Yesterday a group of 8 autistic children graduating from P.S. 37 had a treat in store as Jennifer Lopez stood amongst the audience. The school is in Staten Island's Great Kills neighborhood, and the 10 and 11-year-old kids were performing her song and dance routine for "Let's Get Loud." SI Live reports on the singer's cameo.The class was first introduced to Lopez's music a few months ago when they had to choose a song to......

Not too long ago it was reported that Jennifer Lopez was ready to burst as her belly swelled with twins on the way. She had visited a Long Island hospital with husband Marc Anthony and her couture hospital gowns, but it must have been a false alarm, because soon after she was attending Fashion Week events. Initially it was reported she would have a Cesarean birth that was scheduled for Valentine's Day; no word yet......

No arrests have been made, but a violent incident in Times Square originating at karaoke nightclub early Monday Spotlight LiveSpotlight Live resulted in the death of one man and the injury or hospitalization six others last night. A coat-check dispute, led to the ejection of a number of patrons and resulted in a deadly brawl. The restaurant's spokesman said that patrons who had been arguing and then got into a shoving match were asked to......

The police are questioning a man who had been registered a room in a West 43rd Street hotel where a woman's body was found on Thursday. Clarence Dean, a 35-year-old "fugitive" sex offender from Alabama, had checked out of the room 608 at the Hotel Carter, an inexpensive hotel near 8th Avenue popular with tourists. He was not charged with any crime, but police picked him up after seeing him at Park Avenue and East......

It's not just venues closing down these days, the latest real estate casualty is still music-related, however. AMNY reports that Sony BMG is closing its Hell's Kitchen studios. Not surprisingly, the company alluded to difficult times in the recording industry when internally annoucing the five-story brick building (which resides on West 54th St and 10th Ave) will be shutting its doors this August. Employees received the memo on June 8th, also letting them know all......

Fifth Avenue was packed with revelers and performers during the 50th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Celebrities, like "King" Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, were out in force, as were the politicians, including Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Eliot Spitzer, Senator Charles Schumer, Representative Jose Serrano, and Puerto Rico governor Anibal Acevedo-Villa. Bloomberg said, "I think the most impressive thing is that people love to be living here and be part of New York......

The Puerto Rican Day Parade is supposed to draw 2.8 million spectators to 5th Ave. in Manhattan this Sunday, making it one of the most popular annual parades in New York City. It's the 50th occurrence, so expect lots of enthusiasm from marchers, who will be heading north from 44th St. to 86th St. and entertained by Parade King Ricky Martin. The size of the event is amazing, considering that the estimated population of......

Anna Wintour, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière, and Cate Blanchett hosted last night's annual Costume Institute gala, which was a celebration of Paul Poiret, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Poirot was the pioneer in modern fashion, and freed women from petticoats and corsets - though many, even those in attendance last night, aren't familiar with him. Everyone did their best to dress "in the spirit of" the King of Fashion however, including: Mick Jagger, David......

Former US Weekly editor Timothy McDarrah was sentenced to six years in prison this week following his December conviction for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. Using the email address ps41alum@aol.com (now inactive, so don't bother sending hate mail), McDarrah responded to a Craigslist post planted by the FBI and offered $200 to have sex with a barely teen-aged girl. The FBI says McDarrah asked "What it'll cost for the cutest white 14-year-old......

It's that time of the year again: When Hollywood honors its moviemaking the way it knows (and not always in equitable ways, given that Alfred Hitchcock nor Robert Altman, to name a few, have never won Directing Oscars) and America gets to watch hours of pre-show hosted by idiots. Giving commentary for Gothamist this year, Karen Wilson, Margaret Harper, and Jen Chung. 7:06PM First thoughts: Gael Garcia Bernal is so cute. Ryan Seacrest is an......

February 10th and 17th, class is in session at the UCB Theater. Welcome to the Al Pacino School of Acting , where you learn from the master, portrayed by Cesar Gracia. Audience members will have the opportunity to pick up some of the tricks of the trade as Pacino calls them onstage and brings out the true auteur in them. Miami got David Caruso; NYC got William Peterson. Who's better off? I'm from Miami so......

You know it's the beginning of January when the gyms are filled with New Years resolution exercisers and the movie theaters are filled with post-New Years dreck. Frankly, it's best to focus on getting caught up on last year's best (see our Top 10 and the subsequent comments for suggestions) and leave this week's releases for suckers with movie money to burn. Hilary Swank often stars in Oscar-lauded movies but her newest about an inner-city......

At the first Latin Grammys held in New York City, Shakira swept the top categories, winning album of the year, best female pop vocal album, song of the year, and record of the year. The Colombian singer dedicated one award to Latin immigrants and said, "I hope soon they will receive they recognition they deserve from the government." Amongst celebrities and musicians like Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin, our mayor (and admitted Shakira......

Hundreds of thousands of revelers enjoyed the beautiful weather and celebrated during yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade. And this year's theme was, "Boricuas...We count, We Vote!" Though Marc Anthony was the Grand Marshal, the real attraction was his wife, Jennifer Lopez. Mayor Bloomberg, who marched with the couple, said, "In the pictures tomorrow, I will be lucky if I am noticed at all." Anthony and Lopez ultimately needed the help of Guardian Angels to......

With the Puerto Rican Day Parade right around the corner, Mayor Bloomberg reminded Fifth Avenue buildings not to board up their properties. Many buildings along the parade's two mile route had taken to putting plywood on doors and windows, fearing rowdy crowds. While Puerto Rican Day parade violence has been a concern since the 2000 "wildings," the NYPD has made sure to step up patrols. Daily News says no buildings have been boarded up so......

