RENT, the surprise smash hit musical that premiered in 1996 and went on to become the seventh-longest-running Broadway show in history, will close June 1st, producers have announced. Over the years the show cultivated a fanatical army of young repeat viewers (“Rentheads”) whose ardor has translated into profits of $280 million on Broadway, four Tony awards and a Pulitzer. Productions have been mounted on six continents, while an ill-conceived movie version of the show, filmed......

Today is a citywide "Day Out Against Hate." City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Reverend Al Sharpton have spearheaded the event, which was prompted by a number of disturbing hate crime incidents, from swastikas in Brooklyn Heights to a noose found at the Columbia University campus. The Politicker was at one of the events this morning, where Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz "suggested, rather strongly, that city public school students be required to make......

- Walter Pertyk, the teen who dressed as Hitler (for Halloween) at his Brooklyn public high school, walked in the march that protested his actions. He tells the Post, "They called it a walk of tolerance and respect, so I figured I would go and show my tolerance and respect for other people's views of my costume." It's suddenly sounding like the Death Camp of Tolerance episode of South Park. - David Langlieb, author of......

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for? Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. Chicagoist talked about the passion as they bid adieu to Bell......

READING: Tonight at 192 Books, Marisha Pessl reads from Special Topics in Calamity Physics, her buzzy and well-received first novel. Seating is usually limited at 192 Books so call (212) 255-4022 to reserve a spot. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 7pm // 192 Books [192 10th Ave. at 23rd St] // Free THEATER: Downtown writer/director/innovator Young Jean Lee kicks off the fall season at HERE with what the theater website describes as her own worst nightmare:......

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.......

In The Forward, Ed Koch and Rafael Medoff have an article, Will Mel Gibson Get Away With His Antisemitic Tirade? And it's like a greatest hits of famous figures (mostly political) getting their slur on. For instance: - Jesse Jackson called New York City "Hymietown" - James Baker saying, "F— the Jews, they don't vote for us anyway." - Marge Schott's Hitler love and her remarks about blacks - Maybe everything Pat Buchanan has said......

Malcolm Gladwell profiles Cesar Millan, the "Dog Whisperer," in the New Yorker this week (the article is not online, but this Q&A Gladwell did with Ben Greenman about Millan is), and Gothamist cannot wait to get our issue from the mailbox. If you don't know who Cesar Millan is (like, you watched the South Park episode and thought he was made up), he's a total phenomenon. He communes with dogs, is able to walk huge......

Uh-oh! Corynne from Jossip emailed to say something is afoot in Park Slope: "Please help! There are these little styrofoam balls (i know how it sounds) seemingly falling from the sky all over "south park slope" otherwise known as greenwood heights. Are they from a factory or something? Maybe the building that burned down? we just cant figure it out, and they are everywhere. I can take a picture if you want ... they......

- The feds show their incompetence with the Moussaoui trial and, boy, is that judge ANGRY - Interesting background on food vendors to NYC public schools in the Village Voice (no wonder they love junk food- lunch food really sucks) - The two cops shot in Crown Heights this morning were saved by their bulletproof vests - Queens fire is being investigated... we remember another Queens fire that also hit a pizzeria - eefers......

School buses are notoriously awful places. It's all the school-time ostracization but in a much smaller, enclosed place. That's why Gothamist reeled when we read about the Staten Island bus driver who created a "fight club" on his bus. And not just any fight club - a fight club named the "Death Cheese Bus," where bus driver Michael Cianci was the "Emperor" and all the kids were separated by a sort of caste system ("Lords,"......

There's nothing better than a Larry David NY Times opinion piece about Brokeback Mountain to make Gothamist snap out of our hangover. In true Larry David fashion, David writes about why he refuses to see the critically acclaimed film:If two cowboys, male icons who are 100 percent all-man, can succumb, what chance to do I have, half- to a quarter of a man, depending on whom I'm with at the time? I'm a very......

- The new plaza at 55 Water Street will host 12 public events a year - The two men found guilty of killing a college student in Brooklyn were sentenced to 25 years to life - Gawker breaks down the odds on who will be Mediabistro's new editor - Madonna met with Hunter students yesterday! Everything going on on the Upper East Side, apparently - The Jets get to sue Cablevision over the whole West......

If not the Freedom Tower, or the WTC Memorial, there always seems to be something wrong with Ground Zero rebuliding, and the latest part of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's plan at the World Trade Center to be mired in controversy is the International Freedom Center. The IFC was originally supposed to be a place where people would learn about tolerance and diversity (though steering clear of September 11 events, because that would be......

The primary is next Tuesday, and it seems like some registered Democrats still don't know who they will vote for in various races. Luckily, Gotham Gazette has some great resources for New Yorkers, including an excellent Guide for the Last Minute Voter. GG has a handy grid of where the candidates stand on the issues, as well as a grid of which endorsements they have received. And you can see what other races, such as......

