Results tagged “coleporter”

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

If you count yourself as a New Yorker and a movie lover, it's tough to not have a special affinity for films by Woody Allen. Practically the filmmaker laureate of the city, Allen's prolific 40 plus year career is getting a three week long screening series at Film Forum starting this Friday. Gothamist loves Allen's movies (both the highs and the lows) so much that we thought we'd chat with an Allen expert, Queens College professor Bob Kapsis, about how to plan our screening calendar during "Essentially Woody."

Bobby Short, the irrepressible entertainer who sang and played the standards at the Cafe Carlyle, died at age 80 yesterday from leukemia. While Gothamist never got to see him perform in person, we always equated him with a beautiful, serene and, yes, very Woody Allen version of New York where people would just sit and listen to wonderful renditions of the old standards. The NY Times' Stephen Holden wrote in an appreciation:

At the keyboard, Mr. Short refined his own personal brand of stride piano. Vigorous and sophisticated but devoid of fuss and frills, it was as distinctive as his voice, to which it was inextricably wedded. Over the years, his sound evolved from that of a caroling choirboy into a huskier baritone whose timbre varied from fogbound to clear, depending on the night and sometimes on the moment. As his voice acquired deeper shades and rougher textures, he made adroit, expressive use of each new facet.

This is a big day for swank hotel news: Some Colombian cocaine traffickers were arrested in a bust by the Feds. They had been living at the Plaza, but the $18 million in drugs were in a storage facility in Maspeth.

David Hinckley in the NY Daily News complains that the American Film Institute list of the 100 Top Movie Songs is no fun because it's actually not a bad list. Gothamist would almost agree, except for the lack of songs from South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. We feel that Come What May from Moulin Rouge (who sings that? who cares?) is just an addition to please the public (that way you can get Nicole Kidman on the show), but let's be honest here: No one is humming "I will love you until my daying day," but they are singing, "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch" or "What Would Brian Boitano Do" or "Unclef*cker" or "Blame Canada." So, lists like this are still very crack-like because they are addictive, but they can be very bad too.

Fifteen members of the drug ring, including the priestess, were charged on 133 counts of dealing drugs (cocaine, crack, heroin, Ecstasy) to residents in Bay Ridge and Park Slope. Deana Rodriguez, head of the DA's office gang bureau, said, "She's not a very good Santeria, is she? They're all in jail!" Oh, snap, drug dealers - you got served! Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, noting the arrests of 10 of the drug ring's clients, said, "This is a message to people who think it's cute to buy drugs on the weekend and go to their summer homes to shoot up and to snort up." [Via Matte]

In today's Metro Section, Clyde Haberman, closet Gothamist, applauds the Belmont Stakes for changing their official song from "Sidewalks of New York" (which you might know from Ken Burns' documentary on the City, if no where else) to the slightly more up to date "New York, New York". Haberman feels however, that our fair Gotham is poorly represented by the whinings of a "self-involved parvenu who wants to be 'king of the hill, top of the heap.'" He goes on to suggest several other songs that might replace it, including: "New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town)" by Leonard Bernstein, "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel, "I Happen to Like New York" by Cole Porter, "New York" by U2, "We Run N.Y." by Redman, "Manhattan" by Rodgers and Hart, and "N.Y.C." from the musical "Annie" with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin.