Pete Rock with DJ Premier, Flatbush Zombies, Ty Segall's new band Fuzz, Femi Kuti, and Ben Howard (video above) are among the many artists performing for free in the parks around New York City this summer. Yes, it's the beginning of May and that means that all the upcoming summer music concerts and other fun outdoor events for Summer 2013 in New York City are being announced around this time. So for this New York State of Mind Amoeblog I will preview and list many of these great NYC summer (mostly all outdoor) events, which are usually free and typically with artists that you'd happily fork over good money to see. That all follows below. But first a note on something happening this weekend that prequels an event in August.

Since the recent official confirmation by NBC folks here including City politicians have been talking excitedly about the return to New York City of The Tonight Show with new host Jimmy Fallon. The show, which will move cross country from Burbank CA to take up residency in NYC next year after NBC wraps up its coverage of 2014 Winter Olympics, will be yet another of many TV shows recorded and broadcast out of New York. As well as Fallon's current show (Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC) other live studio TV shows made in New York City include Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart (John Oliver will take over this summer when Stewart takes a break) and Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, Dr Oz, The Early Show, Good Morning America, The View, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, and The Rachael Ray Show - to name but some of the long list.

Then there are the numerous comedy and drama TV shows shot in NYC including NBC's long running popular series Law and Order SUV, CBS's Elementary and Person of Interest, HBO's Girls and Empire Boardwalk, and FX's The Americans - to name-check but a few.  Add to that the return of MTV's VMA's this year when it will be broadcast for the first time out of Brooklyn's Barclay Center on August 25th - after being held/broadcast out of LA the past two years. In short a lot of TV shows are already shot in New York and that number is exponentially growing. Part of the reason for the increasing number of TV shows being made in New York has to do with - you guessed it - money; namely the attractive tax breaks that the State and City of New York offer television producers. Couple that with ample facilities for TV (and film) producers, not to mention NYC's famous backdrops and locations, and you have a winning formula for New York as the perfect location for television shows.

Welcome to installment number 27 in the weekly Amoeblog report New York State of Mind direct from the Big Apple where events of the past week included the eighth annual Pillow Fight Day in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village near NYU on Saturday when hundreds of New Yorkers descended (with pillows under their arms) to partake in the goodhearted annual fun day that is simultaneously celebrated in other cities round the world. On Sunday evening at several bars and clubs around Manhattan, there were Mad Men themed costume and booze parties to celebrate the kick off of the new series of the popular AMC TV show. Dressed like Don Draper and company, fans gathered at places such as The Millesime at the Carlton Hotel on (where else but) Madison Ave. and The Carnegie Club (situated on 56th St. just behind Carnegie Hall), dressed in '60's chic and enjoying period-appropriate music and newly-invented retro-styled cocktails such as the Sterling Cooper Spritzer (Aperol + Grand Mariner + Veuve Clicquot Champagne + soda) and the Womanizer (bourbon + Galliano liqueur + grapefruit bitters) before and during the 9pm airing of the sixth season premiere of Mad Men. 

Welcome to another installment in the weekly New York State of Mind Amoeblog in which I run down such things as Leonard Cohen taking Manhattan and other concerts and events around the five boroughs in the week ahead, including a free Saturday afternoon performance in Flushing, Queens by The Toomai String Quartet. I also report on Macy's exquisite South Asian themed floral garden (photos left, above, and below), which offers the perfect meditative escape for those who need a breather in busy midtown Manhattan. Also offered is a look at a hip-hop fanatic's cool homage to New York City-themed raps, plus the (futile?) search by ever-hopeful homeless New Yorker Mary Lou for her lost cat Simon.

What is most striking about the ongoing The Painted Garden: Macy's Flower Show, which effectively captures the landscapes of southeast Asia with lush displays of tropical flora and is on exhibit in a long wide tent set up in Herald Square (6th Ave & 34th Street) outside its flagship store, is how peaceful and meditative it is...provided you arrive early in the day (it opens at 10am) before the crowds arrive and get inside this greenhouse filled with gorgeous lush floral displays with Southeast Asian motifs, soothing water fountains, and a hypnotic soundtrack of traditional Indian flute music playing on the overhead speakers. Even though you are in hectic midtown Manhattan, you can forget that while inside this lovely space. I stopped by the other day when the wait to get in was only a few minutes and the cost: free. Note however that the flower show runs everyday from 10am to 9pm through Sunday, April 7th in Broadway Plaza, Herald Square outside Macy's.