Interview: Brianne McGuire of the SEX COMMUNICATION Podcast and GRAPHICPAINT Website

We all love sex. To be human is to be horny – its nature’s way of reminding us that we're animals and that we exist in, and are part of, the natural world. In fact, if we didn’t get horny, the human species wouldn’t perpetuate itself so it’s our job to get horny, to give each other and to experience pleasure, and to have reproduce less humanity perish.

But, as we’ve learned with horror over the last few years, so much about sex gets complicated and (sometimes literally) abused by power dynamics. And, for all of us, sex is further complicated by miscommunication between people and their partners. So much of that miscommunication is based in that other deeply human, deeply animal part of ourselves – fear. 

That’s why Brianne McGuire is so fearless to have created her website GRAPHICPAINT which supports her podcast SEX COMMUNICATION . Based on her experience as a designer, the website and podcast aims to remove the fear, squeamishness, and insecurities we have about sex. On the podcast she talks frankly about her own sex life and sexual needs in a confident, smart, and informative way. She also interviews other people about their sex lives and helps them to feel more comfortable about themselves.

Most intriguingly she plays recorded audio of herself and others having sex – showing how people really communicate in the bedroom, showing us how awkward yet exciting sex really is, and how sometimes the most erotic thing that can happen between people exists in their minds and voices (as opposed to their genitals). In short, she makes us confront the thing that so many of us really fear about sex – true intimacy.

Brianne was kind enough to answer Mr NYC’s questions about her website and podcast, about what makes for good sex communication, and about what makes this city such a sexy place. 

What inspired you to create the SEX COMMUNICATION podcast and the GRAPHICPAINT website?

GRAPHICPAINT was born out of a desire to normalize sexuality and transform the experience of interacting with explicit media. As a designer with an interest in improving the unfortunate aesthetics of sexual content, I am motivated to use design theory and innovation to improve the whole experience and perception of sex as it relates to websites, printed materials and physical products. 

The SEX COMMUNICATION Podcast was inspired by a really loud and verbal exchange with a partner the very first time we had sex. Months later I was still thinking about how unique the event was and wished I had a recording of it. This led to my wanting to explore the audio of sex, how it really sounds, and all the absurd things that happen in reality. It has since expanded to include documenting the personal sex histories of all sorts of people. As with GRAPHICPAINT, I’m hoping the project normalizes sexuality and helps people be more accepting of themselves. 

Do you consider yourself an educator, an entertainer, both, or something else? 

I consider myself to be a pioneer. Of course, education, research, entertainment and creativity are all parts of what I do, but it’s all for the purpose of inspiring change. I believe I am leading a new sexual revolution.

How does audio porn differ from visual porn i.e. what do you think the difference is for people listening to real sex instead of watching staged sex? What do you personally like about audio porn? 

Audio porn is much more intimate than visual porn. I think for anyone listening, it’s much easier to put oneself in the place of those in the recording, and in turn, to feel more connected to the content. It’s also an easy entry point for explicit media; there’s less pressure, less judgment with audio porn than searching and watching regular porn, especially if one is trying to be discreet.

How do you find people to interview about their sex lives -- and how do you get the recordings of their bedroom activities?

I interview folks I meet and know in real life, listeners who reach out to me and individuals who are already active in the sex space in some way (performers, influencers, product creators, etc.). There’s value in every single story so no one person is better or worse suited for an interview; each perspective is equally important, a person just needs to be willing! 

In your observation and experience, what creates miscommunication in sexual situations and relationships? Is it due to fear, shame, ignorance, upbringing, immaturity, a combination of these things -- or something else entirely? 

I believe miscommunication to be a product of all the things you mentioned, all of which create our discomfort with sex. And it is this discomfort which results in folks shying away from difficult conversations — conversations about boundaries, consent, desire, etc. When people don’t have these discussions, needs go unsatisfied, displeasure and resentment grow, and on and on. 

You're very open about your sex life on your podcast -- do you think you're an exhibitionist or would you call yourself something else?

I don’t consider myself to be an exhibitionist, I’m actually very shy. However, I do not have fear when it comes to sex and so I leverage my experiences, beliefs and interests to inspire others to behave without fear.

As a woman, how do you think men can learn to be better sexual partners to women? How do we go about this without seeming creepy?

I don’t think being a better sexual partner has anything to do with gender or sexual orientation. That said the best way for anyone to “be a better sexual partner” is to demonstrate a willingness to share their own desires and be curious about the desires of your partner. I think mutual masturbation is a great tool for this. 

