Times Square fixture The Naked Cowboy (Robert Burck) is singing a litigious song these days against Mars Inc., maker of M&M candies. He is claiming that the company is infringing on his trademark, i.e. singing in tighty-whities, cowboy boots and a Stetson, with a six string slung on his shoulder. Burck wants $6 million after the company started broadcasting a film on a billboard screen in Times Square showing anthropomorphic M&Ms re-enacting famous scenes, structures,......

A Staten Island man arrived at his Clifton home to find four teen boys having sex with his 11-year-old stepdaughter and her 13-year-old friend. The stepfather called the police upon finding the naked teens. The boys, ages 16 to 18, were charged with first- and third-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The girls had signs of vaginal tearing and the Staten Island Advance reported, "The......

Photograph of the Trump Soho this morning by Riccardo Sinti Work has been stopped at the Trump Soho construction site, the day after an accident caused one worker to fall 42 stories to his death. The FDNY says the workers had been filling wooden forms (one was a 20-foot-square section) with wet concrete when molds broke. Assistant Chief Thomas Galvin explained that the molds collapsed from the 42nd floor to the 40th, leaving a......

As a counterpoint to the tale of the mugging in pre-gentrification Bushwick (or East Williamsburg) in New York magazine, we bring you this mugging story from gentrified Park Slope. From the Morgan L station to the popular Grand Army Plaza stop, a woman gave a first person account of being mugged on Sunday with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. The woman says she had left the subway station around 10:30PM at night. While she......

It’s a good thing there weren’t any broken bats in the room because Roger Clemens might have thrown one. Clemens was aggressive and sometimes bullying towards the assembled media at his press conference on Monday, repeating his vehement denials of illegally using steroids and HGH. The press conference was highlighted by a 17-minute taped conversation from last Friday night between Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens. In the call McNamee initially apologizes to Clemens telling......

Things were feisty during last night's Democratic debate in Las Vegas. The big story is how frontrunner Senator Hillary Clinton seemed to hold her ground by going on the attack. The NY Times said she "shifted to a much more assertive tone" and even the NY Post thinks she won the debate, though not by a knockout. During the October 31 debate, Clinton stumbled while trying to explain her support-nonsupport of Governor Spitzer's driver's......

Yesterday, a group of longboard skaters raced down Broadway from West 116th Street all the way to the bull in the Financial District for the "Broadway Bomb." Sacha Lecca took photographs of the skate, which seemed to have at least 100 skaters. Sacha tells us there were around 70 last year and 30 in 2005; according to the website, the race started in 2002. The race was postponed from Saturday to Sunday because of......

Gotham Gazette has a fantastic analysis of what happens to the hundreds of City Council bills that have been introducedsince Christine Quinn become the City Council Speaker. The article points out many interesting things. For instance, out of the 622 bills introduced, 68% of them are never heard of again. About 15% do get hearings, but are never voted on, and only 17% actually pass to become bills. The article also lists the top ten......

Yesterday afternoon, a tractor-trailer dangled from the side of the Staten Island Expressway. Authorities believe the driver, James Christian of North Carolina, may have lost control of the rig when another car stopped short. The tractor-trailer fell off the SIE onto South Avenue - hitting the front of 61-year-old Jenetta Christopherson's car. Christopherson, who was driving with her baby granddaughter, said she was lucky she braked when she heard a loud noise above her, "If......

Barry Manilow, who is out promoting his Greatest Songs of the Seventies, has refused to share a stage with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who was barely walking in the 70s. The crooner left a little message on his website yesterday for his fans letting them know he wouldn't be on The View today, saying "I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not......

Just last week Jeremy Blake's body was identified after being found off the coast of New Jersey. In July he and his girlfriend committed suicide one week apart from each other, and since then stories of their lives, fears and final days have surfaced. After the LA Times extensive piece, the NY Post recently published a lengthy article on the couple, who at the time were living in a converted rectory at St. Mark's Church......

After discovering in the body of a 55-year-old man bound, gagged, and castrated in a Queens apartment on Saturday, police believe that the apartment's tenant, Brigitte Harris, may be the murderer. Initially, it was unclear who the man, Eric Goodridge of Staten Island, was or why he was in the apartment, but the Daily News reports that he was Harris' stepfather and that Harris blamed him for sexual abusing her. Police believe that Harris mutilated......

To recap: in the early morning hours this past Saturday, a 23-year-old woman was shot in the Meatpacking District. Later that night Grammy-nominated rap star, and Bronx native, Remy Ma (real name Remy Smith) turned herself in to authorities. Police had sought her for questioning in the shooting and she was arrested on charges of attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. The shooting took place close to Pizza Bar where the group......

Peter Braunstein, the writer who was convicted of kidnapping and torturing a former colleague, is back to writing: He sent a letter to the judge, expressing his remorse. Last month, it took a jury about four hours to find Braunstein guilty of his 13-hour 2005 attack, and Judge Thomas Farber will be sentencing Braunstein on Monday. Braunstein's parents have also sent letters on their son's behalf, but the most interesting stuff is from Braunstein himself,......

The Hotel Chelsea Blog explores theories about the hotel's most famous couple. This year marks the 29th anniversary of Nancy Spungen's death, who was murdered in room 100 of the legendary hotel. Since then, questions and rumors have surrounded her death - which was pinned on Sid Vicious. Now, a former friend of the late Sid (who we recently saw in those Doc Martens ads) has accused the NYPD of wrongly accusing his punk rock......

