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Tags: Music Festivals / Music Travel / Brooklyn / Greenpoint / Williamsburg / → All Tags

Brooklyn Gets a Music Festival of Its Own

As the reigning indie music capital of the world, you'd think Brooklyn would have a long-running music festival to rival Austin's SXSW and Manhattan's CMJ, but the ragtag borough has never quite put it together.

But Brooklyn is amping up its game this weekend with the first annual Northside Music and Arts Festival, which will be taking over much of Williamsburg and Greenpoint tonight through Sunday. The blogistas will be out in full force to catch dozens of the borough's up-and-coming bands, along with a couple of A-list indie acts like The Hold Steady, Bishop Allen, and Sunset Rubdown.

The festival has also teamed up with the Williamsburg Gallery Association to offer an evening of music in the galleries tonight, along with a bunch of artsy events throughout the weekend.

All-access badges for the four-day event are a pretty reasonable $45, and shows take place at many of Williamsburg's most popular bars, including Barcade, t.b.d., and the Gutter, with just a few events across the river in—gasp—Manhattan.

Related Stories:
· Northside Festival [Official Site]
· Brooklyn travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Music travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kenyee]

Tags: Dunkin' Donuts Alternatives / Donuts / Cupcakes / Brooklyn / Greenpoint / Food Travel / → All Tags

Are Donuts the New Cupcakes?

We think so! Judging by the fervor we've seen around the virtual food world lately, we're ready to say the cupcake craze is over and donut madness has begun. It makes sense really, given the economy, that foodies would abandon the trendy, overpriced, over-fancified cupcake for the original fried dough comfort food.

So over the next few weeks we'll be taking a look at our favorite Dunkin' Donuts Alternatives—from beloved old school pastry shops to designer donut newcomers.

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Tags: The Departed / Movie Set Travel / Brooklyn Travel / Greenpoint / Brunch-Places-In-New-York / → All Tags

Movie Set Travel: The Departed's Brooklyn Roots

Maybe its that the parts of South Boston that still look like South Boston are hard places to both film and not get shot. Or perhaps Scorsese is physically incapable of making a film without some sort of connection to New York? In any case, The Departed is a Boston flick through and through (better accents than Mystic River, less... suck than Celtic Pride) but its dirty little secret is the large swaths of it that were filmed in deep dark blue Yankees turf.

For a dose of cinematic deja vu, head over to Brooklyn's longtime Polish stronghold and blossoming hipster enclave of Greenpoint. Make your brunch stop the Park Luncheonette at 334 Driggs Avenue, not too far from the Nassau Ave subway stop. The summertime open walls, street seating and great view of McCarren Park are a far cry from the menacing shadow cast by Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello in the diner and grocery scenes filmed at this location. Onscreen, it stood in for a Mom and Pop grocery on the take, but it takes a little squinting and a step inside to see the resemblance. Be sure to show up on the AM side of noon or expect to face a mob of asymmetrical haircuts with ironic t-shirts waiting to pile on breakfast nosh. The mozzarella and prosciutto omelette comes highly recommended and the french fries are exactly how they should be.

Another recognizable Brooklyn stand-in for Beantown turf is the Greenwood Cemetery. With 478 acres and close to 600,000 dearly departed, it might be hard to track down a stone inscribed "William Costigan" but these hallowed grounds are worth a walk for history buffs and those not creeped out by headstones galore. Its got Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein, and The Wizard of Oz's Wizard and is still taking customers looking for a fashionable place to die.

Related Stories:
· Martin Scorsese, The Departed Oscar Victory Tour Guide [Jaunted]
· Movie Set Travel: The Departed [Jaunted]
· Best Brunch Places in New York [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jack Rawlinson]