spring. The show, Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything, is set to open April 12, 2019 as part of a three city tour that also includes Copenhagen and San Francisco. Originally staged in Montreal, the exhibit will include work by artists Kara Blake, Candice Breitz, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Christophe Chassol, Daily Tous Les Jours, Tacita Dean, Kota Ezawa, George Fok, Ari Folman, Jon Rafman and Taryn Simon. In addition, there will be several video elements, including a projection featuring Cohen's own drawings and a multi-channel video installation of musicians covering Cohen's songs. One immersive installation lets visitors lie down in a room surrounded by images and lyrics as Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat" plays. In another, guests can listen to covers of Cohen's songs by musicians such as The National, Feist and Lou Doillon. The exhibit closes September 8, 2019, and is included with Jewish Museum admission. Photograph: Courtesy Guy L’Heureux Photograph: Courtesy Guy L’Heureux    

The Los Angeles–based Jimmy Kimmel Live! comes to Brooklyn for five nights this week, broadcasting from BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House. The show has a few surprises up its sleeve beyond just stealing little kids' candy, and midtown passersby got a sneak peek at one of those as the Empire State Building flashed an insane array of colors around 11pm on October 6. “Someone on molly is controlling the Empire State Building,” one Tweeter noted. It turns out that was all for an Eminem performance being filmed on the building's 103rd floor. The special rooftop area, a good 17 levels above the normal observation area on the 86th floor, should feature on at least part of the video in which Em reportedly raps his tune "Venom" off the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. If you are about that kind of thing, director James Larese shot the scene using Google's new Pixel 3 smartphone. We'll get a chance to hear and see what they were up to tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live! If that's past your bedtime look for the clip posted online early tomorrow. Update: Watch it below. Image: Aashna Shah    

Summer is winding down, but there's still a few chances for that late-season BBQ you've been dreaming of. The folks at Genius (FKA Rap Genius) are hosting just such an event on September 8 at its headquarters in Gowanus. The main attraction—besides all the barbecue and refreshments—will be 2 Chainz, rapper and star of Viceland's Most Expensivest. You'll have to ask him how the food stacks up against the $295 cheeseburger he tasted on his show. The rest of the acts are just as exciting: NYC's own Princess Nokia, former rising act turned subway soup-dumper (and incredible live act), is on board, for one. And there's a mess of up-and-comers you should get on your radar: Philly rapper Tierra Whack (watch her "Whack World" if you haven't), pop singer A.CHAL, Louisville rapper Jack Harlow, Harlem rapper Melii and tunesmith Ted Park. Also look for DJ sets by Odalys, Riobamba, Stonie Blue and DJ Saige. R.S.V.P. here for chance to get in. (Tickets are free but admission is advertised as "first come, first served" so heads up.) That's not your only chance to enjoy some music in the warm weather though. There's still a few choice summer concerts to hit up before the season is out: Octfest, which brings Vince Staples, the Flaming Lips and more to Governors Island; David Byrne at Forest Hills Stadium; and the thrilling final edition of PS1 Warm Up, with Yaeji, Lizzo, and Gang Gang Dance, are all still coming up. 

A train on the Second Avenue subway line got a fresh coat of paint over the weekend. A member of the Progressive Action Facebook group posted photos early Monday morning of a Q train that was apparently graffiti bombed overnight while parked near the 96th Street Station. It's unknown how long the train was in operation before being pulled out of service for a clean up. Though the trains are normally spotless (or wrapped in paid advertisements) these days, New York City's subways have a long history of serving as a canvas for artists. Many painters have moved from unsanctioned transit art to more legitimate gallery-artist careers: Street art icon Chris “Daze” Ellis, for example, who we talked to earlier this year, discussed making the transition. The days of fully covered subway cars, as captured in '80s hip-hop film Wild Style, are clearly over, but it seems that for some the appeal of a quick throwback is just too great to resist.   Photograph: Corey-Don Rum Lordz Gibson‎/Facebook Photograph: Corey-Don Rum Lordz Gibson‎/Facebook       Photograph: Corey-Don Rum Lordz Gibson‎/Facebook    

