Photographs of a 7-year-old girl's battered body moved jurors in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial to tears yesterday. The prosecution showed crime scene photographs, featuring Nixzmary's dead body. The girl's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez is on trial for second-degree murder. Newsday thought it sounded like someone exclaimed "Jesus!" after seeing the pictures; other jurors covered their mouths. And with good reason: One of the pictures "showed bruised and scratched buttocks of the child with a spot......

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League – a group that exists to promote Bill Donohue, er, prevent “virulent anti-Catholicism” – is leading a protest against Jerry Springer: The Opera, which will be performed at Carnegie Hall on January 29th and 30th and stars Harvey Keitel as Springer. The show chronicles Jerry Springer’s adventures in hell, where he's forced to host an outrageous talk show whose guests include Adam and Eve, Mary, Jesus, and, as......

When Harold Pinter’s masterpiece The Homecoming first premiered on Broadway some four decades ago, the dramatized hostility was met with equal hostility from the bourgeois audience, as witnessed by the playwright himself: One of the greatest theatrical nights of my life was the opening of The Homecoming in New York. There was the audience. It was 1967. I'm not sure they've changed very much, but it really was your mink coats and suits. Money. And......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Richmond Ave. on Staten Island, an injured corrections officer at Rikers Island in the Bronx, and a gas leak on East 68th St. in Manhattan. Chris Booker, the NY radio DJ boyfriend of Philly news personality Alycia Lane who allegedly punched a female NYPD police officer after calling her a dyke, says that she's being singled out because "[she's] a babe." Or it's because she......

Hassan Askari, the Muslim college student who intervened in a violent subway attack against a group of Jewish riders, was honored at City Hall yesterday. The fight allegedly started when some thugs boarded a Q train yelling "Merry Christmas", prompting one of the Jewish riders to respond with a "Happy Hanukkah." Fisticuffs ensued, with one of the non-Jewish attackers shouting, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus!" One of the goons is also said......

One of the ten suspects arrested in the Q train beating of a Jewish man during Hanukkah is saying that hate crime charges are completely uncalled for because he himself is Jewish. Joseph Jirovec Jr. was arrested two weeks ago after a group of Hanukkah revelers was beaten while on a the Q train after wishing happy holidays to other riders. Members of a crowd on the train took objection to the Jewish greetings and......

The story around the possible hate crime attack on a Q train the other night seems to be made for the season. Not only does it come while subway violence is a big topic, it also involves a group of Jewish subway riders being called "dirty Jews" and "Jew bitches" and attacked by people who cried, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus." And here's the kicker: The only person who stepped in......

Police are investigating an attack on a Brooklyn-bound Q train as a possible hate crime. A group of people (WNBC says they were on their way home from Hanukkah celebrations) were called anti-Semitic phrases and then beaten up by another group of ten people at Canal Street. The Post has some more details: Apparently one of the attackers "made anti-Semitic remarks about Jews killing Jesus, saying, 'This is a Christian country.'" But the father of......

EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be......

Don Marbury Sr, Stephon Marbury's dad, has passed away at age 69. He was in attendance at the Knicks game last night when he suffered chest pains and was rushed to St Vincent's. Stephon learned the news after the game and quickly left the Garden without comment. The team, which kept its locker room doors closed for 30 minutes after the game to allow Marbury to leave, refused to talk about why Steph stormed out......

Today we have illusionists like David Blaine performing "stunts" in the city, but back in the day there was the real deal stuntman, Evel Knievel. Just after making news by making nice with Kanye West (after suing him over this video), he died yesterday in Clearwater, Florida at the age of 69. The NY Times reports he had "failing health for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. In 1999, he......

Paramore Arrives One of our favorite albums of the year is by these girl-fronted teenage pop-punkers, and they were in town this week to headline their largest local show yet at Roseland Ballroom. It was the last show of a massive national tour, but you wouldn't know it seeing front woman Hayley Williams running around stage with the rest of her band. Paramore may not win any originality contests, but they've got more fire and......

As noted earlier today, a number of consumer activists, sweatshop protesters and anti-capitalist agitators have for years been working to turn Black Friday into Buy Nothing Day. Spearheaded by the anti-advertising gadflies at Adbusters, the event calls on individuals to suspend purchases for 24 hours and engage in creative activism to highlight the unsustainable patterns of mass consumer culture. Naturally, New York’s anti-corporate performance icon Reverend Billy is all over this. We spoke with......

HEADS UP!: We love Daniel Kitson, it's been documented, so we wanted to give you a heads up that our favorite British comedian is coming back to the States! He has three shows in December at Union Hall (the 2nd, 3rd and 4th), and tickets are ON SALE NOW for two of those dates. It'll be the best $8+fees that you ever spent. ART: The Brothers Grimm fairytale Hansel and Gretel has taken over the......

EVENT: Tonight Duncan Sheik (ah, we still remember when he sang "Barely Breathing" at the Peach Pit After Dark) and Steven Sater pair up for a Spring Awakening book signing. They will be joined from 5–5:30pm by Spring Awakening cast members Jennifer Damiano and John Gallagher, Jr., who will perform acoustic versions of two song selections from the show at the signing. 5 to 7pm // Drama Book Shop [250 W 40th St] // Free......

