Results tagged “hotelchatter”

Earlier this month, Sarah Lewitinn (Ultragrrrl) brought her label, Stolen Transmission, back to the bedroom after leaving Island/Def Jam. This was just one of many things that signaled more changes for the major, and now it turns out that the president of Def Jam, Jay-Z, is stepping down from his position. The NY Times reports:

Jay-Z made the announcement with Def Jam’s parent, Universal Music Group, as his employment contract was expiring. Under a separate long-term recording contract with Def Jam, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, still owes the company one or more albums.

Upon his departure he stated, “It’s time for me to take on new challenges.” What's left after already having his hand in a fashion line, nightclubs, the New Jersey Nets and of course the music industry? Looks like the most immediate project is a downtown 5-star hotel. Jay-Z purchased a development site in Chelsea which will be home to a 150,000 square-foot luxury hotel called The J-Hotel -- he hopes this will be the flagship of what a chain that will span the nation's major cities.

A Brad Downey sculpture in Greenpoint, by Tod Seelie, who has pix of a couple of more at his site.

- A judge puts an injunction on a possible transit workers strike - not that it'll necessarily stop 'em

The feds have arrested members of an intricate marijuana operation called the "Cartoon Network." Was Mojo Jojo in on this? Newsday reports that the operation spanned NYC and Long Island, and offered home delivery of high-grade marijuana, with customers shelling out $100 for 2 grams. A source said, "It is the best. They called regular marijuana 'Grandma.'" Aw, that's not nice. Anyway, members of the drug ring claimed that they had some high-profile cilents ("professional athletes, entertainment figures and other high-profile professionals") and the feds are looking at phone records to see who clients actually were (the sources weren't sure if the network's kingpins were boasting or telling the truth about famous cilentele).

It's always been one of our dreams to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade from a hotel room overlooking the parade route-- and then to jump on to the top of the Big Bird balloon, and ride him (her?) triumphantly down Broadway to Herald Square. If you have similar ambitions, you should definitely check out Hotel Chatter's list of hotels on the parade route:

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.