Spotlight Artist: The Funky Fritters

Our series of Spotlight Artists features some of NYC's top musical talents. Next up is Danny Drexler, guitarist for The Funky Fritters. Danny is a long time reader of MurphGuide. I got to know him better this year when MurphGuide was a sponsor for his Mardi Gras Party. You can find his gigs listed on the MurphGuide Events Calendar.

The Funky Fritters Line-up
Danny Drexler — Guitar
Marvin Joshua — Vocals
Maggie Kus — Vocals
Celeste Fleurival — Vocals
Jay Gracin — Guitar
Roy Shimmyo — Bass
Towner Galaher - Drums
Marshall Nichols — Trumpet
Fingers Delray — Keyboards
Brad Madsen — Trombone
Tim Veeder — Sax
How long have you been performing?
I started performing in bands in college. First real good serious band was called West of Here and that was about 16 years ago. We had a regular once a month gig at Crossroads on the Upper East Side. One of my favorite hangs. My present band The Funky Fritters actually started performing in 2003 under the original name Ma Skillet & The Funky Fritters. They went through some major personnel changes and re-emerged in 2005 as The Funky Fritters.

How long performing in NYC?
About 16 years ago with West of Here. The Fritters have always been NYC based so except for a few shows out of town like Block Island, The Hamptons or Westchester, our shows are generally in downtown Manhattan or Brooklyn.

Past lives (i.e., previous bands, your early years):
Before I formed The Funky Fritters I've had many bands that lasted a few gigs to a few years. West of Here, was one of the more successful old bands which did a lot of classic rock and we wrote a lot of our own stuff. We actually got up to about half original material in our shows. Those were some very good times. There we quite a few short lived acts that followed from Jelly Roll, to The Alligators to Last Lonely Eagle. Just prior to Ma Skillet & The Funky Fritters, I put together an acoustic country blues, folk, bluegrass & gospel band called Whiskey River. Besides for guitar we had fiddle, banjo, mandolin and 3 great looking gals who could really sing and harmonize. The band had a lot of potential and probably could have been very successful very quickly. But the bass player kept showing up late and stoned to rehearsals. And then spent half the time in the kitchen with the munchies. It was to the point where I had to hide all the good snacks! There was a real range in the band from very inexperienced and novice players to seasoned folks so that was a problem. It got frustrating to me that people weren't hearing or didn't care about obvious mistakes.

Favorite venues to play:
As I mentioned before I used to love playing Crossroads. There were a lot of friends in the audience as it was my regular hang out even when I wasn't playing.
Musical influences:
Going back to the beginning when I was very little. Maybe I was about 8 or 10 years old and I found a bunch 8 track tapes that my parents had. The coolest thing that I discovered was Creedence Clearwater Revival. I think this was a total fluke that my parents had this because the rest of the tapes were stuff like Ray Coniff & Montivoni. But luckily there was one cool tape from CCR, I think it was the Willie and the poorboys album. My friends and I listened to it over and over again. "Down on the Corner" was our favorite song. And there was another cool gospel tune I liked called "Cotton Fields", which I found out much later was a Lead Belly tune. As you can see my roots are quite different then teeny boppers today.

Other early favorites were the Beatles and Beach Boys. Then the Doors and then my Brother introduced me to The Grateful Dead and turned my world upside down. I love Garcia's playing. Say the Dead about a hundred times. I was into all the classic Rock at the time from Led Zeppelin to the Who and Stones, Pink Floyd and southern rock was big with The Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker, The Band & Eric Clapton. Also loved softer stuff like Simon and Garfunkel, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens and The Eagles. I just soaked it all in. I came across Bob Marley in high school and even got into New Wave in college.

My college roommate turned me onto BB King and that's when I started getting into the blues & jazz. I was at an outdoor jazz concert at school and was blown away. I didn't discover New Olreans music until a little over 15 years ago, when my sister's boyfriend at the time insisted I join them for a trip down there to the Jazz Fest with his sister and friend. I had recalled that a bunch of coworkers went down about 5 years earlier for the Fest and raved about it. (I'm sorry i didn't make it down there then!) Needles to say I instantly fell in love with New Orleans. Great music, food, culture. I love the French Quarter. The next year I went back again with some of my friends and within a few years I was leading a group of about friends people down there! I must have gone down to the Jazz Fest nine years in a row. My NOLA experiences have shaped the sound and direction of my music with The Funky Fritters.

