cityrag

are you ready to ROCK? (and show you care)
this Sunday, Feb 13th, Arlene's Grocery is holding an all-day ROCK AND ROLL MARATHON to Benefit Tsunami Relief. the event is from 12pm - 12am (with ALL AGES admitted til 8pm.)

it's sponsored by AMERIcares, and features some of the HOTTEST ROCK BANDS IN NEW YORK CITY: Skinny Blonde & Goodlooking, Mad Juana, New Professionals, Joker Five Speed, Grounded, Sex Slaves, Bantam, Eric J. Toast (Pisser), Lady Unluck, Newborn Naturals, Dame Fate, F-Units, Killer Mink, Rockets & Cars, Pistola, The Resistants. (photo above is Grounded, our favorite NY heavy metal band. they hit the stage at 10:30) a cool event for a good cause!

dogs of fashion week
counted over 20 shots "accessory" of dogs at Fashion Week NY on GettyImages alone (and not including the Target dog fashion show.) apparently the phrase "everybody and their dog showed up for fashion week" has never been truer...

Hateration Donation
like a lot of bloggers we sometimes use this site to vent about things that bug the shit out of us. it's all meant in good fun, but once in a while it may go a bit beyond media and political commentary and we're just plain hatin'. we've even had a guilty pang or 2 like this one... the other day we caught this endearing and gutsy ad campaign for gay awareness that Ben Affleck is participating in (via TimmyRay.) we've hated on Ben in the past, and here he is doing the Stay Close ad campaign to raise awareness for a prejudice that we've been a victim of! (plus he looks so cute in the ad.) you go BEN!

but the truth is, we're not gonna stop writing about the crazy stuff we see out there. sometimes it's important to call shit out. and well, sometimes it's too much fun. so we came up with a little karma washing idea called: the Hateration Donation - when we feel like we've hated a little too hard on something - we're gonna donate money to a related cause.

So for hating hard on Ben last month and then catching his awesome ad, we're making a karma cleaning "hateration donation" of $100 to the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Center! there's no single better place in NY to find gay activities, programs and activist events to participate in. when we were in our 20's the center was like a second home. the hundreds of clubs and organizations give people who are just coming out or new to the city a way to express emotions and passions, and a way to meet tons of people! they also provided us with free health care during a time of unemployment. it's a wonderful place for gay people in NY to meet other gays, get involved in activities, and help the community.

hard times tonight
Hard Times - an art show for tsunami reflief - opens in Dumbo tonight. over 50 kick-ass artists have contributed work, all being sold for $100 or less. tonight's opening starts at 7:00 and features DJ's, free beer and a live collaborative painting project. just $5 to get in and it's for a great cause. (via Wooster)

behind bars
love this post by Manhattan Transfer that lists 209 bars below 14th St. that he's been to! beyond the "dam dude you have a great memory" moment, it was very cool just to read through all the names and have a thousand synapses explode as tons of awesome memories flooded back. we've been to 80% of them, plus another 100 or so that are either not on the list or have closed over the years (many that we bartended at.) hope we don't sound like a lush, but fuck if it doesn't give us a huge sense of pride that we live below 14th. Lower Manhattan is the BEST FUCKING PLACE IN THE WORLD!

out on technicalities
even though he's a mutt, Buddy's show dog traits shine through. to us, he's total ChiCorgi perfection.

CityRag PSA: weed still illegal in NY
been slacking off the public smoke-ins lately, but the reports from friends (and friends of friends) keep coming in that "the Van" is still patrolling and still actively making busts for joints and open beer on NYC streets. so the CityRag smoke-in is back in effect! and with a vengeance...

night walker
street art in the Lower East Side, from a packed block on Rivington near Norfolk...

some great shots and unfolding story from a walk in Brooklyn -
Making Sense of a Long Walk