The PMRC is one of those faint memories that music fans that grew up in the '80s try to brush away. The Parents Music Resource Center was launched in 1985 by a group of Washington power wives—the most visible face being the wife of then-senator Al Gore, Tipper—who saw rock and rap as, in Ms. Gore's words, "a poisonous source infecting the youth of the world with messages they cannot handle."

While the PMRC's power eventually only yielded one major change—the ubiquitous black-and-white "Parental Advisory" insignia that you can still find on physical copies of albums—at the time the metal, punk, and hip-hop artists that it would have affected most made some loud and vehement statements against what they saw as potential censorship of their work. With that in mind—not to mention Mother's Day and the current pieces of proposed legislation that are threatening our access to information in the modern age—let's take a quick stroll down memory lane to take a listen to some of the best of the anti-PMRC bunch.

More >>

Right before the first seating. Lovely in there!

It's finally here! The opening date went from March to April to May, the menu went from "new American cuisine" to "European- and Mediterranean-influenced cooking," and every dissolute former punk in Park Slope went from denial to bargaining to full-on, mouth-watering acceptance, but Fat Mike's Park Slope bastion of local cuisine (file under phrases we never expected to write) is finally here. There's already a Yelp review and everything, touting the space's "great personality," the "friendly and professional" service, and most importantly, the menu: duck confit with almonds and dates; Maine diver scallops with bacon and the ever ubiquitous ramps; beet salad, cookie plates, pannacotta, and even house-made burger rolls, apparently. An aging sell-out's dream, in other words. So far, this particular aging sell-out has only walked by the 7th Avenue and 16th Street spot, pausing to take furtive photographs of all the happy people eating their delicious dinners, but we plan to remedy that ASAP:

More >>

New signage up at Thistle Hill, the much anticipated bar and restaurant from NOFX's Fat Mike and a consortium of others, including 'inoteca's David Massoni and Niagara Bar's John Bush. When last we checked in, the spot, which is located in the former Olive Vine location at 15th Street and 7th Avenue, promised "new American cuisine in a comfortable, laidback setting"; now we look to be getting "European- and Mediterranean-influenced cooking," plus single-malt whiskey bottled right here in New York State. Best is how they describe the most famous member of their ownership group to the parents and innocent children of the surrounding neighborhood: "Mike 'Fat Mike' Burkett, a member of the seminal punk band NOFX." Urban Dictionary, it turns out, sort of agrees. Cash or credit; early April is the new opening date, moved back from March. Who's coming with?

Please welcome the Thistle Hill Tavern, serving "new American cuisine in a comfortable, laidback setting"--namely, on the corner of 15th Street and Seventh Avenue, in the space the insipid, theoretically-Middle Eastern eatery Olive Vine used to occupy. The spot, which is hoping for a March opening, is backed by an unlikely conglomerate: veteran restaurateur David Massoni (of inoteca), local East Village bartender John Bush, and Mike Burkett, who you and I and the rest of the world know as NOFX's Fat Mike. No surprise that Fat Mike has money to throw around--have you seen dude's old house? But who would've thought the guy who wrote "Don't Call Me White" would post up on one of the most pale and anodyne corners in all of our fair city? Only a Fat Wreck Chords-themed menu can redeem you now, Mike. [Fork in the Road]