Earl Sweatshirt

With a name inspired by Blanket Jackson, Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt is street credible to the level of sewers. Videos have the feel of Old Dirty Bastard as a Gummo character. Test him and he may ollie right up on you. Like the rest of the Odd Future family, Earl is a young beast on a skateboard infecting the crowd with a silly blend of humor, decrepit gore and violence and adolescent machismo. His show will be a (lowlife) highlight of DT:NYC.

Ratking

When Ratking played an in-store performance last fall, frontman Wiki was all New York street kid, missing front teeth in a ragged, dirty T-shirt, dogfighting with the microphone. His energy was massive and his spitfire flow delivered what the crowd expected — a raw, exposed street kid on the verge of disaster, if not already swimming in it. With heady lyrics coming out of a body that looks about 15, Wiki and the rest of Ratking are the future, through an Armageddon lens.

Trash Talk

The band Trash Talk is skate punk thrash in the vein of Black Flag and Bad Brains. Sweat and bass and pounding riffs with a crowd that brawl-moshes through their set and stays hungry for more Trash. From backyard parties in Los Angeles the boys bring their brand of street grime under palm trees to Gotham.

Kilo Kish

Like posh street wear, Kilo Kish manages to be fashion friendly and street credible all at once. See Metro’s Kilo Kish: Downtown pretty.

Sky Ferreira

Sky Ferreira has a lot of pop in her sound but there’s a serious element of concrete jungle in her eyes while she melodically laments a broken heart. Maybe it’s the black lace and bleach job but there’s something lowbrow about her glazed-over, jaded expression that screams street savvy. With sticky hooks and a tight band she plays DT on Friday night.

Visit thedowntownfestival.com for tickets and schedule

Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt is street credible to the level of sewers. Credit: Odd Future

The post Downtown Music Festival: Street credentials appeared first on Metro.us.

Holders of the two winning tickets in the Wednesday night draw will share an estimated $385 million after tax if they opt to take it as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $588 million can be paid out to them as annuities over three decades, the association said.

The drawing took place at 10:59 p.m. EST, with winning numbers 5 16 22 23 29, and a Powerball of 6. The Association did not say if the ticket holders had come forward yet to claim their vast cash prizes.

Powerball spokeswomen in Arizona and Missouri did not immediately respond to emails seeking further details on the winners.

The popular lottery – which is played in 42 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands – had not had a winner for two months. After no one won the top prize in Saturday’s drawing, the pot had grown by about $263 million to $578.5 million amid a rush to buy tickets.

The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last March.

Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based, said lottery officials had received calls and emails from people around the world asking if they can buy a ticket. They cannot.

There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.

The post Who are the Powerball winners in Arizona and Missouri? appeared first on Metro.us.

Powerball has not had a winner for two months, and the pot has already grown by nearly $175 million due to brisk ticket sales after no one won the top prize in Saturday’s drawing.

The next draw for the prize on Wednesday night would dish out a whopping $327.4 million and counting if paid as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $500 million can be paid out in an annuity over three decades.

“It’s been crazy,” said Chris Lewis, manager of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Westminster, Colorado, that sold 2,000 tickets in 11 hours on Tuesday. “I’m worn out because it’s been so busy today. Amazing.”

Powerball is sold in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.

Among dreamers lining up at an Arizona grocery store in Tucson for a shot at Wednesday’s prize was metal shop worker Errol Simmons, 54, entrusted with a list of lucky numbers by a dozen or so co-workers.

“I’ve got to get this right,” he said as he checked through the list. “I don’t want to be the guy who lost us half a billion dollars because I couldn’t count.

“If we win, I’ll buy a new truck,” he said. “For each day of the week.”

Looking sharp in a blue pin striped suit, Portland, Oregon, financial adviser Aaron Pearson, 36, said he was taking care to pick his own numbers for the first time – although he was unsure what he would do with the huge jackpot should he win.

“I have no idea. I’d invest it and live off of it. I’d give to charities. I’d start a foundation,” he mused.

The chance of winning the jackpot are about one in 175 million, compared to about one in 280,000 for being struck by lightning.

