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Cult Singer of the 60s Hit “Fire” Expresses “Horror and Sadness” at Song’s Use By New Zealand Mass Murderer: “My heart goes out to all the victims and families”

Roger Friedman
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Cult Singer of the 60s Hit “Fire” Expresses “Horror and Sadness” at Song’s Use By New Zealand Mass Murderer: “My heart goes out to all the victims and families”

There’s a rock music footnote to the tragedy of the New Zealand mosque massacre which  claimed the lives of 50 innocent people last week.

The Australian-born white supremacist who carried out the murderous mission decided to live-stream his attack on Facebook. Despite Facebook taking down the original video – copies of it have spread like wildfire.  In just 24 hours Facebook took down over 1.5 million re-posts of the video.  And it is still proliferating like a virus all over the internet and dark web.

After he had completed his murder spree at the second mosque, the killer returned to his car and with his camera still rolling he played his specially-chosen anthem for his deeds – the 1968 song “Fire” – a pioneering psychedelic hard-rock record that was a worldwide hit for a British band called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The heart of the band was its composer/singer Arthur Brown. The disc was a #1 hit in his native UK and a Billboard #2 in the USA.  It didn’t hurt that the record was produced by Kit Lambert, the manager/producer of the Who and had Pete Townshend as Associate Producer.  At that time Arthur Brown was on Kit Lambert’s label Track Records. His label-mates were the Who, Jimi Hendrix and Thunderclap Newman (“Something In The Air”)

During live performances and in the legendary promotional film clip for the record, Brown performed the song wearing a fiercely burning helmet. A dangerous prop that led to stage fires at rock festivals and in TV studios.

Though Brown’s own musical career burned out within a couple of years – his aggressive musical style and flamboyant stage appearances (with much face paint, voodoo dancing and pyrotechnics) significantly influenced numerous artists who followed in his wake – including Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, George Clinton, Kiss, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson. There were notable covers of the song by The Who, ELP, Ozzy Osbourne. The recording was sampled by artists such as Marilyn Manson and Prodigy.

Brown semi-retired from music, becoming at various times a life counseler, painter and carpenter. He still makes occasional returns to music – particularly in Europe where there is a circuit for rock artists of the 60s and 70s.  He just launched a small US tour – his first in 50 years.  This June he will be 77.
Spool forward to last Thursday night (Friday afternoon in New Zealand). Within minutes of news of the massacre hitting the media – reports appeared stating that the murderer had played Arthur Brown’s song ‘Fire’ as an anthem to his murder spree on his Facebook live-stream.  (The record starts off with a thunderous spoken introduction ‘I am the God of Hellfire – and I bring you FIRE!’)
Observing the news coverage in L.A. was producer Martin Lewis, a very old pal of the record’s associate producer Pete Townshend.  A protege of Beatles publicist Derek Taylor, Lewis is very media-savvy and he immediately surmised a potential danger to the reputation of the song and Arthur Brown.
“I thought of how Charles Manson mis-appropriated the Beatles songs ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Piggies’. The Beatles were galactically huge and it was easy for them to brush off Manson’s idiotic claim. But I thought that Arthur has just that one song that people recall and it’s his primary heritage. He needs to rapidly and strongly disavow this maniac’s abuse of his creation.”
Though Lewis didn’t know Brown (“we’d met fleetingly at a Kit Lambert party in the early 70s”) he was an admirer. He decided to track him down in the middle of the night and give him the heads-up of what had just happened.  By chance, Brown was not in his native Britain but in Austin, Texas where he was playing some low-key gigs as part of the SxSW Festival. Initially reached at midnight Central Time at their merchandise table after that night’s show, Brown and his manager/partner Claire Waller were totally stunned by the news – unable to comprehend the awful gravity of it.  Over the next 24 hours Lewis tried to guide them through the crisis by phone, text and email. Conveying the import of Brown issuing a statement denouncing the use of his song and giving them suggestions and guidance.
It took until 48 hours after the massacre, but finally Brown released a statement (see below).
Lewis offered the following thoughts about the situation:
“I think Arthur did remarkably well. He is a truly creative man. He defines that phrase ‘ahead-of-his-time’.  He never reaped the full rewards of being a pioneer of that style of music. That success fell to other artists.  But we must recall that it’s 50 years since he was at the center of the media vortex. To suddenly have your famous creation usurped and traduced into an anthem for a massacre by a vicious white supremacist was just paralyzing to Arthur. It took him time to process and respond. I give Arthur major props for navigating this crisis with such grace and dignity. His statement speaks volumes. 
 
