EARL DAX THOUGHT he was through with the HOT! Festival. After helming the annual queer theater event in 2006, the ubiquitous Downtown culture guru had moved on to events like Weimar New York and Tingle Tangle, plus a seemingly endless amount of globetrottingin the last few weeks, he jetted from the U. Read more Read it in print

The Fourth of July fireworks, at least the official ones, won’t be visible from Brooklyn rooftops this year as they’re being shot off over only the Hudson River. Prime views will be between W. 23rd and W. 59th streets, which means you’re headed to the far West Side or taking the PATH if you want to check out the display. Any way you slice it, group displays of patriotism can be a shitshow, so here are some tips to make sure you’re as prepared as possible to celebrate your independence. Read more Read it in print

Looking for something to do during this year’s annual NYC Gay Pride, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots? Aren’t we all? Here’s a selection of activities and events to get the party started. Read more Read it in print

AMANDA PALMER WAS fresh off a sold-out show for 700 at the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea. And author Neil Gaiman, his best-selling novella Coraline having been adapted into a feature film, could have sold just as many tickets on his own. Read more Read it in print

Roaming around the loony hallways of Craigslist's Missed Connections is a good way to waste your day but a sad way to waste a night. Down in Tribeca, the unintentional hilarity of sad, horny women has been transformed by professional comedians into, one would hope, hilarious monologues. Read more Read it in print

While the New York City Opera has, in the last year, come about as close to a near death experience as an organization can without actually flatlining, it seems to be on its way to registering a steadier pulse. Defibrillators ready? All clear! A distinct sign of life, this week the tenacious company will present three free concerts at the sprawling and always-eclectic River To River Festival, which has successfully made lower Manhattan a hot spot for engaging performing arts—including all kinds of music, film, dance and theater—during the often-grueling summer months every year since 2002. Notably the NYC Opera is the only act that will actually perform from “river to river.” Read more Read it in print

MoMA’s “Yanks in Britain” film festival somewhat incongruously opens with four Brits in Britain in Richard Lester’s 1964 mockumentary A Hard Day’s Night.We’re not complaining. Shot at the height of their popularity, the guys in The Beatles are playful and young and cute as fuck.This was before John got all into peace and Paul became a redheaded prune. Read more Read it in print

This is part circus, part dance party and part benefit for the STREB extreme dance academy at one of Williamsburgs coolest places, school founder Elizabeth Strebs massive warehouse of acrobatic wonder. Tonight in addition to some regular Strebbing, DJs Wolf Lamb spin and the magnificent Smirk and BabyBunny perform their musical circus. Read more Read it in print

Russians are more than just nuclear missiles, gaudy mansions, vodka and gulags.They also have ridiculously sexually ambiguous boy bands like Chelsea, a group from Moscow that is making a rare stateside appearance at this free festival. Of course, there will also be traditional dancing and food; but really, Chelsea is worth the trek. Read more Read it in print

IT'S ALMOST NEVER a good thing when, sitting among hundreds in a theater, a strong and distinct aroma fills the room. However, entrepreneur Stewart Matthew and veteran perfumer Christophe Laudamiel mean to do precisely that with 23 scents as part of a 40-minute “operatic” work that bucks genre classification and aims to pioneer new forms of artistic expression. Read more Read it in print