Results tagged “adriangrenier”

Yesterday the HBO series Entourage, featuring friend of Gothamist Adrian Grenier, was filming in Queens (in the show, Vincent Chase & Co. are all childhood friends from the borough). Reportedly there was a neighborhood tot screaming and being calmed down by a PA, a slew of fans, a couple paparazzi, and Grenier was graciously giving the fans some face time. Even Kevin Connolly was on hand, despite police wanting to question him about a fight involving his pal Chris Paciello (Brooklyn-mobster-turned-Miami-club-king).

The NY Times is hinting that Brooklyn may be so over, a theory that seems to be based around Heath Ledger leaving the borough.

What if Brooklyn’s recent cachet as the locus for what’s next is little more than a thin and fragile crust of chic, hiding the insecurity of people who constantly measure the social currency of their ZIP code by Manhattan standards? The number of trendy boutiques, bistros and music clubs in Brooklyn may have spiked in the last five years, but its infrastructure of cool still represents only a fraction of that found in Manhattan. Its new identity is moored to a finite number of shops, restaurants, luxury condominiums and, yes, celebrities. If even one leaves, a void is created. Could the borough’s new status vanish as quickly as it ascended?

We think perhaps their belief is based upon a "thin and fragile" foundation. After all, if a borough's cred is based upon shops, condos and stars...Brooklyn is faring pretty well. With Trader Joe's, Urban Outfitters, an Apple Store and luxury condos flooding the market and John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Norman Mailer, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Paul Giammati, Adrian Grenier, Michael Pitt, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard calling it home -- it seems Brooklyn won't be suffering from a lack of attention anytime soon, Heath or no Heath.

Ever wonder how some of Brooklyn's finest rockers live? Design Sponge takes a look at Les Savy Fav frontman, Tim Harrington's Williamsburg apartment...and it's definitely not what we expected! Perhaps more surprising than finding out Adrian Grenier insulated his Brooklyn home with jeans, is that Harrington's got great style.

He may be best known for this role in Entourage, but Adrian Grenier wears a lot of other hats. Filmmaker, musician and New Yorker are amongst those. He bought a house in Clinton Hill a couple of years ago, insulated it with recycled denim and installed photovoltaic panels (so add environmentalist to the above list, as well). Last weekend we asked the multifaceted Grenier some questions.

THEATER: The esteemed Classical Theatre of Harlem is reviving Peter Weiss’s masterpiece Marat/Sade. The dizzying action takes place in an asylum in France, where the infamous Marquis de Sade is sequestered in 1808. To pass the time, he directs a play about the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat during the revolution. His asylum casting pool yields up some magnificent performances, though the production is almost squelched by the hospital administrator, a tool of Napoleon’s post-revolutionary regime. In the right hands, which CTH certainly has, the whole production is a multi-layered feast of subversion. - John Del Signore

Of all the actors with bands (Jared Leto, Adrian Grenier, Jason Schwartzman) we had our money on Ed Burns to be in a pretty rockin' one. He recently played The Delancey with his band The Blue Jackets, and you can watch one of their songs from that night right here:

Best quote from Grenier on how Williamsburg differs from Hollywood, "...no manicured lawns, things are a bit more grimey, a little more real. I was in Williamsburg before Williamsburg was Williamsburg. Yes, I was an innovator."

Tonight San Francisco rockers with the middle class rasp, Two Gallants, come to Bowery Ballroom. We interviewed them last week, and you should really check them out while they're in town. For serious. Opening up for them are Sam Champion (the actual NY weatherman still comes up first in a Google search) and Cold War Kids. Elsewhere in the city, Pela is playing with Project Jenny/Project Jan (at the Delancey).

We were really knocked out by Mazarin at Pianos last week. Very fun band. One can only hope that this week holds such surprise awesomeness. Some potential candidates:

The testimony for the NYCLU's lawsuit agains the NYPD for the subway bag searches has ended, and after reading the NY Times article, it seems that both sides pull out the stops for crazy quotes. NYPD did admit that the bag searches occur very rarely, but tried to scare Judge Richard M. Berman. Deputy Commissioner for counterterrorism Michael Sheehan said, "There is no doubt in my mind that the introduction of bag searches - even though it's random, even though it's not 100 percent - dramatically improves the security posture of this huge, sprawling subway system, which I believe is a top-tier target of Al Qaeda right now, even as we speak. " Gene Russianoff, whom we know and love for repping the Straphangers, used various subway rider polls as evidence, to show rider skepticism about the worthiness of bag checks. Judge Berman responded, "I have a high regard for democratic input, but do you think that's the way to design a counterterrorism program?" and that does bring up a good point: While the straphangers can point out flaws with subway surveillance, we're probably not that qualified. But this makes Gothamist wonder if possible roles for a Citzen Patrol Person (something we've seriously contemplated if only for a bright orange jacket) would be to work with the NYPD to design New Yorker-friendly martial law tactics. Closing arguments for the lawsuit are on December 2, and Judge Berman may issue a decision before the end of the year, possibly in time for the tourist influx known as New Year's. [Related: The NYCLU's updates on the trial]

The Honey Brothers