And now for something completely different ...

... from a very different time, from a very different city, from a world totally uncognizable today ... drumroll ... here are a bunch of NYC supermarket commercials from April 1985!

They might make you nostalgic, they might make you weep, they might make you happy, they might make you verklempt -- but they are a reminder that the more things change, the more things stay the same -- plus ca change and so forth -- we'll always need groceries. 

Why Us?

The writer and New Yorker Peggy Noonan points out in this column that, for the third time in 20 years, NYC has become the epicenter for a global crises -- 9/11, the 2008 meltdown, and now, COVID-19. 

And she asks a very simple, understable question: why us?

Because when you're the center of the world, as she indicates, "The city of skyscrapers draw the lightning." These types are horrors are "the privlege of living in the most exciting little landmass on the face of the earth."

Indeed. 

Queen Elizabeth II said, after 9/11, that grief if the price we pay for love. And this kind of nightmare is the kind of experience we pay for living in the great city of dreams, the most magical city in the world. 

And it's worth it. And it always will be.

Don't Forget Chinatown Stories

Read more about this series. 

The Racial Impact of COVID-19 in NYC

This probably comes as no surprise but the people suffering the worst from COVID-19 are the people who mostly suffer the worst in life -- black and Latinos, and those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.

Blacks and Latinos are dying at twice the rate of whites in NYC. It just goes to show how persistent and ingrained inequalities are always exacerbated in a crises. Ironically, it's Asians that are the least impacted -- considering that this crises started in China and so many people have been avoiding Chinese businesses and have been openly racist towards Asians in general.

Classic Mr NYC

A little over a year ago I interviewed Billy Procida, the comedian and host of The Manwhore Podcast, to get his take on the complexities of gettin' busy in NYC. His interview, like his podcast, was a sexy and rollicking good time.

Well, Billy, like the rest of us, is hanging tough and socially isolating but he's doing it in a very interesting way -- he's staying with his girlfriend and her boyfriend in a Jersey City apartment. Yes, he's part of a triad, a polyamorous relationship, and they are camping out together in non-traddional style. They're even doing podcasts together where they talk about, and analyze, this very interesting situation.

Recently Billy was interviewed by New York Magazine where he talks about his current living arrangements. I strongly reccommend reading both interviews since Billy is a very entertaining guy.

Couple of additional thoughts: I don't know Billy or his lady personally but I know other non-monogamous couples and they are actually some of the nicest people I've met. It's quite amazing to see people who can be so open and loving (literally and what not) with each other. Also, from this article, I learned about the word "metamour" -- another way of saying "eskimo brother". If you don't know what either term means, Google them.

Cuomo Announces Drop in COVID-19 Deaths

Ron Perlman Unfiltered

Ron Perlman is one of those actors who has been around forever, appeared in every movie and TV show, and even voiced cartoons. He's a real working, journeyman actor, a consistently great performer -- especially the Hellboy movies and the show Sons of Anarchy.

I remember as a kid he was on this very bizarre 1980s show called Beauty and the Beast, one of the weirder shows to ever appear on network TV. It's about a gorgeous woman who falls in love with a half-man/half-beast who lives in a secret world beneath NYC. Ron Perlman played the beast, the world sexiest animal.

And Ron Perlman is from NYC, a child of Washington Heights. And even though he's a big actor, he's a character himself. You should read this big interview where he talks about his career but also talks about his family, many of whom have worked for the city government their entire careers (like mine!). And he unloads on Trump -- oh man oh man, does he ever. It's a great read!

Also, listen to his WTF interview from a few years ago -- it's also wild!

Adam Schlesinger RIP

His great band, Fountains of Wayne, named a whole album after a major drag in Queens.

And here they are playing their biggest hit, "Stacy's Mom", at Webster Hall in 2003. RIP Adam, you were brilliant.

Please Stay Home!

This is quickly becoming a genre -- people walking around an empty NYC and then writing about mourfully it. The latest example, and it's a good one, can be read here. 

However, much as I love NYC, I won't be contributing to this new-fangled genre. 

I'm not walking around the empty city because 1) I have little kids at home that I have to take care of, and 2) going outside, unless it's for food or other vital necessities, is not a good idea, particularly in Manhattan or any densely populated part of the city. 

So yes, read and enjoy (if possible) these articles but, to anyone else thinking about writing another one, please don't and just stay home!

Marie Brenner's Letter from New York

The great Vanity Fair writer Marie Brenner has a powerful article about NYC during this pandemic, about how the city is mimicking, in its way, the time of the Great Depression.

She compares the make-shift hospitals in Central Park to the Hoovervilles that were built there, how desperation for survival invaded an area built for recreation. Brenner also write about how this crises compares to stories her father told her about the Great Depression -- and how a time and place that felt so distant feels so frightening recognizable today.

It'll be interesting to see what writing and stories about this time survive into another era. This piece might be one of them.