Who's Tim Keller?

There's an interesting phenomenon in American life that's as old as the republic itself: the mega-preacher. The Man of God as celebrity. The superstar of faith. The be-attitude with attitude. The light mocking the darkness. The Voice ...

From John Brown, Father Coughlin, and Billy Graham to the likes of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker to Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, our most famous preachers know how to move a crowd, whip up a religious fervor, and bring us closer to Him. There's always been a political element to these folks too, and lately most of these mega-preachers have become associated with what's called the Religious Right. But they're not just political. Most of these guys are self-help gurus, and people look to them for "answers." They try to help people navigate this harsh, mean world and make sense of the senseless.

And they build HUGE churches, stadiums really, where literally THOUSANDS of people flock each week like it's a football game. It's really mind-blowing.

Most New Yorkers assume this is a scene to be found in the South or the Sun Belt -- and that's mostly true. But what if you heard that such a scene exists right here in NYC? And perhaps most shockingly, it's to be found in the beating heart, the ground zero, the epicenter, the very headquarters of the liberal elite?

'Tis true. Yes, you heard me right -- Sarah Palin has a friend on the Upper West Side.

Meet Tim Keller. For the last twenty years, he's been preaching his stern, conservative version of the Gospel at Redeemer Presbytarian Church. And he's got an enormous following of New Yorkers who come to hear him preach every week. He's so popular that he has to have multiple services every day to accommodate everybody. Forget Cardinal Dolan or Reverend Al or even Rabbi Shmuli or whatever his name is-- Tim Keller is the Voice of NYC.

You must read this fascinating article about him in this week's New York magazine. Who knew a guy like this existed or was so popular in this town?

What's amazing about Keller is that his "hook", the thing that gives him such a following is that he preaches less about social issues and more about what he sees as the sins of over-achievment -- mainly that people strive to be overachievers because they desperately want to fill up the emptiness of their souls. It's an interesting idea and, in these tough economic times, needless to say, many people are questioning the ethos of unbridled capitalism, of greed, or more more more ... stuff. It's an interesting article, and he's an interesting guy, so I suggest you read it and come to your own conclusions.

$174

For the last month the chattering classes have been clacking their collective teeth, wondering just how much money Mayor Bloomberg spent on his re-election.

Now we know. The numbers are in: $102 million. For a total of roughly 550,000 votes, that comes out to $174 per vote. In 2001 he spent $99 per vote and in 2001 he spent $112 per vote. So from 2001-2005,he increased his spending by $13 per vote but from 2005-2009 it went up $62 per vote.

62/13=4.77. The difference was almost five times greater in 2009 than 2005. Wow. And since Bloomberg won by only 5 percentage points and spent more than $100 mill to get it, that means he spent $20 million per point. Wow wow.

If Bloomberg had just given each voter $174, imagine what they could have done with it? I know what I would have done with it! For $174 I would:

• Pay our monthly cable/internet bill
• Pay our electric bill for two months
• Pay my cell phone bill for three months (a quarter of a year!)
• Get oysters on the half-shell and a porterhouse for two at a modest-priced steakhouse (without wine)
  
• Buy my wife a beautiful broach or pin or a scarf from the Met store
• Get some cheap Broadway tickets from Theatermania
• Save it and earn a few pennies from the bank!

Giving each of us voters $174 instead of spending it on stupid attack ads would not only have benefited the economy but also made the lives of us ordinary New York a little more pleasant in these bleak times. But ours is a "political" economy, haha, and so it goes (or should I say, the money goes).

Alice's Restaurant

As much a NYC Thanksgiving tradition as watching the Macy's parade on TV is listening to "Alice's Restaurant" on the radio. Every year at noon on Q104.3, you can hear the complete eighteen minutes of Arlo's Guthrie's classic song/story/anti-war treatise that seems as relevant today as ever. My favorite part of the song, which also coincidentally is what grounds it as a New York story, is the following part:

"They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York, and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the psychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Bloomberg III

Speculation is rampant about who may or may not populate Mayor Bloomberg's third and final administration. After eight years of a remarkably stable team, with few departures, it looks like the top echelons of city government are due for a big shake-up.

City Hall News has an ongoing feature about this called Gaming Out The Bloomberg III Cabinet. It has all the rumors and reports of rumors about who might be in, out, or left twisting in the wind.

My big question is this: assuming that most of the people in the administration who have served these last eight years want to stay, why would Bloomberg then get rid of any of them?

After all, wasn't the overturning of term limits and Bloomberg's expensively-acquired third term all about keeping him and the people around him in power -- because they've done such a great job? If he fires a lot of these people, are we really sure he can attract people of similar talent? They'll only have four years on the job, not really enough time to make the kind of big changes that those people in Bloomberg's first two terms had the chance to do. Why would anyone want to be second best? Term-limited from the time they take office? Stepping into such big shoes -- who wants to be in that situation?

Don't be surprised if Bloomberg's new administration is a profile in mediocrity.

We shall see. I hope to be wrong. But I wouldn't be surprised if Bloomberg III is a lot like Godfather III -- a miserable follow-up to two previous triumphs. I've said that overturning term limits was a bad idea precisely because it would lead to all sorts of unintended consequences -- and less than stellar cabinet might be one of them.