Despite the long odds, the record payout has drawn interest from around the world, said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based. Lottery officials have received calls and emails from people outside the United States asking if they can buy a ticket from afar. They cannot.

“Sales across the country are just through the roof. It means lots of people are having fun with this, but it makes it difficult to keep up with the (jackpot) estimate.”

The previous top Powerball prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska.

In March, three winning tickets shared the largest U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing.

The post Record $500 million Powerball jackpot drives ticket-buying frenzy appeared first on Metro.us.

Twenty women will compete in the U.S. Pole Dance Federation’s Fourth Annual Championship this Saturday. The competition will be held at the Symphony Space performing arts center on the Upper West Side.

And interest in the sport — yes, sport — of competitive pole dancing is rapidly growing. All 740 seats for the pro-division event, priced between $50 and $95, are sold out already. It’s a testament to the sport’s growing momentum at the professional level, as it continues to overcome the stigma of being associated merely with seedy strip clubs and drunken bachelor parties.

“At first, it was a challenge to get family and friends behind it,” Brynlyn Loomis, a competitor in the pro division who has been pole dancing for six years, told Metro. “Guys would joke, ‘Oh, I’ll give you a pole to swing on.’ Now, people tell me their moms take classes.”

Loomis said not one of the twenty women competing this year work as strippers in gentleman’s clubs. Instead, the competitors are either other types of dancers who are looking to broaden their skill sets or they are pole-dancing instructors. Others are simply everyday women who got into it for fitness or as a hobby, she said.

“You can’t imagine how challenging it is until you try it,” she said. “You need to be a well-rounded athlete, similar to gymnastics or figure skating, and you must match flexibility with strength.”

Wendy Traskos, co-founder of the U.S. Pole Dance Federation, said New York has been the perfect, open-minded venue for the championship.

“New Yorkers are more perceptive to what art is, so we can really reach out past the pole dancing community here,” she said, adding that the competition is watched by a female-dominant audience.

“The men are with people who are there to support the competitors — husbands, boyfriends, brothers,” she said. “There are probably a few men who figure it’s cheaper than a strip club, but it’s mostly women.”

The rules of competitive pole dancing

Competitors must be women over the age of 18. Those who compete at the pro level have had to qualify by first competing at the amateur level. The competition has three judges, each of them women with professional dance backgrounds.  

Pole dancers must first compete in a 90-second compulsory routine, which includes floor work, spins and splits. For this portion, they wear fitness attire designed by the competition’s sponsor, Mika Yoga Wear.

Competitors are then judged on an optional round, where they perform three to five minutes of their personal choreography. For this round, competitors may choose their own costumes, though Loomis said it’s best to be scantily clad. She said that’s more for practical reasons instead of amping up the sex appeal.

“It’s logistics,” she explained. “You need as much skin as possible exposed to hold onto the pole.”

The overall first place winner will receive $5,000 and a trip to Australia (“the mecca of pole dancing,” according to Traskos) to guest perform in another competition. The second overall winner will get $2,000. The competitors who place first in the compulsory and optional routines will each win $1,000. 

Next up: The Olympics?

Though some members of the pole dancing community have pushed for the sport at the Olympic level, Traskos said it is not the focus of the U.S. Pole Dance Federation.

“We like the uniqueness of showcasing women’s sensuality with athleticism, and we don’t want to be ashamed of that,” she told Metro. “[At the Olympic level], it will turn into teenagers doing acrobatics on the pole.”

The post New York City to host professional pole dancing championship appeared first on Metro.us.

The house specialty was a cheap, fermented apple vodka concoction that made you pay dearly the next morning.  But it was a magical platform for a band made up of old Soviet Bloc-ers, hot, ethnically ambiguous riot-girl dancers, and an acoustic guitar-slinging mustachio from the Ukraine via Vermont.  The crowd was equal parts Slavic immigrants, NYU students, and flirty South Americans.  Singer/ DJ Eugene Hutz created a unique scene for his NY Gypsy punk rock outfit and his parties were notorious for its carnivalesque dance floor.

