Results tagged “austin”

                  

We have to admit that much like The Onion AV Club, we had our doubts about the Air Sex World Championships' abilities to come into town amidst their 15-city tour and leave us with much besides the squirmish feeling that sometimes accompanies other platforms for unbridled exhibitionists (Burlesque nights, improv comedy "jams," etc.). But both the crop of a dozen or so entrants along with the show's energetic and razor sharp co-hosts, Chris Trew and Joel Keith, seriously brought the noise at last night's raunch-fest inside the High Line Ballroom. Even the intermission's air band performance by Category Six left us wanting more.

Two of the more recognizable New Yorkers down in Austin last week for SXSW were Lou Reed and Moby. During a tribute show for...himself, Reed showed up for a 7-minute encore of "Walk on the Wilde Side," which can be seen below.

As details continue to emerge about the plot to fake a baby's abandonment in Queens, the fate of the baby has remained questionable. Now the Administration for Children's Services say the 14-year-old mother, who may not have known about the plot, may get the 6-month-old baby back.

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes.

Senators and rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met at the University of Texas in Austin tonight for the CNN/Univision debate. The debate was less a showdown than an "agree to disagree" type affair. You can read a transcript here and clips will start to appear, but, per Austinist, here are some of best lines of the night:

“I have to confess, I was somewhat amused, the other night, when, on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama's supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn't.” -- Clinton

Continue reading "Texas Hold 'Em: Clinton, Obama Debate in Austin"

Former President Bill Clinton laid out his wife's chances for voters during a speech - and didn't sound terribly confident about them. He told them, "If she wins Texas and Ohio, I think she will be the nominee. If you don't, then I don't think she can. It's all on you." And the Post quickly dug up the Davy Crockett hat for its Photoshop job.

Yesterday’s protest outside the headquarters on 46th Street amounted to roughly 100 masked gadflies cracking wise and chanting anti-Scientology slogans like “Tax the Cult”. Besides objecting to Scientology’s tax-exempt status, the protesters also blame the church for the death of adherent Lisa McPherson in 1995, their alleged use of child labor, and their “fair game” policy of aggressively silencing critics. Yesterday would have been McPherson’s 49th birthday.

ART: "Drawing Art and Politics" seems like a fitting event to have on the calendar today. "Spend an evening with New York’s renowned graphic artists Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel, as they examine the ways in which complex social and political issues are depicted by artists in today’s media. Jules Feiffer will moderate a discussion that explores the roots of political art and social realism in the context of John Sloan’s early 20th-century illustrations of New Yorkers engaging in routine pastimes and pleasures. Presented in conjunction with John Sloan’s New York." More info here.

Continue reading "Week Around the -Ists"