Sofia Quintero, Author, Divas Don't Yield, Activist, Co-Founder, Chica Luna...

It's pretty cute to know that Marc Anthony keeps his wedding pictures on his laptop! The NYPD's Major Case Squad just busted the guys who tried to extort Anthony and Jennifer Lopez for $1 million in return for Anthony's laptop and wedding video. Apparently ex-con Tito Moses and Steven Wortman got a hold of Anthony's goods and called Access Hollywood to sell them. The The Post reports that Access Hollywood contacted the Major Case Squad;......

So, Boston native Matt Damon got married to his fiance, Miami resident Luciana Bozan, on Friday morning at City Hall - and Mayor Bloomberg was present. Damon and Bozan were able to bypass the Municipal Building wedding. We thought, "Why would Mayor Bloomberg attend the wedding?" Is it because Damon is filming a movie in NYC? Or because Damon is from Boston, the Mayor's original haunt? Or, perhaps, it's a returned favor, after Damon attended......

Is it such a coincidence that there was a huge gas fireball so close to where Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony were filming their new salsa movie? At first, authorities thought it was a flaming manhole (hee!) but it was actually West 32nd Street itself, but no, it was a 25 foot high fire. Nonetheless, amNew York reported that during the conflagration, "J. Lo and Anthony alternately shot scenes and hid from the gathering paparazzi......

So MTV is planning more celebrity-hosted reality programs, in an effort to keep basic cable viewers from the bread and butter of MTV - music videos. Two shows Gothamist was intrigued by:"Power Girls" features press maven [Lizzie] Grubman and her team of publicists as they run the nightlife in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Miami. "Borrow My Crew," hosted by Fonzworth Bentley, rents out entourages-to-the-stars to viewers in need. In the first episode, MTV hires Jennifer......

If President Reagan had not died on Saturday, Gothamist is sure that the third marriage of Jennifer Lopez to crooner Marc Anthony (who looks anemic, or like an extra from a Tim Burton ghoul film - hey, Marc Anthony's manager, take notes!), would have been the number 1 news story, even besting D-Day coverage. So, while the balance of celebrity news versus real news is skewed, we can rest assured that a presidental death outweighs......

Gothamist didn't know what to make of this Post article about the excess of teenage proms. Girls and guys are spending up to $3000 on their proms, from renting those awful Hummer limos and buying prom dresses to getting body massages the day-after and having after-party dresses. One girl has a drsesmaker copying the gown Jennifer Lopez wore in Maid in Manhattan, one guy is renting a Rolls-Royce for the evening. Dizzamn. What happened to......

Rumor had it that Jennifer Lopez was going to get slimed on Saturday's Nickeloden Kids' Choice Awards, but it turned out that everyone's favorite underage teens, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, were the victims. And many probably thought that twins getting slimed and clinging to each other was better than the -ennifer in Bennifer getting it. But the best was Outkast's acceptance speech (for winning Best Song - "Hey Ya"):"Thank you for inviting us to your......

Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez are going to be starring in a film together, about a "white female swing band that joins forces with a group of black and Hispanic musicians at a time when women were ostracized from playing male-dominated clubs. Those sex barriers shattered soon after President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and the women suddenly played the hottest clubs and even squared off against the Count Basie orchestra at the Apollo Theater."......

Damnit, we'd been so looking forward to a Bennifer wedding and divorce; now we have nothing! Gothamist thinks Ben Affleck deserves another Oscar for playing the dumpee so well, going to the casino till 5AM and looking crappy. Plus allowing Jennifer Lopez to take the credit for ending the relationship - now that's classy. We'd been hearing that he wanted to dump her for a while (we don't have real inside sources, but we do......

With about 40% of MTV's airtime devoted to commercials, Gothamist has no choice but to flip around when we're not watching, oh, Newlyweds or Rich Girls. So we only found out that Catherine Zeta Jones was doing a public service announcement for bulimia when we read the Times: "Sound familiar?" asks a voice with muted Welsh vowels. "If so, you may have bulimia. You cannot flush away your problems. It won't go away until you......

Ben Affleck called up Howard Stern yesterday, to proclaim his love for Jennifer Lopez. Why? Stern laid down the gauntlet to get celebrities he's been ridiculing to give 5 minute interviews, and in turn, his radio station, KROCK will donate $10,000 of the charity of their choice. According to the Daily News, B.Aff said he still wanted to marry J.Lo and said that she was an "extraordinary" lover. Plus he "deflected questions about his hair......

Madonna says that Jennifer Lopez is trying too hard to get media attention and that's what doomed her relationship with Ben Affleck. "Ultimately, if you’ve a strong relationship — and there’s understanding of what a committed marriage is — I don’t think that having a lot of media attention can break it up. To a certain extent, they courted the media attention. At the end of the day I feel like that’s their job,......

P. Diddy managed to make good on his desire to complete the ING NYC Marathon in under 4 hours yesterday. An impressive job, considering that he has only been training for eight weeks (people train for months, if not a year) and the Times reports that his legs seized at mile 12 and that his sports physician says "he's hurting right now" (but he made his post-marathon press conference, of course). Also in the......

Although Mayor Bloomberg and his administration might claim the formation of the New York City Latin Media & Entertainment Commission is to attract Latin media & entertainment opportunities to NY, Gothamist knows better: - Mayor Bloomberg has "wanted to have J.Lo" for a while - Huge Hispanic voting bloc needed in order to win re-election And Mayor Bloomberg got his moment with Jennifer Lopez as he named her honorary chairwoman of the commission. Bless......