Actor Roy Scheider died yesterday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, after battling multiple myeloma for several years and suffering complications from a staph infection. He was 75 and had been living in Sag Harbor, New York (after moving out his house in Sagaponack that Billy Joel purchased). Scheider may be best known for his role as Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. One of his lines from the movie,......

In 1965 The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium (video), beginning a tradition of rock on the ball field. Sadly, they won't be around to bookend the life of the stadium, which opened its doors on April 17th, 1964 and gets torn down after the 2008 season. Helping them close up shop are Billy Joel and his piano. On July 16th Joel will make "The Last Play at Shea," and later in the year The Mets......

A few days ago they gave us a list of romantic NYC movies, and now The Daily News delivers a list of romantic songs. One hundred of them, to be exact, so if you wanted a last minute gift for your valentine, you could make them a mix cd for just 99 bucks and change (if you used iTunes). Just like with the movie list, however, this one is lacking. No Tupelo Honey, Enless Love......

There's really no reason to feel sorry for Christie Brinkley. She's richer and more beautiful than about 99.999% of the human population. But having the Post reveal that you're getting divorced from your fourth husband because he's infatuated with a 19 year old girl, well, that hits Gothamist's sympathy button. And heck, we've seen the video for "Uptown Girl" so many times, we'd expect her to pull up at a gas station in about ten......

After reports surfaced of a two-family townhouse being sold in Red Hook for $1.06 million, the NY Post had to find out who would pay that much - and why. It turns out that East Village residents Frank and Tina Dituri bought the house because it "reminded [them] of how the East Village was 15 years ago: Young people coming in doing interesting things and putting their own stamp on it." And the space was......

Unfortunately, Gothamist isn't old enough to have watched Floyd Patterson fight. Our childhood memories of him consist of hearing Billy Joel sing "Liston beats Patterson" about their 1962 fight. Born in North Carolina, Patterson and his family moved to Bed-Stuy when he was a child. After a brief period in Upstate New York, where he first took up boxing, Patterson returned to the city and, before long, started to train with Cus D'Amato at the......

Paul Simon and Billy Joel's former tour manager was fatally stabbed by his girlfriend in his Upper East Side apartment yesterday. And it was his 57th birthday! Police arrested Kathleen Connors, who was neighbors say was covered in blood from a vicious fight with Danny Harrison, who had been producing shows for the Food Network recently. Harrison lived at 530 East 89th Street, right near Gracie Mansion. A neighbor had called the police to report......

Forget whether or not New York City or country music need each other: If having the CMA Awards means that Mayor Bloomberg must awkwardly wear cowboy hats and hold guitars, then four more year! The CMA tried to pull out all the stops: Mayor Bloomberg introducing Garth Brooks (as Garth Brooks, but file this: A great Halloween costume idea is to be "Chris Gaines"), and then Bon Jovi! Billy Joel! Olivia Newton-John! Gothamist caught......

Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim….and The Ramones? Gothamist was amused to recently hear of yet another dinosaur band’s music being used to shill Broadway tickets. Chicago is the latest band to join the club, allowing their catalogue of tunes to be used in Colour My World, a musical which will incorporate their songs into a story of two friends who embark on different life journeys. Now Gothamist has nothing against Chicago, nor do we against......

Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics Editor in Chief...

Gothamist didn't know what to make of this Post article about the excess of teenage proms. Girls and guys are spending up to $3000 on their proms, from renting those awful Hummer limos and buying prom dresses to getting body massages the day-after and having after-party dresses. One girl has a drsesmaker copying the gown Jennifer Lopez wore in Maid in Manhattan, one guy is renting a Rolls-Royce for the evening. Dizzamn. What happened to......

Gothamist can't wait to hear Billy Joel's latest excuse for crashing his car into a HOUSE yesterday. Sure, the road was wet in Long Island, and the police say there were no drugs or alcohol involved, but come one - this was his third accident in two years. His car insurance must be crazy. It was after his June 2002 car accident, the first publicized one, that Joel checked himself into the substance abuse center,......

Excellent news for wine conoisseurs, winos, and those interested in living longer: A study says red wine extends life! It's all due to a nautral chemical substance called resveratrol, a compound found largely in the skins of red grapes. Also, resveratrol is found in grapes of cooler climates, like New York State, in what can only be a boon to the New York wine industry. The Times quotes the Oxford Companion to Wine: "Pinot Noir......

A 35 pound snapping turtle was hit by a car in Central Park! The Post says Myrtle is going to Connecticut for rehab (but not the Mariah-Billy Joel kind at Silver Hill). She had been looking for a place to lay her eggs. It doesn't seem like Myrtle will be back for the BioBlitz. More on snapping turtles.......

In today's Metro Section, Clyde Haberman, closet Gothamist, applauds the Belmont Stakes for changing their official song from "Sidewalks of New York" (which you might know from Ken Burns' documentary on the City, if no where else) to the slightly more up to date "New York, New York". Haberman feels however, that our fair Gotham is poorly represented by the whinings of a "self-involved parvenu who wants to be 'king of the hill, top of......

Thinking about disgraced former New York Times journalist, Jayson Blair reportedly in a hospital for "personal problems," reminded us of the time Gothamist was "in the hospital" in 1999. Other people who have been in a hospital for personal problems or needed to go: Mariah Carey, Billy Joel, Courtney Love, Anne Heche, Winona Ryder. Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm and Purple America, went to a mental hospital for a while. Gothamist once joked......

Page Six grossed me out by mentioning how Billy Joel is dating a young woman who looks a lot like his daughter. I'm probably illin' from that because I watched a rerun of this bizarre episode of Law & Order SVU that involved child pornography, pedophilia, and sending Detective Stabler to Prague to about 15 minutes. Anyway, Alexa Ray Joel is a pretty young woman and probably looks like most other young women these days......

This second item in the Daily News speculates why Christie Brinkley was taking photographs of Billy Joel's totaled car. Another possibility - insurance purposes? But I do love that apparently the deviated septum" surgery he supposedly had left Joel with some swelling around the eyes. Uh, yeah.......