The man born with the gift of a golden voice is finally coming to town: Leonard Cohen announced new dates for his current Old Ideas 2012 tour, including two nights in NYC. Cohen will finish up the tour with a show on December 18th at Madison Square Garden, and on December 20th at the newly-opened Barclays Center. It's just like his song said it would be: first we take Manhattan, then we take Brooklyn.
Leonard Cohen To Take His Waltz To MSG And Barclays Center
Zen Garden? $50 Million Rumor About Phil Jackson Coaching Knicks
Former Knick and legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson was on top of Knicks fans' wish lists after Mike D'Antoni resigned (a.k.a. was forced out) last month, though Jackson, who coached Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to 11 championships, is reportedly very happily retired. But today is the last Knicks home game for the shortened season, so obviously it's time for the "Phil Jackson will get a monster offer to coach the Knicks" rumors!
Video: Bruce Springsteen Chugs Beer At MSG, Shares His Jersey Inferiority Complex
Apparently chugging beer during the Apollo Medley portion of his concert is Bruce Springsteen's new thing—The Boss was spotted doing it in Philadelphia last month, and again during his Madison Square Garden shows last week and last night. And he's been drinking beers right out of his loyal fans' hands... that's about a $10 loss at MSG!
What The 1900 Auto Show Looked Like At Madison Square Garden
The New York International Auto Show is in full swing at the Jacob Javits Convention Center through April 15—but did you realize the first automobile show was in 1900? Check out the photograph above of what the scene looked like at (an old incarnation of) Madison Square Garden!
Fancy Fur Flies: Photos From Behind The Scenes At The Westminster Dog Show
The air was heavy with sweat and dog as suited men shoved back a mob of camera-wielding canine enthusiasts to make room for a wedding ceremony. "Get back! Get back, dammit!" A curious woman stood on a table meant for her Rottweilers, sipping a cup of beer, to get a better look. "Hey, get offa there, now!" a security officer barked. "They'd better be buying drinks for everyone," she grumbled. In a few seconds, the wedding would be over. "I got a number one dog, a number one girl: life is good," groom Brad Slayton said, avoiding the pens of sawdust and dog poop to share a glass of champagne with his new wife.
Monday's OWS March To Honor MLK's Fight Against Economic Injustice
Following tomorrow night's worldwide candlelight vigil for Martin Luther King Jr., a group of African American faith leaders will join Occupy Wall Street in a march at 10 a.m. Monday from the Financial District to Madison Square Garden in an effort to "reclaim the dream" and further the slain civil rights leader's fight for economic justice.
Free Food Alert: Appetizers From Madison Square Garden
So far in 2012 Time Warner Cable customers have been unable to watch the MSG or MSG+ networks on their boob tubes. And for understandable reasons, that is not making MSG or its corporate overlords the Dolans happy. So they're bringing out the free food to make sure you don't forget about them—or the teams they show (including the rocking Rangers).
Bucking Bulls & Blue Bruises: Inside MSG's Rowdy Rodeo
You could faintly smell it walking down the brilliant, squeaky linoleum hallways where flat-screen televisions played Knicks highlights in perpetual loops and ten gallon hats carrying nine-dollar beers scurried to their seats. Descending the concrete staircase, the odor turned tangy and complex as it mixed with 600 tons of dirt. Sulfur-spewing pyrotechnics shot sparks into the air, the pop country kicked in, and the crowd roared approvingly. The smell, of course, is bull excrement, and it's an essential ingredient in the electric spectacle that is bull riding in Madison Square Garden. Every time it kicked up in the air it begged the question: What city was this again?
Photos, Video: Bulls Unleashed In Madison Square Garden
With the patchouli and nitrous residue scrubbed clean from the bleachers, fans packed Madison Square Garden last night for the sold-out second round of the Professional Bull Riders' season opener.
Penn Station ALERT: Phish Fan Threat Level Raised To Orange
Beginning yesterday and continuing through Sunday morning, the Phish fan threat level has been raised to orange in a ten block radius surrounding Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. Commuters using Penn Station are strongly advised to consider alternative means of transport, as the streets and sidewalks are nearly impassible due to dreadlocked trustafarians offering heady nugs for your extra. As an alternative, travelers bound for Long Island are advised to take the subway to Atlantic Terminal and transfer to the LIRR there for eastbound, non-phatty service.