What are "kink" and BDSM, and what makes them thrilling vs. regular sex? Also, how do people properly communicate in these practices without anyone getting physically or emotionally hurt? 

Kink and BDSM are parts of normal sexual experience that some find more thrilling than others. “Vanilla” sex can be plenty thrilling; I don’t believe “thrill” comes from kink, it comes from desire, passion and chemistry. As for how people can best participate in these practices, there must be thorough discussion about intentions, desires, boundaries, safety protocols and aftercare when practicing BDSM. 

“Kink” is too broad a term to speak to with any value; it means different things to different people and certainly many “kinky” practices are perfectly safe. BDSM on the other hand, often involves physical risk and that is why explicit communication is so important. 

If you could give people one piece of advice to improve communication in their sex lives, what would it be? 

Don’t be afraid. It’s better to be honest and explore sex in the ways that really satisfy you than to live in fear and never try. And if you scare off a partner, then that partner was not the person for you. Someone is out there who thinks what you’re into is the bees knees and will be ecstatic to explore it with you.

Finally, what do you think makes NYC such a sexy place? 

The diversity of New York makes it exciting; so many people with so many interests in one sprawling place makes for a very sexy playground. 

Thanks Brianne!

Nick Apollo Forte RIP

He starred as the troubled lounge singer Lou Canova in Woody Allen's classic 1984 film Broadway Danny Rose.

Forte never had a big acting career after that but he had a long and distinguished singing career. He was brilliant as the sad sack, love lorne singer and it would have been great to see him in more stuff. But how many non-actors can claim to have starred in one great movie?

He has passed at the age of 81. Salute!

Mouth of the Holland Tunnel - Backwards & Forwards

Billy Idol Says Don't Idle!

Primary Importance

While the presidential races heats up, it's important for us citizens to remember that there are many other elections coming up this year that will have as much, if not even more, impact on our lives than who does or doesn't win the presidency in November.

Here in NYC there are a batch of Democratic primaries for state legislative seats that are shaping up to be very competitive -- at least if some of the latest campaign financing reports mean anything. A number of challengers are outraising incumbents and snagging endorsements. Also, the primaries are in late June so they're not that far away.

The problem is that some of these people aren't real Democrats -- they are stealth Republicans -- so it's important for people voting in these primaries to understand who they may or may not be voting for. I strongly suggest you check out City & State and Gothamist to get more information about the upcoming primaries -- make sure sure you're not accidently giving your vote to a Trump supporting fraud.

Happy Birthday to the Met

The world famous museum is turning 150 this year and will even have a big celebratory exhibition this summer.

Here's to another 150 years and another 150 years after that!

Coronavirus is Coming to NYC!!!

Well, maybe, maybe not.

But just in case, you can prepare for it by going here. 

Good luck!

When Did He Have Time to Make Movies?

This is a little scary. 

In 2014, Harvey Weinstein went on the Howard Stern show to promote a new movie. Towards the end of the freewheeling interview -- where Harvey and Howard talked about the great movies Harvey's company had produced over the years, about what an idiot former Disney head Michael Eisner is, about how Harvey came to love movies and theater and culture of all sorts -- Howard asks the now fallen producer about the "casting couch."

Harvey denies ever having taken part in this ages-old traddition, that this kind of practice is long gone and outdated in the new corporate movie business -- and that the "risks are too great" and the "budgets are too big", no one would think of transgressing in this way without suffering severe repurcussions.

I remember hearing this interview at the time and totally believed him -- it seemed like in the era of social media, 24/7 cable news, TMZ, litigousness, etc. this kind of nasty behavior was long dead.

Guess not.

Not only was Harvey a participate in the casting couch culture, he was one of its chief offenders -- and now it's sent him to jail. So much so, in fact, that Howard pondered several years later, "When did this guy have time to make movies?"

Bye Bye BQE?

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is an aging, deteriorating beast, and there's currently a proposal in the City Council to tear it down completely and replace it with an underground tunnel. Thus a massive amount of land between the city's two biggest boroughs would be transformed and made available to the public. 

Many other cities are doing this -- replacing their old highways with tunnels and making their surfaces more pedestrian and people friendly. 

Obviously the cost and difficulty of this would be immense but, if it could be pulled off, would be an amazing and wonderful thing for roughly 6 millions New Yorkers. 

Eating King Cake on Mardi Gras Day in NYC

Look Down & See History

There's nothing better than being out and about in NYC and spotting a piece of history, a living memorial to the city's past. Recently I took my kids to the park and, as they and a bunch of other children ran around and climbed on structures and hit the swings, I noticed this small plaque in the concrete ground. 

