THEATER: The salty, electric dynamo that is Elaine Stritch shows no sign of waning – about to turn 83-years-young, the show biz legend has kicked off 2008 with a reprise of her Tony-winning cabaret show. Backed by a six-piece band and performed in two acts for a dining audience at the newly restored Café Carlyle, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, co-written with the New Yorker’s John Lahr, is a hilarious, old-fashioned ride through star-studded post-war Broadway,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an industrial accident on 10th Ave. near 30th St. in Manhattan, a man down an elevator shaft at 50 West 15th St. in Manhattan, and a homicide at Neck Parkway and 42nd Ave. in Queens. Not only have investigators found hard drives scrubbed clean of potentially damaging e-mail messages related to Troopergate, the Spitzer administration is refusing to even identify the names of the Internet Service Providers that were......

Queens Hospital to Help the Neediest Helping the neediest this holiday season isn't just limited to canned food drives and dropping some change in those red Salvation Army kettles. AM New York reports that at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, almost 1,500 uninsured patients have been given low-cost birth control and counseling to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The service is in response to the high rate of unintended pregnancies over the past year: 49%......

If you ever thought that strapping yourself into a spinning gyroscope in 30-something degree weather for two days would be a good idea, then consider yourself David Blaine's kindred spirit. This morning, as audience members and the press anxiously waited in the cold, the illusionist-showman embarked on his latest stunt: Hanging from a gyroscope over a former parking lot on West 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue for two days. Oh, and he's......

We're worried that David Blaine has an eating disorder - he's planned his next stunt to take place over Thanksgiving! The illusionist, last seen submerged for days with gross skin issues at Lincoln Center, will be suspended over Times Square for three days. From E!:The challenge, sponsored by Target to kick off the holiday shopping season, will get underway at 10 a.m. Tuesday, when Blaine is slated to be hoisted by crane to his......

It's that time of year again, when you trade in your summer clothes for your fall sweaters. And why don't you get rid of the things you never wear while you're at it, as the city is having it's annual Fall Electronics Recycling & Clothing Donation Events in all five boroughs. The first event is this Sunday in Staten Island, and next weekend on September 24, the event will be at Union Square in Manhattan......

Are there any good options for shedding books, clothes, and other goods that one doesn't need anymore before or after a move in NYC? I am about to move and have a lot of books, clothes, CD's, and other items that I'd like to sell or donate. The problem with the Salvation Army in NYC is that it doesn't pick up, and transporting boxes of heavy goods to their office is difficult. I know......

Last May, math-majoring junior Michael Quercia was arrested for possession of 10 ounces of pot in his dorm room, and NYU decided that he should perform 500 hours of community service and would remain suspended until 2007. Quercia thought that was a bit extreme, and a Manhattan judge agreed, calling NYU's ruling "a Draconian measure that is disproportionate to the offense committed." The Daily News reported that Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub thinks that Quercia......

The return of cold weather this past weekend seems to have caused at least three deaths in the city. Two men were found dead in a vacant lot in Greenpoint. The police believed the men, in their 50s or 60s, were homeless and were seeking shelter. And another man was found in Queens, on a Conduit Boulevard sidewalk; it seems that he died from hypothermia as well. Here's an older NYC Health Department press release......

If you’re anything like us, you’re wishing you passed on that 5th cocktail at the office holiday party last night. And if you’re anything like us, you’ve tried everything from drinking a cold morning beer to rediscovering religion in hopes of getting rid of the nasty hangover that throbbed with every ringing Salvation Army bell you heard on the way to work today. But an unfortunate article in the British Medical Journal suggests that no......

I cleaned out my closet this weekend and have a few bags of clothing in good condition. My first reaction was to donate to the Red Cross for hurricane victims, but are there any agencies or shelters in NYC that will give clothing directly to people in need? Now is a good time to remember that while the poor and displaced of the Gulf Coast need our help and sympathy - and will for quite......

If it's the holiday season with gift giving, it's the post-holiday blues with gift returns, especially with holiday sales. Retail analysts are expecting many people to return gifts, as well as cash in any gift cards, in the next few days. One retail analyst suggests you remain calm during the return process, as "angry customers usually bring about angry retailers." Word. When you've waited on line at Banana Republic for 30 minutes, there's no need......

A huge fire (we heard it was either three or four alarm) raged through a Chinatown apartment building yesterday morning. A 37th floor apartment was described as a "fireball" by firefighters; luckily, firefighters were able to contain the fire after two hours and knocking out the wall of an adjoining apartment. No residents seriously injured, though quite a few firefighters suffered burns. The culprit? Francis Wang's "knee-high stacks of newspapers," which probably caught fire from......

As a studio apartment dweller, I cannot logically have a yard sale to sell my old stuff. I looked into getting a stall at a flea market, but alas, you need to be a professional hawker to get a booth as far as I know.Do you know how the average person can have a sidewalk sale or sell things at a market? I know at flea markets in other cities they have one day a......

I just bought an Aeron chair and i'm enjoying a good sit in it right now. I also own a nice computer, a few good suits, a nice TV, a TiVo, and a rather upscale cat. Is it morally wrong to love these things when so many people in the world are living in poverty? - JD Here at Ask Gothamist, we don't judge people or label them. All kinds of people have all......

My boyfriend and I just moved in together, and we are looking to buy a couch. We have already checked out Jennifer Convertibles (too frumpy and expensive), Design Within Reach (within reach my foot! Expensive!), and various other small stores in our neighborhood. While we will be going to IKEA this weekend to look at their offerings, I was thinking that there might be another alternative... I remember seeing a TV/Movie prop furniture store along......

Urban Outfitters, your cheekiness would be clever if it weren't so stupid. But the "Everybody Loves..." line of shirts, including "Asian Girl," Jewish Girl," "Latin Girl," "Catholic Girl," and "Italian Girl," just wants us to make one that says, "Fuck Urban Outfitters, I'll Just Go To The Salvation Army While We Leave These to the Suburban Kids," 'cause the only semi-racist t-shirt that really floats anyone's boat is "Italians Do It Better" or anything in......

Yahoo! has set up a Christmas tree with an Internet receiver in Herald Square. There, passersby can log onto Yahoo!, either by their various WiFi devices or the computer kiosks, and Yahoo! marketing director Loanne Calvert explains to NY1, "What we did was use Wi-Fi technology to provide access so anyone can come up to the tree. You can log on, you can shop on Yahoo!, you can comparison price to any of the stores......

Everyone has left something behind at a restaurant: Doggie bag of leftovers, shopping bag, cell phone...but usually the forgetful remember and will retrieve their wares. The Daily News looks at some unclaimed and, frankly, bizarre items left behind at city restaurants. Lots of coats are forgetten, leading restaurants to donate them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. But the most interesting combination is at Shaffer City Oyster Bar & Grill: A worn full-length green negligee......