Last week demolition was underway at the former CBGB. At the time Racked put their money on a Duane Reade taking over the space, but today The Post reports that John Varvados will be opening a chic boutique in the old punk rock palace. With his eye on a Spring opening, it's unclear how much of the 13,000 square feet will be taken over by the designer. Before you get your black leather punk......

The Kid From Brooklyn sees famine, war, and despair in the world's future. " I've got foresight," he says, but even he could never have predicted his own popularity. Michael Caracciolo started his website TheKidFromBrooklyn.com to entertain friends and family, uploading videos of himself ranting wildly about whatever he happened to feel passionately about that moment, whether it be border control, the President, or even Starbucks. It's led to television appearances, a memoir about his......

Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were in their friend Sean Bell's car when police fired 50 times at them, testified before the grand jury yesterday. While they did not tell reporters what they said about the shooting that after Bell's bachelor party, Benefield said, "We just need justice." Guzman, who was hospitalized for two months and is still in a wheelchair due to his wounds, said, "We've been waiting for this for a......

Yesterday afternoon, an apartment building at 115th Street and Lenox Avenue caught fire and tenants and onlookers cheered as five children and their mothers were led to safety. A neighboring building's super, Sharif Abdul Aziz, made three different trips down the fire escape to save mothers and their babies. Aziz simply said, "Everything I do, I do for God." Firefighters also rescued one set of twins from the fifth floor by handing the kids through......

MOVIE: Beware to those heading over to Pioneer Theater tonight, that Jackass Steve-O will be there promoting his new movie TV: The Movie. "A celebration of the ever increasing depravity of television in our society-- it's a channel surfing adventure through the most utterly ridiculous spoofed television programming and commercials." And we bet he'll totally staple something to his face. 11pm // Two Boots Pioneer Theater // Free THEATER: A revival of Kirk Wood Bromley's......

Wow. The NY Times reports that Broken Angel owners Arthur and Cindy Wood have agreed to (1) dismantle part of the roof at 4 Downing Street and (2) to "share ownership [of the building] with a local developer, Shahn Andersen, who would turn most of the building into condominiums." Broken Angel would have living and studio for the Woods, plus "some form of community space." While Arthur Wood, who designed the building, would have......

While last week's Project Runway couture challenge itself wasn't satisfying, the outcome was well worth it. To see Vincent "Everything I do turns me on" Libretti leave has been, well, liberating, because we don't have to worry about him walking around in his boxers on TV ever again. Unless they make him do it on the reunion show. Anyway, here are our thoughts on the episode: - France is the land of accordion music; the......

A few times a week, Gothamist publishes music reviews by our contributor Jeff Baum. The opinions below belong entirely to the author. Hard-Fi appears to have a bit of an identity crisis. They've found a bit of success in the UK and seem to be making a big push towards America. When I saw them back in July at Mercury Lounge, I was completely blown away by the energy and stage presence. To their credit,......

On Sundays, Gothamist publishes opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in NYC. Here's one: This time last year, all I wanted was for everyone to vote. Everything I did revolved around electoral politics, because, like many of my peers, I just wanted W out of the White House. I preached that the only way this country could have a true representative of the people was if everyone voted. When I overheard my neighbors on......

Tucker Shaw, food lover, author, Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth...

Genevieve Field, Sex and Sensibility editor, Nerve.com co-founder...

Candice Waldron, TV Producer...

Sure, I love They Might Be Giants- I saw them play Joe's Pub just this past Friday, but I wouldn't take it this far: "Everything I needed to know I learned by listening to They Might Be Giants" [via MeFi]......