Many New Yorkers write off Chinatown. They either  deem it a tourist trap filled with cheap, tacky tchotchkes or an insular ethnic community impenetrable to those unfamiliar with Chinese culture. There are, however, several destinations that fall into neither category and offer an exciting alternative to the city’s ubiquitous commercial establishments.

It's already Saturday in Paris, which would imply two things: 1) It's unquestionably time for a long-overdue shuffle; 2) My god, do I miss the city. You know the one. The city ahead of which I'm currently time traveling, sidling around the sun six hours in advance: NY, NY. Lounging around in black skinny jeans and eating croissants from my dorm's vending machine might mean I'm living the Paris dream, but it also means I'm constantly day-dreaming of NYC. And it's often on Friday nights, when grocery stores close at 6 and the metro at 1:30, that my heart is with the city that never sleeps. I don't worry too much, though, we're all looking up at the same moon, right? If either of our cities could see it through the pollution. And digital music transcends time zones, man. All that to say: here's another mix, from Paris, with love.

Evening, city slickers and country bumpkins. I've a confession: whenever suffering through another finals season, my go-to jones isn't studying, or sleeping: it's spending an hour shuffling it up for you kids. There's no helping it: neither common sense nor a prohibitive French language pledge (for instance) has done much to keep me on the academic straight and narrow. And this time I even went to the extra effort (heruclean, really) to delete all the acoustic folky bits, thus ensuring I haven't become the Generation Y equivalent of a broken record (maybe that girl you know who updates her status with "Sooo bored txt it" every twelve hours? Hail the great philosophers of our time). Here's hoping you appreciate it, as my GPA certainly won't. (You're welcome.)

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Band of Horses, and K'Naan. 
• Central Park, September 29th.
• Free, if you can score a ticket.

Ladies and gents, it's time for another quick playlist to start your weekend off right. Lord knows I'm going to need it, making my way in a sorry station wagon full of other exhausted lunatics, from VT to RI, at 4am this morning. We've somehow managed to convince ourselves after Bonnaroo 2011 that doing this again, in the middle of jobs and school and visa applications, will be chicken soup for the insomniac's soul. Hence interrupting our glamorous research assistant/baby grad student lives for a pilgrimage to Newport Folk 2012. The whole thing should generally be considered a fit of youthful foolishness, in which we'll do our best to channel Dean Moriarty minus the casual misogyny and drug addiction. Expect updates in re our success or failure on our return. Sorry if it's not your speed--I'll mix it up next time, pinky promise.