Just when we finally washed the show right out of our hair, it's being reported that the "long-awaited" Sex and the City movie is getting closer to hitting the big screen. Mario Cantone, who played wedding planner and fag-for-Charlotte-to-hag Anthony Marantino, is the only one talking details so far: "Hopefully the Sex and the City movie is going to happen this fall," he said. "If it does, I'm in it which would be nice so......

High school baseball is off to a vicious start. Two students at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn claim that the assistant baseball coach at a Manhattan high school beat them with a metal bat earlier this week. One of the victims has a broken jaw, while the other was cut on the face and neck. The Daily News reports that the two students say that Norman Thomas High School assistant baseball coach Ernesto Cruz......

It’s been a couple of year since Baltimore auteur John Waters has brought a new movie to the silver screen but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been as busy as ever. Whether it’s guest starring on TV shows or curating art exhibits, Waters puts his distinctive, off kilter imprint on anything he’s involved in, even the lowly mix tape. After adding oddity to your holiday soundtrack with his Christmas CD A John Waters Christmas, Waters......

A fire that raged through a Bronx building and claimed a 2-year-old's life was actually arson. Amanda Adgivon had been sleeping yesterday morning when her downstairs neighbor, Sharon Scott, decided to set her boyfriend on fire. Scott poured nail-polish remover on the bed and lit it while James Hicks was sleeping. Hicks woke up and was able to leave the apartment with Scott, but the fire shot towards the ceiling and the Adgivon apartment. Komi......

The story about Wesley Autrey jumping into the subway tracks yesterday afternoon to save a fellow straphanger at the 137th Street downtown 1 platform gets more amazing. It turns out that Autrey and two other women had helped 20 year old Cameron Hollopeter right before the fall - Hollopeter had a seizure and Autrey used a pen to keep his mouth open. They called for a station agent's help, but Hollopeter got up and......

Usually I get my restaurant recommendations out of my fares. The time we spend together in the cab is perfect for my screening process. After weeding out (and occasionally kicking out) those who would send me to Applebees, I can judge a fare for ten or twenty minutes before deciding if we have similar taste buds and philosophies on life as well as, by extension, eating. But a few weeks back, one of YOU,......

Comedian Laurie Kilmartinhas been on Comedy Central, wrote for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and is a nationally touring headlining comedian. What sort of role did comedy play in your life growing up? I wasn't aware of stand up comedy growing up. I watched a lot of Carol Burnett with my mom. My mom was very funny. I wasn't a class clown. I was pretty shy. Are you able to think of one......

It's old-fashioned meetup versus high-middlebrow-concept at UN Plaza! The Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is suing the Parks Department over the agency's selection of New York Milkshake to replace the Patio Cafe. The Friends of DHP say the Parks Department violated procurement procedures by allowing the NY Milkshake to open up this summer. Even though economics sounds like part of the reasoning, as NYM offered $18,000 more in licensing fees than the Patio Cafe,......

Plenty of people go through painful break-ups, but it takes a special talent to turn the experience into a career. Brooklyn-bred Anita Liberty, whose boyfriend Mitchell left her for another woman shortly after he and Anita moved in together, has that talent: rather than sitting around moping, she wrote a book, called "How to Heal the Hurt by Hating," filled with poems, diary entries, and diatribes against Mitchell and the new girlfriend, and developed a......

The jurors listened to testimony from September 11 attack victims' families yesterday during the death penalty sentencing trial of Zacarais Moussaoui, a confessed conspirator in the plots. The families-turned-witnesses cried, and jurors themselves cried with them. US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema did note that Moussaoui's lawyers feel the prosecution's presentation was overly dramatic, leading her to limit prosecution witnesses to five photographs each. A wrenching tape of Melissa Doi, who worked in the south......

Rudy Fleming, a 19 year-old who has been serving parole for previous weapons charges, was charged with first-degree and second-degree murder, as well as robbery and criminal posession, in the murder of Brooklyn actress-playwright Nicole duFrense. Police have also charged two others in connection to a robbery earlier on the Lower East last Thursday morning. A number of police tips helped the NYPD find the individuals involved with the crime, but it turns out that......

About 49% of the population is still reeling from Senator Kerry's concession. Gothamist's own Doug Gordon (also of Planet Gordon) and his wife are in Boston, and were captured for the world to see on BBC News Front Page. He tells us, "All I can say is that there is nothing quieter than the sound of 10,000 people not saying a word." And we expect the Secret Service and FBI to be investigating many......

Adam Shore, General Manager, VICE Records...

It seems like the Mets can't catch a break. Yesterday afternoon, Tom Glavine was involved in a car accident when he was in a cab on the way to Shea Stadium. Glavine returned from Atlanta, caught a cab at LaGuardia, and lost two front teeth when the taxi was involved in an accident with an SUV. Gothamist just took a look at Mapquest, and the trip is only 3.18 miles. What are the chances that......

With all the controversy swirling around USA Track and NBA players not wanting to go to Athens, it's refreshing to read a story of players that want to represent their country. That's the case with WNBA player Swin Cash and her Olympic teammates. Cash, a former UConn Husky now plays for the Detroit Shock and relishes the chance to play for her country, "All I know is that most people would never have thought I......