By Vaibhav Mangrulkar

For those who want to catch some live local or national acts, the place to be is New York City. There are plenty of venues to go to and a lot of great music to hear. Even those who aren't really into live performances will want to check out the nationally renowned institutions of music.

The venues in New York specialize in all kinds of music, from rock to punk to pop. The best part is that the admission is usually cheap and you don't have to worry about bringing binoculars -- you'll be right up close to the performers.

Probably the best known rock and punk club nationwide is CBGB's at 315 Bowery and Bleeker. CBGB's is touted as the birthplace of punk music, and their past lineup is nothing shy of amazing, with acts from the Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Live, among others. Chances are that if a band is famous, it probably played at CBGB's. Admission is $8-10 on the weekends, but you'll get to see about five great bands perform on a spectacular sound system. Make sure you bring a camera too -- you'll never find more unique "wallpaper" than in here.

Other clubs in the area are great for a night's worth of fantastic music, but the one you want to go to really depends on the type of music you're really into. Coney Island High features hard-core punk music, especially the mosh pit variety. The Mercury Lounge and the Knitting Factory feature all kinds of rock acts and the Wetlands has great local bands and national acts. Information on these clubs and other popular ones in the city can be found on the web at http://mtv.com/music/beat/cities/ny-nyc.html or in the Village Voice.

If large-scale national acts is what you want, there are plenty of venues for big audiences, too. Madison Square Garden at 34th Street and the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey seat about twenty thousand people each and cater to large national acts. Bands like the Dave Matthews Band and the Smashing Pumpkins played at these venues recently, and the tickets are about thirty dollars on a seat-basis.

Some national acts, like Rage Against the Machine recently, seem better in a mosh-pit ballroom type atmosphere, so Roseland at 239 West 52nd is the popular location for those events. Tickets are substantially less expensive, at about $15. Some other venues for national acts are The Academy and Irving Plaza, the latter having hosted Deep Blue Something and Porno for Pyros in the past year. National acts aren't always in abundance at these last two venues, but they specialize in special events, such as the MTV Unplugged recording for Live last year at The Academy. These venues' tickets usually go quickly, but you can get the early scoop on who's playing where by calling Ticketmaster or going to their homepage at http://www.ticketmaster.com.

This list doesn't even come close to the actual number of clubs in the New York City area. There are a myriad that would suit the interests of anyone who wants to see live music. The Campus Pages is a great source for information and the Village Voice has information on upcoming events. Since some of the bands playing at clubs may be local, you might not have heard of them. But remember that these clubs are highly respected institutions -- their bands are almost always on the cutting edge.

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