Nearly every NYC public playground has one of these plaques and it's really fascinating to get a snapshot of who was in charge when these playgrounds were built -- and rebuilt. It's one thing to read the history of NYC and learn about the master builder Robert Moses and the hapless Mayor Vincent Impelliteri -- but it's another thing to see a living piece of their legacy at the very place where your children are blithely having fun. It's also bizarre to see Rudy's name there (the former  currently mayor stinking up America) along with the legendary parks commissioner Henry Stern who recently died.

These plaques are a reminder that this city was built and tended to over time -- and that nothing here happens by accident. History, literally, is at our feet.

Review: "The Last Seduction" (1994)

Something was in the movie water in October 1994 when not one, not two, but three very different but nonetheless classic movies were released -- Pulp Fiction, Clerks, and The Last Seduction.

The Last Seduction falls into my favorite new category of NYC movies -- movies about New Yorkers who are far from home, in an environment that is totally alien to them.

The plot revolves a woman who works as a telemarketing manger who is married to a doctor. They are deeply in debt to the mob and decide to make some easy money by engaging in a one time drug deal (the doctor-husband sells some goons stolen prescription drugs and winds up with a big suitcase full of cash). His wife then steals the money and heads upstate, leaving her husband to the mafia's fate, while she plans to get to Chicago and start a new life. Worried that her husband and the mob might find her if she gets to Chicago too soon, she stops in a small town in upstate New York, gets a job, and seduces a local man (hence the title) into murdering her husband (the mob has not yet killed him but instead broken several of his fingers).

Her plan is coldly brilliant and flawlessly executed but she is desperate to get out of this small town and go back to NYC so she can live large on her stolen loot. Throughout the movie there are jokes about living in "cowtown", how this city woman cannot tolerate life in this tiny place, and she even tells her "cowboy" at once point to go find a nice "cowgirl" and make "cowbabies." Lovely lady.

The great actress Linda Fiorentino played Bridget, the scheming femme fatale, while Peter Berg plays the mark of her seduction, and Bill Pullman is her miserable husband. The people in this movie are uniformly horrible, the story starts out dark and gets darker, and it ends badly. But the movie is also very funny and, yes, sometimes sexy. This is the kind of movie that doesnt get made anymore and, had it not been so well made and acted, would have just been another dumb thriller.

So this is a great one to watch although probably not with someone you're in a relationship with. It makes you want to become celibate.  

Harvey Heads to the Pokey

Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and assult and is off to jail.

Part of me wants to make the usual prison rape jokes but I won't since there's nothing funny about this -- it's a tragedy for his victims, their families, and even his family. Hopefully they can heal in the longterm -- and hopefully Harvey will learn something as he spends the next few years and maybe the rest of his life in prison.

B. Smith RIP

When I was a kid, the radio station WQXR not only played classical music but was also the official station of The New York Times. Since my dad was a culture and news junkie, he listened to it all the time. I remember that occasionally there would be commercials for various high-end products and restaurants -- and one of them was for B. Smith's restaurant.

I remember that, in the ads, this very friendly, inviting voice would come on the air and tell people about her great restaurant and why you should go to it. If I had been old enough and had had enough money, I would have. 

B. Smith was a trailblazing business woman, starting out as a model and later became a very successful cookbook author, home products line inventor, and restaurant owner. She even had her own TV show. In the 1980s and 1990s she was one of the most biggest names in NYC. Long before celebrities started their own product lines or opening their own restaurants, B. Smith was creating the model for it -- and, yes, she was a black woman, which made her success all the more impressive.

Sadly Ms. Smith was diagnosed with early onset Altheizmers in 2013, and now she has died, aged 70. It's a great loss but she leaves an amazing legacy.

Revive In Style

A new Broadway revival of West Side Story just opened and it's not only a revival but also a reimagination. The song "I Freel Pretty" as been dropped (perhaps a little too creepily objectifying in 2020) and the choreography is more hip hop. Also, the great musical Company is soon to be revived and this time Bobbie is a woman.

There are some people who don't like the idea of old musicals being reimagined but I'm all for it: art shouldn't be static, it shouldn't be frozen in time. It should live and change -- just like life!

Mike & The Media

C'est tres gauche to declare yourself ahead of your time but goshdarnit if Mr NYC wasn't ahead of his time in calling out how the media covered Mike Bloomberg during his 12 years as mayor.

