i heart nyc bars » live music

Barbes

Iheartnycbars — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:13:18 +0000

Barbes is named after a northern parisian neighborhood famous for its large North African population, discount stores as well as the record stores which helped launch the Rai music explosion of the mid 80′s (a combination of popular music and traditional Bedouin desert music). Not surprisingly Barbes was opened by two French musicians and long-time Brooklyn residents as their way to give Park Slope a chill performance space/bar. There is a good selection of Single Malt Scotch, but better yet you can catch live jazz most nights of the week for free. (Check out their Calendar) So now NYC has the Statue of Liberty and some free jazz, who says the French never did anything for us?

Hours: Sun-Thu, 5pm-2am; Fri-Sat, 5pm-4am

376 9th St., at Sixth Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11215 tel. 347-422-0248

Little Branch

Iheartnycbars — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:52:47 +0000

Another great bar from Milk & Honey owner Sasha Petraske. With the same amazing cocktails. Just name your poison of choice and they’ll give you a long list of old-school cocktails to choose from. (chilled glasses, and perfectly cut slabs of ice keep the drinks from diluting too quickly). You will also find some of M&H quirky rules: no yelling or misbehaving. Alas, some people need to perpetually be reminded of rule #1 “No name-dropping, no star fucking”

LIve Jazz: Sundays through Wednesdays at around 10:30 p.m.

Cash Only

Hours: Daily, 7pm-3am

20 Seventh Ave. at Leroy St., NY 10011 212-929-436

Pete's Candy Store

Iheartnycbars — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:00:16 +0000

This place is busy 7 nights a week. And that’s no surprise, because there is always something going on, whether it be their Monday nite spelling bee (who knew hipsters could spell) or because there is some new folky Williamsburg starving trust fund talent playing the streetcar-like backroom. The bar was formerly a local luncheonette as well as, yes you guessed it, a candy store. In the summer the back patio gets filled to the rim with people wearing think-rimed fake glasses.

Live Music: Nightly, 8 p.m.

Spelling Bee: Every other Monday, 7:30 p.m.; prizes range from bar tabs to paninis

Sun-Wed, 5pm-2am; Thu-Sat, 5pm-4am

709 Lorimer St., nr. Richardson St. Brooklyn, NY 11211 718-302-3770

Cotton Club

Iheartnycbars — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:25:18 +0000

Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson opened the Club De Luxe at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem in 1920. Owney Madden, a prominent bootlegger and gangster, took over the club in 1923 while imprisoned in Sing Sing and changed its name to the Cotton Club. The dancers and strippers occasionally performed for Madden in Sing Sing after his return there in 1933. Closed temporarily in 1936 after the race riot in Harlem, the Cotton Club reopened later that year at Broadway and 48th Street. It closed for good in 1940, under pressure from higher rents. It was opened at its present location in 1978. The legend of the Cotton Club has a sinister side; while the club featured many of the greatest black entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Waters, it generally denied admission to African Americans. Fast forward to the current Cotton Club and now finally all are welcome. There is a Gospel brunch on Sundays ($34 including show and buffet) and Mondays are swing nights ($15.00 cover and a la carte menu). The music is still great, (the food is really just ok). What a relief that some things never change while others do.

Hours: Mon, 8pm-midnight; Thu-Fri, 8pm-midnight; Sat, noon-midnight; Sun, noon-8:15pm; Tue-Wed, closed

656 W. 125th St., nr. Broadway, NY 10027 212-663-7980