Welcome to the Real Digital Underground

Fifteen years ago this week, the American army caught Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein hiding in an underground bunker -- also called a "spider hole." Nine months after the start of our ill-conceived invasion, the Butcher of Baghdad was still in hiding, moving around out of sight but not out of mind, staying underground as much as he could, and successfully evading capture -- until his luck ran out. Osama Bin Laden was a much more successful underground dweller, hiding out for almost a decade after 9/11 until he was found (not underground actually) and killed in Pakistan.

There's something scary but also exciting about the idea of an "underground" existence -- being  everywhere and nowhere, being alone but also free, being able to be who you want to be without anyone else rendering judgment. Being separated from a crazy, evil world, living on your own terms. Until, of course, your luck runs out. 

What does it mean to go "underground" or live in an "underworld"? How long can we do it -- before we get caught? 

My thoughts about what it means to be "underground" or in an "underworld" were further spurred when I read this article about a fellow NYC blogger who, for more than 25 years, has been producing a publication (first as a zine, then as a blog) about opera. He's a perfect example of someone who started out as an outsider, a troublemaker, an "underground" character, only to be embraced by the very people and world that, at first, would want nothing to do with him. The article says that his blog is still "underground" but, when you're featured in the Times and permitted access to a rarefied world, you are underground no longer. 

Except for once upon a time being linked to the New York Times now defunct City Room blog roll, Mr NYC has avoided any kind of mainstream, establishment attachment. Nary a magazine, a newspaper, an online publication, a TV or radio station, a podcast -- nothing! -- has corrupted this blog with any kind of attention. 

Detractors might say, it's because the blog sucks. Fans might say it's because Mr NYC is too good for, you know, Da' Man, The Squares, the bourgeoisie.

Either way, Mr NYC remains very much an "underground" phenomenon, adrift in the vast sea of the Internet, a digital secret -- like that great out-of-the-way neighborhood, or downstairs restaurant, or hole-in-the-wall bar (pick your analogy) that few people know about but, for those who do, they love it, cherish it, and hold it close. 

Mr NYC is probably the only thing in this city that isn't being colonized by money and attention -- and, for that, I expect you all to be very grateful. 

So, if you're a Mr NYC reader/detractor/fan/whatever, you have discovered the real digital underground, a real Internet spider-hole, an underworld all its own.

Congratulations! Enjoy your stay! 

Mr NYC in Rome

I've been to Rome -- twice.

How can I put my love of the Eternal City succinctly?

Well, if there was another place anywhere else in the world where I would want to live besides NYC, it would be Rome. I feel at home there, comfortable and serene, like the city is embracing me in its millennia-old arms. Every block is gorgeous, the streets bursting with history. You are reminded at how long the arc of history is, how young a country we in America live in. To be in Rome is to be in history -- and heaven.

I've seen everything there is to see in Rome (and much, much more): the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, the Borghese Gardens, the Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Circus Maximus, even the Baths of Caracalla, and more churches than I can remember.

But there are some things I saw that are somewhat off the beaten path -- and couple things you should do if you ever get to Rome.

First, arrange for a tour of the Vatican Gardens. It's a huge, beautiful park with numerous oddities like the Chinese Gazebo. You get a behind the scenes look at the Vatican, the history behind the history. My favorite thing was seeing the Papal helipad -- a square marked with yellow lines. Like the President, when the Pope leaves the city, he is airlifted via helicopter to the airport. The helicopter is provided by the Italian government but the Vatican is an independent state -- so the interior of the lines is Italian territory, and none of the helicopter pilots or personnel is allowed to traverse the lines or its considered an invasion!

Second, a short walk away from the Vatican, is the Castle Sant'Angelo. This building is over 1,000 years old and was, for centuries, the Pope's prison, the Vatican's dungeons. Walking around the gloomy but fascinating old jail, where people were tortured and murdered, you see the dark side of power and history. Ironically, if you go to the room of this place, you will see the most beautiful views of Rome. I've been surprised at how many people planning trips to Rome have never heard of this place. It's almost a secret.

Third, if you ever want to see the Pope in person, you can either go to the Sunday at noon blessing he gives from the Vatican widow or the Wednesday audience he gives from St. Peter's Square. When we went many years ago we saw then-Pope Benedict at both events -- and it was fascinating to see the Vicar of Christ in the flesh. 

Fourth: Rome is not just the Eternal City but also the nocturnal city -- it stays up late. Near to where we stayed was the famous 24-hour bakery Dolce Maniera. You can stay out really late or get up really early and find fresh yummy baked goods. We went there almost every day -- and night.

