Guerilla street artist Olek spontaneously struck in Astor Place early Monday, crocheting a cover for the iconic “Alamo” cube sculpture.

The Polish-born artist — who’s created yarn covers for everything from cars and bicycles to the Financial District’s massive “Charging Bull” sculpture — took on the cube early Monday, posting a video of her enveloping the 1967 piece in her signature threads.

Beer lovers can now make a bee line to their favorite brew, thanks to a new iPhone app designed by an Upper West Sider.
Bari Simon, a graphic designer by trade who moonlights as a bartender at Broadway Dive on Broadway and West 101st Street, created What’s On Tap?, which tells users exactly where — and when — their favorite craft beer is flowing in the city.

Users can search by location, beer or bar to find real-time information about their favorite brewskis. The free app also has a feature called Beer O’Clock, which lists special bar events such as tastings.

What’s On Tap also lists detailed descriptions of beers and links to brewery websites. Simon has collected 1,800 beers in her database so far.

Simon says there are plenty of beer apps already out there, but What’s On Tap? goes a step beyond by providing current information about where to find a specific beer at a moment in time.

[via dnainfo.com]

 

UNION SQUARE — A new cafe with a strong political message has opened on West 14th Street. Bourbon Coffee is based on a direct trade model, and sells only Rwandan coffee bought straight from the farmers who grow the beans.
The cafe opened just over a month ago, on Jan. 6. Its main competition comes from a Starbucks half a block down the street.
In the windows hang posters inviting potential customers to come in and “Experience the taste of Rwanda.”
Bourbon Coffee is the first commercial coffee brand to spread internationally after beginning in Africa. The company’s name is taken from Rwanda’s indigenous Bourbon arabica coffee bean. Bourbon grows and serves five different types of coffee from the five coffee-growing regions of Rwanda, all of which have very different soils and climates.
The facade and interior of the cafe feature a rustic, bare brick design, complemented by wooden panels and decorated with Rwandan handicrafts and paintings, many of which feature coffee husks and raw coffee beans in the design. The cafe, which is furnished with wood-veneered tables and brown and red leather armchairs, seats upwards of 50.
The company’s CEO, Bosco Munga, is a Rwandan native, but the American stores are overseen by operations manager Stacey Manley. Munga also runs three coffee shops in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, and opened the first U.S. site, in Washington D.C., in 2009.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110207/murray-hill-gramercy/rwandan-coffee-shop-chal…

The endless winter storms may have one fringe benefit — easing access to tapings for talk shows such as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the Late Show with David Letterman.
As freezing rain began to bear down Tuesday afternoon, followers of @LateNightJimmy received a tweet inviting them to call-in for tickets for Tuesday or Wednesday’s shows.
“Due to the bad weather,” the tweet explained, “we had several audience cancellations.”
That is a good opportunity for people who called in to see guests such as Gossip Girl Leighton Meester on Tuesday because, typically, stand-by access to the Fallon Show is unlikely.
Manhattan online ticketing guide New York Show Tickets gives the Fallon show its second-lowest rating for typical standby ticket availability. The average wait for advance tickets ranges from three to five weeks, according to the guide.
A booking representative for one Manhattan-based talk show, who asked to remain anonymous, said that storms forced everyone to try to overbook shows, even more than usual.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110201/manhattan/jimmy-fallon-show-tweeting-fill-sea…