Showbiz411

This morning, according to the Connecticut Post, there was gunfire in Bridgeport, Connecticut around 2am.  A gold Hummer was somehow involved. Yesterday the city that is mostly boarded up downtown had its 15th murder of the year. A little girl was shot also.Last year, Bridgeport had a total of 20 murders (ten went unsolved) so the city is definitely going for the gold this year. And violent crime is on the upswing in Bridgeport and Stamford according to an FBI report http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/FBI-stats-Violent-crime-rises-in-Bridgeport-3628570.php

Bridgeport is ten minutes away from Westport, and 20 minute away from Stamford, where President Obama will raise millions today for his presidential campaign. If only he could see Bridgeport, where the last two mayors (not the current one) served prison terms. And the Moonies own the once important University of Bridgeport, now famous for being the graduate school of Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. He was arrested in Bridgeport after failing to blow up the crossroads of the world.

The overtaxed police are also trying to implement the current mayor’s new curfew, just signed into effect. No one under 18 is supposed to be out in street after midnight. It’s unlikely that any of the guests at any of the fundraisers today has set foot in downtown Bridgeport, possibly ever. And tonight won’t be the night. In 1973, Paul Newman called Bridgeport “the armpit of New England.” And nothing has changed.

It’s not all bad. There is a Dairy Queen. Maybe two.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.