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Hipsters and Music Lovers Rejoice! CMJ Music Festival Takes Over Manhattan Clubs

By DNAinfo Staff on October 19, 2010 5:34pm  | Updated on October 20, 2010 6:17am

By Jordan Heller

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — The annual hipster music festival known as the CMJ Music Marathon hits Manhattan clubs and bars this week.

Some bands you may have heard of, some you'll never hear from again. For three decades, the point of the festival has been to introduce new artists to industry professionals.

Gigs started at 1 p.m. Tuesday, with a band called OK Sweetheart playing at Arlene's Grocery on the Lower East Side.

Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, Bowery Ballroom on the Lower East Side, Webster Hall in the East Village and Highline Ballroom in Chelsea are among the Manhattan venues where music lovers can catch up-and-coming bands.

Past notables include Lady Gaga, R.E.M., Black Eyed Peas and Arcade Fire. This year, little-known acts like Funeral Party and The Bewitched Hands On Top of Our Heads are hoping the festival will help them break through.

For more than a decade, the film festival portion of the event has grown in impoartance. "Pulp Fiction" had its debut at CMJ, and in past years the festival has hosted advance screenings of such major hits as "Fight Club" and the New York debut of "Borat."

This year's slate of film premieres includes "Love & Other Drugs" starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, the highly-anticipated Bruce Springsteen documentary called "The Promise: Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Circus Maximus," a feature about a negligent screenwriter who attempts to complete a feature-length screenplay over the course of a weekend.

For a complete calendar of this year's CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival, click here.