I also love the history of Rome so here are two suggestions: the 1970s miniseries I, Claudius (that gave us the actors Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, and Patrick Steward -- with hair!) and The Borgias (about a very corrupt family that grabs and usurps the greatest power on earth -- they pulled it off 500 years before the Trumps).  

Rome is a city layered with history -- and the joy of going there is peeling back those layers, and seeing how our present world was made. Here are some original photos:

"On the Town" Gets Its Due

The 1949 movie musical On the Town is one of the oldest, and greatest, NYC-centric classics. Starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller and Vera Ellen, it's the story of three sailors on shore leave who only have 24-hours to explore the city and fall in love -- and, thanks to the magic of the movies, they do just that.

It's hard to believe but, until today, this movie was not part of the National Film Registry run by the Library of Congress (it's a designation given to movies deemed "cultural significant"). But now it takes its rightful place on this exclusive list.

On the Town certainly is a great NYC movie but it's also just a great movie musical -- period. Beautifully shot, amazing acting, dancing, and singing, and a fun storyline, and you have a fun movie that's timeless and fresh -- and it's almost 70 years old! If you haven't seen On the Town yet, and love movie musicals and NYC and movie musicals about NYC, go stream it or rent it or even buy it -- you'll love it! 

Oh, and Donald Trump's ex-lawyer was sentenced to jail today. More good news! (He won't be "on the town" much longer -- more like in the pokey.)

"Fearless Girl" Becomes a Permanent Part of NYC

Yet another reason to love NYC.

Subway Impeachment: New Yorker vs. New Yorker in DC Faceoff

This has to be unprecedented.

The President of the United States, Donnie Trump, is from NYC and is under threat of impeachment (if the latest batch of court filings mean anything) for directing his lawyer to coordinate illegal payments to former mistresses in order to buy their silence right before his election. This violates campaign finance laws and, by any right, should lead to his impeachment and removal.

And if that happens? If the POTUS is impeached?

The first step in the process falls to the House Judiciary Committee, who would have to vote to recommend impeachment to the whole House before they could vote to impeach the POTUS and send him to trial in the Senate. In 1974, this same committee recommended sending articles of impeachment to the Senate and, shortly thereafter, President Nixon resigned (when it became clear that the whole House would vote to impeach and the Senate would vote to convict/remove). If a similar amount of political pressure can be mustered, then a vote by this committee could lead to Trump's premature exit from the Oval Office (and I'm sure it wouldn't be the first thing he's done prematurely). 

The person who will chair the House Judiciary in 2019 and possibly to lead to Trump's premature evacuation from power will is another guy from NYC -- Congressman Jerrold Nadler from Manhattan. He's been in Congress for over 25 years and has enormous clout, respect, and, very soon, power. And Donald Trump's fate, one way or another, will fall into this hands next year.

As mentioned, this has to be unprecedented -- a New York President under threat of removal by New York Congressman. 

If it comes to this, it'll be the biggest "subway" event in American history, making any kind of "subway series" seem like nothing at all. 

Mrs Maisel & Memories of NYC Past

Specifically, the show turns the streets of 21st century NYC into 1950s NYC -- and this big article shows how that particular magic happens, from renaming restaurants with new signs and removing street signs, etc.

The second season of "Mrs. Maisel" just dropped on Amazon and I'm itching to watch it and hope to soon (ever noticed how things like jobs, family, friends, the holidays, houses, etc. always have this way of preventing us from doing what we were put on this earth to do -- watch TV?). 

If you're still feeling nostalgic, you might also want to read this short conversation about the Upper West Side in the 1970s between two writers who grew up then and there and wrote novels about it.

Ah, memories ...

Mr NYC in Texas

Twenty years ago a buddy and I took a road trip to Texas (followed by some other places). We drove south from college and, after a couple of days, arrived in this vast, fascinating state.

Texas is big. Real big. Like, crazy "wow" big. 

We drove forever, and forever (sometimes I think we're still driving through it). We drove through towns like San Antonio and Abilene, through small towns made up of nothing but trailer parks (I remember one called Sheffield), and through hundreds of miles of west Texas where there was literally nothing at all except roads -- no trees, no people, no houses, no stores, no civilization at all, nothing for miles and miles and miles and miles but flat land ... until you occasionally hit a much-needed gas station. 

Our destination was Big Bend National Park, and it was worth the drive. This is a massive and stunningly gorgeous place with mountains and canyons and stunning natural landscape after stunning natural landscape. We backpacked through the trails and came upon mountain views that went forever and simply stupefy you with their beauty. We did this for a couple of days, sleeping in a tent, until we took off for Houston en route to New Orleans.

