It's just been announced that Tony Award-winners James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave are returning to the stage this October to star opposite one another in the Broadway premiere of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy. Redgrave was last seen on Broadway in Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, while Jones made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning play Sunrise at Campobello in 1958, and won a Tony for his performance in original Broadway production of Fences (Denzel Washington just won a Tony for his performance in the same role.) more ›

Bradford Reed is the inventor and probably the only player of the pencilina, an instrument that he describes as "an electric ten-stringed collision of the hammer dulcimer, slide guitar, koto and fretless bass with six pickups of varied types" and looks something like a surf board caught up in a fishing net. He has played with King Missile, the Blue Man Group band and has composed for film and animation. He has appeared on MTV, Sound FX and the Tonight Show, as well as on the streets of New York. more ›

If there's one thing Gothamist realizes about yesterday's "Women for Bloomberg" rally, it's that comedy gold is all about making fun of the Mayor in subtle ways. Sure, Lorraine Bracco did butter up Mayor Bloomberg by saying, "He's smart. He's good looking. He's rich. And he loves his mother. He's perfect, right?" but we think we get where the joke is, right? Bracco also said that he doesn't "have the voice of actor James Earl Jones." That's for sure. Apparently Senator Schumer's daughter Jessica stopped by the rally, causing the Senator's spokesperson to assure the media that Senator Schumer would be supporting whoever wins the Democratic primary. Heh. Anyway, it seems like there was a lot of Borscht Belt style humor at the rally (Mayor Bloomberg marveling over having so much love from women wanting Bloomberg and asking "Where were you when I was 16?") but the most interesting thing is that Mayor Bloomberg joked about the absence of his mother - in D.C. with friend - saying, " "I don't know whether she's helping the administration or protesting against them." How amazing would it be for a 96 year old Charlotte Bloomberg to be protesting the Bush administration? more ›

The rarified air around tippy-top Broadway shows is abuzz this week with anticipation of the Tony Awards. Clicking through the official website, Gothamist couldn’t help but snort at some of the pomposity going on for a ceremony that no one outside theater could care less about, but it’s probably to be expected. With celebrity presenters ranging from Julia Stiles and Allison Janney to James Earl Jones and Alan Alda, the Tonys have to keep up appearances and satisfy the big Hollywood tastes these folks have developed. This is particularly obvious in the huge number of gifts presenters receive, as Playbill reports; the goodies aren’t quite Oscar-caliber, but there are several nice bits of bling (Gothamist’s eye lingered on the Swarovski crystal-studded earphones) but apparently the award organizers want to help these poor deprived folks get total makeovers, with gift certificates for Lasik and teeth bleaching as well as “Life Coaching” sessions and language-learning software. Because, you know, now that these people are at the top of their game, they really need some extra assistance. Sheesh. more ›

With last week's release of Seabiscuit, the Palm Beach Post's sports writers come up a list of the best sports movies ever made. Not surprisingly, the list skews towards more recent films, but Gothamist was surprised to see how much we agreed with the selections. We were especially glad that Hoop Dreams, one of the best films ever made, period, made the list, thereby not getting the short shrift for being a documentary. The top ten: more ›