My recent favorites are Gatemouth Brown, The Funky Meters, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Marcia Ball, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Rebirth Brass Band, Fats Domino, Buckwheat Zydeco, Louis Armstrong, Taj Mahal, The Marsalis family & Muddy Waters.

Blatant self-promotion: What would you like to plug?
Our recently released CD...Deep Fried Live

and our next show...
Friday, August 6
Put on Your Neon: Dance Party
Live music party by 5 bands:
8pm: LP Stiles
9pm: Laura Cheadle
10pm: The Funky Fritters
11pm: Mamarazzi
12am: Heylady
$10 cover includes an open bar from 9-10pm
with $1 shots for those who dress for the theme
and $4 beer/$5 mixed drink specials all night.
Doors open 8pm
at:
Crash Mansion
199 Bowery
New York, NY
Crashmansion.com


Where can we buy your music?
You can buy Deep Fried Live on Amazon.com, iTunes or Myspace

Linkage:

TheFunkyFritters.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/The-Funky-Fritters/117238851666
Youtube: youtube.com/Thefunkyfritters
Twitter: @funkyfritters
Myspace: myspace.com/thefunkyfritters
Reverb Nation: Reverbnation.com/thefunkyfritters
Apparel for sale: cafepress.com/funkyfritters


Tell us a story or anecdote about performing live in NYC.
At a recent Tea Lounge show in Park slope a fan led the audience in a second line march during our performance of our new original song "March on down on the second line." Our singers Marvin, Maggie and Celeste jumped out into the audience and joined the march with the audience! They circled the whole place about a half a dozen times and made it back on stage just in time to sing the last choruses. I looked over at Travis Sullivan (from Bjorkestra fame) who was sitting in on sax with us for this show, and we both started cracking up! What was happening in the audience was so totally hilarious and unexpected. It was a real change of roles. The audience had become the entertainers and the band had become the spectators. That was the most fun I have ever had on stage. I hope this is a sign of the good times to come.

Any advice to someone just starting out?
This will probably sound cliche but it's all true: practice hard, don't give up on your dream and don't let anyone tell you you can't do something!

Can you recommend any other acts we should feature on MurphGuide?
Ex Caminos, Zen Tricksters, Brian Mitchell, Bill Sims, Jr., Bruce Katz (a 3 time Blues Music Award nominee for "Piano Player of the Year").

Thanks, Danny! We leave you with a video from a 2009 performance at The Bitter End: "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky". Now who can argue with that?

MurphGuide Night at Coney Island - Fri. Aug. 6, 2010

Our annual MurphGuide Night at Coney Island is this Friday. Each year, we team up with our friends at Peggy O'Neill's for a night of baseball, beer, burgers, beach and bands.

Friday, August 6, 2010
MurphGuide Night in Coney Island
$30 per person includes:
Game ticket, pre-game tailgate party, a souvenir Brooklyn Cyclones cap and post game live music.

Pre-game tailgate at Peggy O'Neill's:
Price includes bottled beer, hot dogs, hamburgers from 6-7pm
Live music by Double Play (2 girls with 2 guitars)

The Game:
1 ticket to Coney Island Cyclones Game
Brooklyn Cyclones vs. Batavia Muckdogs
game time: 7pm
Good viewing location for fireworks on the boardwalk

Post-game party:
with live music by The Groove
at:




Peggy O'Neill's
1904 Surf Ave. (at MCU Park)
Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 449-3200

Tickets: $30 per person
Purchase on-line: MurphGuide.com/cyclones.htm

Links:
Brooklyn Cyclones - NY Mets minor league affiliate (A-ball)
ConeyIslandUSA.com - The official website of Coney Island, USA
Coney Island Sideshow - Sideshows by the seashore
Astroland - Home of the world famous Cyclone
Peggy O'Neill's (facebook)
Peggy O'Neill's (MurphGuide)

Plus, our Coney Island Night was featured on three cool websites this year:
The Cyclones at Coney Island (thousandbars.blogspot.com)
Beer, Baseball & Backman (MurphGuide Night!) (MetsToday.com)
MurphGuide Night in Coney Island: (SociallySuperlative.com)

Below are some pics from our outings in previous years:

No trip to Coney Island would be complete without riding the Cyclone.