 
From that launch pad, Gogol Bordello went on to play bigger venues across Gotham, getting banned from some for causing havoc and creating a following that spurred tours and record sales.   Madonna invited the band to tour with her and Russia became a second home.  Hutz went on to star in a major film and dabbled in soft-core bedroom scenes.  But the man behind the mustache remains a hometown hero in the East Village and his guest DJ appearances take it all back to that former Chinatown mayhem.  On September 7, he’ll bring the circus to Bushwick, spinning for a show at the Well that includes Syrian artist Omar Souleyman and Sierra Leone’s Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang.  In typical Hutz fashion, the Ukrainian is playing with artists from contrasting geography whose common function is to put the folk-dance party on blast at a dizzying level of energy.  Souleyman plays dabke, seldom heard by Western audiences, Nabay’s genre is his native bubu.  Gogol Bordello plays the following day at the Brooklyn Riot Fest.

Riot Fest Brooklyn 2012

Gogol Bordello, Descendents, Hot Water Music, The Bronx, The Menzingers, Screaming Females, Larry and His Flask, and Riot Fest

Williamsburg Park
Friday, September 7

OMAR SOULEYMAN

JANKA NABAY & THE BUBU GANG

Featuring DJ HUTZ  

Tickets

The post Gogol Bordello: Carnival dance floor appeared first on Metro.us.

The USOC staked its claim to an area of London’s Royal College of Art across from Hyde Park back in April of 2011. The state-of-the-art facility serves as a more secluded area for athletes and their families — and for VIP ticket holders and donors.

Decorated with sponsor-themed lounges, USA House is equipped with a gourmet cafeteria, several bars, meeting rooms, a team shop — and plenty of tight security.

It may be the USA House, but it’s definitely not open to all citizens of the USA. USOC officials say the decision to keep the facility private came after athletes wanted it that way.

“It did come from the request of our athletes many games ago, who wanted an additional area of refuge,” USOC director of marketing and event services Lisa Reliford told Metro during a closely watched media tour. “They’re in the village, they don’t get to see their parents a lot during that time. The minute they get out of the village, everybody wants to be around them and to get their autographs, so this is an area where they can just come and decompress.”

USA House features bits of history, like Olympic torches from past games. A giant American flag hanging in the lobby was made after more than 29,000 Americans donated $12 each to purchase a stitch. It was flown to London with Team USA.  

USOC officials say that when  athletes come to USA House in the evening, they often conduct a ceremony called the “order of Ecos,” where medal-winning athletes will present their coaches with a medal in a show of gratitude.

“The whole house just chants ‘USA,’ and it’s so exciting,” Reliford said.

Here’s a look inside USA House that you might not otherwise get — unless you become an Olympian or are willing to shell out some big bucks.

The Budweiser deck — appropriately, a bar.

Athletes and their families can indulge in gourmet treats in the USA House’s dining center.

(Photo by Getty Images)

All-you-can-eat yogurt is one treat.

Help yourself to a Coke float.

This bike was designed by U.S. triathlon Olympian Hunter Kemper

This is the flag made up of stitches that were sponsored by more than 29,000 Americans.

You, too, can dress like an Olympian. All merchandise here is priced in dollars — not pounds!

USA House’s lobby boasts historic displays.

And they’re already prepping for 2016.

The post PHOTOS: Inside the exclusive USA House in London appeared first on Metro.us.

A Council hearing today will focus on dangerous driving, which advocates say contributes to the deaths of 317 New Yorkers each year in crashes.

The hearing will also examine the NYPD’s response to accidents and traffic enforcement. Transit advocates say the NYPD should crack down on infractions like speeding, noting that in 2010, the NYPD issued 76,000 tickets for excessive speeding, compared to 82,000 for tinted windows, according to Transportation Alternatives.

New Yorkers are more likely to die in car crashes than from gun violence, according to Council documents prepared for the hearing.

And drivers who speed cause more accidents than distracted or drunk drivers, according to the data.
One incident that caught the Council’s attention was the death of Mathieu Lefevre, a Canadian artist living in Brooklyn, who was killed in October when a flatbed truck hit him.

