New York

[slipknotr00lz]

Can anyone recommend great tattoo artists in NY?

Been told Christian Peters at Top Shelf Tattoos in Queens is very good!

[xhideyourheartx]

Can anyone recommend great tattoo artists in NY?

Been told Christian Peters at Top Shelf Tattoos in Queens is very good!

I got tattooed at Kings Ave in Manhatten. Brian did mine, but all of the artists there are rad.

[Danph]

has anyone got any recommendations for hotels/hostels? last time i went the place we stayed was alright, but not great and it was out in brooklyn, so somewhere more central would be nice. somewhere cheap, obviously.

[Steph]

I'm off to NYC for 5 days on my own in Sept prior to a tour of SE Canada. Does anyone know of any good websites where I could find out about gigs whilst I'm over there. I can't really see that there is much going on gig-wise.

[Bassmonger]

Time Out is probably your best bet.

[kate cake]

I'm off to NYC for 5 days on my own in Sept prior to a tour of SE Canada. Does anyone know of any good websites where I could find out about gigs whilst I'm over there. I can't really see that there is much going on gig-wise.

I was going to ask the same thing! And San Francisco as it happens. Would love to get to a gig.

[Libby_Liz]

I normally just trawl through websites such as Live Nation or just Google for gig venues then search their listings. It is a bit labour intensive so I'd been interested to hear places too. If you just want local stuff I think there's a free newspaper you can pick up (probably in the East Village) which lists everything that's going on.

When you're over there if you drop into bars you'll normally find loads of flyers and people wil probably come up to you and ask you to go to things, that's what I found anyway.

Please go here and tell me what it's like?

I was going to ask the same thing! And San Francisco as it happens. Would love to get to a gig.

I went to a bar called Elbo Room and a man sang at me and gave me a CD. That's the best I can offer I'm afraid!

[straightupex]

Use last fm and change your location.

[hcp]

I'm off to NYC for 5 days on my own in Sept prior to a tour of SE Canada. Does anyone know of any good websites where I could find out about gigs whilst I'm over there. I can't really see that there is much going on gig-wise.

Brooklyn Vegan
Ohmyrockness
last.fm

[dtszine]

This has a range of shows in the Bowery Chain so you can browse about five different linked venues.

http://www.bowerypresents.com/

A quick browse shows Bob Dylan, Ben Howard, Frank Turner, Regina Spektor...so it's got a lot of established artists in the NYC area.

[imogen]

has anyone got any recommendations for hotels/hostels? last time i went the place we stayed was alright, but not great and it was out in brooklyn, so somewhere more central would be nice. somewhere cheap, obviously.

We stayed at the hostelling international. It's on Amsterdam Avenue. It was really clean and had a massive kitchen. It's reasonably located and didn't seem to take us that long to get anywhere (but we did use the subway a lot).

[Steph]

This has a range of shows in the Bowery Chain so you can browse about five different linked venues.

http://www.bowerypresents.com/

A quick browse shows Bob Dylan, Ben Howard, Frank Turner, Regina Spektor...so it's got a lot of established artists in the NYC area.

Thanks for this I had come across this because I've seen Matt Embree from RX Bandits is playing on Fri. I'm a big RX fan so I think I'll go to this if I don't have much on.

I also found a listing for all venues who may have punk gigs in NY on a website and laboriously went through them. Not many gigs to speak of other than what I'd already seen but I did find a bar which has a weekly night from a member of the Slackers so I'm going to check that out. Also found a bar which is all car/Detroit themed which plays rock and roll/rockabilly so think that sounds like it could be fun.

[Matthew A]

You should go to the boxcar bar, and the jukebox bar. Actually, loads of great dive bars in the Lower East Side that all do great happy hours one after each other, so you can get cheap beer for a long time. The swimming pool bar in Brooklyn is cool, but I hear it was in a film since I went, so may be shit now.

[hcp]

has anyone got any recommendations for hotels/hostels? last time i went the place we stayed was alright, but not great and it was out in brooklyn, so somewhere more central would be nice. somewhere cheap, obviously.

We stayed at the hostelling international. It's on Amsterdam Avenue. It was really clean and had a massive kitchen. It's reasonably located and didn't seem to take us that long to get anywhere (but we did use the subway a lot).

I didn't mind the HI, Although it is a dry hostel which was fairly annoying.
The New York Loft Hostel in Brooklyn is my favourite in NYC - Only 15mins to Manhattan on the train.