With the news that the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit, an outpouring of tributes have sprung up, from obituaries celebrating the singer's staggering career to personal remembrances from Barack Obama to Paul McCartney. Earlier in the week, when news came out about Franklin's failing health, fans got to work setting up an impromptu tribute to the singer at Tribeca's Franklin Street Subway station. Messages appeared around the station and on staircases leading to the street. One stairway reads "Aretha makes me feel like a natural woman." Another, "Say a little prayer for Aretha." There's no telling how long it'll stay up so if you want to see it, head there now. (Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights also has tributes to the singer.) Franklin Street subway station, TriBeCa, NYC #ArethaFranklin (Artist: Anonymous) A post shared by Bobby Slew (@robertstevens) on Aug 14, 2018 at 4:17pm PDT Franklin Street subway station, TriBeCa, NYC #ArethaFranklin (Artist: Anonymous) A post shared by Bobby Slew (@robertstevens) on Aug 14, 2018 at 4:13pm PDT   The stencil people work fast pic.twitter.com/O721W9pn2K — Amanda Mull (@amandamull) August 16, 2018 It's not the first time subway station has been used to memorialize a musician. And it's not the only place people are remembering Franklin: People have been leaving flowers and tributes at the Apollo Theater, where there's a plaque for the icon on the sidewalk. Aretha Franklin......

Put it on your calendar, in gel pen with little hearts and squiggly lines: The MTV Video Music Awards coming to Radio City Music Hall on Monday, August 20. Folks like Ariana Grande, Panic! at the Disco, Jennifer Lopez and Shawn Mendes are already set to perform at the event, and now they'll get a boost with a performance by back-in-the-day faves the Backstreet Boys, who'll play outside the venue as part of the pre-show. The award show is invite only, but you'll be able to stream it online (as long as you have a cable TV log-in handy). Or you can head to Radio City to try and catch a glimpse of the ageless boy band in person. No guarantees of course, but what wouldn't you do for a peek at Nick, Brian, Ralph* and the other ones? The red carpet pre-show starts at 8pm and will be hosted by MTV presenter Nessa and DJ Pauly D and Vinny Guadagnino from Jersey Shore. The Backstreet Boys last performed at the show in 1999 to sing “I Want It That Way.” Since then, BSB have broken up, gotten back together and more recently, opened a Las Vegas residency, which continues October 24 through April. (Tickets are on sale.) The band has also announced a new album that's due in the fall, and if everything goes according to plan, a world tour in 2019. This would be a great time to say "Backstreet's Back," but in this writer's heart, they never left. *Just checking to see if you’re paying attention.

Central Park's Great Lawn has a long history of hosting massive live music events: Think the Simon & Garfunkel reunion show in 1981 and the famous Diana Ross concert in 1983. This year, it will once again serve as the home of the Global Citizen Festival, which gears up for its seventh year of bringing big-name talent to the park for charity. The event, happening on Saturday, September 29, features performances from Janet Jackson (who recently visited NYC for the Panorama Festival) and the Weeknd (whose Panorama set got rained out), as well as Cardi B, Shawn Mendes, Janelle Monáe and a special guest performance by John Legend. Hosts and co-hosts include Hugh Jackman, Deborra-lee Furness, Camren Bicondova, Cynthia Erivo, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Gus Kenworthy, Kal Penn, La La Anthony, Naomi Campbell and Rachel Brosnahan. Linked to the U.N. General Assembly, the annual event raises awareness about a range of issues, including reducing the amount of plastic used and providing quality education to everyone, while working to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. This year's event is part of the “Mandela 100” campaign, which honors Nelson Mandela's life and legacy for what would be his 100th birthday. Folks who are interested in attending can complete a variety of tasks—such as emailing a representative and posting on Twitter—to earn points for a chance to win tickets. Ticket draws will occur leading up to the event. For more details, visit glblctzn.me/nyc2018 or download the Glo