As the former mayor and current multi-billionaire campaigns for president, breaking all spending records in the process, his time as mayor is coming under scrutiny. This is only fair for someone who governed -- really ruled -- the nation's biggest city for more than a decade and is now asking to be promoted to the nation's highest office. Certainly, if Bloomberg wins the nomination as president, I'll vote for him but cannot say I'm excited at the process.

But what's also coming under scrutiny is how Bloomberg was able to shut down the ususal media barrage of criticism and complaints and "disses" that every mayor and public official has to deal with. With his money, he basically bought off special interest groups that would otherwise break his balls and he intimidated the press into giving him glowing coverage. Now he's trying to do the same thing at the national level -- but it isn't working.

Perfect example of how Bloomberg was covered vs. De Blasio, his successor: whenever De Blasio goes to the gym to work out for an hour, the media slams him. When Bloomberg flew to Bermuda on his private plane every weekend, the media said nothing. 

Read this big article about how Bloomberg "owned" the NYC media as mayor and then read some of blog posts from 2007-2013 -- and you'll see how prescient yours truly was in seeing how this mayor and possible president operated then -- and now. 

Interview: Allan Sniffen of the New York Radio Message Board

Long before social media conquered the Internet -- and our world -- message boards were the original go-to-places for people to debate and give their opinions on various issues online. Most of these message boards have vanished but one is still going strong – the New York Radio Message Board founded by Allan Sniffen. 

The NYRMB has faithfully tracked the ups-and-downs, and unending changes, of the NYC radio business since 1996. I discovered the message board in 2002/2003 in the aftermath of the Opie and Anthony St. Patrick’s debacle that generated headlines about how far “shock radio” would go to cross lines of decency in pursuit of ratings. What I also discovered about the message board were how many people in the radio business posted to it, and how informative and intelligent most of the discussions were. This was and remains all due to Allan’s diligent oversight and curation of the message board, -- keeping it a smart and civil platform for radio professionals and fans to congregate. 

Allan was kind enough to answer Mr. NYC questions about the NYRMB and the evolution of music and talk radio in NYC in the 21st century. And he also tells us what made him a lifelong radio fan – and how, in radio, talent is everything. 

Tell us briefly about the history of the NYRMB and what inspired you to create it?

I started the Musicradio WABC web site in 1996. I thought it would be interesting to have visitors comment on that era of WABC so I created the message board in 1997. After a few weeks it was obvious that there was only so much to discuss about a radio station that had changed its format years earlier so I decided to shift the focus to current radio topics. It needed to have a catalyst to prod response so that was the role I took on. 

Why do you think the board has lasted for as long as it has? What has made so many people in the NYC radio business flock to it for so many years? 

My conception for the NYRMB is for educated and informed commentary. I don't want poorly written, cheap shots under phony names. I have always encouraged quality over quantity of both posts and posters. 

What topics and/or radio personalities generate the most discussion -- and controversy -- on the board?

The more provocative and polarizing a personality, the more response. Bob Grant. Opie and Anthony. Rush Limbaugh. Howard Stern. They all invite (or invited) controversy so listeners tend to either love them or hate them. Consequently, they make good board topics. Radio station format changes also tend to inspire commentary especially if former formats were once very popular. WNEW-FM dropping rock. WCBS-FM becoming Jack. WRKS ("Kiss-FM") abandoning its urban format. WPLJ giving up its legacy. 

What are some of the biggest NYC radio stories it has covered since it came into being?

WNEW-FM dropping its rock format (1999), Opie and Anthony's St. Patrick’s fiasco (2003), WCBS-FM becoming Jack (2005) and returning to "Greatest Hits (2007), media consolidation (over the last two decades), lack of a country music station (up until 2012), retirements of great Top 40 DJ's (Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Dan Daniel and others), WPLJ dropping its heritage (last year). 

How has media consolidation and technology (i.e. streaming and podcasting) changed the music and talk radio landscape? 

Media Consolidation: We now have clusters of stations competing with other clusters (as with iHeart Media competing against Entercom). It used to be a single station verses other single stations. Today, you don't pick a format in a vacuum. You have to consider how it fits into your cluster and how it will compete against the other corporations' clusters. Plus, obviously, consolidation has eliminated many, many jobs. 

New Technology: 

Music formats: Streaming from Pandora, Spotify and Apple have created tremendous competition to conventional music radio. If the only thing a listener wants is his or her favorite songs, new technology is a better alternative. It can be better tailored to each listener and has no commercials. 

Talk formats: There are so many podcasts that the sheer number of alternatives has splintered off many talk radio listeners. That's especially true for young listeners. Plus radio hasn't significantly updated the talk format. It's mostly the same as it was 25 years ago on low quality sounding AM. 

In the years since the message board started, how has the radio business in NYC changed in your observation and opinion? 

Consolidation changed everything. There are fewer and fewer jobs that pay less and less money. Radio is billing only about 30% of what it used to. Any business that has a drop like that must reduce costs. Listeners frequently don't understand that and are quick to condemn their local station. Unfortunately it's a much bigger problem than a single station or manager. That said, all is not lost for conventional radio. It's not going anywhere because it has its own advantages. It's easy to receive (radios that don't drop out and no data fees). It reaches lots of people quickly and in real time. It can provide a human connection. The business of radio needs to remember those assets and use them. 

In the era of Fox News and numerous conservative web sites, is right-wing talk radio still as relevant as it used to be? Also, how will it survive with an aging and less commercially desirable demographic -- or is it more resilient than people might imagine?

Right wing talk radio has done well because it's entertaining. It's not about politics. New York City is politically liberal yet it has spawned many successful conservative talk show hosts (Bob Grant, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and more). Fox News learned that from the talk radio format. Make it entertaining and people will listen (or watch).

The problem with today's talk radio format is that it's mostly on AM and has stagnated over the last 25 years because it can't appeal to younger listeners with its poor sound quality. AM can't program "younger". The result is the same people have kept the same jobs for much longer than they would have in previous eras when they would have aged out. Media prefers younger listeners because advertisers will pay more for them. Since AM is stuck with older listeners for technical reasons the talk radio format has stayed with the same hosts for decades. That will only work until everyone, listeners and hosts, get too old. AM radio's future is not a bright one. 

It seems like shock jocks have faded into history. Opie and Anthony are no more. Don Imus is dead. Howard Stern has been on satellite for almost 15 years and is nowhere near as outrageous as he used to be. What do you think happened? 

Younger talent is not getting much opportunity on radio. The business won't pay or encourage them. At the same time, new media has spawned many podcast and streaming stars. A few have broken out as with Ben Shapiro but even he relies more on his podcast base than on his AM radio listeners. Traditional radio doesn't want to take a chance. Howard Stern cost Infinity/CBS-Radio (now Entercom) a fortune to both pay and defend. It was worth it on a business basis in the '80's and '90's but radio is not going to make that kind of investment today. Too expensive and too risky. 

What made you fall in love with radio and who are some of your favorite radio personalities? 

For me, the most fun radio ever was Top 40 radio of the sixties and seventies. Dan Ingram is my obviously my favorite but I liked almost everyone from that era on WABC, WMCA, WPLJ, WOR-FM, 99X (and others). Not all were from New York. John Landecker at WLS/Chicago. The "Real" Don Steele at KHJ/Los Angeles. The great Top 40 DJ's could generate excitement and enthusiasm over a 10 second song intro and then come back and do it again 2 minutes later. It sounded like fun because it was in real time, unscripted and fast paced. I try to create that feeling on my Rewound Radio live shows. 

Finally, what makes NYC radio so endlessly fascinating? 

Change and evaluating what works and what doesn't. Great radio ideas can fail for one of two reasons. Was the concept a bad idea or was it a good idea that was executed poorly? Figuring out which is like evaluating a baseball team and its players. That said... radio is less interesting than it used to be. It's becoming more and more homogenized with managers taking fewer and fewer risks. Personality radio is less in both quantity and quality on almost all formats. Anyone can play music or read a political press release. The talent is surrounding those basics with entertainment. 

Thanks Allan!

A Ride on the New York Subway - In 1972

Last week the MTA formally retired the R-42 model subway cars from circulation, the oldest ones remaining in the fleet. They had been shuttling New Yorkers around since 1969, half a century  of loyal service. The R-42s were rather dull but very solid cars with unbroken grey seats and wide spaces, acommodating a lot of people.

The subways have evolved a great deal in the last 50 years, going from a literal hell-whole to something out of the space age.

In late 1972, Vivian Gornick wrote a now classic essay about the nightmare that was the then-NYC subway. With great narrative detail, she paints the picture of a system -- and a city -- on the verge of collapse, a repository of societal failure.

Today, obviously, the city and the subway are much improved -- and the R-42s witnessed this change first-hand.

Crispin Glover's Infamous Letterman Appearance - 1987

Review: "Out for Justice" (1991)

There are many great NYC movies. Out for Justice is NOT one of them.

But while it's a very DUMB movie, it's also a very FUN movie. Lemme 'splain why:

Steven Segal, one of our great screen thespians, plays a goomba cop from Dyker Heights, Brooklyn named Gino Felino (yes, that's the fellow's name). Anyway, Gino's from da' neighba-hood and he's determined to bring down a goomba mobster named Richie Madano who's murdered Gino's goomba partner Bobby Lupo. (It's a movie that consists entirely of Goombas, many years before "Jersey Shore" mainstreamed them.) Anyway, the whole movie consists of Gina prowling around Brooklyn, lookin' for Richie, committing much violence along the way. "Anyone know why Richie did Bobby Lupo?" is Gina's constant, unanswered refrain, usually delivered before hurting someone really bad. Then he finds Richie, more violence ensues, and it's over. Complex it is not. 

But, you see, Gino's not "out for revenge" -- oh no, he's "out for justice." All of his violence is justified. This was the early 1990s, after all, when crime in NYC and the nation was very high, so the idea of ultra-violent cops delivering punitive justice was a more palatable idea than it is today. Capiche?

The plot of this movie is secondary to the numerous scenes where Segal demonstrates his superior abilities at beating people up. There's a small subplot where Gino gets back together with his estranged wife -- "Are we talkin' reconcilliation, ova' here?" is a real line -- plus we learn that our hero is also an animal lover (the movie ends with his puppy urinating on a man's head which is played for yucks and is one of the more lighthearted moments in the film). Shockingly, this stupid but very entertaining movie boasts a great cast (other than Segal): Jerry Orbach, Gina Gerson, John Leguizamo, a pre-Sopranos Dominic Chianese and a pre-ER Julianna Margulies are all in it. And there's also a great early Beastie Boy's song -- "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn." 

This is a great movie to watch with a bunch of your friends while drinking heavily and yelling at the screen. In fact, there's no other way to watch it.

Enjoy.

"No Schmutz!"

The Mighty Page Six

In this era of social media and the eradication of newspapers, gossip columns and pages are dying.

But Page Six still thrives.

Because it's not a particular column but mostly a bulletin board for gossip, it has outlasted many a columnist and competitor. It's been around since January 1977 so it has outlived many an era in this constantly changing city. However, like NYC, it's not what it used to be -- Page Six used to be decidedly nasty, vicious, making the big and powerful look small. These days, it's much more gentle and benign.

This long history of Page Six is definately worth a read if you're interested in the background of a  particularly weird and powerful NYC institution. 

Buy Chinese!

The coronavirus has hit China and other places hard -- but, fortunately, not NYC (at least not yet). 

That said, Chinese New Yorkers are suffering economically from this. Due to the virus's Chinese origins, Chinese businesses and Chinatowns in NYC are seeing reduced activity. 

This is bigotry, pure and simple.

So Mr NYC encourages all his 8.6 million fellow citizens to go out and buy Chinese. Go to your nearest China town and buy something! Anything! Order Chinese food (I did last night)! 

NYC is not the great city we love without a thriving Chinese and Asian population. Chinese New Yorkers are our fellow citizens -- they aren't just like us, they are us! 

So go out and BUY Chinese! Today and every day!

Farewell Fairway

Within the din of our country's accelerated slide into fascism is that the fact that the NYC supermarket institution Fairway will soon cease to exist.

Founded on the Upper West Side in 1933, Fairway was for decades the original upscale grocery superstore. Go into your typical Fairway and you could find every kind of olive and olive oil and ground coffee bean and fresh bread and pastries and delicious soups as well as seafood and meat and deliciously prepared meals. 

To walk into a Fairway, for me, was heaven. 

By 2007 it had expanded -- to four stores in NYC and one in New Jersey. Then it was bought by  a private equity firm and did the classic private equity hussle: it loaded the company up with debt, rapidly and irresponsibly overexpanded, became financially unsustainable, paid their executives ridiculous salaries -- and now is bankrupt. Soon all Fairways will close, a nearly century-long legacy eradicated by greed and mismanagement. 

It's aggravating because this is a tragedy not caused by gentrification or the Internet or any of the other usual suspects but just by bumbling by rich people.

Sad!

The Math Museum

I was never good at math -- both as a student and now as a soon-to-be-middle-aged-but-still-very attractive adult, I couldn't get my feeble brain around the abstract concepts and "laws" and all the nonsense. 

Hell to me would be doing math problems for the rest of my life. 

But who cares about me? My daughter LOVES math, crushes her math homework and tests at school, and even does it for fun. How lucky can a dad get? 