Big Bend is not an easy place to get to -- in fact, it's the least visited national park in the country for precisely this reason -- but I urge you to go if you can, words cannot describe how life-changing it is to be there. It reminds you of how amazing the natural world is, how vast and overwhelming, and how us mere people are simply part of a greater design. You feel a great inner peace being in this gorgeous yet quite space. It's very special. (By the way, Big Bend is also the same place where Supreme Court Justice, and New York-native, Antonin Scalia died in 2016.)

We only spent a night in Houston and I don't remember much about it, we got there at night and left early the next day. We ate a Fudruckers and I had perhaps the biggest cheeseburger ever. However, I do recall we drove briefly around downtown and I saw a huge statue of a cello, a modern art exhibit, that seemed very Texas, very non-NYC.

So the saying is true: everything's bigger in Texas. A lot bigger. And, despite its politics, it's a place worth checking out. 

Oh, and if you want to see the definiate movie about Texas, watch Giant from 1956 starring Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as James Dean in his last movie and a young Dennis Hopper in one of his first.

Bleecker Street ...

Past and Future. 

Nixon & George Bush: December 31, 1971

Former President George H.W. Bush died this weekend. He was the first president I remember seeing elected and taking office (I was too young to remember the Carter presidency or the early days of Reagan's). Bush was VP and President for most of my childhood, a constant presence, until he was suddenly defeated by Bill Clinton and vanished from public view for a long time. 

Now he's gone for good, and he had a long, incredible life -- a true American story (whatever you thought of him).

Bush lived in NYC in the very early 1970s when he was the UN Ambassador under President Nixon. (He only did the job for two years before being recalled to DC to head the Republican National Committee.) This phone call between the then-current and future presidents from New Year's Eve 1971 is fascinating (it was recorded on the very same taping system that would bring Nixon down 

a few years later but, at this moment, the Watergate break-in hadn't happened yet).

Nixon calls Bush at the ambassador's residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC (the same hotel where I spent my wedding night decades later) and wishes him a "happy new year." Bush is overwhelmed by Nixon's thoughtfulness to call. Nixon asks him how he likes "fighting that New York society crowd" and Bush says that he hates the "New York society crowd" and he doesn't like his family living in NYC but that he is "ensconced in royal splendor", a reference to life at the Waldorf.

I wonder if Bush was just saying that to play up to Nixon's well-known resentment of "New York society" i.e. rich liberal Jewish people -- I hope that's the case. Either way, it's fascinating to listen to this moment in history between two momentous historical figures.

Interview: Billy Procida of the The Manwhore Podcast

Sex! Love! Comedy! You'll find all that, and much more, on The Manwhore Podcast with Billy Procida!

More to the point, you'll find an intelligent yet sexy untangling of the complicated emotions, pitfalls, and opportunities of being a sexual creature in 21st century NYC and America. I've never heard anything quite like Manwhore: on the one hand, it's very titillating (i.e. lots of sex talk) but the podcast is also about the emotional and societal complications of sex and dating in a time of social media, #MeToo, and social/economic/political insanity. Billy and his guests obviously love to talk about sex but the show isn't really "pervy" -- it's more existential, asking "who are we as human beings and what does our sex lives tell us about ourselves in this crazy time?"

Billy is an NYC-based comedian and was kind enough to answer a few questions for Mr NYC about his comedy, his life, his podcast, and NYC.

Tell us a little bit about your background and career in comedy. Who are some of your comedy idols and influences? 

I grew up listening to George Carlin and Chris Rock. I stumbled up on Carlin simply by searching 'comedy' on Napster. Whatever files weren't broken became my comedy library. Being as prolific as he was, there were many albums I became acquainted with. With Rock, I thought he was hilarious in Dogma and then discovered his stand-up. I think I had Bigger and Blacker memorized when I was 13. Today, I find myself falling asleep listening to Doug Standhope—which probably explains all the nightmares.

What inspired the creation of the Manwhore podcast? What in your life and career made you decide to do this?

I had this very peculiar problem: women would sleep with me, but they wouldn't date me. So I wanted to find out why. Because I wanted relationships; I wanted love; but anytime I wanted to get more serious, it was always the woman who told me she wanted to keep it casual. This rarely ended things—I was still told to come over and do that thing that I do with my tongue. When it happened for the umpteenth time, I decided to start this podcast where I reconnect with former flames and find out what went wrong. 