Howard Stern - 2009-10-05 - David Letterman Extortion Attempt (Part 1)

I know I'm way behind the ball in posting this but you MUST listen to Howard Stern talk about the David Letterman extortion situation. He makes some very smart remarks about it and I found it all together educational. There are four more clips of this segment so you should check them out on YouTube.

It's sad to see such a New York icon as David Letterman get himself into such a nasty situation where he's being shaken down by the ex-boyfriend of a woman Dave had an extra-marital affair with. You can't imagine Ed Sullivan getting into such a mess. But Howard makes the great point that it's just never a good idea to screw around on the job. Work and nooky don't mix! Still, men are men and when they see some hot young stuff, well ... figure it out. Money, sex, and power is a lethal combo.

Only in New York (and Hollywood ... and Washington, DC).

The Art of the Samurai

If you've ever been intrigued by the ancient Japanese culture of samurai warriors (or even if you just enjoyed the Kill Bill movies or the old "Samurai Night Fever" sketches on SNL), you should check out Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868 at the Met.

Very cool exhibit. They have dozen and dozens (and dozens) of old samurai swords that look menacing even enclosed in glass. There's a short film that shows the painstaking work that goes into the making of these swords. Even though they look very simply, the samurai sword is a coveted thing for a reason: they are made out of special metals that are smelted and formed to be very dense and super, super, super sharp. It is a complex, time-consuming process to create these swords but they are amazing instruments of war.

Additionally they show lots of samurai armor which is mostly a complex web of colored lacquer and metal. What's really interesting about this armor is it makes you realize how small most of the samurai warriors really were. I don't think anyone more than five feet could fit in this stuff!

This exhibit runs through early January so check it out now!

Jeanne-Claude RIP

In February 2005 Central Park became the site of one of the most memorable public art exhibitions in New York City history: The Gates. Conceived of by the artists Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, it consisted of hundreds (thousands?) of saffron-colored nylon panels (resembling "gates") lined up along the paths from 59th all the way up to 110th street. It was a complete, beautiful transformation of our most beloved park and, even though the exhibit only lasted two weeks, it has become a cherished event in our city's collective memory.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were famous long before "The Gates" with other outlandish although effemeral environmental exhibits like the draping of Berlin's Reischstag and the flooding Biscayne Bay in Florida with pink fabric. Kooky -- but cool -- they dared to be creativily audacious and helped enrich the culture.

Sadly Jeanne-Claude passed away this week at the age of 74. And as someone who loved The Gates, I wish Christo and her family all the best. Thanks for helping to give us a unique New York memory.

New York City at Night

There's no more beautiful sight in the world.

Memo from NYC

Paterson Calls Obama Wrong on 9/11 Trial

Why has this thing become such a big deal? One of the masterminds of 9/11 is going to be tried in NYC. The main crime occurred in NYC. Therefore ... shouldn't he be tried here? Makes sense to me.

All these critics say he should be tried in a military tribunal. Why? Don't these critics believe in the American judicial system? I do. Isn't the American judicial system something we're fighting to protect? Don't we help protect the American system by practicing what we preach? In my opinion, putting this guy who wants to destroy America through the wringer of our legal system and showing him why we're better than him is exactly what we should be doing.

It's called the power of our example.

Call me naive, but it looks like a lot of people who say they believe in America don't really trust it. I've even heard some of these critics say that he should be tried quietly in a tribunal, that trying him here will flick the scabs off the wounds of 9/11.

Are we, the American people, really that weak and insecure that putting this nutjob on trial here will overwhelm us? I think we the people are better than that.

I would think that trying this "evildoer" and passing judgment on him would help bring some kind of closure to the trauma of that day. Sure, he'll get a platform to spout his nonsense -- and we'll get a platform to condemn him before the world.

To me, all of this carping is ginned up political nonsense generated by opponents of the Obama administration. These people (mostly Republicans but not all) are politicizing 9/11 (again) to create a wedge between the president and the American people. As usual, these people don't care about justice or America or the constitution -- they just care about hurting Obama so that they can get back into power. This is not about justice or the victims of 9/11 -- this is pure politics at the deepest, most cynical and disgusting level.

A Trip to the High Line

This weekend I finally -- FINALLY! -- made it to the High Line. Located in the West Village between 14th and 20th streets, it's an old abandoned train track turned into New York City's park in the sky.

Park isn't actually the right word for it: the High Line is more like a promenade. It is a long, unbroken stretch of pavement. You go up the stairs (or the elevator) and find yourself about two stories above Manhattan. The surrounding buildings loom over you and Hudson River is just off to your right. As you trek down the promenade, besides the people, there are patches of greenery and brush and various interesting flora. There are also lots and lots of benches -- some small, some large -- that were built so they look as if they're growing out of the cement floor. There are also large wooden chaise lounges where lots of people, in beautiful weather, like to sun themselves.

People like to walk, sit, and chill on this most unique of promenade parks.

Best of all are the little surprises I found on the High Line. There was actually choir from a local church performing on the day I went there. Also, at certain points, the promenade cleaves off into different levels so you can actually walk back and forth and have a totally different experience. At the northern end of the High Line, near 18th street, is perhaps its strangest but, if you think about it, the most logical feature: a gigantic window overlooking the street. In front if it are several levels of wooden benches where you can sit, read the book or the newspaper, and people/traffic watch to your hearts contents.

Strange. But uniquely New Yorkish.

So I liked the High Line. I can't wait to see the whole thing when they open more of it next year. What I'd really like to do at some point is go back at night, with the lights of the city in the background.