Earlier this year, Kanye West was the big featured performer at the sweet sixteen birthday party for artist George Condo's daughter at the Standard Hotel. According to the Post, he even performed his 30-minute set for free. Well, Kanye may play your sweet sixteen for free, but the man has limits people! West allegedly demanded $1 million to play at the bar mitzvah of the son of former NBC head Jeff Zucker. Maybe Kayne was holding a grudge because of Joey? more ›

Some Jews think Bar Mitzvah party spending has gotten way too decadent, but maybe they're just jealous of little Carly Sandler, who made her Bat Mitzvah party entrance from the ceiling of Cipriani Wall Street, harnessed to a wire and dressed in a catsuit. According to the Post, she was then "serenaded by Jon Bon Jovi for 45 minutes—to the point where she was rolling her eyes at her mother, wondering when the aging rock star would cede the stage back to her and her girlfriends." "My husband did well that year and he was proud of himself, and he wanted to throw a huge party," her mother Liza Sandler tells the tabloid. more ›

A New York Hasidic woman passed away last month leaving behind 15 children, over 200 grandchildren and enough great-grandchildren to bring her total number of living family members to around 2,000. Yitta Schwartz—who lived to the old age of 93 outlasting her husband by 34 years—was productive even among her community of Satmar Hasidic Jews for whom having kids is a tribute to God. So much so that she spent much of her time attending various events—brises, first haircuts, bar mitzvahs, etc., reports the Times. “She would appear like the Prophet Elijah,” said her eldest living daughter who is 64. “Everybody was fighting over her!” more ›

Yankee Stadium: the perfect place to hold your concert, sporting event, or Bar Mitzvah. Honestly, after once seeing the Knicks City Dancers perform at a Bar Mitzvah, no degree of extravagance could surprise us. And yet... this does raise the bar pretty high. Jonathan Ballan, the lead bond lawyer for the financing of Yankee Stadium, has booked the place for his son’s Bar Mitzvah in June. All of his son's buddies must be pretty pumped—they'll basically be getting the run of the place, with access to all the VIP lounges and control of the scoreboard for 30 minutes. (Control of the scoreboard... so important.) There's just one little snag. more ›

Three prison officials called it quits yesterday, months after they allowed several prisoners to hold religious parties and even let rapper Foxy Brown conduct an interview and photo shoot while still locked up. Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas, Assistant Chief of Special Operations Frank Squillante and warden of the Manhattan detention complex (aka the Tombs) George Okada all turned in their resignations yesterday. The President of the Correction Captains' Association, Patrick Ferraiuolo, expressed his enthusiasm for the resignations, "He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails." more ›

The NY Post is clinging to Rabbi Leib Glanz like a tenacious dybbuk. After exposing the perks he arranged for Jewish inmates at the Manhattan Detention Complex—from allowing one to throw his son's bar mitzvah at the Tombs to allegedly allowing sex with female prisoners—Rabbi Glanz resigned. But the Post is still all over him, and on Friday they caught him using an official Uniformed Firefighters Association placard. more ›

Oy vey: The Post reports that Rabbi Leib Glanz has resigned as a city jail chaplain, as tales of his generous ways towards Orthodox Jewish inmates—from allowing one to throw his son's bar mitzvah at the Tombs to entertaining some with clowns and allowing them to have sex with female prisoners—grew. Glanz, who was suspended after the unorthodox bar mitzvah (held at the Manhattan Detention Complex's gym, complete with knives), said, "Yes, I resigned. I decided it was best for everybody." more ›

Up until this week, Catholics seemed to have a monopoly on calling The Tombs their party spot, the name of a famous sports bar near Georgetown University. But as more details emerge about the Manhattan detention center of the same name, it seems that Orthodox Jews were truly able to take the morbid moniker and turn it into a hotspot. Today an ex-inmate tells the Post, "It was like a party every day. It was great." more ›

The Post follows up its awesome story about how the Tombs—you know, the Manhattan Detention Complex—hosted one inmate's son's bar mitzvah party—complete with knives!— by saying the correction facility "was like a 'private club' for a group of Orthodox Jewish jailbirds, whose politically connected prison-chaplain rabbi regularly treated them to feasts of roast beef, salmon and chicken with all the trimmings." The Post also got hold of a corrections memo which read, "The inmates are untouchable. When it comes to the Jewish inmates, all rules are put aside." more ›

