Results tagged “thesopranos”

Last month Carl Capotorto's Twisted Head hit the bookshelves. The memoir traces his life in the Bronx decades ago, from his father's "Pizza and Sangwheech Shoppe" to the Summer of Sam. This week he told us a little bit about what life was like in New York back then, how the Son of Sam killed his childhood friend, and his role as Little Paulie Germani in The Sopranos.

When the stagehands’ strike ended late Wednesday night, the general consensus was that not all Broadway productions would be able to pull it together in time for Thursday night re-openings. But as it turned out, all 27 strike-darkened shows were up and running last night, despite the challenges that larger productions faced after 19 dormant days. Chicago, for instance, had two stars joining the cast – Vincent Pastore and Aida Turturro of “The Sopranos” –...

Barack may have Oprah, but the stagehands' and writers' union have John Edwards! The former senator, currently in third place after Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the hunt for the Democratic presidential nomination, voiced his support of Local One, the Broadway stagehands union that has been on strike since November 9 over a new contract. Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said, "To interfere with the power of the Broadway community is not...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned auto on the LIE and Oceania St. in Queens, and a fall victim on 170th St. and University Ave. in the Bronx.
• Two NJ teenagers attempted to escape the wrath of a parent, who caught them drinking alcohol last week, by tieing together bedsheets in order to rappel down the side of their highrise building. The incident ended badly, although both are expected to survive.
• The negative effect of a stagehand strike may be ameliorated by spillover business directed towards off-Broadway productions. It's being reported that off-Broadway business is up about 30% as major productions have shut down.
• Fats Domino was presented with the key to the city for his work on behalf of struggling musicians in New Orleans. The actual key is worth $100 and is presented in a black velour case--just some of many interesting tidbits in this Times piece.
• Experiences with the police when one is taking pictures legally--even when one is not arrested--can still be a huge unnerving pain in the ass.
• The famed New Jersey Satriale's butcher shop, which was featured for several years as a location on the HBO mob drama "The Sopranos," has been knocked down and turned into a condo building called "The Sopranos."
• Three new giant balloons are entering the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: Shrek, Abby Cadabby, and Hello Kitty. The three giants took a test-inflate in Queens this Sunday.
• Friends and family gathered to remember the victims of Flight 587, which crashed in residential Belle Harbor, Queens shortly after takeoff six years ago.

The NYPD is investigating six police officers suspected of trying to improperly obtain steroids. According to WNBC, the NYPD and State Health department have been raiding Brooklyn pharmacies - and the NYPD's Internal Affairs has now turned an eye on its own.

The Plaza, you know that place where the kids in Gossip Girl hang out, is turning 100 years old today. The date is marked by the first guest to ever check in to the famed establishment. Who was it? The fancy-named Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, and of course a PR-driven hotel manager was behind that. The NY Times reports that "His arrival was orchestrated by the Plaza’s first manager, who wanted the new hotel to open with a splashy, attention-getting stunt."

Last night the 59th Annual Emmy Awards took place on the left coast, but New Yorkers made out very well. New York productions/creative types that took home the gold: Late Night with Conan O'Brien (writing), The Daily Show (variety-comedy show series), 30 Rock (best comedy), and Dick Wolf (for producing Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). In the would-have-been arena, America Ferrera won best actress in a comedy, Ugly Betty, which was originally supposed to shoot in the Big Apple but shoots in L.A. because it's cheaper. We'll also count Rob Marshall, who won for directing the Best Variety-Musical Special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, since he has Broadway roots.

This Sunday Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Opera will hold A Tribute to Beverly Sills. The event is open to the public, free, and will be dedicated to the sopranos life -- which ended in July.

This morning, an explosion occurred on 29th Street near 8th Avenue. No one was injured, but a van was damaged and residents were evacuated during the 1AM incident. The police believe it was either a pipe bomb or another "small explosive...meant to scare as opposed to cause significant damage or injuries."

As another season of Emmy nominations show, those folks over at HBO original programming know what they're doing. Complex shows filled with meaty characters, lavish spectacle and quite a few racy scenes make those premium cable fees seem well worth the expense. However, if you missed out on the two seasons of in togas, here's your chance to catch up as the series comes to DVD this week.

Covering Coverage

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

With The Sopranos gone, those wishing for a slice of gangster life and a free John Gotti poster can watch out for Mob Candy magazine. Back in May, Radar explained how the magazine came to be during a conversation between editor in chief Tyrone Christopher and publisher Frank DiMatteo and that the first issue would feature "articles on Don Carlo Gambino's legacy, 50 years of rats, FBI vs. Italian Americans, along with current mobster news, hot girls, hitmen, and contracts."

The Sopranos finale is going to be talked about until the end of time, we've come to grips with that. The open-ended ending wasn't the only mysterious part of the hour long episode, though. In the process of picking apart each and every detail of the final hour, people are now asking: "what about that cat?" Or shall we say, cats...there were three playing that one role of the stray tabby. The Daily News reports that the cat (that was almost whacked by Paulie) "was, in fact, played by three cats - Timmy, Tommy and Terry - 4-year-old identical siblings who were plucked from a California field where they were abandoned as kittens." The trained ferals stole the show, and raised even more questions, as they stared at Christopher's photo. How did the cats take direction?

People are still airing their thoughts on The Sopranos finale - NYMag is personally feeling a bit betrayed by David Chase, and The Observer is left needing therapy, not closure. We're more interested in what's left of the show...in other words: The Sopranos are having a yard sale (thanks for the tip, Logo)! The sale is listed on Craiglist (it doesn't specify it's for The Sopranos, but it is), and states there will be "plenty of furniture, lamps, rugs, antiques, books, kitchen and bathroom accesories etc. - a warehouse full of everything you can think of."

Save Veronica Mars Campaign Does Not Effect Local Mars Bar Availability

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible grenade is noticed and reported on 33rd Ave. in Queens, an armed robbery on East 61st St. in Manhattan, and a carjacking on 133rd St. and Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn.
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is employing the celebrity skills of Matt Dillon to help save St. Brigid's Church in the East Village.
• Eastbay is marketing Converse All-Star high tops that appear pre-worn and fairly dingy as the "Ramones All-Star Hi". We would've gone with "Ramones Rock 'n' Roll Hi Tops," but that's just us.
• Perhaps realizing that publicity trumps dignity any day in her line of work, Angelina Jolie has rescinded demands that interviewers sign a contract restricting them from asking about her personal life. She even offered a paparazzo a lift in her car when the bike-riding photographer popped a flat!
• Students at private high-priced elite NYC high schools are dropping the club drug "Foxy" and paying to be driven around in a school bus and treated like babies in the phenomena known as "Sindergarten".
• Not even the actors in the cast of "The Sopranos" know what the seemingly anti-climactic ending of the HBO series was supposed to signify.
• Drug users are still shooting up in Tompkins Square Park, and a local organization is providing users with the anti-opioid Narcan to save the lives of people who OD.
• A 45-year-old homeless man was injured when a falling light pole struck him in the head outside the main branch of the New York Public Library at 42nd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on West 52nd St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a double shooting on Fenton Ave. and Boston Rd. in the Bronx, and escaped prisoners on East 163rd St. and Westchester Ave. in the Bronx.
• Curbed looks at the new Red Hook IKEA under construction, which is starting to become recognizable.
• Paul McCartney is playing the Highline Ballroom tomorrow night in a now not-so-secret show.
• Brooklyn's Smith St. is getting its own Pó, which will open Thursday and is related to the former Mario Batali West Village restaurant of the same name.
• “Just when you think the past is consumed, it rears its lovely head,” says an architect quoted in a New York Times' article on the original home of Tiffany & Co. at 15 Union Sq. West.
• Coney Island Lager––the first of a number of sideshow-inspired beers that will be brewed in Brooklyn and sold to benefit non-profit Coney Island USA.
• A cool collection of penny postcard depicting NYC attractions.
• Did the Sopranos finale leave you in the mood for onion rings? Midtown Lunch offers some thoughts on New York standouts and places that should be ashamed of themselves.

If you're bummed you won't be seeing your favorite Jersey family anymore, there are tours you can go on to see some of the old stomping grounds of Tony and Co. Though the neighborhood that holds the Sopranos house is fighting to keep tours out, there's plenty more to see. "Vito" gives a video tour that you can watch here.

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

Tonight at 9PM, The Sopranos will air its final episode on HBO. It marks six seasons over eight years where viewers got to know NJ mob boss Tony Soprano, his blood family and his mob family. Creator David Chase filled each episode with enough angst, passion, violence, and intensity to make pretty much anything else on TV seem half-hearted. As we approach the final hours before we say good bye to Tony, Carm, Paulie and everyone else who remains, we wonder what you think:

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene.

Battlestar Galactica Marathon (Sunday, 6:00 p.m., WPXN 31) Five episodes of not the recent revival, but the camp Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict show from 1978.

EVENT: As the Sopranos prepares to reach its end, creator David Chase will discussing "the fine art of whacking". Joining him will be many of the characters who have been whacked on the show, including: Steve Buscemi, “Tony Blundetto”, Drea de Matteo, “Adriana La Cerva”, Vincent Pastore, “Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero” and many more.

THEATER: Obie Award winner Adam Rapp has just unwrapped (sorry) his new play Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons. Set in a mean Midwestern town called Bloggs, the play has, fittingly, been generating big blog buzz. The “grim fairy tale” revolves around a disgruntled misfit “who takes a job as an attack dummy in a women’s self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to the repressed bookworm who’s beating on him. But all’s not well in Bloggs: with local children vanishing at an alarming rate, our hero, his lady friend, and a motley assortment of poets, butchers, and punk librarians prepare to battle the darkness on the edge of town.” With rock n’ roll karaoke! - John Del Signore

The most excitement many people see around 74th Street is when Fairway's checkout lines do not snake out the front door. But yesterday, federal investigators revealed that Michael Coppola, a NJ mobster also known as "Mikey Cigars," was apprehended after a young agent saw him on 74th Street near Amsterdam. The feds had been in the area on a tip, and the Post reports that a "relatively new FBI agent suddenly spotted a pedestrian who bore a 'remarkable likeness' to the elusive gangster." The man had gone into a market, and another investigator who went in the store to check him out confirmed that it was the Genovese crime family member.

Kentile (again!) by Dalton Rooney.

"Can you feel me? Can you motherfuckin' feel me?" Adira Amram belts out on her song "Wanna Make Out," which she sings while dressed in leotards, a Betsey Johnson push-up bra and suit jacket, or other attention-getting garb while pounding away on a keyboard or piano. Amram, the daughter of composer David Amram, started out as an actress but has taken to performing her hilarious “keyboard fantasy” songs at local comedy gigs. The 25-year-old performer is at The PIT Fridays in October with her latest work, Adira Amram Is An American Idol (tagline: “Let Her Spangle Your Banner”), which is fitting for a woman with a former President’s photo on the cover of her CD, Me and Bill (North Street Records).

If you have ever thought that the language in The Sopranos or The Godfather or any mob movie was made up, we urge you to read about the secret prison tape of John Gotti Jr. ranting and raving about, oh, wanting to kill his uncles. While Gangland News had these tapes where Gotti complains about uncles Peter and Ricahrd exclusive back in 2004, the NY Times had a short and sweet excerpt:

“I’ve made a pact,” Mr. Gotti told John Ruggiero, a member of the Gambino family, during a September 2003 conversation secretly recorded by the F.B.I. at the federal prison in Ray Brook, N.Y. “I made a pact with myself one night in my bed, on my father’s and brother’s grave. I will beat them down like a two-dollar French hooker.

Continue reading "You Don't Want Junior Gotti Mad at You"

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.