So this weekend we took her and her sister to the Math Museum on Madison Square. Again, my hatred for this most dismal of dismal sciences was reignited but the kids LOVED it and so I recommended it to any and all parents who have children interested in math or anything smart.

AOC Rocks New Hampshire

Water Main Breaks!

We are less than 6 weeks into the year and, believe it or not, there have been almost as many water main breaks in Manhattan as there are weeks (so far) in the year.

They've erupted all over the mighty isle, from the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights to the Lower East Side and Lower Manhattan.

Nowhere is safe!

I don't know why this is happening so often now but I can posit two reasons: 1) the bizarre Winter weather that goes from cold to warm to cold again might be making the water expand and contract a lot, thereby messing with the pipes, or 2) these pipes are super old and are finally just giving out. 

I'm guessing it's a combo of the two.

Replacing these pipes should be a big priority for the city but I suppose it makes the most sense for the city to just wait until one bursts and fix it there and then.

There'll certainly be a lot more of these to come.

To Friend Or Not To Friend ...

... a celebrity -- and no, I'm not talking about on Facebook.

Last night were the Oscars and, as far as I can see, no big-name New Yorkers won anything. But it piqued my interest in posting this lengthy article by famed New York gossip columnist -- and Mr NYC interviewee -- Michael Musto about the pitfalls of being friends with someone famous.

The idea of being friends with, or maybe even dating, a famous person might seem exciting and glamorous from distance. After all, how cool must it be to hang with someone that the whole world knows and loves? How cool must it be able to brag and say "Hey I was hanging with" so and so, or even boast "I dated" so and so.

Seems cool. But the reality, like so much in life, is worst. When you're friends with a celebrity, they call all the shots. The friendship completely revolves around them -- as does almost everyone and everything in their life. They except other people to be at their beck and call every moment. They are, for the most part, narcisists and impossible to deal with.

In many ways, this isn't their fault. They live in a very strange world, a very rarified existence. They are detached from oridinary human experience. The world caters to them, treats them like deities, and indulges their every whim. Basically, they're not normal, and being friends with them is not a normal. As someone who has been around a few (semi) famous people in the past, I can assure you this is true.

Comedian John Mulaney said it best in his stand up act. When asked, after he he had worked with Mick Jagger, if the Rolling Stones frontman was "nice", Mulaney gave the perfect answer: "No! He's not nice!"

Classic.

All Things Al

This Sunday are the 92nd Academy Awards, and amongst the nominees are Bronx-boy Al Pacino  for Best Supporting Actor in The Irishman.

I saw The Irishman right after it premiered on Netflix and it reminded me a brilliant quote from Blackadder: "The Teutonic reputation for brutality is well-founded: their operas last three or four days." 

The Irishman is a longggg movie and, worst of all, it feels like a longggg movie. It's not bad but it's not great -- despite it's director, despite its cast, despite its operatic subject matter. I don't think Al is a favorite to win (looks like Brad Pitt's gonna get it) but Al just might pull it off since it's his first nomination in almost 30 years and a great actor like him needs to have more than only one Oscar.

Of course the big deal about The Irishman is that it pairs Pacino with his fellow NYC acting legend Robert De Niro. Honestly, although they share lots of screen time together, most of their scenes are forgettable -- including the one where they're sitting around in a hotel room in their pajamas (tres bizarre). For my money, less is more, and the absolute best Pacino/De Niro pairing is from 1995's Heat. Although they only have one big scene together -- until the climatic finale --- the tension, the dramatic build, the high stakes, the raw humanity, the brutal honestly that these titanic talents emote in their scene is powerful.

In fact, Heat is a better movie than The Irishman -- there, I said it.  

Believe it or not, I've written a lot about Al on this blog over the years so, if you want to know Mr NYC's thoughts on all things Al, click here.

You can also ready my admittedly Dershowitz-like argument as to why Heat is a great NYC movie -- despite its most definite Los Angeles setting.

Good luck Al!

P.S. Here's the best scene, by far, from The Irishman. 

A Great Strange Dream

Vivian Gornick is a legend in NYC writing circles, having published numerous memories and books of essays about her life and times -- coming of age during the eras of Civil Rights, the Women's Movement, Vietnam, Stagflation, and many other such delights. She blazed the trail in crafting "the confessional" long before it became a mainstay of the publishing world.

She was also a reporter, who wrote for the Village Voice from 1969 to 1977.

