Tuesday night at Santos Party House, owner Andrew WK appeared on stage in his trademark white jeans and white T-shirt after keeping a mostly-male crowd stewing in unlit silence for 45 minutes. They were waiting for a night billed “Ask Andrew WK Anything,” a chance to kibbitz with the mysterious man and pick his brain about topics large and small. Read more

What’s left of Canal Street’s hawkers and small merchants—Hispanic stereo salesmen, Chinese dry-goods merchants, Lebanese gold sellers and Jewish landlords—all agree on one thing: “The fix is in.” Everyone knows the clock is ticking. Two new hotels, including a 361-room Sheraton, are due to open on Canal in the next six months. Very soon, locals say, Canal Street will join Times Square, Astor Place, the Lower East Side, the Garment District and all the other former centers of down-and-dirty capitalist grit that have been safely gentrified. As Greg “Heavy” Duval, an African-American watch-peddler explains before the Christmas holiday, “Canal is on its last legs. They want to make this a franchise block.” Read more Read it in print

“Wake up!” The slide projector cuts out and there’s an awkward silence as a grouchy-looking Greil Marcus stares down the 150 odd rock nerds and grad-students scattered throughout the Columbia auditorium. Chuckles roll out from the ones clutching dog-eared copies of the famed critic’s deconstruction of punk, Lipstick Traces, breaking the tension. Read more

Monday night, on the second floor of the powerHouse Arena, Jonathan Lethem was spinning records for the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35,” a showcase of young novelists. Read more

Celebrating his 64th birthday Friday night at Giorgio Gomelsky’s Chelsea loft space, legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen decided getting old was a hell of a lot better than turning 21. “I have a lot more friends now,” he said, “and I’m going to stay out a lot later.” Read more

HE WEARS A black hoodie to protect himself from the cold rain. The baby-faced guy is Dominican, probably in his early twenties. He rushes by me at the Graham Avenue L train entrance, pauses and asks, “Matt?” I nod. He leads me down the stairs, examines me silently. Once he’s satisfied that I’m not a threat, he takes $30 from my left hand and pushes a sealed bag of Cheez Doodles into my right jacket pocket. Without another word, he splits for the opposite staircase and races back above ground. I check my watch. It’s 6:30 on a Saturday night under a busy Williamsburg intersection, and I’ve just scored three bags of “Nike” heroin, all hidden inside a re-sealed bag of chips. Read more Read it in print

With the stock market inching upwards and talk of economic recovery in the air, Paris Hilton and her retinue made an appearance last Thursday at the opening of Bowlmor Lanes’ new nightclub Carnival, consisting of hastily erected plywood kiosks and games like ring toss, high striker, hoop dreams and a dunk tank. Pink cotton candy and a fairground tent almost completed an antiseptic State Fair simulacrum. But a platoon of large white men in black suits fanned out through the room—knocking with their big bellies customers who came too close to the VIPs. Read more

The newest incarnation of the synth-pop chanteuse—a trend that still reigns supreme in clubland—is Nomi Ruiz, a well-proportioned 24-year old who emits orgasmic moans over gloomy harmonies set down by her band, Jessica 6. On Tuesday night, the trio crammed onto The Box’s small stage with some horns and strings to perform its trademark “dark disco” in honor of the new EP, Fun Girls. Read more

Gotta cigarette?Thats one of the lines rent boys used to pick up their tricks on the block53rd and 3rdduring the 1960s, 70s and 80s. In 1968, when photographer Leee Black Childers arrived in New York from Kentucky, the soft-spoken boy was approached on the street by a woman wearing a big blonde wig, fake eyelashes and 6 platform boots. Read more Read it in print

Last Thursday night, American Literature died of acute cardiopulmonary arrest at a book party held at the powerHouse Arena for Nick Douglas' Twitter Wit. Read more