href="http://londonist.com/2008/01/6_years_on_amne.php">Amnesty International bringing Guantanamo Bay to the American embassy to raise the profile of the continuing campaign to close the detention center.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was struck on Wythe and Metropolitan Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned police car on Gun Hill Rd. in the Bronx, and a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens.
• Joseph Jirovec, one of the teenagers accused of the Hannukah Q train hate crime, says that he and his friends were the victims. He said the fight began only after a racial slur was directed at one of his party and a knife was brandished towards them.
• A commission established by Gov. Spitzer is recommending that the SUNY system of public universities in New York be allowed to vary tuition from school to school and raise tuitions without authorization from the state legislature.
• A commercial laundry worker found a discarded fetus among bed sheets collected from a Brooklyn hospital.
• The father of a teenager testified that he didn't mean to shoot another young man when he pulled a gun on him at his home, but that he was attempting to protect his son and the gun went off when the other man tried to grab it from him.
• A 59-year-old Queens woman got her hair cut for the first time in 45 years.
• The MTA is increasing the frequency of service on the L train over the weekends starting tomorrow. Expanded weekday service on the 7 train is scheduled to begin Monday.
• Why don't pregnant women tip over? The Times reports.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens, another bank robbery on Church Ave. in Brooklyn, and a police car vs. scaffolding in Manhattan; the scaffolding has been compromised.
• A Queens high school was locked down this afternoon for two hours after a student's 'To Do' list was found listing seven students "To kill today."
• The projected cost of restoring the separate homes that constitute Admiral's Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Alcides Moreno, who fell more than 40 stories in an accident that killed his brother, has been yawning and moving his arms and legs.
• The owner of Central Park Carriage and Horse Stables and the managers of Wicker Park Cafe and Bistro and Penang on Columbus Circle were arrested for attempting to bribe a Consumer Affairs inspector, hoping he'd overlook multiple violations.
• A $10,000 security system is being installed at the Wollman Rink in Prospect Park after thieves broke into the skating facility's concession stand last week.
• The ad sales execs at NBC are getting tricky by placing AmEx bumper spots featuring cast members of Tina Fey's "30 Rock" that segue directly from the show.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Austin St. in Queens, a pedestrian struck off Balfour Pl. and Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn, and a rescue on Bank St. in Manhattan.
• The Domino Sugar factory on Brooklyn's waterfront has achieved landmark status.
• David Chase is heading to court to face a former municipal court judge who claims he came up with an idea for a show about a northern NJ mob family.
• David Blaine's next stunt of endurance in the Big Apple will be a tribute to I-bankers and lawyers logging billable hours, as he attempts to stay awake for as long as humanly possibly. The magic? No cocaine.
• Led Zeppelin may be traveling back to NYC for a return engagement. The songs remain the same.
• The men convicted in the 1989 "wilding" Central Park rape attack case have been given the go-ahead to update their lawsuits against the city.
• A former waitress at the strip club Scores is suing one of the managers for sexual harassment.
• New York City as retirement village.

Since settling in New York in 2001, promoter Todd Patrick – known through his website as Todd P – has established himself as a major force in the avant-garde rock scene. In the fastidious spirit of a modern day Bill Graham – though without the passion for profits – Patrick has distinguished himself with his commitment to producing shows at atypical, under-the-radar locations like lofts, rooftops and funky, “illegal” clubs. Often eschewing such vagaries as...

"Sleight of hand," "litany of needless fights," "ugly racial polarization" - just some of the phrases in this week's New York magazine's cover story about Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor turned presidential candidate. Chris Smith's article serves as both refresher to New Yorkers about Giuliani's reign as mayor with some fun tidbits (did you realize that then-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik commissioned 30 miniature busts of himself?) as well as a cautionary tale to non-New Yorkers....

The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual salary survey of the heads of educational institutions and the value of a college education is evidenced in the paychecks being cashed by institutions' presidents. More than a dozen heads of private universities took home more than $1 million during the 2005-06 school year. According to the New York Post, the dean of higher earning was Donald Ross, who took home $5.7 million--most in deferred compensation after...

On the heels of the NY Times' Alex Williams calling Brooklyn "over" -- Park Slope has been named one of the 10 best neighborhoods in the country! Take that Gray Lady. In fact, "the historic area, just steps from Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, is the only New York City neighborhood to make the first-ever list from the American Planning Association (APA)." Which would mean that a Brooklyn 'hood bested a Manhattan 'hood -- though the latter did get on the "Best Street" list with Harlem's 125th Street (which the Daily News goes into here). As for the Slope, here's a bit of reasoning behind the decision:

"It's got a lot of past, but it has also evolved and has a lot of vibrancy in the present," said association spokesman Denny Johnson, citing the area's architecture and proximity to such cultural spots as the main library. "People in Park Slope care about everything from big to small," said Fifth Avenue Committee executive director Michelle de la Uz, who cited residents' interest in such things as where a bike lane should be built and protests over the war in Iraq.

When 9/11 hit, Jonah Ray was attending community college, but the catastrophe of that one September day made him drop out, move to LA, and pursue a career in comedy. Since then, he's become a fixture of the Los Angeles's alt comedy scene, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, written for the Andy Milonakis Show, played the role of Clancy Mole Man on Adult Swim's Saul of the Molemen, and had a successful series on Turner Broadcasting's Superdeluxe.com . His off beat sensibility and personality is leading him down the path to comedy success and to Pianos on October 30th , opening for Man Man at Webster Hall on October 2nd , and the UCB Theater's Crash Test on October 1st.