Shoot the Freak on the Coney Island Boardwalk

Thank you, good night, you've been a wonderful crowd!

Spotlight Artist: Exemption

Next in our series of Spotlight Artists, featuring NYC's musical talent: Exemption.

Our first spotlight artist, Michael James of Midnight Mob, recommended that we feature Exemption, and he introduced us to guitarist Nick Lee, who answered our questions for this feature.

Photo credit: Gavin Spielman

Exemption
Tom Moran – Vocals/Bass
Nick Lee – Guitar/Vocals
Ray Marté – Drums/Vocals/Production

How long have you been performing together?
The three of us met in middle school when we were twelve and thirteen through our shared love of music and formed a band soon after that. We’re now all 21 and 22. We went through different lineups and band names for a few years early on, but the three of us have been Exemption since 2004.

How long performing in NYC?
In the beginning none of us could drive obviously so we played almost exclusively on Long Island, but I’d say we started playing the city when we were about 18 so around three years now. When we were 16 we played our first “city” gig at The Hook in Red Hook, Brooklyn as part of a battle-of-the-bands and had to have Ray’s dad drive us in…we didn’t win, haha.

Photo credit: Alli Murphy

Past lives (i.e., previous bands, your early years, etc.):
The three of us started out in a band called Unatoned with our good friend Anthony Lopardo who now works with Ray producing music out of Killingsworth Studios on Long Island where we our now recording our new album. Nowadays, we each have our own music that is separate from the band but for the most part we have always been concentrating on Exemption. Our “early years” are way too early to even count.

Favorite venues to play:
In New York City we have had probably our best shows at Santos Party House and The Bitter End. We also really like Fat Baby and in Brooklyn there is Matchless and Don Pedro. Anywhere a show can be free or cheap and easy for our friends to attend is our favorite venue. It is unfortunate that many venues on Long Island are closing these days, but if any band reading is looking to play there we would probably suggest Broadway or Sinclair’s. The Downtown was at one time the best place to pay but it’s long gone now.

Musical influences:
I’ll try my best to speak for everybody… Mastodon probably had the biggest influence on our newest material. Many others, including: Pantera, Sabbath, Allman Brothers, Queens of the Stone Age, Metallica, Down, Clutch, AC/DC, Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Mars Volta, SRV, B.B. King, Beatles, Dylan, Nick Drake, Neil Young, Slayer, Pink Floyd, Boris, The Bronx, Pelican, Torche, RHCP, The Clash, The Ramones, The Misfits, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley, Velvet Underground, Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Daniel Johnston, Fleet Foxes, Jesu, Meshuggah, Pig Destroyer, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Gov’t Mule, High On Fire, Creedence, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Bongzilla, Weedeater …we love all music.

Blatant self-promotion: What would you like to plug?
We are near completion of our new album!
Keep an eye on our pages for the release show to be announced soon!

Linkage:
Myspace: myspace.com/exemption
Facebook: facebook.com/exemption
Youtube: Here are a lot of our videos. Search around for more!
CD Baby: CDBaby.com/artist/exemption

Photo credit: Alli Murphy

Where can we buy your music?
We have our first full-length, 2007’s “The Rabbit Hole” as well as our 2009 EP “Harmony of the Spheres” available on iTunes and CDBaby. Of course you can also pick up either release as well as shirts and stickers at any Exemption show! Come say hi we love meeting new people!
Upcoming Shows:

