photos by Chris La Putt

Standing in the ladies room at the Javits Center, Caity Main carefully applied her makeup before turning to a friend for advice.

"Do my eye bags look dark enough?" wondered the 23-year-old from Amherst, Mass.

Main, along with thousands of other hard-core fans in full comic book costume, packed the West Side convention center for the annual New York Comic Con.

Main and pal Liz Itaaliander took the train down from Massachusetts, bringing costumes for their characters from "Homestuck" - a comic where the characters are based on Zodiac signs.

But the dynamic duo only decided to dress up as Cancer and Virgo at the last minute.

"I'm not usually one to wear costumes in public," said Itaaliander, 23, sporting gray and green makeup with her high heels. "But when we were coming from Secaucus, we saw people on the train in costume."

The highly anticipated three-day show was sold out Saturday and Sunday. Last year's show drew nearly 100,000 people, and this year's was expected to do about the same. [NY Daily News]

Continue reading "pics from New York Comic Con 2011"

Pete Seeger @ Clearwater Festival 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

City Winery will be hosting a three-night oil spill relief benefit, dubbed Reclaim The Coast, on July 23rd, 25th and 30th. The lineups vary for each...

July 23rd: Pete Seeger, Richard Barone, James Maddock, Elysian Fields, Mike Doughty, Lucy Wainwright Roche, The Roches, Julie Gold, Peter Yarrow (More TBA)

July 25th: Ian Axel, Ed Romanoff, The Madison Square Gardeners, Paula Valstein, The Spring Standards, The Wellspring, Rich Pagano (More TBA)

July 30th: Marshall Crenshaw, Martin Rivas, Christina Courtin, Among the Oak & Ash, Jay Nash (More TBA)

They'll also have a packed house for "Channeling Chilton - A night of Alex Chilton's Music" on July 28th. The confirmed lineup includes Yo La Tengo, Marshall Crenshaw, Jody Stephens, Jon Auer, Doug Garrison, Rene Coman, Alan Vega, Jon Spencer (of the Blues Explosion), Fran Kowalski, Chris Stamey, Lesa Aldridge (Elizabeth Hoehn), Jay Proctor (of Jay & the Techniques), Bill Cunningham, Gary Talley, Terry Manning, Evan Dando, Jesse Malin, Danny Kroha (of The Gories). In light of the recent passing of founding Big Star bassist Andy Hummel, it should be an emotional night.
Tickets are on sale.

More info on the Gulf Coast relief effort are below...

Continue reading "City Winery hosting a 3-night Pete Seeger Oil Spill relief benefit & Big Star tribute night"