LISTEN UP: Last month we set up shop at White Rabbit, which was transformed into Gothamist House, with WOXY for 4 days of shows. Now WOXY has put together "Best of" podcasts from each of those days, and the first one is up -- so give a listen! Gothamist House Day 1.mp3 ART: First Friday's are so over, tonight come to Williamsburg for Every 2nd Friday. Pick up a copy of "the only comprehensive guide......

Performance artist and activist Bill Talen, AKA Reverend Billy, has been raising hell in New York City for so long now it’s hard to imagine this town without him. Since first seizing his sidewalk pulpit in the late 90s to combat the Disneyfication of Times Square, the reverend has been consistently down with a host of local and international progressive causes. With the help of his raucous Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, he also puts on......

Earlier this year one artist's chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ wasn't leaving a good taste with many, 41% of you calling it "sacrilege." However, 34% of you wanted one for Easter! Maybe Halloween will do, because it looks like it's been resurrected!"My Sweet Lord," an anatomically correct milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ that infuriated Catholics before its April unveiling was canceled, returns Oct. 27 to a Chelsea art gallery, its creator said Tuesday. This......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

The blog Boy Culture ran into (an all too common these days) "Travolting display" in the subway system over the weekend. Scientologists! The religion cult "legendarily opportunistic Church Of Scientology" is back underground giving out free stress tests. Though police kicked them out in 2005 for violating New York City Transit rules about vending in the subways, it seems they've still had a presence down there and, from this photo (taken in late 2006), they're......

Police charged a man with rape, assault, and burglary for a Monday afternoon attack on a senior citizen in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island. Julio Lainez allegedly broke into Sarah Dotwin's home while Dotwin was upstairs and her husband was at the doctor's. When she heard breaking glass, Dotwin went downstairs to investigate, only for a man to repeatedly punch her in the face and chest. Lainez allegedly tried to choke Dotwin and......

On June 6, 2004, a woman's dead body was found in a steamer trunk on East 13th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Years later, the police have found the murderer. Or, rather, the murderer found them. The Post reports that Michael Mohr of Arizona appeared at a precinct to confess. Mohr said that Jesus Christ made him confess, after undergoing a religious conversion. Apparently Mohr and the victim, a homeless woman named Myrna Gonzalez,......

Senator Hillary Clinton is asking the public for some advice on what may very well be the most important part of her campaign: The Song. The choices: "City of Blinding Lights" - U2, "Beautiful Day" - U2, "I'm a Believer" - Smash Mouth's cover of the Monkees' song, "Get Ready" - The Temptations, "Right Here, Right Now" - Jesus Jones, "Suddenly I See" - KT Tunstall, "Ready to Run" - Dixie Chicks, "Rock This Country!"......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a slashing on East 156th St. and Union Ave. in the Bronx, a missing patient on East 135th St. and Lenox Ave. in Manhattan, and a person under a subway train at Lenox Ave. and Central Park North in Manhattan. Being a Jew-hating Nazi in Brooklyn must be neverending work. One miserable person in Park Slope keeps slogging away though. The New York Public Library is opening its first......

Last night Arcade Fire and The National played their third New York show of the week, and the first show of the inaugural High Line Festival (which kicked off at Radio City Music Hall). David Bowie, co-founder and curator of the festival and Arcade Fire's #1 fan, was in attendance but didn't perform with the band as expected. He also didn't announce the kick off to the festival - nor does he seem to......

After last week's revelation that a Bronx Chinese restaurant allegedly refused a diner's payment of $2.75 when it included 10 pennies and the ensuing media spectacle, the Daily News decided to send one of its reporters to test the penny tolerance of various fast food establishments. Reporter Ethan Rouen traveled to five eateries, including Jesus Taco and McDonald's. Rouen details the "dirty metallic reek" emanating from his hands and pitying stares from employees. But the......

Comedian John Roy has been all over TV and the country. He's won Star Search 2003, was featured in season 4 of Last Comic Standing, has been on Comics Unleashed and Premium Blend, and now he's coming to the Comic Strip on March 20th and 21st. What's it like to grow up with a psychotherapist and former Jesuit as parents? It's kind of strange because when you're a kid, you don't know that there are......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

THEATER: Lear deBessonet culled material from sources as varied as Henrik Ibsen, Joan of Arc and Times contributor/author Russell Shorto (The Island at the Center of the World), scientific journals, and post-it notes from the desks of corporate secretaries to create the new play transFigures. She was also inspired by the Jerusalem Syndrome, the well-documented psychosis that causes ordinary tourists to channel Biblical figures, create togas out of hotel bed-sheets, and parade through the Holy......

A NY Times reporter spent yesterday observing and experiencing the Reverend Al Sharpton's action rally at his National Action Network headquarters. On most Saturdays, the so-called House of Justice on West 145th Street can feel as casual as the International House of Pancakes 10 blocks south. Anyone can walk in and take a seat. The words etched onto the large tinted window at the entrance, facing 145th Street, read not House of Justice or......