Tuesday, August 3
with Praetorian & Battlesteer
$5 admission
7pm
at:
Cameo (at The Loving Cup)
93 North 6th St.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
myspace.com/cameogallery
--------------------------
Sunday, August 8
"Hell in Hell's Kitchen"
w/ Bot, Aqua Cherry, and more
8pm
at:
Port 41
335 W. 41st St. (Between 8th & 9th Ave.)
New York, NY


Tell us a story or anecdote about performing live in NYC.
Last July I got an e-mail that seemed very random asking us to play Santos Party House for a benefit show, which of course we agreed to do. What we wound up playing was a fashion show and we actually had girls running the “catwalk” while we were playing, modeling new designers. It was really cool but a little surreal. The guy ordering the girls around was intense and hilarious, he was not messing around and if they screwed up he just lost it and went jumping and pacing around the room. Between bands they were blaring Britney Spears and Sean Paul (often the same song repeating) and after a few beers our singer Tom snuck up to the DJ booth above the stage and threw our EP in the CD player. We got to about the third song before somebody realized what was happening and shut us down.

Any advice to someone just starting out?
Being from Long Island, as we grew up playing shows, we would often get suckered into the pay-to-play thing. While sometimes an opportunity that presents itself in that manner seems impossible to refuse, no band should have to lay our their own money to some promoter just to prove something. Even though sometimes it seems like the best shows are under the control of the greedy, there are always gonna be people out their who are really supporting the bands and trying to help rather than taking advantage of kids. If you can’t find these people, then try your best to build your own scene up with your friends. This community should be based around a shared love of music not money, don’t let yourself be taken advantage of.

Can you recommend any other local act we should feature on MurphGuide?
Vision Through Sound is a great band from the same town as us who have been at it even longer than us. They have been through a lot and changed a lot over the last few years but they are a really strong unit right now and busting their asses. They’re about to release a new album and tour and they are definitely worth checking out.
myspace.com/visionthroughsound

Thanks, Nick.
We leave you with a video:
Exemption - Mutating Skulls (Live on Jammin' TV)

Snooky vs. Snooki

This Snooky would have kicked the other Snooki's ass.
(Except that she is really a nice lady).

Photo credit: Ebet Roberts

The original Snooky (Eileen Bellomo) is a NYC punk rock legend as a back up singer for Blondie, The Drop-Outs and The Sick F*cks. Along with her sister Tish, she founded and still runs Manic Panic, the internationally famous hair color & cosmetics company.

She is not to be confused with this Snooki:
Snooki Polizzi and her cohorts are back for a second season of MTV's "The Jersey Shore".
For those interested in watching Snooki party with Pauly D, The Situation, J-WOWW, Sammi, Ronnie and Vinny, there is a viewing party tonight at The East End:

Thursday, July 29
Jersey Shore Season 2 Premiere Party
The East End is showing the Jersey Shore season premiere with sound on the big screen and most of their other TVs

Featuring drink deals:
$20 Open Bar (Coors Lights and Well Drinks)
7-10pm

And all night:
$6 Jager Bombs
$6 Red Bull & Vodka
$3 Coors Light Drafts
$4 Well Drinks
RSVP via facebook
10pm

The East End
1664 First Ave.
(between 86th & 87th St.)
New York, NY
(212) 348-3783
EastEndBar.com


Update: July 30
TMZ reports that Snooki was arrested in Seaside Heights, NJ for disorderly conduct. Hang in there, Snook.

6th Anniversary Celebration at Rogue

Congratulations to Mike, Vanessa, Jen and our friends at Rogue on their 6th Anniversary...
Wednesday, July 28
Rogue's Sixth Anniversary Celebration

$5 Rogue Dead Guys Ale, Estrella Damm & Kronenbourg bottles
noon - 7pm

Open bar: Draft beer, house wine, well mixed drinks & Heineken
Passed hors d'oeuvres
6-7pm

Happy Hour:
$3 domestic bottles & Jager shots
7-9pm

Video DJ
6pm - midnight
Drink specials, prizes & tons of fun
all night
at:
----------------------
Rogue Restaurant & Bar
757 Sixth Ave.
(between 25th & 26th St.)
New York, NY
(212) 242-6434
RogueNYC.com

Van Diemen's 2-Year Anniversary Celebration

Congratulations to Naef, Dave & Desi and all of our friends at Van Diemen's on their 2 Year Anniversary. They invite you to their celebration tonight....

