has anyone been to the moosewood restaurant in Ithaca? I've really wanted to go for a while after reading lots of recipes but I'm wondering if anyone has actually been there?

That was the place, Timmy...right around the corner from the disco where the American Steel show was.

Was that the night that a certain member of a certain Chicago band showed up and infamously heckled a member of OWTH and things got messy? I wasn't there but heard about this, it was during CMJ I believe which was the week before the Fest.

This certain band member also tagged his name on one of the bathroom walls at Lost and Found, presumably that night this went down. It's hilarious to read!

I have a huge dilemma- don't know whether to go to NY for a few days pre/post Fest, or fly straight to Florida!

New York pros- I can stay with friends in Harlem for free, there's loads of stuff to do, I can eat myself to an early grave, if I can convince the rest of my band to go this route we could potentially play Asbury Lanes, lots of other cool pre-Fest shenadigans, more record shops.


New York cons- Flying to Tampa or Orlando is ridiculously cheap right now, it's an expensive city, you can't smoke anywhere, it will be cold.

HELP!

Sorry I'm a little slow on the uptake! I stayed @ a lovely hostel in NYC last September. It is not your typical hostel, it's small with only about 6 double rooms. It was a really good price & in a great location. The hostel was called Sutton Residence & is located in midtown (Lexington & 47th St), a few blocks from the Chrysler Building & Grand Central Station. Anyway I have included the web address if you are interested in checking it out. Hopefully this is of help.

www.suttonresidence.com

NYC wasn't actually cold at all last year before Fest. In fact I was wearing shorts/tshirts most of the time even at night on a boat trip.

You can't smoke anywhere in England either!

This'll be my first proper holiday in years. So, the way I see it is to make the most of it, especially if there's bound to be cool stuff happening around that time.

Due to global warming, we start getting cool fall weather near the end of November, December... I do remember sweating last October. It was awful.

If you ain't sweating, you're not festing hard enough.

This applies to all other 362 days of the year that it isn't actually Fest.

What's a good price for a return flight from NY/NJ to Gainesville? Orbitz is coming up with $265 (~£133) at the moment. Could it get any cheaper?

You might but you'd have to fly to orlando or tampa and bus it Gainesville... which might equal out to the same price. I'm not sure though. I'm all about the road trip from NY

Think I'll be booking flights pretty soon then. Spending a day in a car/van/coach has never been my idea of fun!

Any more tips on places to stay? That Sutton Residence looks pretty good. A bit on the limit of how much I'd want to spend though.

do we have any idea when/if show at asbury lanes may happen (Jay, I'm looking at you here ). Just to help with where to book hostels/hotels and when!

the crocodile/alligator lounge does the free pizza. i think there's one downtown on 1st ave in manhattan and another somewhere in williamsburg; i may be wrong though, i've always been led there by others after a good sturdy afternoon of drinking.

Yeah, the alligator lounge. I've never personally been there but I hear it isn't half bad. I forgot what the name of this one bar I went to. It was small with a free pizza for a purchase of a drink. It's somewhere off of Driggs Ave. I loved it....



Speaking of NY-ers/LI-ers... anyone want to carpool... and/or have room for two? Everyone seems to be bailing on us this year.