Actually, the Tombs—aka the Manhattan Detention Complex— doesn't really allow bar (or bat) mitzvahs to be thrown there, which is why Corrections Department officials, including a rabbi and imam, were disciplined for allowing one inmate to throw his son's bash there. The Post reports that Tuvia Stern, a "financial scam artist," got the okay to "use his own caterer, who supplied kosher food, china, forks -- and knives -- for about 60 guests who partied and danced the hora for six hours in the jailhouse gym. Stern's family and friends were allowed to keep their cellphones -- normally a huge security no-no. And Stern was given the OK to dress in clothing appropriate for the occasion." Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn was reportedly "livid"—guess finding out that the department paid for the overtime of guards who were staffed at the event wasn't fun. more ›

We received the following note from the lucite desk of Enrique Goldfarb (Northern New Jersey's #3 bar mitzvah entertainer): more ›

Gothamist hit the transportation trifecta while stepping onto the platform from the 7 Train at the 61st Street –Woodside stop. While the subway left the station, a train passed below and a plane passed above. Given that the Subway platform is smack under a LaGuardia arrival flight path, and high above the LIRR tracks, this timing dependant sensation is rivaled only by the horizontal superfecta in Elizabeth New Jersey where the seaport, train tracks, I-95 Interstate and Newark runways run parallel. Actually the low flying planes were a recurring theme as we wound our way around the area north of the 7 line. Around each corner was a new angle and perspective, as planes landed every minute or so with the backdrop changing from residential blocks to light industrial and manufacturing. more ›

So far we've found nothing funny about the month of January, hopefully things will change starting this week. Check out our comedy picks: more ›

It’s a new year, which means resolutions. Gothamist aimed low with our resolutions this year, seeing as we always break them by oh, today. (Nails bitten? Check. Too much beer imbibed? Yes. Zero regard for finances? You betcha.) We do have one more resolution which is to see more live shows and we think that’s something everyone should do. Even though we love DVR. We think going out is important. Resolve to see shows you haven’t seen before and realize that some of the people performing in New York right now might be famous soon! A few suggestions for this week…. more ›

- Thank you, Politicker, for posting Anthony Weiner's campaign flyer to show how he's probably the "only candidate for mayor who will mail out a copy of his Bar Mitzvah photograph." The flyer also says Weiner "will be New York City's Middle-Class Mayor" because middle-class is no longer a twelve letter word. WNBC 4 says that the latest WNBC/Marist poll has Bloomberg soundly beating all possible Democratic mayoral candidates, leading Fernando Ferrer 16 points, C. Virginia Fields and Weiner by 18, and Gifford Miller by 20 points! This is the first time Gothamist has seen Weiner not be at the bottom; it must be the picture! more ›

Gothamist had a great time rubbing shoulders with the stars at opening night of The Downtown Plays, the centerpiece production of the innaugural Tribeca Theater Festival. Along with the evening's co-hosts Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, we also spotted such luminaries on the red carpet and at the Capitale after party as Carol Kane, Michael C. Hall from Six Feet Under, Sam Rockwell, Chad Lowe, and Rachel Weisz. more ›

- Concierge Service (assistance with story development, scouting assistance, budget analysis, and discounts on participating vendors)More details from the city. Mel Brooks yukked it up with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, saying, "It was breaking my heart to think that we had to go to Bucharest or Toronto or Vancouver to somehow mimic this incredible city," he said. "Without the tax benefits, the truth is, the horrible truth is that this movie would probably be made in Kabul, wherever the cheapest place in the world to shoot is." Newsday covered the event, and the Mayor's and Mel's salty attitudes were on display:

When Bloomberg suggested he be cast as Max Bialystock, the swindler who seduces old ladies to finance his Broadway schemes, Brooks quipped, "We wanted somebody a little taller."
But Bloomberg -- slightly taller than Brooks but shorter on comedic stature -- got the biggest laugh of the day.
When Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested Brooks get a second Bar Mitzvah during filming, Bloomberg shot back, "Or a second bris."