What kind of show are you in the mood for this week? New York is probably the only city in the country where you have more options for different kinds of live theatrical productions than for movies. Whatever you’re feeling, there’s probably a show for you, something that’ll either keep you energized or give you a pleasantly confused buzz or shake you out of your pity party. When you’re deciding what to see, consider some......

In the spirit of those movie reviewers from obscure media outlets who tell us that some crappy movie released in January is the movie of the year, Gothamist would like to nominate the NY Times' John Schwartz for this gem, in his International > International Special > Communications: Myths Run Wild in Blog Tsunami Debate" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/03/international/worldspecial4/03bloggers.html?oref=login">story about blogs reacting to tsunami news:But the blogosphere's tendency toward crackpot theorizing and political smack down could not be......

Uh oh: The NY Post is reporting that the third season of Chappelle's Show is getting a late start due to "llness and a 'Sopranos'-like display of artistic control." Chappelle reportedly has had the flu and "borderline walking pneumonia," plus has been busy working on other projects (like Wattstax), and sure, Comedy Central threw $50 million at him to continue doing his show, which would, in Gothamist's mind, make anyone a diva. But the delay......

South Park is back tonight with new episode called "Douche and Turd": When PETA demonstrates against the use of a cow as South Park Elementary’s mascot, the student body is forced to choose a new one. As the election approaches, Kyle tries to convince everyone that his candidate, a giant douche, is better than Cartman’s nominee, a turd sandwich.Apparently, Stan refuses to select one, so P. Diddy comes to kill him. Thus the episode......

Gothamist is excited about Team America, the marionette movie from Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park that will spoof both left and right wing Americans, as well as world leaders in rude and hilarious fashion (purposefully bad accents for Kim Jong Il, for starters, let alone the marionette sex issue). But we don't know exactly why composer Marc Shaiman left the film Or that's what we thought we heard. Marc, a film......

Bob McKee, Local Music Now...

David Hinckley in the NY Daily News complains that the American Film Institute list of the 100 Top Movie Songs is no fun because it's actually not a bad list. Gothamist would almost agree, except for the lack of songs from South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. We feel that Come What May from Moulin Rouge (who sings that? who cares?) is just an addition to please the public (that way you can get Nicole Kidman......

The Passion of the Christ has been out for a while now and most of the people I know have seen it. I've been reluctant to see what I feel will be a virulently anti-Semitic film and have no interest in giving Mel Gibson my money. For the sake of discussing it with my , but in the interest of keeping my money from a man I think is an anti-Semite, can I sneak into......

Just a few steps away from those beacons of commercialism, the Time-Warner Center, is a modest 3-story, kind of ugly building that houses the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) in New York. The church has finished a renovation project and is opening their doors this Saturday for the curious. While this is probably an effort by the church to spread the word, Gothamist knows that the visitors will be made......

To add to greg.org's disbelief that the New York Times is just coming to the South Park table now, Gothamist can't believe that there was no mention of the Death Camp of Tolerance episode (with Lemmiwinks) or Scott Tenorman Must Die (with Radiohead). South Park does lampoon all religions well, but it's also an excellent hotbed of social satire (the recent metrosexual-skewering South Park is Gay! and Michael Jackson inspired The Jeffersons). And more attention......

So, Gothamist was wrong when we thought that lisping British hipster chef Jamie Oliver was slightly better than Rocco DiSpirito, because what the Oliver has in values, he lacks in total common sense, even more so than Rocco. After reading about Oliver burning his penis when trying to cook a Valentine's meal for his wife in the nude (yes, we've just developed an instant case of vomiting too!), Gothamist waves the white flag at celebrity......

Gothamist thought we knew a fair amount about the New York Rangers (we do have the 1994 Stanley Cup Championship video), but we never realized they had the Rangers City Skaters, the icy counterpart to the Knicks City Dancers. That's why the Post's exclusive that MSG executives sexually harrassed, verbally abused, and just acted like buffoons was so surprising. The former captain of the Rangers City Skaters, Courtney Prince, is suing the Rangers, citing instances......

Greg Allen...

Gothamist loves Mark Simpson. How can you not love a hunky gay gender theorist who says "Someone who looks like a male masseur at a Palm Springs spa can become governor of California" while also trying to explain what he meant when he first coined the term, metrosexual. Salon has a fabulous interview with Simpson, MetroDaddy Speaks!. Some of Simpson's wisdom from the piece: When I wrote about metrosexuality back in the dark days of......

Johnnie Cochran has been hired by the family who owns Winnie the Pooh rights in their fight with Disney over millions in royalties. Interestingly, Disney is being represented by Daniel Petrocelli, whose previous client included the family of Ron Goldman in the civil trial against O.J. Simpson. [Via MCN who put it best, "If Pooh's The Shit, Please Pay for It."] Poo tangent: After Comedy Central aired uncensored South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut two......