Jennie Rose Halperin

When Vampire Weekend debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts, I was admittedly shocked. The band that had put out the self-recorded EP I listened to all summer was now a Billboard topper?

Sometimes the most surprising performance is also the best. On Wednesday, as part of a series of events focused on honoring Paul Simon’s musical legacy, Josh Groban sat down at the piano and played such a heart-wrenching rendition of “America” that some audience members stood up to applaud the young heartthrob.

Before I turned seventeen, my mother’s favorite television show, Sex and the City, was strictly off limits. Obviously, I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to watch it, and since I’ve started I can’t get enough.

How many other marching bands include in their repertoire “Crazy in Love,” “Push It,” “Deceptacon,” and a song called “El Pueblo,” based off the common protest mantra “El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido?”

If a musician is only as good as those who surround him, then Paul Simon is the greatest musician alive.

If someone had told me three years ago that it was possible to make delicious vegan baked goods without expensive and difficult-to-find ingredients, I wouldn’t have believed him.

Though its name may imply otherwise, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts space. While there are no music lessons or classes offered in its spacious halls, it houses plenty of cultural events that are both mainstream and not, including independent film showings and modern dance performances.

If you missed out on getting Paul Simon tickets, don’t worry—there’s another middle-aged rock star to fill the space.

The creators of “Laugh-In” used to say that their comedy routines were “arranged by Nelson Riddle.”

Friday, March 7
Missed the real thing at Studio B this summer? Want Daft Punk to play at your house?

Sitting in a Brooklyn coffee shop, Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters is remarkably unlike his magical, hyper, onstage persona, which has struck a chord—cast a spell, even—on adult and adolescent fans alike. “[The band] was just a silly little idea I had,” DeGeorge said. “What if we wrote songs about these books kids were so nuts about? Could we maybe play rock shows in libraries? ... It was a side project that became a main project for a while. It’s been great fun.”

It’s not really music, but go and support the dancers at the Dance Marathon on Saturday. They are going to be up for almost 30 hours, so go, listen to the music, and cheer as they work to fight pediatric AIDS. The event takes place on Saturday, Feb. 9 in Roone Arledge Auditorium.

Pop Levi's Blue Honey EP attempts to bring the 1960s back with five pretentious, poorly written songs. While Levi writes songs with a definite, unique voice, his awful lyrics overshadow every one of them. The lyrics are almost laughable: in the song "(A style called) Crying Chic" he sings, "I took my baby to the train/My baby must be lame.

The opening sequence of Shortbus, in which Anita O'Day's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" is intercut with a claymation New York, introduces the film with the promise of a soundtrack that will not quit.