The Tony, OBIE and Drama Desk-award winning rock musical Passing Strange will close June 20th after a six month run on Broadway, during which time the show failed to translate massive critical acclaim into box office profits. Attendance hovered around 50% capacity for most of the run, and producers’ hopes for a post-Tonys boost were dashed when Latino musical In the Heights dominated the awards. ...

Photograph of Queens native Amy Ryan, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Gone, Baby Gone At 8:30PM (following a half-hour red carpet special), the 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will begin, finally putting an end to the "There Will Be Oscar" or "Oscar Country for Old Men" type headlines. You can prep yourself with the Oscar nominees list as you watch (or avoid) red carpet coverage. You could read NY Times......

Now we know why there are still people heading to The Garden. There aren't any Knicks’ fans left, they are all paid actors. At least that’s the conclusion one could draw from a story in the New York Press. It turns out that the people in the "fan ads" (like the one pictured above), are mostly paid actors and their stories are made up for the commercials. The surprising thing is that apparently the......

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama made a campaign swing into our neighborhood yesterday, drawing a crowd of thousands to Yanitelli Center at St. Peter's College, and as well as supporters to a fund-raiser in Midtown last night. At St. Peter's, He told the audience, "I'm not running because of long-held ambitions. I'm running because of what Dr. (Martin Luther) King called the 'fierce urgency of now.'" Obama also complained about his opponents trying to......

In November, Charlie Rose sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z. The musician is originally from Brooklyn and late in the interview Rose queries about the expected success of the Nets once they move to Kings County. Jay-Z is very enthusiastic about the potential of the team and the virtues of the borough, as he prefaces every statement about Brooklyn with the words "we" and "ours." It is unintentionally comedic then when Rose immediately......

November marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Tawana Brawley affair--an incident that inflamed racial relations in New York and across the country after a teenage girl alleged that she had been sexually assaulted and abused by police. The ensuing media circus thrust Rev. Al Sharpton into the limelight and established his bona fides as a community spokesman. It also tarnished the reputations of the people she accused of raping her and, later......

A day after the NY Post served up a Thanksgiving day front page cover of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as a turkey, the embattled Thomas proclaimed he would stay in his job, saying, "I don't foresee there being any changes this year." Which the Post calls "LOAD OF BULL?" But really, if there's one thing that the Post and Daily News must have been thankful for, it's having such a spectacularly poorly managed......

It's been five years since Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) was murdered in his Queens studio, and though some people have recently started piping up about who may have pulled the trigger - no suspect has been named. Moving forward -- his friends, family and fellow musicians have begun to get closure in other ways. Mizell's widow, Terri, started the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music -- a non-profit that provides funding and resources to......

EVENT: Tonight, as part of the recurring Upstairs at the Square event, Nellie McKay plays tunes from her latest, Obligatory Villager and host Katherine Lanpher talks with author and filmmaker Antonio Monda. Monda's new book Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion will hit shelves soon -- and tonight he'll relay the discussions he had about religion with folks like Spike Lee and David Lynch. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St]......

From yesterday evening to dawn this morning, the ethereal September 11-light installation Tribute in Light beamed into the skies from its downtown perch. Designed by artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio, architect Richard Nash Gould, and lighting designer Paul Marantz and produced by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time, the lights were first seen in March 2002 for a month and then became......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: America at a Crossroads: Anti-Americans (A Hate/Love Relationship) (Monday, 10:00 P.M., WNET 13) A look at the Europeans love/hate relationship with the United States. Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live (Tuesday, 8:00 P.M., WNBC 4) Two hours of classic SNL sketches and interviews with the performers who created them in this rebroadcast of this retrospective. Wide Angle: The Dying Fields (Tuesday,......

Menu Change: As previously reported by Nina Lalli over at Eat For Victory, Franny’s on Flatbush Avenue had added pastas to its menu. Right now the menu features three pastas, including a stellar penne with mint and zucchini ($15). In keeping with its mission statement of locality and sustainability, Franny’s sources mint from Long Island’s Satur Farms; zucchini comes from Hepworth Farm, located upstate in Milton. Pastas are selected by chef Andrew Feinberg from a......

Blender has a list of 100 Days That Changed Music, and not surprisingly a good amount of them took place in New York. Here are a few, see any missing? 99. December 11, 1965: The Velvet Underground play their first show, which was actually at a high school dance in Summit, New Jersey. The following year however, the Velvets became the house band at Warhol's Factory. 96. December 14, 1977: "Saturday Night Fever debuts in......

With lines of potential customers snaking around the block, New York's Apple Stores on Fifth Avenue and in SoHo opened their doors at 6PM for the launch of the iPhone, the unbelievably hyped multi-functioning personal accessory. Overall, the lines moved pretty quickly, as Apple employees just focused their efforts on letting customers buy iPhones and move out. The early customers couldn't use the iPhone demos, though later customers were able to try them out......

In advance of an official press conference at The Palace Theater today, The Times and The Post have reported that Spike Lee will be make his Broadway debut next spring with the 1951 play Stalag 17; a dramedy about camaraderie and betrayal between American airmen stuck in a German P.O.W camp (later made into a film by Billy Wilder.) Sources say that Clive Owen will once again be Spike’s inside man on the project. (Though......

You may be familiar with James Sanders' book Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies, which celebrated New York City's role in movies and is a must for any fan of New York, architecture, or film. But even if you haven't, you get a chance to experience it in beyond the pages: Starting tomorrow, Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall will be the setting for a Celluloid Skyline exhibit. There will be huge "scenic backing"......