Your podcast, while obviously being about sex, seems to also be focused on how sex and fun should be enjoyable without being exploitative or demeaning to anybody. Do you consider yourself and the podcast "woke" or just smart? 

I'm just a comedian with a fuck show. But a lot of people have described me with a variety of adjectives from woke to feminist to problematic. 

You and your guests have done some pretty wild things on your podcast. What's the craziest interview or thing your and guests did? Don't spare us the details!

I had a listener 'blow her way to Brooklyn.' A woman slid into my DMs on Instagram earlier this year. She lived in a nearby city and really wanted to hook up with me. It was late one night and I suggested she find a friend to give her a ride to New York City and how she could "thank" him. Then I thought...what if she 'thanked' a series of drivers all the way to Brooklyn just to hook up with me? Fueled by an overinflated ego, feeling flattered, I pitched her this scene where I would coordinate several rides to driver her different legs of her journey. She was to give a blowjob on each leg to show her thanks. Then she'd get to my door and 'get' to blow me (I personally don't think I'm much of a prize, but hey, whatever gets you going). So we documented it through her solo recordings in-between each driver up until she was standing outside my bedroom door talking about the anticipation of meeting me. We had a super fun night together and the next day recorded a surprisingly intimate and raw episode. Having a hot chick suck some dicks just to suck mine might be the craziest thing I've done on the podcast. 

That's pretty wild! Who are some of your dream podcasts guests that you haven't interviewed yet?

Dan Savage. Charlotte Clymer. Janet Mock. Laci Green. Kevin Smith. Louis C.K. Barack Obama. 

What's been the biggest surprise or thing you've learned -- about life, relationships (and, obviously) sex -- in doing the podcast?

I've learned to listen better—which is difficult when your job is seemingly to talk. But my job is in fact to listen, because this show is nothing without the women from my life. The more I listen, the more they talk. The more they talk, the better the episode. At least in my opinion. The same holds true in dating (and sex). 

How do you think the Trump presidency and ugly political environment has affected sex and relationships? 

Oh god, don't get me started. My sex and my relationships don't really change—I'm a cis straight white guy. I'll be fine. But the lives and relationships of many of my friends and colleagues might change, if they haven't already. I don't want to speak to those changes, because I don't really experience them and others can speak on it better, but it's no surprise that the Trump Administration—as well as the Republican Party, since it's in their 2016 party platform—is anti-queer. If you're a Republican who is openly for LGBT rights, you're a deviation of the party, since the GOP put it in their literal party platform. Explicitly. Trump tweeted a trans military ban. His vice president has attacked queers when he was the Governor of Indiana. Trump even put money back into abstinence only education (even though it's been proven time and again that it does not work). A lot of 'sex-positive' people want to say that they support LGBT people and are sex-positive and all that jazz...but vote Republican (or, ugh, third party). If you were able to and didn't vote in this most recent midterm election—and didn't vote Democrat—I'm willing to say that you are not sex-positive. Full stop. 

What are your thoughts about #MeToo? 

Dude, you gotta tighten this question. I think it's great that women are stepping forward with their stories. I'm glad that it's raised the topic of consent into many people's consciousness, enough that we might try to teach kids comprehensive sex education so they can learn about consent at younger ages. 

What are your hopes of the Manwhore podcast moving forward? 

I'm super excited for ManwhoreCon 2019. We just wrapped up my second annual fanwhore weekend in August, but I'm already so stoked to do it again! Fans are already talking about it in our secret Patreon-only communities. I also want to do more live shows in other cities next year and, of course, some fun episodes. I'm thinking The Pepsi Challenge of Cocksucking. 

Finally, tell us about your life in NYC and what you love about the city. And tell us anything else you'd like us to know! 

I love New York City. I've lived here 11 years and I always feel the magic—even when I spend 95% of the day inside. It's both a historical city and a modern city at the same time—and you can feel that all the time. I feel connected to hundreds of years of stories when walking down a street I know used to house the city's largest orphanage, or sitting in McSorley's Old Ale House, an institution that's had its doors open since Lincoln. My favorite book on New York, Lowlife by Luc Sante, describes this city in the most beautiful way I've ever seen. And I quote it often. "The firmament that is New York is greater than the sum of its constitutent parts. It is a city and it is also a creature, a mentality, a disease, a threat, an electromagnet, a cheap stage set, an accident corride. It is an implausible character, a monstrous vortex of contradictions, an attraction-repulsion mechanism so extreme no one could have made it up." 

Great quote! Thanks Billy! You can find Billy on Twitter @TheBillyProcida and download The Manwhore Podcast on ITunes.