In late October 1969 Gornick went to Jack Kerouac's funeral up in Massachusetts. The already-legendary Beat writer, scribe of the classic On the Road, had recently died from alcoholism at the age of 47. Gornick reported on it, seeing people like Alan Ginsberg and Jimmy Breslin there, and there was definitely a sense at this funeral that only had a man but an entire way of life had passed with him. By 1969, the Jazz loving, "hip-cat, groovy man", scatting don't-have-a-care-in-the-world world of the Beat generation had already become passe; now was the time of the Hippy, the protester -- and, more ominously, the Silent Majority. 

I'm a huge fan of Kerouac's work, so much so that I even wrote a novel in the vein of On the Road. For me, Kerouac was about freedom, about the wildness of America, about celebrating everything great about being alive and about America.

Right now we're living in another dark time, at a time when it's easy to be scared about the possibility of the American idea. A lot of people aren't happy (and you can include me, mostly, amongst them). But Kerouac had an answer for that, of sorts, probably knowing that his death was imminent and his life a short one: "Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream." 

Lin Manuel Miranda - The Movie!

Remembering David Brenner's "Nightlife"

It falls somewhere within the x-y axis of insult vs. compliment to be called "ahead of your time". It means you and your work weren't that popular or appreciated in your time but was discovered and appreciated later on in -- or after -- your life, and that it influenced others who went on to become more successful than you.

For example, The Velvet Underground's music wasn't popular in its time but it was deeply appreciated by, and greatly influenced, later generations of big bands like U2 and REM.

David Brenner's career was definitely ahead of its time. A standup comic, he broke out in the 1970s doing something most comedians hadn't done before -- observational humor. Before that most standup comedy was either "da dum bum" one liners like Henny Youngman and Jack Benny or deeply existentialist stuff like Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce. Brenner's was totally different -- not shallow jibes, not deep insights, but simple questions. He looked at the world right in front of him and did routines like, "Hey! What's the deal with tic tacs? How can you walk around carrying them without annoying people?" Long before Jerry Seinfeld made hundreds of millions of people of laugh -- and hundreds of millions of dollars in his bank account -- with observational humor in the 1990s, David Brenner was bringing this new style of comedy to audiences in the 1970s with numerous Tonight Show appearances.

In 1986 (until 1987), Brenner had his own late night show called Nightlife. Before the Johnny Carson/Joan Rivers dust up, before Arsenio Hall shook up the old boys network of late night, before the generational defining wars of Leno vs. Letterman vs. Conan, before The Daily Show and other topical shows redefined the purpose of late night, Brenner quietly made a big contribution to changing the face of late night comedy.

And it reeked of NYC. Nightlife was different in every way from most late night shows at the time. It was filmed here, it was syndicated, it didn't have a studio audience or an opening monologue. It was just Brenner, his guests, and comedy. It was rebellious and hip. It had a great attitude. It was very ahead of its time.

Perfect example: Nightlife was one of the first shows to put Howard Stern on TV. Besides a few appearances on Letterman, the shock jock was barely known outside NYC at the time. Brenner totally understood Howard Stern's unique comedic genius and gave him a platform when few others dared. Brenner wasn't just ahead of his time in his own comedy or with his own late night show but he recognized revolutionary comedy in others -- and celebrated it.

David Brenner died in 2014, age 78. His days as a talk show regular and host, as a big-time comic, were long over. He never achieved the gigantic success of observational comedians like Seinfeld or Paul Reiser, and was largely unknown to younger comedy fans. But David Brenner was a true comedic pioneer as his short-lived talk show proved.

And his influence lives on.

The Gentleman From Brooklyn Stands Up for the Constitution

Why Byford Quit

This is a must read -- the backstory of how and why NYC Transit Chief Andy Byford quit after two extremely successful years on the job.

It makes for an intriguing narrative and a depressing read.

Two years ago NYC Transit was in crises, with delays and problems aplenty, the subways and buses running so slowly, with so many problems, that citizens of the city were rebelling. So Governor Cuomo made a smart move -- he hired Byford, perhaps the world's most respected transit expert with successful runs in other big cities like Toronto, to turn the system around. And he did -- brilliantly. The delays were dramatically reduce, the system running better than ever, the workers loved their boss, and things were going well.

And Cuomo couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand that his hire was getting all the credit -- and not him. Cuomo decided that had to micromanage the system, second-guess Byford, try to steal credit where he could, thereby creating a toxic relationship between the governor and the transit chief. And since Byford is someone who can get hired anywhere, he decided to tell the governor and the city to shove it -- and quit.

Thanks for Cuomo's egomania, we've now lost one of the best public servants this city has had in years. It's a real shame -- and will literally cost this town time and money.