This morning, NBC News President Steve Capus appeared on the Today show to discuss the immediate ending of radio shock jock Don Imus's MSNBC simulcast. Per TVNewser, Capus said:There's no question that his program has had provocative conversation and interesting conversation, deep conversation with thought leaders and political leaders through the years. But it's also had the other element. At some point you have to say 'enough is enough.' This went so far over......

Orlando 94 Knicks 89: It’s the simple things that the Knicks seem incapable of doing and it cost them again Monday. In this case, it was a simple defensive decision, to switch or not to switch. Mardy Collins and Nate Robinson didn’t communicate and the result was a wide-open three-pointer by Jameer Nelson that erased a lead and led to their downfall. Yes, it appeared that Dwight Howard committed a goaltending violation on Stephon Marbury’s......

Don't you just love that feeling of "discovering" a new artist that no one else knows about yet? The New Directors/New Films festival curated by the Film Society at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art's Film department have been keeping New Yorkers ahead of the cinema curve for 35 years now with their annual series. In the past they've showcased such newbies as Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Héctor Babenco, Terence Davies, Guillermo del......

Knicks 107, Lakers 106:Well, that didn't take long. The Knicks have reached 23 wins -- matching last season's win total -- by defeating the Lakers (only their 7th loss at home this season) and sweeping the season series. Although Kobe Bryant was suspended for the Lakers for the matchup at the Garden but scored 31 on Tuesday night. The game-winning basket came after a missed 3-pointer and an offensive rebound. Jamal Crawford, who led the......

Meteorologist Audrey Puente, who has not been seen for weeks on WCBS, is going to be going to WWOR to replace the suddenly fired Storm Field. Field, the veteran meteorologist and son of the legendary Dr. Frank Field, was abruptly let go after last Wednesday’s 10 p.m. newscast. The firing of Field is reminiscent of the firing Warner Wolf by WCBS in 2004 who also was let go without warning. The Daily News reported that......

Looks like Spike Lee called dibs on directing the James Brown biopic. The biography was authorized by Brown before his passing and Lee will rewrite the draft (that's already gone through several rewrites) by Jezz and John Henry Butterworth. The film may be in production as early as fall/winter 2007. Meanwhile, fans have been lined up at the Apollo to pay tribute to Brown since early this morning. Al Sharpton drove from Georgia with Brown's......

The fiancee of Sean Bell officially changed her surname to "Bell". Nicole Paultre was supposed to marry Bell on November 25, but Bell was killed when police opened fire on him and two friends after his bachelor party. Paultre revealed that a civil court judge signed an order for Paultre to change her name to Nicole Paultre Bell in an exclusive interview with Essence.com. ESSENCE: How does it feel to suddenly become the face......

Rumor has it that Spike Lee is taking a class at Columbia this fall. Ivy Leak says he may be at a Tuesday/Thursday night class in Hamilton, and BWOG thinks he could be taking a Literature Humanities, "brushing up on his dead white men." Oh, we suppose Spike couldn't be content reading David Denby's Great Books, which is about Columbia's humanities classes - or attending a class at his alma mater, NYU (is he still......

The East River is legendarily disgusting (for starters, during the 2003 blackout, 30 million gallons of "untreated human waste" were dumped into it), so Gothamist is impressed with anyone who can swim in it. The Manhattan Island Club had its first Brooklyn Bridge Swim, where the intrepid swim from Manhattan under the Brooklyn Bridge over to the Brooklyn side near the Manhattan Bridge. Newsday spoke to some swimmers, who were pretty amusing:"There comes a point......

The weather today is a near repeat of yesterday, which was almost an exact repeat of Monday and only slightly different from Sunday. Tomorrow, however, the weather will be different. How will tomorrow be different? It will be cloudy and cooler. It may not even reach 80. There may be rain tomorrow night, but there's only a slight chance. For Friday and the weekend the forecast is iffy. Oh, the weather doesn't look too bad,......

Thirty years is a long time, and yet for many people not long enough. Today, Sunset Parker reminds us, marks the thirty-year anniversary of the first of the Son of Sam killings, one of the most notorious murder sprees in Gotham's history. On July 29, 1976 19-year-old Jody Valenti and 18-year-old Donna Lauria were both shot dead with a .44 caliber Charter Arms Bulldog revolver outside of Lauria's apartment in the Bronx. While the......

SummerScreen (you know, like sunscreen) is The L Magazine's addition to the already successful summer of McCarren Park Pool events. The outdoor film series will take place every Tuesday (starting next week) through the end of August. The films start at sundown, and before that...there are bands! Oh, and it's free. Here's the schedule: July 25: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) with the Cold Hands Collective August 1: Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)......

Two of the biggest brands in the world came together today in New York to announce a partnership for a new product. Nike and Apple - who wasn't content just with opening a store on 5th Avenue - announced the Nike+iPod - a wireless system that can track your running progress and allow you to choose a "PowerSong" to pump you up when you hit a wall. The sensor fits into a special compartment......

Well, the big day has come and gone, but not without leaving us with some impressive stats (feel free to help us out in the comments with better stats and info!): Number of people who attended: Tens of thousands (our guess) Number of people who won a new Macbook: 15 out of a possible 24 Number of people who didn't: Tens of thousands minus 15 Number of Auctions on eBay selling commemorative t-shirt: Four......