Gotham City #6: Hot Cross Puns
PUNDERDOME - 14TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
This Wednesday, April 30th
Littlefield
635 Sackett Street, Brooklyn
Doors open at 7 pm, Show starts at 8 pm
$15 in advance, $18 at the door
This is about as close to a guaranteed night of laughs as you will get. The gladiator tournament of the city’s master punners. Quick on their feet, genius with their word-smithing and oh, those puns are so good… and so bad. The clock ticks down in each round as such notorious punmeisters as Daft Pun, Punce de Leon, Hot Cross Puns, and Lexi Kahn go head to head in heated matches of word play.
WHY GO?: This is the best (and funniest) alternative to stand-up comedy in the city. Get there no later than 7:30 pm for a seat. Trust us, you will go home wondering which pun cracked you up the most.
PUT THOSE DANCING SHOES ON IN MAY
A wise man once said: “The stupider you think you look, the better you’re dancing.” Mark these free events on your calendars.
DANCE PARTY AT BRYANT PARK
Fifth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd Streets
Wednesday, April 30th (salsa)
Thursday, May 1st (Motown)
Wednesday, May 7th (bachata and merengue)
Thursday, May 8th (Afrofusion)
Wednesday, May 14th (Brazilian samba, foro, and mais)
Thursday, May 15th (salsa, timba, candombe, and salsa gorda)
Instruction: 6 pm. Live music: 7 - 8:30 pm
Bryant Park’s 11th annual series of dance lessons followed by live music is one of the best free nights out every May. Meet at the Bryant Park fountain for lessons in that night’s music style, followed by a real band playing that music for 90 minutes so you can put your lessons into action!
19th ANNUAL DANCE PARADE
Saturday, May 17
Starts at 6th Ave & 17th St., left on 8th St. all the way to Ave A
Grandstand = 4th Ave & 8th St. ($43 a ticket)
Parade = Noon - 4 pm, Dancefest = 3 - 7 pm
NYC’s huge culturally and ethnically diverse dance parade “for freedom and peace” Over 100 unique styles of dance will be represented, from Armenian Folk and Bolivian Caporales, to new dance forms like Litefeet, Waacking and Brazillian Zouk. What, no “Elaine dance” from Seinfeld? From 3 - 7 pm is a 5-stage dance festival in Tompkins Square Park, audience participation included!
VICKI PETERSON & JOHN COWSILL
The Cutting Room
44 East 32nd Street
Friday, May 9th
Tickets: $20. $25 food and drink minimum.
Doors: 6 pm. Show: 7 pm.
The 80s meet the 60s. One of rock music’s long-married couples – Vicki Petersen (guitarist/songwriter for The Bangles) and singer/guitarist John Cowsills (The Cowsills) just released their first album together, Long After The Fire. FACT: up until last fall, the CA-based music royalty couple lived in NYC for two years, so this will double as a reunion of local musician friends.
WHY GO? You will almost certainly hear them perform songs from both The Bangles and The Cowsills, in addition to ones from the new album. Here are two songs I shot of them at Sid Gold’s Request Room in June 2024.
MAGPIE
Starring Daisy Ridley
Available on HULU
We usually don’t recommend streaming movies here, but this is a well-deserved exception. I saw Magpie at its SXSW premiere last year and it received a rip-roaring audience reception, especially for its ending. Barely distributed, it just showed up on HULU, so now you have to see it. Actress Daisy Ridley conceived of this twisted thriller about a couple whose young child is cast in a film. The husband, an author with a long case of writer’s block, regularly escorts his daughter to the movie set and falls in love with the lead actress. And that is all you need to know! Go see it!
WHY SEE IT? Terrific nasty thrillers are few and far between. If you don’t have HULU, find somebody who does, go to their home, make popcorn, and have a watch party.
RUN, DON’T WALK
Get ready – NYC Parks’ annual Summerstage schedule is here, with tons of free concerts and dance performances in Central Park!
120 independent artists, accompanied by DJs and immersive installations, push the creative envelope at Brooklyn’s Other Art Fair from May 8 - 11.
On the same weekend, Brooklyn’s big Cajun and Creole music festival, Swamp In The City kicks off, including non-stop live music at Strong Rope Brewery and a Cajun Invasion Pub Crawl.
They call it The Poster Museum, but it’s really the retail store Philip Williams Posters, where you can easily get lost in their amazing vintage poster collection (as well as magazine back issue library).
Monty Python fans! Tickets are on sale for a 50th Anniversary screening of Monty Python and The Holy Grail at The Town Hall on October 15th, followed by a Q&A with Minister of Silly Walks John Cleese afterward.
Tickets are also on sale now for the month-long Blue Note Jazz Festival, which kicks off May 27. Double-take double-bill = Grace Jones and Janelle Monae on June 9th!
The Infatuation ranked the 15 NYC restaurants with the longest lines.
The very cool New York Sign Museum is dedicated to preserving old signs of New York City storefronts that have gone out of business. The terrific tour guides even explain the evolution of New York sign typography.
Three ways to use credit card points to book business class tickets to Japan on Japan Airlines.
The always fun ragtime and jazz band The Lovestruck Balladeers play The Jalopy Theater on Saturday, May 10th at 8 pm. Yes, there will be dancing!
ONE-WORD DINING REVIEWS
Black Iris = BRUNCH!
Van Da = ECLECTIC
Hellbender = VAYA!
DREW’S GUIDE TO DUMPLING JOINTS IN MANHATTAN’S CHINATOWN
You can’t go wrong with any of these. Cash only. Inexpensive. Always tip $1. Open 7 days a week. Usually open at 10 am.
Many sell frozen dumplings to take home. Every place has seating except Jin Mei Dumpling. Dumplings are meant to be eaten outside anyway.
Fu Zhou Wei Zhang Wei (E. Broadway Mall basement, 88 E. Broadway)
(try the “small steamed buns” too, which aren’t so “small”)
Jin Mei Dumpling (25B Henry Street)
(best bang for the buck and best char)
North Dumpling (27A Essex Street and 21 Division Street)
(venue with the latest hours)
Tasty Dumpling (42 Mulberry Street)
King Dumplings (74 Hester Street)
(also check out the noodles in peanut sauce)
Vanessa’s Dumpling House (118A Eldridge Street)
(the original location still rocks; they sell their own chili oil!)
Fried Dumpling (106 Mosco Street)
(the best part is the lady who runs it, Auntie Liu)
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou (295 Grand Street)
(post-pandemic viral sensation; excellent steamed dumplings and noodles in peanut sauce)
Sanmiwago (90 Bowery)
(Taiwanese chain; more expensive than others but BIG well-presented dumplings)
SPECIAL MENTION: Taiwan Pork Chop House (3 Doyers Street) wontons with spicy oil is the go-to order.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
With Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s new album receiving a lot of praise, let’s take the wayback machine to 1970, when Elton sat at a piano explaining how he wrote a new song called “Tiny Dancer.”
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NEXT ISSUE: May 18, 2025