FYI, New Yorkers: you probably haven't seen the greatest Super Bowl commercial -- ever. Last night, football fans in Glendive, Montana, Sherman, Texas, and Ardmore, Oklahoma, saw Will Ferrell's latest spot for Old Milwaukee. The comedian has previously shot ads for the Midwestern beer brand and, ea ... More >>
Sure, New Yorkers like booze. But, according to a list composed by The Daily Beast, Bostonians like it a lot more. Boston continues its reign as the drunkest city in America with 20.1% of the population identified as "binge drinkers." New York, on the other hand, doesn't even rank in the top twenty. ... More >>
Alex Gibney rages against the church's cover-up of abuse
The rock subgenre known as "emo"or at least a watered-down version of itgot kind of big in the early 2000s. But before then, a slew of bands were crafting post-hardcore with twisting time signatures, dynamic shifts in tempo and loudness, and alternatingly sung/screamed vocals. Braid wa ... More >>
This is the last bit of news we want to hear today.The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel is now reporting that a distress call at 10:26am came in to the Oak Creek Police Department - a town just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Apparently, a white man with two handguns attacked a service at the S ... More >>
When Cardinal Timothy Dolan ran the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, he said OK to paying pervert priests up to 20 grand as "incentive" to get them to leave their posts. A report in the New York Times, using info from that Archdiocese's recent bankruptcy filings, notes that Dolan gave the greenlight for p ... More >>
How much would you be willing to pay for the world's best cheese? As part of an auction held in Milwaukee to raise money for cheese producers, an Illinois company, Hoogwegt US Inc., paid $8,400 for a 24-pound wheel of Dutch cheese, according to the AP (via Bloomberg).
So Nassau County held its vote on the $400 million New York Islanders arena plan yesterday, and for team owner Charles Wang things went about as well as ... it's tempting to say "as well as a typical Islanders game," but that'd be cruel. In any case, the final vote was 57-43% against funding ... More >>
You probably know that, over the past few decades, crime rates in America's major cities have dropped sharply. New York, which was once a symbol of urban menace, is particularly safe, and tourists freely roam Bed-Stuy and Central Park at night. Even historically troubled Oakland has recently seen it ... More >>
Noisy-ass beer garden blasts into Midtown from Munich
At least Beatlesmania is over. Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX.A quick word of advice: By all means, watch Still Bill, the new documentary about Bill Withers. It's great, and it's on Netflix Instant and everything. Just don't watch it immediately before watching American Idol. If you do, you'll find ... More >>
It sounds like President Barack Obama is going to have the worst Superbowl ever. His beloved Bears didn't make the cut for the big game so he said he's "remaining neutral." Watching a game and not rooting for either team? Who do you cheer for then, the Black Eyed Peas? His horrible situation ... More >>
Beware of this dude's absolutely appalling sincere faces. Photo by Michael Becker/FOX.Tonight, we see the new American Idol judging cadre venture to Milwaukee, I place I don't consider a real city because I can't name any rappers from there. (Bon Iver doesn't count.) We open with Steven Tyler ... More >>
Sorry, New York. Those full body scanners promised "for September" at Newark, JFK, and LaGuardia airports back in August are still not available. Turns out the installation of -- like the public's reaction to -- the machinery is a bit "complex."
Happy National Coming Out Day! Since October 11, 1988, the first anniversary of the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, this date has been celebrated as a day for LGBT people to live openly. Runnin' Scared asked a few gay and lesbian New Yorkers around town (and ... More >>
While elected officials here in the city are reticent to hold public hearings on allegations published in the Village Voice on the downgrading of criminal complaints by the NYPD, the United States Senate has no such qualms about looking at the practice across the country. Senator Arlen Specter, a d ... More >>
Brian Moore, a Milwaukee-raised 23-year-old, is like the modern-day version of sweetheart Cory Matthews from Boy Meets World (albeit lankier and blonder), and he's seeking his Topanga. The Emerson '09 grad moved to New York four months ago, and having spent most of his entire adult life in a ... More >>
The NPR website reports that counter-culture favorite Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer may be on the verge of being sold to C. Dean Metropoulos, the man responsible for developing such food brands as Vlassic Pickles and Bumble Bee Tuna. The sale, brokered by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, will reporte ... More >>
Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka has been banned in Ontario because the bottle looks like such a lifelike skull. Oddly, Canadian-born Aykroyd thinks the decision "kind of makes the product more appealing." [Globe and Mail] Meanwhile, Crystal Head Vodka has reached the one millionth bottle ma ... More >>
Bebeto Matthews/Associated PressThe owners of the "Counterfeit Triangle"--a single triangular block in Chinatown bounded by Canal, Centre, and Walker Streets--have agreed to pay $800,000 to the city, thereby reopening the block for "legitimate purposes." The settlement comes after a 2008 raid ... More >>
You're probably not getting into Roseland for the Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace spectacular, but no sourpusses allowed: Fang Island's exuberant instrumental tunes could quite possibly make the band's self-described aesthetic of "everyone high-fiving everyone" a reality tonight at the Knitting Factory ... More >>
Genius. Is there a better investment opportunity out there for a media outlet? The New York Times has apparently uncovered the answer to all of their fiscal issues of recent: Satan.
Finally, a reason for the existence of George Lucas -- so that he and his horrible film, The Phantom Menace, could be taken apart so entertainingly in this genius series of videos posted to YouTube by a man in Milwaukee. Just hit play on that first one -- we guarantee you won't be able to keep fro ... More >>
Mac 'n' cheese is the new hipster food around New York and Los Angeles, and has even spawned a couple mac-'n'-cheese boutiques: S'MAC in the East Village and its newish rival, Macbar in Soho. [Wall Street Journal] Restaurateurs who once kept close tabs on Frank Bruni will be doing the same w ... More >>
Les Paul, the technologically innovative and resolutely virtuosic guitarist who died last week at the age of 94, will have his New York sendoff today in a private ceremony. Paul's manager, Michael K. Braunstein, told the A.P. that after the service and a reception in the Gibson showroom today ... More >>
An East Coast Chicano suffers
While eating with my in-laws at a stodgy fish restaurant in suburban Massachusetts, I asked the waiter for Sriracha, almost just to see what he would say. But he nodded knowingly, and brought out a dish of the red, garlicky hot sauce. That's when you know that Sriracha has hit the mainstream. That, ... More >>
Justin F. Farrar gushed his respects last week to Brooklyn prog-noise stalwarts USAISAMONSTER, who after 10 years, four full-lengths, two EPs, a stack of CD-Rs, and a zillion cold floors around the globe, are ending their long-revered band. Last Saturday at the Market Hotel was billed as their "La ... More >>
HARKAVY is now blogging at The Smart AssetYour Monday New York headlines...Struggling Times says Wall Street Journal and NY Post are dragging down News Corp because of Rupe's stubbornness. Also, Journal management now thoroughly Murdochian: "Memos are for wimps."Sharpton, meanwhile, wants Rupe to pa ... More >>
Old Milwaukee chandeliers, but Sixpoint in the pitchers
Golda's Balcony
1,500 up-and-coming acts take the music-biz mat in Austin
Coney Island's former specialty takes hold in the Midwest
Why Do Airlines Ban Midflight Cell Phone Calls?
Ex-Journos Paint Reporters as Artful Liars
Two T's, One Buttondown, and a Plaid Flannel
God Will Be the Curriculum
