Plumbing the Depths of Liberal Anxiety

New York City is, as we know, a very liberal city. Hopelessly liberal, some might say. We New Yorkers have come to accept that, as Woody Allen said in Annie Hall, the rest of America views us as "left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers."

Even our Republicans are liberal (see Rudy, see Mike, see George). We've come to accept that we're not part of mainstream America. We accept our second class American citizenship. And we accept that, for the most part in recent decades, the people we support for president don't win.

So that's why our heads are spinning right now. We look at the polls and see a black liberal Democrat leading and Democrats poised, yet again, to sweep the Congress, and none of us can believe it. It must be a giant ruse, a nasty joke, a con-game by the media and right-wing. And like the good liberals we are, we're all very depressed about it.

Our neurosis even invades the headlines:

Liberals Worry as Election Approaches

Democrats' gloom deepens

How else would a good liberal feel? Or maybe ... just maybe ... just possibly ... miraculously ... after years and years in exile, New York City is suddenly part of mainstream America! Could it really be true? In about 100 hours or so, we'll know.

A few notes to both my loyal readers:

Mr NYC will be on hiatus this weekend -- life events are stealing me away from the beloved keyboard. But I'll be back next week to blog on the history in the making.

This blog hasn't been as NYC-centric in the last few days and weeks and I apologize for that. Once the election is over, we'll get this blog (like American hopefully will be) back on track.

Be Kanye/Absolut

I've seen these ads on the subways around town and they're on TV too. I don't really see what this has to do with Absolut vodka but I guess they're so weird you remember them ... and thus it makes you want to drink Absolut vodka or whatever. These ads are so brilliant, I guess, that I'm not smart enough to understand them.

"Howard Stern All Morning, Classic Rock'n'Roll All Day": K-Rock Memories

My previous re-post about Alison Steele, and a comment by the great blogger Zen Denizen, triggered a flood of nostalgia in me for the old 92.3 K-Rock. It was the only radio station I listened to in high school during the early 1990s, and it used to be the classic rock station in NYC. While everyone else in my school listened to Z-100 or Hot 97, I was one of only a few who listened to K-Rock all the time. I even remember the line-up:

Howard Stern, 6-10AM
Pete Fornatel, 10 AM-2 PM
Dave Herman's Afternoon Rock'n'Roll Show, 2-6 PM
The Greaseman, 6-10 PM
Maria Molito or Dea Snee, 10 PM-2 AM
Alison Steele, the Night Bird, 2-6 AM

I don't know why I still hold such affection for, of all things, a radio station line-up. Maybe it's just part of getting older and something like this reminds me of a simpler time in my life. Or maybe it was just that it had Howard Stern and my favorite kind of rock music on the same station. But I think what I liked about it most was that Pete, Dave, Allison, and Maria were classy DJs who you could tell really loved the music they were playing and seemed to respect their audience. And in this time of radio consolidation and voice-tracking, etc. they were people who made radio an art form and a community ... the way it used to be.

Gerard Damiano, RIP

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February 6, 1990

If you had picked up The New York Times on this date, and looked at the bottom of the front page, you would have seen the following story: First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review.

Then you would have probably gone on to read the "real news" of the day and forgotten all about this little story. Funny how the real news of that day is ancient history now but this little story is more timely than ever. And a week from now, well ... we'll probably be seeing yet another historic headline about this same person. Curious the fates are.

Mr NYC's Ode to Alaska

Senator Ted Stevens has been convicted of bribery. Governor Sarah Palin is headed for national rejection.

This kind of agita can't be doing much for our youngest state's self-esteem. My liberal bleeding New York City heart is actually starting to feel sorry for the state of Alaska.

So here's my little gift to the land of the midnight sun: Michelle Shocked's lovely song "Anchorage." It's sweet and happy and full of joy -- and I know the people of Alaska could use some of that right now. Enjoy!

Sexy Area Codes

In status obsessed New York, even your area code matters. For decades, this city had only two area codes: 212 for Manhattan, 718 for the other four boroughs. Having a 212 demarcated you from the “bridge-and-tunnel crowd,” and getting a 212 (i.e. moving to Manhattan) became something for people in the outer boroughs to aspire to.

The advent of cell phones and a surging population has made new area codes in NYC a requirement. About ten years ago a new Manhattan area code, 646, was introduced for all new Manhattan phone number so a 212 number became an even more valuable commodity. The same is now true for cell phones. As more and more New Yorkers sucked up cell phone numbers, numbers for the original 917 area code ran out. I recently saw the Sex and the City movie and Carrie gets very depressed when she gets a new cell phone and finds out that she’s no longer a “917 girl.” She clearly feels less chic and trendy and, dare I say, less sexy. Well I still have a 917 for my cell so I guess I’m still sorta trendy and sexy. And I guess all those Manhattan old timers with 212s are the sexiest of all ...

Is Mike Bloomberg Our Noah Cross?

If you think the extension of term limits by Mayor Bloomberg and the city council has the whiff of crime about it, Clyde Haberman puts it in an novel -- nay, cinematic -- perspective. He compares Bloomberg to Noah Cross in Chinatown. Both men are certainly ruthless and power hungry but I don't think the whole "my sister ... my daughter ... my sister ... my daughter" part applies to Bloomberg (at least, let's hope not!).

Main Street NYC

We've heard a lot about "Wall Street" and Main Street" these last several weeks as the financial crises has deepened. Many people associate "Wall Street" with big, bad New York City and "Main Street" with good, moral, small-town America.

Obviously the reality is a lot more complicated than that. In fact, New York City is probably the most "main street" of places in the country -- we've got five of them! And as this article in today's New York Times indicates, while each our main streets differ, they are centers of community and, dare I say it, old-fashioned values.

P.S. Sinclair Lewis published a novel called Main Street in 1920, a liberal satire about American society at the time.

Classic Mr NYC

This is probably my favorite blog post of all. A year about I wrote about Allison Steele, an old-school New York radio DJ who did overnights on the old WNEW and K-ROCK for over 20 years. She was a phenomenal talent who had a voice that was truly magical. She died of cancer in 1995 but I've never forgotten her.

Remembering Alison Steele, "The Night Bird"