After over eight years of relentless touring and quiet musical evolution, Austin-based indie-rockers Okkervil River broke out in 2004 with Black Sheep Boy, a captivating album fueled in no small part by front-man Will Sheff’s lacerating vocals and careening compositions that thrillingly threatened to fall apart at every turn. But on the band’s latest release, The Stage Names, Sheff finds a different source of musical propulsion with a more subdued approach; the lacerations are often eschewed for a gentler sort of lyrical storytelling. This slight change in tack has perhaps alienated some in the fan message board camp, but other newer listeners have found the band more accessible. And more significantly, Sheff has firmly demonstrated his determination to let the band musically meander any way they like. Gothamist recently spoke to Sheff via telephone from California, where Okkervil River is once again on a tour that rolls through Webster Hall on Friday. (Tickets.)

(directed by Quentin Tarantino)

READING: Rosemarie Tichler, casting director and artistic producer at New York's Public Theater, and playwright Barry Jay Kaplan have put together a written work called Actors at Work. Tonight they'll be discussing this quintessential, and inspirational, resource.

During a time when most college students are looking forward to another school years, the ones at the College of Staten Island were a bit alarmed. See, a few days ago, CSI sent a letter to students explaining that 41-year-old Annadale resident and former state trooper Thomas Austin would be studying with them. And that Austin was a Level 3 (the highest) sex offender. Welcome back to school.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a gas leak on 70th Rd. and Austin St. in Queens, an aircraft emergency at JFK Airport in Queens, and a pedestrian struck on East 85th St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan.
• The New York State Music Fund awarded WFUV a grant of $500,000 to establish a second full-time radio station dedicated to airing more independent musicians and aimed primarily at music fans in their 20s and 30s. The new station will debut in late 2008 and will also stream over the Internet.
• Today is the 200th anniversary of the inaugural voyage of "Fulton's Folly", "Fulton's monster", or the North River Steamboat. The 32-hour journey marked the beginning of regular motorized ferry service up and down the Hudson River.
• A 13-year-old girl on her bike was struck and killed in Queens yesterday by a pickup truck making a right turn. The driver was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license.
• The New York Times peeks behind the shroud on Liberty St. and offers a slide show of how the Deutsche Bank building is being deconstructed.
• MetsBlog reports that if one can't get to Philadelphia for the Wednesday 8/29 game against the Phillies, it will be broadcast at Manhattan's palatial Ziegfeld Theater on West 54th Street. Mr. Met and the Pepsi Party Patrol will be onhand to convey a Shea-like experience, and the $10 ticket price includes two tickets to a September home game.
• A NYC Dept. of Corrections official was arrested after getting in a brawl at a Chelsea bar yesterday. The New York Post reports that the 41-year-old assistant commissioner at the DOC punched a bartender in the face after he received what he thought was incorrect change.
• Yesterday we linked to a catalog of changes to Wikipedia entries traced to an IP address at Fox News. Apparently someone with a New York Times IP address has been maliciously editing Wikipedia posts as well.

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles.

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco.

We've survived the sirens for many years, and if this truly was the last Siren Fest ever, it certainly went out with a bang. Coney Island was packed full of thrifty music fans for the 7th annual Siren Festival this weekend. Despite the current trend of awful weather for every worthwhile free outdoor concert this summer so far, nobody could complain about the perfect day at the beach this past Saturday.

The project runs through tomorrow and gives anyone free use of the bikes, which can be used for up to 30 minutes (probably not long enough if you're following Owen Wilson's NYC biking itinerary). So far about 25 riders a day have given the bikes a spin (we checked out the storefront earlier today and there were plenty of them available).

This season Shakespeare in the Park started off with Romeo and Juliet, a play that surprisingly hasn't seen the outdoor Delacorte Theatre since 1968, when Martin Sheen played Romeo to Susan McArthur's Juliet. On July 8th the run will end, and A Midsummer Night's Dream will finish up the season. With notoriously long ticket lines to gain the free pass to a show, many miss out on these performances due to lack of time alone. So how is this season (under Michael Greif's direction) going so far? The reviews are mixed.