Tuesday, July 27
2 Year Anniversary Party
Passed hors d'oeuvres
Open bar 6-7pm
Party all night long
at:
Van Diemen's Café
383 Third Ave.
(between 27th & 28th St.)
New York, NY
(646) 752-5884
VanDiemensNYC.com



Van Diemen's has specials every night of the week...

Trivia Mondays
$3 select drafts
$4 mixed drinks & shots
$5 house wine
$12 domestic pitchers

2 For Tuesdays
2 for 1 burgers & beers
2 for 1 mixed drinks & house wines

Girls Night Out Wednesdays
1/2 price drinks for ladies
$10 burger & beer

Thursday Happy Hour
$3 Select drafts
$5 Mixed drinks & cosmos
$6 Bondi Beach martinis

Fridays: 80s music, 80s prices
$3 Select drafts, woowoows, kamikaze shots
$4 mixed drinks
$5 cosmos
$6 Bondi Beach martinis

Saturdays & Sundays:
$25 all you can drink domestic draft w/an order of wings
$18 brunch w/unlimited champagne
$12 domestic pitchers

Van Diemen's is open for lunch every day, and recently re-vamped their menu. One of their featured items is the Aussie burger (pictured below) which includes beef, cheese, bacon, a fried egg, pineapple, beets, lettuce, tomato & pickle with a side of steak fries.

Overlook's Customer Appreciation Night

With a break in the heat wave, tonight is a perfect night for a rooftop happy hour...

Overlook invites you to their Customer Appreciation Night
with all you can eat BBQ and all you can drink Bud Light
tonight from 6 - 8pm on our roof deck

$20 includes Bud Light plus burgers, dogs, corn, etc.
at:
Overlook
225 E. 44th St.
(bet. Second & Third Ave.)
New York, NY
(212) 682-7266
OverlookNYC.com

Members of the NYC Happy Hour Meetup Group will be in attendance, and welcome new members. You can join them here: http://NYCHappyHourGroup.com

"Battle of the Irish Bands" at Paddy Reilly's

Tuesday, July 20
"Battle of the Irish Bands"
Tonight is the final for Steve Duggan's battle of the Irish bands in NYC. Bands are representing the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. The winning act will be chosen to perform pre-game Mets vs. Phillies on Irish Heritage Night, Saturday August 14th, 7:10pm.

The top 3 bands gets the chance to be managed by Steve Duggan Productions, which has promoted a huge number of great Irish artist from none other than, Paddy Reilly, The Dubliners, The Furey Brothers, Daniel O'Donnell, Black 47, Brendan Grace, Bagatelle and many more. Steve Duggan runs Paddy Reilly's Music Bar, which hosts tonight's event.

The Finalist are:
Representing Paddy Reilly's, Manhattan:
Ceol Milis, Sean McNally & Friends, Sephira, The Itinerants and Beautiful Day.

Representing Maguire's, Queens:
Scraggly Bosco and The West Awake.

Representing Fireside, Bronx:
Padraig Allen & McLean Ave Band, Bangers & Mash.
RSVP via facebook
7:30 - 11:30pm
at:





Paddy Reilly's Music Bar
519 Second Ave. (29th St.)
New York, NY
(212) 686-1210
Paddyreillysmusicbar.us

Two Hotties Walk Into a Bar...

Funny or Die has a video entitled "Idiots with Zoe Saldana & Kate Bosworth". Have you ever encountered people like this in your local watering hole?



Starring Kate Bosworth, Zoe Saldana & Janeane Garofalo

George Steinbrenner 1930 - 2010

Yankees owner and sports business legend George M. Steinbrenner died today at the age of 80. Our condolences go out to his family, and to all the Yankee fans out there.

For those that do not understand the impact that this man has made on sports in American, and particularly in baseball in New York City, check out Bill Madden's book, "The Last Lion of Baseball".

