Kudos, Props, and Requests

A lil' bit of blog bid'ness that I hope you, my sweet readers, will pay some sweet attention to.

First, if you check out my right-hand links, you'll see that I made some additions and subtractions. Added some new links, got rid of some dead ones, and re-arranged a few others. Browse and enjoy at your leisure.

Second, I'd like to request my great readers to send me any links to blogs or websites that are NYC-related so that I can add them to the link list too. If you have an NYC blog and would like it linked here, even better! Just click on the Comments and send me the link and, if it's cool, I'll include it here. Any other comments are welcome as well.

Third, I'd just like to thank the over 76 thousand people (and counting) who have stopped by this blog over the last four-plus years. The vast bulk of my readers are from the USA but there's also a strong number of visitors from the UK, Germany, Canada, Russia, the Netherlands, China, France, and the Ukraine. Considering that this blog is about NYC, a big international city, it's great to know that this blog has an international audience. 

Keep up the great work!

Happy Birthday George Washington Bridge!

The GWB turns a grand old eighty years old today. 

Looking pretty good for an octogenarian. 

Love everything about this structure except the traffic.

Here's to another eight years. 

New York Neuroses

Interesting article that looks very closely at the unique neurosis of NYC. What is it when we talk about "neurotic New Yorkers" exactly? This article attempts to explain why.

Full disclosure: I was actually interviewed for this article last week but my comments, sadly, were left on the cutting room floor. But it was an honored to be consulted and it's a good read nonetheless.

New York Broads

"There ain't nothing like a dame!"

And there's nothing like New York dames -- or broads -- either.

Take these two very different but very interesting examples.

Liz Smith is probably the greatest gossip columnist in this town's history. She's been practicing her trade for decades (as I've written about here). Recently, Vanity Fair did a great short profile about her and how she's an only in New York kind of gal, how New York has made her what she is today. But she's not originally from here -- oh no, she's from Texas. But when she's a classic New York broad because she came here and conquered, she made this town her own and made her mark. This town may have made her but she also made part of it too. Tough as nails, smart as a whip, a living legend, Liz Smith is one great New York broad.

But New York produces his own great broads too. 

Ellen Barkin has a been a prominent actress for almost thirty years. She's made classic movies like Diner, The Big Easy, Sea of Love, and countless others. And this year she won a Tony for the play The Normal Heart. But for all her fame and fortune, Ellen Barkin is and wants the world to know that she's a New Yorker first and last. You must read her hilarious and wild Twitter feed, where this famous actress bills herself simply as "Bronx girl." And boy -- does her Twitter have a Bronx attitude! She's a real talent and a real New York broad. 

They don't make 'em like this anywhere else.

Haggerty Verdict

On the Streets Where They Lived Revisited

Add this to the culture file for NYC.

As much as we love the arts in NYC, we also love real estate. And hey, artists, they gotta live somewhere right?

Check out this website called Right Here NYC that lists that addresses and sometimes even has pictures of the various homes and apartments where some of the great writers, actors, musicians, and other artists who have lived in NYC over the years.

Where did you Jimmy Cagney grow up?

Where did Greta Garbo live during her reclusive years?

Where did Papa Hemingway live?

You can find out.

Old Friends

Eric Clapton once wrote a great song called "Old Friends" where you opined:

Hello old friend ... Really good to see you once again ... 

Speaking for myself, the greatest friendships are those based on nothing more, nothing less, than mutual affection. Not money, power, opportunism, or anything else -- just good old fashion trust. Those are the friendships that last the test of time, that weather every crises and the changes and vicissitudes of life. True, lasting friendships bow to nothing and no one and truly stands the many tests of time. 

That's why it brought a tear to my eye to read this column last week about two Bronx men in their late eighties who have been friends for ... eighty years! They were both born in Ireland and knew each other as children. Both men then migrated to America and had lives here -- but remained friends throughout. Neither man became wealthy or famous but they had good lives as a gravedigger and a transport worker, respectively. Both married, had families, and the two old Irish friends would sometimes vacation in that workers Riviera known as the Rockaways. 

It's a beautiful story. An eighty year friendship. And thought they've both lived in America for over 60 years, they still have their old country Irish brogues -- so whenever they speak to each other, they remember where they came from and how far they've come.

Sadly, one of them is dying of cancer and soon they will be parted. But there friendship will endure.

An old man passed me on the street today

I thought I knew him but I couldn't say 

I stopped to think if I could place his frame

When he tipped his hat I knew his name

 

Cultah', cultah', cultah'

The cultural life of NYC is so massive that there should be a TV show about it.

And now there is! 

PBS has a wonderful show called Sunday Arts that explores the various aspects of arts and culture in our fair city -- be it music, dance, opera, theater, art exhibitions, creative profiles, or information about various artistic and cultural institutions and support groups in town. If you, like me, consider yourself a culture junkie and an NYC junkie, then this is the perfect show for you.

Hey, it's PBS so you know it's gotta be classy. 

Also, if you love culture and NYC, you probably love ... wine! And PBS has a show about that too: Vine Talk, hosted by the great New York actor Stanley Tucci. Here you get to learn about new wines and see celebrities drink them. How classy is that?

Howard Stern as Clarence Thomas

Twenty years ago this month, this nation was roiled by the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings. The former law profession was accusing the Supreme Court nominee of sexual harassment and accusations and counter-accusations flew. Before Lewinsky, before the 2000 recount, before the Iraq War, this was one of those events that helped drive one more wedge into the political culture war that divides America to this day.

Back then, Howard Stern was a mostly local "shock jock" who also had a hilarious TV show on Channel 9 on Saturday nights. He did this incredibly funny, very politically incorrect send-up of Thomas in the summer of 1991 -- a few months before Anita Hill came forward with her allegations. This bit was inspired by the revelation that the very conservative Clarence Thomas has once smoked marijuana -- which Howard then turned into a comedy gold.

Watch this and laugh, and relive some history at the same time. It's Howard at his best.