Whistling in the dark

I just deleted the Free Events NY group on Yahoo!. I started it on June 20, 2004. I had created a master list of free events going on in NYC organized by date for my benefit so I could look up a specific day and see what was on. I decided to share it with whoever would be interested via the Yahoo! group. Over the years thousands of events were posted.

I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the events and was happy to share my efforts to organize them. I got some sweet thank you emails from a number of members. There were also the random emails from people who couldn’t figure out how to download the files, the messages I had to delete when people tried to post events that were not free – the title of the group was too mysterious and unclear and responding to RSVP emails when people didn’t notice that I was not the person who needed the response.

I have moved to England and so I finally pulled the plug today. There were still 1230 members even though it had not been updated in about a year. The upcoming.org group still exists, though I don’t post events, but I gladly moderate through what people choose to share every so often.

Besides the resources below, general tips on finding what to do with yourself in NYC…If there’s a venue or community organization you like – find their website and subscribe to their calendar. On the websites of book stores you can find out about author events in your area. Check out New York City’s Parks Department website for info about events in your local park. You can do the same for your local library. Also, if there is a college or university near you they may have events that are open to the public. Many cultural organizations have facebook pages and twitter feeds as another way to communicate with you – do a few searches on your favorite social networking site.

There are loads of things going on. Realize you can’t do it all. Give yourself some time to recharge. Enjoy every minute.

Online resources for NYC:

• NewYorkology
  The best guide to NYC for locals and tourists. It’s still in my RSS reader.
• NewYorkology Links page
  Links to official sites for NYC’s (mostly free) summer concerts and film series, Pro sports teams, Alt-cinema theaters and venues, Tours and tour guides (divided by categories), Broadway shows, Hotels, Essential blogs, Auction houses, Museums, Iconic shopping sites.
• Brooklyn Vegan
  Great music blog with a list of free events here
• Oh My Rockness
  Indie Rock show list
• Free NYC
  Online calendar for free events
• Nonsense NYC
  Weekly list for silly events
• upcoming or eventful
  Searchable databases of events by location.
• HopStop
  Directions to get where you want to go.
• Menu Pages
  View menus of restaurants online. Search by food type or neighborhood.
• Serious Eats: New York
  NY food blog with a great board you can ask questions on.
• ask.mefi
  Posts tagged with NYC on ask.metafilter.com. Not all will be event/visit related but there will definitely be some interesting reading.

NY Media with good listings:

• Village Voice
• Time Out NY
• NY Press
• New York Magazine
• The L Magazine
• PaperMag

Reduced price ticket opportunities:

• TKTS Booths
  They sell same day tickets for 25% or 50% off the regular price.
• TDF
  Reduced price tickets you can buy in advance as a member (annual fee of about $30). You can join if you are a full-time student or teacher, a union member, a senior (62 or over), a civil service employee, a staff member of a not-for-profit organization, a performing arts professional, a member of the armed forces or clergy. A great deal, if you can join, because they get big shows for reasonable prices.
• Goldstar Events
  Free for anyone to join, reduced price tickets. They will send you a weekly email with events. I have gotten some great tickets from them.
• High 5
  Reduced price ticket opportunities for teenagers 13-18.
• Audience Extras
  $85 annual fee plus $3.50 per ticket. You have to put money in your account with them which you draw from when you get tickets. Sometimes Broadway shows and lots of off and off-off-Broadway stuff. It is worth it if you will go a lot – quality of the performances is mixed.
• Play-By-Play
  A few annual membership types (online membership – $99 plus an $8 processing fee. phone membership – $125 plus an $8 processing fee. Double membership – $198 plus a $16 processing fee with access to listings and reservations online and via telephone.) $3.50 surcharge per ticket. Like Audience extras you need to set up an account that ticket charges can be debited from.
• Theater Extras
  Two different annual membership types ($99 – up to two tickets, and$175 up to 4 tickets per show.) $4 surcharge per ticket.
• Theatermania’s Gold Club
  Two different annual membership types ($99 – up to two tickets, and$169 up to 4 tickets per show.) $4.50 surcharge per ticket.