FTC disclosure: if you purchase via this link, MurphGuide gets a small commission.

Links:
George Steinbrenner obituary (NY Times)
George Stinbrenner obituary (MLB.com)
George Steinbrenner bio (wikipedia)
Yankees.com

Here is a link (until youtube takes it down) of George and Billy Martin in one of their Miller Lite commercials from the 1970s:


and of course, a Steinbrenner parody on Seinfeld...

World Cup Finals: Where to Watch in NYC

World Cup action concludes with the Championship game
Sunday, July 11, 2010
World Cup Championship:
The Netherlands vs. Spain
Check out our special World Cup page, featuring 60 World Cup viewing options in NYC.
If you are lucky, you won't encounter any of those damn vuvuzelas. You can also visit the MurphGuide Directory of Sports Bars in NYC.

MurphGuide Reader Survey

Would you please take the MurphGuide Reader Survey

Spotlight Artist: Fergus Begley

Our next Spotlight Artist is Fergus Begley. I first met Fergus in 2000 at the after-party when we both ran in the annual Concern Run. At the time I didn't know he was a musician. We became friends, as I would see him at many industry events (he works for Heineken). He is so well known in the NYC bar industry that the name of his album is "Sure Everyone Knows Fergus Begley". He is a great entertainer, and over the years I have seen him perform in many NYC pubs, including Blackstone's, Rogue, Stout, Hudson Beach Cafe, Slane, Tir na nOg and Thady Con's (R.I.P.). Fergus answers our questions below:


How long have you been performing?
Too long! Thirty years. I started in Ireland with my brother Mick ( who is still playing music around West Cork). I was in bands: the Below Average Blue and White Band, Finnegan's Lake, One Damn Good Band. I have been performing in NYC for 15 years.

What are some of your favorite venues to play?
Rosie O'Grady's is a great place to go on Saturday nights for the craic and to hear good Irish and American music. Also Tir na nOg and Rogue.

Rosie O'Grady's
800 Seventh Ave (52nd St.)
New York, NY
(212) 582-2975
RosieOGradys.com
--------------------
Tir na nOg
5 Penn Plaza (33rd St. & Eighth Ave.)
New York, NY
(212) 630-0249
TirnanOgNYC.com
----------------------
Rogue Restaurant & Bar
757 Sixth Ave.
(between 25th & 26th St.)
New York, NY
(212) 242-6434
RogueNYC.com


What are some of your musical influences?
The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Elvis, The Eagles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison.

Where can we buy your music?
My debut CD, "Sure Everyone Knows Fergus Begley", can be purchased on my website FergusBegley.com or at any of my gigs.

What other musicians do you perform with?
Tony DeMarco, Buddy Connolly, Vonnie Quinn, Gabriel Donoghue

Tell us a story about playing in NY:
While playing in Rosie's packed with Pitt U supporters, the team and coaches (Pitt had just won the Big Ten), I played Country Roads not knowing it was West Virginia University's school song. Didn't go down very well. I was lucky to get out alive.

Any advice to someone just starting out?
Know and play to your audience, don't just play songs you like to play. Play some some that they like to hear. Make sure they have a good time.

Can you recommend any other local acts we should feature on MurphGuide?
Tony DeMarco, Enda Keenan ( who plays alternate weeks in Rosie OGrady's), Padraig Allen, Allan Gogerty.


Thanks, Fergus!
You can catch Fergus this Saturday, July 10 at Rosie O'Grady's. For future gigs, check out his website.

New Bar: The 13th Step

The 13th Step, formerly "Coming soon" is now here.
Congratulations to our friends at Eat Drink and Be Merry on the opening of their newest venue, The 13th Step. The owners of Down the Hatch, Off the Wagon, Gin Mill, Jake's Dilemma and The Stumble Inn have opened a place in the former Telephone Bar space on Second Avenue in the East Village.

I popped in last night at the soft opening, and it looks great. It is a large sports bar with 28 TVs and a pub menu, great for watching the games. The drink prices are very reasonable, including an all day happy hour, where drinks are half price from 11:30am until 8pm.

