Of the unofficial but widely-accepted perks that come with an editing job, plugging friends’ work is the most gratifying. (Not so the grade-school chum who resurfaces as a really successful shell collagist in the Outer Banks, and won’t you write something nice about his gallery show?) Doubly gratifying – and bordering on humbling – is championing an artist-friend who blows your socks off, and leads you to occasionally fantasize about quitting said editing job to join her band as a berserk hype-man/kazoo player. So: this Friday at Pianos, Austin-based Celeste Griffin and Monarchs.

"I told the audience they had given me an erection."

It’s 10:30 on a Wednesday night and I’m in gym clothes crossing Union Square wondering if I’ve anything good left on TiVo when I first hear them. “Let’s just get drinks here,” a California blond squeals to her fellow interns, a group of smiley, freshly implanted college girls. “This part of the city is amazing—there are so many places to go!” Suddenly I feel refreshed, the soggy, angry heat evaporating around me. I immediately recall those same, remarkable feelings of excitement when I was new to this city: every step was one outside my comfort zone, and the possibilities were endless—the night was a mystery. Now, since I've settled into the groove of actually living in this city, the knee-jerk reaction toward their enthusiasm is a swift eye-roll at their naïveté and a silent recitation of the latest snarky blog post about this exact area going to hell in TGI Friday’s hand basket. These days, the trend is to speak about nightlife as you were attending its funeral. I’ve grown bored with the idea that there’s nothing new or provocative happening in this metropolis. Nightlife isn’t dead, it’s just different, and it’s different for everyone. It’s been a while since I first started covering nightlife as "Holly GoNightly," but my interest is once again piqued to seek out new ways to look at New York after dark. While some longingly wish for their days at Studio 54, Tunnel, or the Beatrice Inn, there are many more seeking out the new. The internet has given everyone a certain kind of access, diversifying trends and experiences. There’s something for everyone, and the only way to find out what works is to step out and try it on for size.

Pianos.

Pianos.

Socials and fashionistas might be fasting in prep for Fashion Week, but we take the side of Ernest Hemingway, who said “Drinking is a way of ending the day." This week, with the Superbowl taking over pubs, Steve Lewis is taking over Lit for birthday party and drinkers taking over the MoMa for First Thursdays, there are plenty of ways to end the day well. If you aren't in the mood for hooch, there are events for talking about alcohol, a giant Sleepover party and cozy cupcake affairs.

Most dimly, Finnish indie collective Rubik's eclectic, airy pop-rock hybrid could be described as having tinges of Of Montreal in the sense that while sprawling, it's never aimless. But that would be a sloppy comparison. And anyone who gives the much-buzzed Dada Bandits a casual listen will find that although initially intimidating, the album's exciting amalgam of sounds begins to make sense, even if its as a glowing accent to a hipstery cocktail party wherein your Neitzsche-toting ex invariably broods in a corner.

What better way to use the only sunny day of the week than to make our legion of snobbishly fashionable fashion interns take to the streets in their eight-plus platforms and play fashion detective? Armed with only a camera and an arsenal of questions, the fearsome three -- Lindsay, Laura, and Justine -- did their finest Anne Hathaway impressions and scouted the city's most sartorially delicious in their favorite retail playgrounds. Initially, they aimed to sneak up on their YSL-clad boutique-bag-bearing victims and demand to know what, exactly, they had just splurged on. But considering the current dime crunch, it ended up being an ambush of attitudes, BlackBook style. Take it away, ladies!

New York City is a veritable hot zone for burning loins on a mission to be cooled. But where is one to go when craving a no-frills hook-up with no need to swap digits afterward? If you're over the romance, and have already exhausted our targeted tips for boys and girls -- here's a little something for everyone looking for a little something.