Congrats to Tracy Letts ...

... author of the great hit play "August: Osage County", which just won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. You can read my rave of it here.

If you haven't been able to check it out yet, you must! Broadway doesn't get any better than this.

Being Single in NYC (and America): Some Interesting Statistics

Last week Gothamist published a map based on info from Forbes magazine which calculated single men to single women ratios around the country.

Looks like NYC is a great place to a be a single guy and LA a great place to be a single gal: single women outnumber single men in New York City by over 200,000 (YEAH BABY! -- oh God, did I just type that?) while single women outnumber single men in LA by nearly 90,000 (I have no idea how to feel about this; while I pity the men of LA, I never intend to live there so why should I care?).

Actually if you look at the map of the country as a whole you notice that there's more single women on the East Coast and Midwest while the opposite is true for the Western and West Coast states. I have no idea why this is the case but there it is.

So to the single women of NYC: don't feel so bad about rejecting some dude, he's got lots more proverbial fish in this urban sea.

And to the single men of NYC (specifically those "nice guys" who don't get girls): don't feel so bad, your odds are better than you think!

Congestion Pricing RIP ... for now ...

Congestion Pricing Plan Is Dead, Albany Leaders Say

Sorry Mike, looks like Shelly rolled you again.

A Prairie Home Companion

There's lots to do on any given Saturday night in New York City but it's not every Saturday night in NYC where you can go to "A Prairie Home Companion." But last night a bunch of us went to the 1174th live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's radio variety program at Town Hall.

It was a great show and hopefully you'll hear it this weekend on your local public radio station. Wearing his trademark suite and red sneakers, Keillor was hilarious and quick-witted as always (best joke of the night: when the Pope is in town this month he'll spend most of his time listening to confession from Elliot Spitzer). Keillor was joined by Scottish chanteuse Jean Redpath, who several beautiful songs, as well as by country music star Brad Paisley (who sang several HILARIOUS and naughty songs). Also, a local poet read several funny short poems and Keillor and the band sang several delightful songs.

Of course there was a Guy Noir mystery story (special guest: Kimberly Williams-Paisley, star of The Father of the Bride movies and TV series According to Jim, also wife of Brad) that involved demolitions (gotta hear it to believe it) and, naturally, the News from Lake Wobegon.

I'm not able to hear "Prairie" every week but I do my best to. It's such an sweet, fun, innocent, old-fashioned show that it's almost hard to believe that such an uncool, thoroughly unhip thing could still exist in this deeply cynical age. But thankfully it does and, when it does to NYC, we should be grateful.

"A Prairie Home Companion" is broadcast locally on WNYC 93.9 FM, Saturday afternoons at 6 PM. It's rebroadcast on Sundays at 11 AM on WNYC 820 AM. Check out their website for more info.

Darrell Issa is a Tool

A REPUBLICAN congressman from California -- a representative of that patriotic, all-American, mom-and-apple pie organization -- recently called the events of September 11, 2001 "simply" a plane crash!!

And that's why he doesn't believe New York should get any more homeland security funds. This is the great wisdom from a man who was busted robbing cars as a youth (or, as we say here, "yute").

Mr Issa, don't even think about showing your ugly car-thievin' mug in NYC anytime soon. You won't be welcomed.

Pictured to your right: the Tool himself.

Crazy Eddie = INSANE!!

Some of you may remember these Crazy Eddie commercials from the 1980s. They were so outlandish and silly that they became something of a cultural phenomenon, even popping up in movies like "Splash."

Insane!

I vaguely remember going with my family to buy an air conditioner from the Crazy Eddie store on Broadway in the 70's -- I think it's a Ruby Foo's now.

Insane!

Of course Crazy Eddie (nee Eddie Antar, a Syrian Jew from Brooklyn) turned out to be a crook and huckster of the highest order. Crazy Eddie went bust in 1989 and he ran away to Israel in 1990. He and was finally brought back for trial in 1993. Interestingly enough Crazy Eddie was prosecuted, of all people, by Michael Chertoff, now the secretary of Homeland Security. Chertoff called Eddie "the Darth Vader of capitalism", I guess making Mr. Chertoff the Luke Skywalker of capitalism.

Insane!

Wikipedia has a good write up of the whole sordid story. Thankfully we can still enjoy his silly commercials ad infinitum.

In -- oh never mind.

Mr NYC Rubs Some Shoulders

I wasn't able to blog yesterday because I was hanging out with ... other bloggers! This was my first time meeting my fellow NYC bloggers and I had a great time. The event was organized by Alejandra (of the food blog Always Order Dessert) at the bar Stout near Penn Station and she was a lovely host.

Among some of the bloggers I drank and chatted with:

• The spirited creator of Debonair Debacles, a personal blog that's remarkably insightful and well-done. She talks about everything on here: herself, politics, popular culture, food, books, you name it. She told me she gets over 200 hits a day (Mr NYC is just a wee bit jealous) and you can see how she's earned it -- it's simply a delightful blog. Check it out!
• A lady who calls herself Madam Breakfast -- yes, a blog devoted to the first and most important meal of the day. Breakfast Lab is a very informative blog (about guess what) and has lots of great advice about what constitutes a healthy breakfast. I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like it. Definitely worth a look.
• Finally, someone with not one, not two, but three advice blogs, one of them on nerve.com. They are: SelfHelpMe, Stephanerd, and the Modern Materialist. Very smart blogs, and very funny

So all in all, I consider my first blogger meet-up a success. I can't wait for the next one!

The Pope is a Comin'

Pope Benedict XVI is visiting NYC this month (April 18, 19, and 20). This is the first Papal visit to America since 1999, when John Paul II visited St. Louis (I was living there at the time but didn't get to see His Holiness).

If you want more info about this visit, the Archdiocese of New York has a special info site for it. Also, the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio is doing 'round the clock coverage. Check out the details here.

The Outer Boroughs Are Getting Cool

Not that we need the media to tell us this but I guess it's official now: the outer boroughs are getting "hip", according to The Daily News:

As Manhattan loses luster, trendsetters set their sights on hip alterna-nabes

Sarah Jessica Parker is quoted in this article as saying of Manhattan, "It's expensive, and it's not what it used to be" -- and if Sarah Jessica says it, if the guru of all things hip in NYC says it, it must be true.

And it is. Obviously Manhattan has gotten so outrageously expensive that the young and hip and cool and "with it" folks can't afford to live in it anymore. And beyond that, it's actually the consolidation of wealth in Manhattan that's making it uncool -- been to the Upper East or West Sides lately, or even Tribeca and the Village? They've become so hopelessly gentrified, so luxe and sterile, that whatever funky, idiosyncratic vibe they had is fading fast.

So go to Queens, Brooklyn, even Staten Island and there you'll find the "real" New York ... whatever that may be.

Russian Turkish Baths - 1991

Recently Mr NYC went to the Russian Turkish Baths on 10th street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A. I
could tell you all about it but this story from "Good Day NY" in 1991 tells (and shows) all in detail.

Believe it or not but New Yorkers have been shvitzing at this place since 1892. That's a lot of sweat!

Check out their website. It's definitely worth a trip.