I spoke with one of the owners, who is aware that the blog EV Grieve and its readers have already been slagging the bar even before it opened. He told me he hopes to win them over by providing an affordable place to drink.



The 13th Step
149 Second Ave.
(between 9th & 10th Ave.)
New York, NY
(212) 228-8020
nycbestbar.com/13thstep


Links:
The 13th Step
The 13th Step (Thrillist)
The 13th Step (EV Grieve)

But wait, there's more...
The same crew will be opening their 7th bar, 3 Sheets Saloon, later this summer in the former Town Tavern space.

NYC Bars With the Best Air Conditioning

[Note: this post is from 2010. Go here for our 2011 list of NYC Bars with the Best Air Conditioning]

"It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes..." - Nelly
Summer time in New York means outdoor drinking. But on days like today, with temperatures threatening to reach triple digits, you may be better off staying indoors. And if you are inside in this heat, you had better have air conditioning.

Yesterday, we asked the MurphGuide readers on Twitter to nominate some NYC bars with the best air conditioning. Here are some responses:

The Music Hall of Williamsburg reports "The air conditioning in @musichallofwb is CRANKING", quoting patron Amanda.
Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 North 6th St.
Brooklyn, NY
MusicHallofWilliamsburg.com
---------------------------------------
The east village tapas lounge Poco has AC in their lounge, where you can cool off with pitchers of sangria.


Poco
33 Avenue B (3rd St.)
New York, NY
(212) 228-4461
poconyc.com

--------------------------------------
Hotel bars in NYC have become very popular nightlife destinations. You know a hotel will maintain a comfortable environment for its guests, so expect their AC to be in top shape. A perfect example of this is The Roosevelt Hotel, with Vander Bar on street level and Mad 46 up on the 19th floor rooftop.


Vander Bar
At the Roosevelt Hotel
45th St. (Vanderbilt Ave.)
New York, NY
212-885-6131
VanderBar.com

Mad 46
At the Roosevelt Hotel
19th floor rooftop
Madison Ave. (at 46th St.)
New york, NY
(212) 885-6095
Mad46.com
---------------------------------
Since they have a cigar bar, Bar & Books must maintain an air conditioned environment. Two of the three Bar & Books locations in NYC have ventilated cigar areas:

Hudson Bar & Books
636 Hudson St. (Horatio St.)
New York, NY
(212) 229-2642
Barandbooks.cz/hudson


Lexington Bar & Books
1020 Lexington Ave. (73rd St.)
New York, NY
(212) 717-3902
Barandbooks.cz/lexington

The Beekman location does not allow smoking, but still maintains a well air conditioned environment:
Beekman Bar & Books
899 First Ave.
New York, NY
(212) 758-6600
barandbooks.cz/beekman

--------------------------------------------
On the upper west side, Bourbon Street claims to be the coolest bar on the block, having doubled their air conditioning.
Bourbon Street
407 Amsterdam Ave.
(between 79th St & 80th St)
New York, NY
(212) 721-1332
Bourbonstreetnyc.com
--------------------------------------------
Bronx Ale House says via twitter: "The heat will not let up, nor will our ACs."

Bronx Ale House
216 W. 238th St. (Review Pl.)
Bronx, NY
(718) 601-0204
BronxAleHouse.com
-------------------------------------
Do you have any favorite "chill" spots? Let us know in the comments below what are the best air conditioned bars in NYC?

World Cup: Semi Finals

World Cup action continues today and tomorrow with the Semi Final round.
There are only four teams left...
Schedule:

Semi Finals:
Tuesday, July 6, 2:30pm
The Netherlands vs. Uruguay

Wednesday, July 7, 2:30pm
Germany vs. Spain

Third Place Match:
Saturday, July 10, 2:30pm

World Cup Championship:
Sunday, July 11, 2:30pm

Check out our special World Cup page, featuring 60 World Cup viewing options in NYC.
If you are lucky, you won't encounter any of those damn vuvuzelas. You can also visit the MurphGuide Directory of Sports Bars in NYC.