Jonathan Toubin can't find an ironclad Boogaloo. For that matter, there's little corroboration on the Mickey's Monkey, or the Four Corners or the Hot Pants. And don't even mention variations on the Zonk. One of the best-known DJs in the city, Toubin's been seeking out videos and examples of old dances, trying to amass a catalog of 1960s and '70s moves. They don't always match up. more

Matthew Iwanusa, Jimmy Carbonetti and Stefan Marolachakis, three New York City natives, have been hanging out for seven or eight years. Iwanusa and Carbonetti played in the angular rock outfit known as The Subjects. They shared the stage often with Marolachakis. He crooned in the now-defunct Flameshovel outfit The End Of The World. Before they came of age, Iwanusa and Carbonetti met Jeff Berrall, a bartender at the now boarded-up bar Sin-e on the Lower East Side—The Subjects performed there from time-to-time. At that point, Berrall jammed on bass for second-wave post-punkers Elefant. All of them would later meet Sam Hopkins, who played for a group known as White Clam, at 30th Street Guitars, where he and Carbonetti worked. more

A lot of the time, Widowspeak reflects exercises in restraint. And when that comes through, the band becomes about tension, dark spots of collective displeasure that so often bridge the brighter moments of personal glory. It's minimalism, propelled by the ghostly, wavering vocals of Hamilton, who also brings initial songwriting plans to the table. It's about an atmosphere and a mood and honest reflection lyrically, rather than experimentation with texture or rhythm. more

You should poop in it, my pal Azriel, sage as always, told me. I ran into him on Graham Avenue on my way to snap a picture of Mayor Bloomberg peeing in the citys oldest urinal. Poop in it? I thought on the L. Why not? Didnt we do that in high school? Duchamp would be proud. more

It’s Michael’s birthday,” Taraska Larson tells me over a crackling cell phone. She’s on the outskirts of Gainesville, Fla., where her parents live. “We woke up this morning and had pancakes and he’s 25.” At 23 herself, Larson is the elder sister in the incredibly young freak-folk/ psychedelic/minimalist art-band Prince Rama, telling me about her bandmate Michael Collins. more

Over the course of a three-day residency at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last year, four cameras filmed the Scottish band Mogwai, its cult of fans and all of their surroundings. more

Half Baked. Billy Madison. Crossroads. Yes, the one with Britney Spears. This is the tail end of director Tamra Davis’ feature-film credits. At the top, that resumé includes videos by Tone Loc, NWA and Sonic Youth. Now, she’s turned her sights to documentary to “make a love letter for [her] friend,” Jean-Michel Basquiat. more

Most coverage of the press around underground poster boy John Wray paints the 37 year-old as a roguish, self-indulgent author. The unorthodox approach he takes to promotion provides his books with talking points beyond their literary laurels. His stunts continue this week with a YouTube video starring him and friend Zach Galifianakis, promoting the paperback release of Wray’s third book, Lowboy. But the inflated treatments of Wray’s endorsement capers don’t give the author fair shake for being a modern literary pragmatist, infusing both his work and promotions for them with only what is required to get his point across. more