Lefevre was reportedly dragged and killed, and his family sued the NYPD to get information about the investigation.

His mother, Erika Lefevre, will testify today. She has criticized the NYPD’s investigation, which she said yielded no pictures of the crash scene, because the investigator’s camera was broken. And charges have still not been filed against the driver, she said, who dragged Lefevre’s body down the street after he was hit.

Members of the NYPD will also testify today.

By the numbers
   
34K
Between 2000 and 2009, 34,000 New York City car accidents resulted in serious injuries.
   
317
An average of 317 New Yorkers die as a result of car crashes each year, according to data from 2001 to 2009.
   
1,745
Between 2001 and 2010, 1,745 pedestrians and bicyclists have been killed in traffic.
   
142,485
Between 2001 and 2010, 142,485 pedestrians and cyclists have been injured.
   
Source: City Council data/   Transportation Alternatives

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro

The post Slow down! City Council examines speeding deaths appeared first on Metro.us.

All you have to do for your chance to win is tell us your craziest, funniest or scariest tourist story in 50 words or less in the comment section below. Be creative, we’ve heard it all (or have we?). Don’t forget to include your name and email address! Winners will be picked by the end of the day.

Good luck and happy touring!

The post Metro Contest: Win tickets to NYC’s Madame Tussauds! appeared first on Metro.us.

The post How to score tickets to Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos appeared first on Metro.us.

That’s what happened in September, when Radiohead played two shows at Roseland Ballroom. Fans said they tried to buy tickets on Ticketmaster and Tickets Now, but seconds after tickets were supposed to be ready, the site said they were unavailable.

Councilman Dan Garodnick will lead a hearing Friday that will address the growing problem of the lack of availability for concert tickets, for shows ranging from Katy Perry to Bruce Springsteen.

Garodnick said automated “bots” are often programed to buy tickets the second they are released, allowing companies or individuals to resell them at a significant mark-up. Also, artists like Katy Perry withhold tickets, he said.

One idea is requiring venues like Madison Square Garden to post ticket availability, said Garodnick. Another option being considered is requiring a percentage of tickets to be purchased in person.
 
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

The post Council tries to loosen concert tickets appeared first on Metro.us.

Meanwhile, those lucky enough to have tickets are taking full advantage of the opportunity to use them as leverage in a variety of requests… at times, very creepy requests.

We logged onto Craigslist to see just how far people were willing to go, or how far people will ask others to go in exchange for the highly sought-after tickets. Here are some of the best ones:

A good old fashioned “hottest wins” contest!

It doesn’t even have to be cute? It can be disgusting? In that case…

Number 3 fan?! You’re not going to get anywhere with that attitude, pal!

How exactly does she plan to get us into the VIP section? That’s probably only going to happen if they person who sells her a ticket is also a “fun attractive girl.” Just sayin….

Finally! A reasonable request.

Sounds like the date of a lifetime…

Is this the only person with some sense on Craigslist?

The post What would you be willing to do for Radiohead tickets? appeared first on Metro.us.

Conductors on trains running between Ronkonkoma and Greenport sported an Apple iPhone 4 equipped with a PaySaber “cradle device” that processes both cash and credit card sales, and prints out tickets onboard.

The LIRR is the first transit system in the metro area to accept credit cards for onboard purchases. Metro-North and NJ Transit only accept cash, and Amtrak does not allow onboard ticket purchases.

But convenience comes with a price: LIRR customers who opt to buy tickets onboard will still be required to pay the extra fee of up to $6.50 per ticket. Only two percent of all LIRR?tickets are bought onboard trains, according to a railroad spokesman.

LIRR President Helena Williams cited young LIRR riders’ predilection for plastic as the cause for the system update.

“Our younger customers in particular often don’t carry cash,” said Williams.

Starting Aug. 26, the smartphones will also be used on select trains on the Penn Station to Montauk line. The pilot project will run through Oct. 9.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

The post LIRR first in onboard credit card tickets appeared first on Metro.us.