Eddie Murphy Returns to SNL for the First Time in 35 Years

Remembering Mercedes de Acosta

Many years ago Howard Stern was interviewing movie icon Warren Beatty and got right to the point: "You make great movies," the King of All Media told the legendary Hollywood actor/director/Lothario, "if you didn't bang all those broads ... we'd talk about the movies, but the broads get in the way." (Then Stern told Beatty something about smelling his hand and the interview was over.)

Howard spoke the truth.

No matter how great a film icon Mr. Beatty is, no matter how many great movies he's directed and starred in, he'll best be remembered for his other great "productions": Natalie Wood, Joan Collins, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Madonna, and many others. 

So was the case of Mercedes de Acosta.

Born in NYC in 1893 to affluent Cuban immigrants, Mercedes was a playwright, poet, and novelist. Her career trajectory was a little less Warren Beatty and a little more Llewyn Davis -- professionally, she was a failure, her work forgotten, her career unsuccessful. But she's remembered nonetheless. Why? Well, personally, she had some very successful "productions": Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, and many others.

Even though she married a man, Mercedes was a notorious, unashamed lesbian at a time when this could literally land you in jail. She made lovemaking into an art form, her skills became as legendary as any movie or work of literature. Most of all, she had a boundless, rapacious spirit. Mercedes was someone the world wanted to classify one way -- a boring married lady who did nothing -- and she refused to stay in her lane. Instead, she travelled the world, wrote prolifically, and seduced many women. She's probably best remembered for the quote: "I can get any woman away from any man." 

Fearless! 

Mercedes lived the life she wanted, even if it didn't always bring her happiness. (Maybe the "broads" got in the way of her having a more successful career but, honestly, I'd rather be remembered for "productions" like Mercedes de Acosta and Warren Beatty than any play or movie.) Sadly, Mercedes died in poverty in 1968, taking her legendary skills into the afterlife. In many ways, her life was sad but she was brave, she was courageous, and -- if sometimes a little fearless and irresponsible -- she lived her truth until the end.

How many of us can say that?

As Seen on Northern Boulevard

Snow Squall in NYC

Memo from NYC

After last night's historic impeachment vote of Donald Trump -- his greatest presidential achievement and the only thing he's ever really earned on his own -- many pundits are wondering about the political ramifications of it. Specifically, there seems to be a consensus, based on absolutely no evidence, that this will "backfire" on the Democrats and that Republicans will benefit in their efforts to keep him in office.

Yeah, sure, okay.

Obviously it's impossible to predict how impeachment will play politically leading up to next year's presidential election but, so far, the evidence is not side of this idiotic consensus. Last month there was elections for Governor in Kentucky and Louisiana, deeply Republican states, and the Democrats won. In Virginia, the Democrats won control of the statehouse for first time in thirty years. Democrats also swept local elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Missouri, all states Trump won in 2916, many of them for offices that Republicans had held for years and years. So, thus far, the evidence is that not only is Trump 100% guilty of impeachable offenses but also that he is hurting his Republican party badly at the ballot box.

But pundits don't let reality get in the way of a good "narrative", of a popular meme.

Here in New York, there are a few closely-watched congressional races that the pundits think might be affected by impeachment. What's so interesting about observations like this one, is the utter moral bankruptcy. There's no belief that doing the right thing, the noble thing, the courageous thing is good -- it's all about political positioning, etc. 

And this is the greater evil that faces our country right now -- not just a bad, corrupt man in the Oval Office but a media and political class that has no decency, no sense of right and wrong, no sense of the great American experiment's Constitutional moral imperatives, just "Who's gonna win?" This corruption in the American power structure goes beyond this president or the next election and it won't end with the impeachment trial or the next election.

It will only end until we the people make the media and the political class pay with their jobs, their money, and their power. We have the power. Let's use it!   

NYC Rallies for Impeachment

Memories of Moondog

New York City is replete with "characters", oddballs and others, who become semi-famous, sometimes notorious, in the city for their work or their "shtick" (often both). Think Al Goldstein. Think the Naked Cowboy. Think Rudy Giuliani. (Mr NYC is, perhaps, an aspiring NYC character, albeit a digital one.)

Then there was Moondog

For many years, until 1974 when he moved to Berlin, a man in a viking helmet, adorned with a cape and holding a spear, could be found standing on 52nd street and 6th Avenue on most days. Just standing there, quietly, stoically gazing at the passing throng -- although sometimes he sang and read poetry. Most people thought he was some kind of weirdo (he was!) but he was so much more than that -- the man, who became popularly known as Moondog, was an accomplished musician who wrote symphonies and songs, and who toured and appeared on the radio and television to play his music. Even more impressive, he invented actual instruments, odd contraptions that made nontraditional sounds, and that included synthesizing the sounds of the city streets. 

A transplant from Kansas, a true Renaissance journeyman, NYC was one of Moondog's many haunts. Sadly he left the city before my time and died in 1999, but a new re-issue of his work his bringing Moondog back into the public consciousness, reviving memories of the talented oddball Nordic hero of 6th Avenue, and keeping his legacy alive.

Harvey Speaks!

Fallen movie producer Harvey Weinstein recently gave an interview where he says that he can't possibly be that bad a rapist because he helped further the career of a lot of actresses and female directors. Also, he's now using a walker because he messed up his back in a car accident. 

Poor Harvey!

This is something that rich and powerful people can do (or at least try to do) that most common people can't: they can do horrible, evil things -- commit crimes even! -- and then use their money and power to launder their reputations. For example, for all of the raping Harvey did, he raised money for AIDS research and gave lots of aspiring people in the movie business career breaks. We see billionaires, like the Koch Brothers, whose companies pollute the environment and undermine the social safety net but they also give lots of money to cancer research and arts organization. I remember, back around 2002/2003, when the Enron scandal was a big story, many of the executives involved pleaded for lenient because their money and wives for adult literacy. 

This is what's wrong with our whole economic and social system: the rich and powerful can evade serious consequences because they can buy the best legal services and bribe the right people. They can use the media to rehabilitate their image. They can twist everything around to their advantage.

And the rest of us? Who cares?

The Amazon of NYC

Late last year, and earlier this year, NYC was roiled by the proposed Amazon headquarters for Long Island City that would potentially create thousands of job -- but only if the city and state agreed to tax breaks and virtually no oversight. Amazon balked and pulled the plug on the plan, leading to pundits and others bleating about how opponents to the plan had cost the city jobs, the city was becoming unfriendly to business, blah blah blah.

Oh wait.

Amazon just announced that they are still coming to NYC -- this time to Hudson Yards. And they're doing it without demanding tax breaks or any other give-aways or corporate welfare! 

See, Amazon was always planning to come to NYC. The idea that they were doing the city some big favor by opening a headquarters here and needed favors to do so just exposes what a shakedown their original proposal was.

This just proves that you should never give into bullies, never submit to their pressure, because, when you fight back, you prove just how weak they are.  

Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" Joins the National Film Registry

So was "Clerks" which was released 25 -- not 37! -- years ago.