Yes Virginia, Rock Still Lives: The Foo Fighters Play MSG
When you look at the top selling songs on iTunes, you'll come across some pop singles, redundant hip-hop club bangers, a few pop-country tracks, plenty of glitzy dance numbers, and maybe a song that falls into the "rock" category. Seldom do you find a song or band that can actually be called "rock and roll" (if that "vanilla" genre of music even exists anymore). Thankfully, we have the Foo Fighters for that—arguably the last American rock and roll band*.
NBA Cancels More Games, Forces Spike Lee To Go To Rangers Games
You know things are bad with the fate of the NBA when Spike Lee is at a Rangers game—as one person observed on Thursday night while the #1 Knicks fan posed for a photo with beloved former Rangers captain Mark Messier, "he must be bored without the Knicks." And now it get worse: The NBA just announced games through November 30 would be cancelled.
Phish Returns To Madison Square Garden For 4 Night NYE Run
There are two kinds of people reading this story: Those who now know EXACTLY where they want to be on New Year's Eve and those who know EXACTLY where to avoid. Phish, the unclassifiable quartet that even hipsters are learning to love, is taking over Madison Square Garden for one of their classic multi-night stands. For four days at the end of December, you can expect the area surrounding Penn Station to be patch pants pandemonium, with desperate ticketless fans crawling through sewers to sneak into the Garden. But if you've ever wanted to buy a balloon filled with nitrous oxide from a pit bull-owning Trustafarian, mark you calendars for December 28th-31st!
Video: This Timelapse Brings You Inside The MSG Transformation
Madison Square Garden has been under the knife for a while (you can follow along on the makeover here), and now you can see it all in this 26-second timelapse. The video shows the transformation in progress, from April to the present (they also have a construction cam set up, so you can keep your eye on things, LIVE). The addition of lobster rolls to the venue has already made this place more enjoyable.
Video: Watch Beastie Boys "Stream" Their New Album At MSG!
Yesterday, there was a mixture of anticipation and confusion after the Beastie Boys released an obscure press release which stated: "This Saturday, 4/23 (tomorrow) Beastie Boys Make Some Noise MSG. Tip off is 10:35 a.m." Well, now we know what it is: the band have set up a speaker in the middle of the court at MSG, and are live "streaming" their entire new album, Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2! There also looks like there's one man in the empty arena, waving his hands in the air like he just don't care. Listen/watch the stream below. We can say without a doubt that it's the only good thing that's happened in MSG in the last 24 hours.
Caps Coach Cries About "Horrible," Sucky MSG
Our Rangers are in the playoffs (and finally won a game yesterday), so it's time to talk hockey, in which toothless men beat the shit out of each other with wooden poles the sport of kings. After losing two consecutive games to the Washington Capitals, the Rangers pulled out a last minute win on Sunday and head back to the Garden on Wednesday night to even the score. But it seems someone forgot to clean the visiting locker room's bidet, because Caps coach Bruce Boudreau took to D.C.'s airwaves this morning to complain about the facilities and fans at Madison Square Garden.
Photos: Backstage At The Westminster Kennel Club Show
Tonight at 8 p.m., USA Network will be airing the Best In Show competition (check out the Best in Group results here) from the Westminster Kennel Club Show going on now at Madison Square Garden. And from the looks of it, the pooches are getting read for their close-ups. Flickr user coifmo66 took these photos of the scene backstage, where contestants are being pampered and primped. And to think, some of these dogs once did things like herd sheep! Thank goodness we now have robots for that.
MSG Bull Riding Has At Least One Celebrity Fan
While animal rights groups protested this weekend's Madison Square Garden Professional Bull Riders Invitational, fans packed the arena to watch three days of rodeo in the heart of Manhattan. And that includes actor John Slattery, who looks like he's on the edge of his seat in anticipation of the competition. Rider Valdiron de Oliveira was crowned the winner for the second time in four years, winning four out of five rounds and taking home $41,860. But the best part of the competition was listening to the names of the bulls.
Riders Hit Bullseye At MSG Bull Invitational
For all you rodeo enthusiasts out there, yesterday was the fifth annual Professional Bull Riders' Invitational at Madison Square Garden. And considering we saw Prince strut his stuff in the same room two weeks ago, the photos strike us as even more ridiculous and awesome. Rodeo Attitude News has a list of the victors, with Douglas Duncan winning the round on two different bulls, named "Silver Valley" and "MySpace" (seriously).