[Benchini]

http://exchangebarandgrill.com/about-us/
There's a bar where drinks prices fluctuate based on their value and how much people are buying them, based on the stock exchange. Sounds pretty excellent.

[marky p]

http://exchangebarandgrill.com/about-us/
There's a bar where drinks prices fluctuate based on their value and how much people are buying them, based on the stock exchange. Sounds pretty excellent.

Aha we used to have a uni night where they did that in the SU, it was awesome although you just end up getting smashed on a variety of drinks you wouldn't normally drink when they 'crashed'. I seem to remember drinking lots of 70p Guiness, red wine and gin. Man I hate gin. Fun though!

[pennyroyal_teea]

So it's a long way away but me and my lady are thinking of taking a trip to NY in late August/early September. Is this a good time to go for flight prices and what not?

I seem to recall something where you could fly to NY via Iceland or something mental and get cheaper returns. But that may have been made up as it was a long time ago I read these things.

Neither of us have been, but we've wanted to go for a long time. We're thinking of going for a week (hopefully) and the plan is to stay in a hostel for the most part and then a hotel for the last couple of nights for a bit of luxury.

This thread looks great and there's tonnes of stuff to see/do. I'm certain you can't book flights this far in advance, am I right? But what's been the best prices of flights people have found.

Cheers

[marky p]

You can book flights 12 months in advance usually, so I would start looking. Have a look at Skyscanner.net which will give you direct options as well as indirect flights. Icelandair fly via Reykjavik which might save you a bit. I'm not sure but I imagine August isn't the best time to go what with it being the summer holidays and all, but I may be wrong. If you're flexible with dates that'll help.
Edit: It's been a while since I went but my (direct) flight was £300, although I think those days are long gone. If you can get a direct flight for £400 ish you're doing well I think, although someone may correct me on that.

[dtszine]

You can book flights 12 months in advance usually, so I would start looking. Have a look at Skyscanner.net which will give you direct options as well as indirect flights. Icelandair fly via Reykjavik which might save you a bit. I'm not sure but I imagine August isn't the best time to go what with it being the summer holidays and all, but I may be wrong. If you're flexible with dates that'll help.
Edit: It's been a while since I went but my (direct) flight was £300, although I think those days are long gone. If you can get a direct flight for £400 ish you're doing well I think, although someone may correct me on that.

Again, it's about 4 years since I've flown to New York but in August I'm sure we were paying around £550. Could be more nowadays.

Go in September after the school holidays - the prices will drop.

[Libby_Liz]

How old are you both? We got flights through STA once that were ridiculously cheap compared with everywhere else at the time.

Also keep your eyes peeled on Lastminute and Expedia for bargains, sometimes they email money off vouchers too so sign up to their mailing list if you aren't already. I got a few, very cheap nights at the Affinia a couple of years back, they're always emailing with special offers too. Such a nice hotel I really want to go back there.

Blockheads do really massive burritos and cheap margaritas if you fancy faux Mexican

[Jez]

You can book flights 12 months in advance usually, so I would start looking. Have a look at Skyscanner.net which will give you direct options as well as indirect flights. Icelandair fly via Reykjavik which might save you a bit. I'm not sure but I imagine August isn't the best time to go what with it being the summer holidays and all, but I may be wrong. If you're flexible with dates that'll help.
Edit: It's been a while since I went but my (direct) flight was £300, although I think those days are long gone. If you can get a direct flight for £400 ish you're doing well I think, although someone may correct me on that.

Again, it's about 4 years since I've flown to New York but in August I'm sure we were paying around £550. Could be more nowadays.

Go in September after the school holidays - the prices will drop.

for august you're talking peak time. There are some fantastic deal on flights to america if you're prepared to piss about and change a few times but, again, the time you fly is critical. Also, I'd look at flights 3-6 months ahead rather than 12 months. (by fantastic deals, I saw one a few weeks ago that with a bit of pissing about you could go from london to new york and back for about £220)

[Philly]

Flights are costly around then went last year in November wasn't bad price wise next time I go am going to go at the last minute was looking at going in march next year as seen some last minute on expedia this year for that time for £700 for 6 nights all in.

[hcp]

Got fairly cheap flights ,so going back on Nov.26th. Exciting.

[Jez]

Louise and I are off to new York and the surrounding areas for a couple of weeks in jan courtesy of the nice people at Alitalia.

I'm very excited about this, mainly for the food.

[Jez]

By courtesy of, I mean they sold us stupidly cheap flights. We didn't win a conpetition!