"New York" by Ric Burns: 1609 to 2026

Much to my chagrin I've never blogged about the massive New York documentary series by Ric Burns. It's probably because it first came out in 1999, eight years before this blog started, and it was and is a rather weighty thing to describe.

In short, it started out in 1999, as an seven episode PBS series about the first almost-400 years of NYC history. Then, in 2003, a new episode came out about the city right after 9/11. Now, twenty-plus years later, there are two new episodes about NYC in the first quarter of the 21st century -- dealing with the Great Recession, COVID, Trump etc. 

You can watch the original episodes here and then the new episodes on PBS (at least for a little while). While it's a very longgggggg series, it is the definitive (and continuing) telling of the NYC story.

(I remember watching this documentary the fall after I returned from college. It felt like a nice homecoming!)

Alison Steele Returns to WNEW, October 18, 1982

Something was in the air in NYC in the fall of 1982 -- literally. The voices of Howard Stern and Alison Steele took flight in the ears of the city's radio listeners, and things were never quite the same afterwards.

Howard was very young at the time and had just started at the now defunct WNBC radio in NYC. It was a legendarily bad run for him but, in 1985, he was fired and went over to 92.3 K-Rock where he would soar into legend.

Alison Steele was a different but nonetheless interesting case. She had started out in rock radio in the late 1960s at WNEW and then, in the late 70s, left. For a while she did voiceover and commercial work, and even DJ'd for an airline (I think it was TWA). But in the fall of 1982 she returned to WNEW -- the Nightbird flew again for the grateful listeners of NYC. She would remain at WNEW until 1989 where she would then move over to overnights at K-ROCK -- and would go off the air just before Howard came on. She would stay at K-ROCK until her untimely death in 1995.

But all of that was to come. Here is Alison's first show back at WNEW in October, 1982, exactly 44-years ago today:

And hey, if you want to, here's a lil' bit of Howard's first day at WNBC -- and in NYC radio! -- in September 1982, before Howard and Alison's fates intertwined:

No Kings in NYC

Today we protest, tomorrow we vote.

Remember, this is why America is great: you can tell your leaders they suck and then replace them. Outcomes are not promised, nothing is guarenteed -- it goes back and forth, the hampster wheel keeps turning -- but we have the power to try to make things better -- if we so choose to do, individually and together.

"True Detective" in Jamaica Bay Finds Its Leading Men

Last year I blogged about how the 5th season of the HBO anthology series True Detective is to be set in Jamaica Bay in Southern Queens.

Nothing else was (or is) known about this season except that its two main leads have been cast: Nicholas Cage and Antonion Banderas will star and will be, one assumes, heading to shoot in the swamps of NYC next year.

Cool. They're great, legendary actors. Can't wait to see it! And I'll keep updating about this season when more info comes out.  

Review: "Dan & Phil: Hard Launch" at the Kings Theater

Okay, so this isn't a regular review, it's more of an anecdote: I took my kid to the "Dan & Phil: Hard Launch" show in Brooklyn because she's a huge fan of their show. It was a wild audio-visual comic experience, and just about everyone there was an emo-kid in their parents (save my kid and me and some other family members who went).

Anyhoo, the show went on at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn (lot of posts about Brooklyn lately). It was my first time there and it's a really gorgeous, huge, and cavernous theater. It used to be a movie palace and was beautifully restored as a live theater. I strongly urge you to go see a show there -- I didn't really care about "Dan & Phil" (although they were entertaining and my kid was happy) but man, oh, man, that theater is awesome.

The Travels of Mr NYC

What's the Matter with Kelly?

Social media is a tool, meaning it can be used for good and ill. When someone celebrates a milestone, or someone passes away, it can be beautiful to see the outpouring of support and condolensces from people and strangers far away.

But more often than not social media is used to bully people. 

Such is the case with Kelly Clarkson the singer/talk show host who visited an art store in Brooklyn, asked about buying an item on the wall that wasn't for sale, and then bullied the store on social media saying she was treated like a hooker. Now the store is getting threats and harrassed online -- ugly stuff.

Being a celebrity bestows many benefits -- perhaps the biggest one of all is that the public and the media pays attention to the stuff you say or post online, no matter how inane. In short, being a celebrity gives you power, and how you use it is important. 

We appear to be living in a period of wontonness, where people with power and wealth are using it to abuse. And Ms. Clarkson, one would think, would be better than that. But apparently not. She's no ... idol. 

A Gaslamp Burns in Brooklyn

ICE in NYC

It was only a matter of time before the goons from ICE caused havoc in NYC -- and they have, in Marble Hill.

I understand that people want to deport "illegals" but not this way. ICE is out of control. They're shooting and killing people all over America and it's an outrage. Previous administrations deported way more people without all this violence. It has to stop!

Mark Ronson Talks Being a DJ in NYC

Twenty Years of Governing New York - the Players & Plays

A year before Mr NYC started, a publication dedicated to New York politics called City & State debuted. It's a rare animal -- a publication devoted to local and state politics and government that does quality journalism without bias, and is a staple for New Yorkers who want to understand the who, what, where, and why about how they are governed. 

A LOT has happened in New York in the last twenty years -- multiple governors, mayors, and other state and local officials have come and gone, the city and state becoming firmly Democratic while also, bizarelly, producing its first president (a Republican!) since FDR. 