PSA: Phish Fan Advisory Still in Effect, Live Webcast Available
As we noted yesterday, Phish is in the midst of a three-night run at Madison Square Garden, making the area around Penn Station a no-go zone if you're trying to walk to the train without losing your faith in humanity. And tonight, it being NYE, just forget about it—the sidewalks are going to be absolutely packed, with pandemonium for a three block radius around the Garden. Obviously, the band's fan base makes for deliciously easy targets, but it should be noted that the quartet thoroughly crushed their first gig of the run last night, with highlights including an exuberant cover of Little Feat's "Fat Man in the Bathtub" from the album Waiting for Columbus (which Phish covered in its entirety this Halloween), an improvisationally-inspired Set II Tweezer, and a room-shaking Axilla, which is probably the best rock song ever named for the armpit.
PSA: Phish Playing Garden Tonight (& Selling Subway Tokens)
Phish kicks off a way sold-out three night stand at Madison Square Garden tonight, so expect the area around Penn Station to put you in a particularly misanthropic mood during tonight's rush hour. But if you have a thing for NYC subway nostalgia, it may be worth wading through the trustafarian mob scene to get your hands on these Phish subway token replicas.
Lawyers Salivate As MSG Plans New Pedestrian Walkways
Having brushed aside its asbestos scare, Madison Square Garden is back at full strength, serving as host to a series of awesome concerts and not-quite-as-awesome Knicks and Rangers games. But the 42-year-old building is due for an upgrade; it hasn't had a proper makeover since before the Democratic National Convention in 1991, when Patrick Ewing was stalking its halls. And the latest makeover includes some new additions to the cultural complex: two spectator's bridges at the top of the building.
Madison Square Garden Will Reopen Tomorrow
The World's Most Famous Arena (that destroyed the beautiful old Penn Station) will be opening its door once again after a brief asbestos scare. The city's Department of Environmental Protection said Madison Square Garden was safe, and then MSG management said the Knicks, whose Tuesday game against the Orlando Magic was postponed, will play tomorrow against the Washington Wizards. So, what did the Knicks do with the time off?
MSG Hosted First Auto Show Today... in 1900
Ah, the auto show. An American institution. Did you know the first modern automotive show was held on this day in 1900, at Madison Square Garden? (Not the asbestos one, the second one.) Do you think they had car show models back then?
No Asbestos At Madison Square Garden, But It's Still Closed
Yesterday, the Knicks canceled their home game against the Orlando Magic and Madison Square Garden was closed due to an asbestos scare—while cleaning "asbestos-related materials" in the attic, some debris fell into the arena. Well, the NYC's Department of Environmental Protection declared it safe, with a DEP spokesman saying, "It doesn’t appear that any asbestos was disturbed." That must make the tourists who wanted to see Amare Stoudemire Dwight Howard so MAD!!
Knicks Cancel Tonight's Game Because Of... Asbestos
The Knicks won't be able to play their game against the Orlando Magic because of some maintenance problems. The team issued a statement:
Following last night’s Rangers game, during overnight maintenance of Madison Square Garden, which included cleaning asbestos-related materials in the attic above the ceiling, some debris fell into the Arena.more ›
Shooting At Chase Bank Near MSG
WABC 7 reports, "One man was injured in a possible police involved shooting at a bank at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. The person was shot at the Chase Bank, at Penn Plaza just before 12:45 p.m." The bank is on 7th Avenue, near 31st Street, at 2 Penn Plaza. We hear the victim may have been robbing the bank when police approached him and he may have pulled a knife. He was apparently in "not likely" to die condition and was transported to Bellevue; two cops were also taken there.
We Were There: Arcade Fire at MSG
So we weren't overly-enthusiastic about Arcade Fire playing MSG for their New York City run—but the realization that this band was actually meant to play the Garden sunk in pretty quickly last night. Instead of dwelling nostalgically on that time Win Butler nearly bled real possessed-musician-cutting-thumb-on-guitar blood on us at the significantly smaller Mercury Lounge in 2004, we embraced the goosebumps that were popping up in abundance as the band totally dominated the colossal venue they found themselves in last night, six years later.
Nets' Huge Billboard Over MSG Gets Under Knicks' Skin
How serious is new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov about getting NY fans to pay attention to his underdog team? He's putting up a huge 225' by 99' painted billboard, featuring himself, Jay-Z and the words "Blueprint for Greatness"—on the side of a building at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue—right by Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks. According to the Post, "Nets sources say Knicks and Cablevision owner James Dolan called Jay-Z to complain. Others in the Knicks hierarchy called the Nets and the NBA. The Nets did nothing wrong, according to the league."
Could MSG Be On The Move Again?
A couple of years ago Madison Square Garden planned on renovating the existing arena in lieu of joining up with the Moynihan Station plans. Now word is that developer Steven Roth may be attempting to revive a plan to move MSG one block west.