There's have been tremendous victories and failures in those two decades and, for its 20th anniversary, City & State has a great summary of the players and plays that have written the last 20 years of New York history. 

You should check it out!

Tony Montana in NYC -- "Scarface" (1983)

 

Gotta Love New Yorkers

Overheard in Lower Manhattan, lady on her phone: "I was there at that shower when she married that white boy ..."

NYC Nor'easter '26

 

Henry Hill's Last Day of Freedom in "Goodfellas"

 

The Code of Mr NYC

As defined by ChatGPT:

Based on the blog’s recurring themes, tone, judgments, nostalgia, and observations over many years, The Code of Mr NYC can be understood as an informal moral philosophy of urban life: love your city fiercely, pay attention to the world around you, preserve what is worth preserving, distrust pomposity, and try to live with curiosity, humor, memory, and a certain New York toughness. 

• Love New York without pretending it is perfect. New York is complicated, contradictory, beautiful, vulgar, historic, changing, and occasionally absurd. Its flaws are part of its character.
  
  
• Pay attention. Notice buildings, streets, neighborhoods, people, restaurants, music, movies, politics, history, and the strange little events that everyone else walks past. A meaningful life requires actually looking at the world.
  
  
• Know your city's history. Today's New York is built on yesterday's New York. Remember the people, places, disasters, triumphs, eccentrics, artists, politicians, and ordinary citizens who created it.
  
  
• Preserve what deserves to survive. Progress is not automatically improvement. New buildings, new money, new technology, and changing tastes should not erase everything distinctive about the city. 
  
  
• Accept that change is inevitable—but judge it honestly. Nostalgia has value, but the past wasn't necessarily better. One person's golden age can be another person's nightmare.
  
  
• Be skeptical of power, wealth, and self-importance. Money and status do not automatically confer wisdom, taste, virtue, or legitimacy. Watch what powerful people actually do rather than what they claim to represent.
  
  
• Respect competence. Good institutions depend on capable people doing their jobs well. Leadership is not merely about the person at the top; it is also about choosing good people and giving them responsibility. 
  
  
• Don't take politics—or politicians—too seriously. Politics matters, but political rhetoric can become theater. Look for facts, consequences, hypocrisy, and the gap between promises and reality.  
  
  
• Keep your sense of humor. The world is frequently ridiculous. The proper response is sometimes outrage, sometimes sadness, and sometimes simply: You have got to be kidding me.
  
  
• Have opinions, but remain capable of changing them. Love and dislike need not be absolute. A person can admire one work by an artist while disliking the rest of their career, or appreciate an era while recognizing its ugliness.
  
  
• Remember the people who mattered. Death does not make someone's cultural contribution disappear. Remembering artists, neighbors, public figures, friends, and ordinary New Yorkers is a form of gratitude.
  
  
• Take pleasure seriously. Good food, music, movies, books, travel, beautiful places, baseball, architecture, nightlife, and simple experiences are not distractions from life. They are life.
• 
  
• Have some basic civic manners. You don't have to become polite in the suburban sense. But don't make life unnecessarily difficult for everyone around you: move right on the sidewalk, don't block subway doors, and recognize that public space belongs to other people too. 
• 
  
• Be yourself, even when you're a little weird. New York's greatness comes partly from its tolerance for eccentricity. Conformity is not a virtue merely because it is conventional.
• 
  
• Don't confuse sophistication with cynicism. You can see corruption, stupidity, hypocrisy, commercialization, and decline without becoming incapable of appreciating beauty or goodness. 
• 
  
• Stay curious until the end. The city keeps producing new stories. Keep investigating them. Keep wandering. Keep learning. Keep finding things worth writing about. In one sentence Love the city, remember its past, question its present, enjoy its pleasures, resist its bullshit, respect other people, and never stop paying attention.

That, more than any particular political or cultural position, seems to be the underlying ethical worldview of Mr NYC: a stubborn belief that paying attention to the world—and caring enough to remember it—is itself a moral act.

Satanicide Sings About Snakes and Ice Cream in Brooklyn, 2011

 

Mamdani's Leadership Masterclass

In just three days Mayor Z managed to make the President of the United States his little bitch, forced DoorDash to cough up over $100 million in wages that it stole from NYC delivery folks, and then hosted an international conference of mayors.

He's practicing realpolitick, the art of the possible, a exemplar of maturity, iron will, and focus. 

This guy is 34 years old -- I have pimples older than him -- but he seems to be a leader wise beyond his years and those of other much older elected officials. Damn.

This is leadership, a masterclass in what a leader can and should be. I sure hope he keeps it up!

Gracie Mansion Summit

This is not normal -- and, for once, it's a good thing.

The most right-wing president in American history just visted the most left-wing mayor in NYC history, and had a great meeting at Gracie Mansion! And the POTUS went to Hizzoner! It seems that, for some reason, Trump is super-charmed by Mamdani and they work well together.

And that's a great thing for the city.

The usual boring subjects are breaking the POTUS' and Hizzoner's respective balls over this meeting but here's the thing: this is called governing, realpolitick, dealing with what is and not what you want it to be, getting stuff done, engaging in politics as the art of the possible, not just winning elections. 

Sadly this should be normal but isn't much these days. But, as a New Yorker, I'll take it!

The Carnegie Deli Returns!

It went away "noin" years ago ...

... and now it's back!