“Now we music fans have a role to play.  There was a famous moment in 1987 when U2 covered ‘Helter Skelter’ and Bono introduced it by saying ‘This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. Well we’re stealing it back.’  For all those of us who admire Arthur Brown, the many artists he influenced and the power of Arthur’s song ‘Fire’ – it is up to us to steal ‘Fire’ back from white supremacists – and restore it to its place in the pantheon of great rock songs. Don’t let ‘Fire’ become an anthem of hate. I suggest that contemporary artists should perform the song live as a show of support. And fans should express their views too. Hashtag: #ReclaimFire”

Statement by Arthur Brown

“As co-writer and performer of the song ‘Fire’, and creator of ‘The God of Hellfire’ persona, I would like to express my horror and sadness in the use of ‘Fire’, in an act of terror in New Zealand. My heart goes out to all the victims and families of victims of this atrocity – and to all the communities affected. I should like to say that I support no group or individual that uses terrorist tactics and killing as a means of dealing with other beliefs than their own.

 

I believe that all religions reach for the same root in the human being. I believe all people of all colours and all races deserve equal respect. I also believe that all people have a duty of care towards each other and all creatures on this earth.” 

Disney Takes over Fox, Four Thousand Or More Expected Be Laid Off, Starting with Top Echelon: “LA Can’t Absorb That Many People” Says Industry Insider

Roger Friedman
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Disney Takes over Fox, Four Thousand Or More Expected Be Laid Off, Starting with Top Echelon: “LA Can’t Absorb That Many People” Says Industry Insider

This week the Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox has been completed. Today Disney began laying off over 4,000 people who are considered “overlap.”

Fox, as we knew it, is dead. Very little will survive in the Disney empire except maybe Fox Searchlight, since Disney has not been able to make regular non animated or CGI movies with people in them. If they want comedies and dramas of lasting impact, they will keep Fox Searchlight.

But everyone else at Fox is up for grabs. It’s a shame because there are so many talented people there. Fox has great relationships with the press, too,

Already Fox Domestic Distribution President Chris Aronson is out, and he was responsible for the success of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” So that should tell us a lot about what will happen.

One industry insider said to me last night: “LA (the biz) cannot absorb that many people out of work.” True enough. And if I get a red state comment that the people deserve it– which is what I do get on Twitter– I’d like to remind them that’s a lot better to be out of work in Los Angeles than in the Rust Belt.

Stay tuned. Meantime, Paul Ryan, who suffers from spinal absence, has been named to the board of Rupert Murdoch’s new Fox company. And Donna Brazile, who was once a human being, will be a Fox News commentator.

Exclusive: “Game of Thrones” Star Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Pop Star Joe Jonas Plan French Wedding in Mid June

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: “Game of Thrones” Star Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Pop Star Joe Jonas Plan French Wedding in Mid June

On “Game of Thrones,” Sansa Stark has had seven rough seasons. She’s had so many bad things happen to her, they’re hard to count. At one point she was forced into marriage to Tyrion Lannister. Most of her family was killed at the Red Wedding. And they brought gifts, too!

But come this June, Sansa’s portrayer, Sophie Turner, will do down the aisle voluntarily. I’m told she will marry pop singer Joe Jonas in the South of France. The details have been in motion for a while. The wedding is on. Lucky for Turner, “Game of Thrones” last episode is May 19th.

It won’t be the Red Wedding, either, in which a lot of Sansa’s family met their makers. No, Turner’s and Jonas’s families will likely have a non violent, joyous time in Provence. Unfortunately for Jonas he will have wedding cake but not by the ocean– that’s a reference to his big hit “Cake By the Ocean.” Provence is not near the water. But the estate they’ve rented is sure to have at least one big pool.

Jonas right now is having a big career moment with his brothers, Nick and Kevin Jonas. They’re top of the pops with “Sucker,” their first ever number 1 hit. Kevin has long been married and last year Nick married actress Priyanka Chopra. So imagine the guest list of Throners and rockers, extended friends and family. And the music– because, of course, the Jonas brothers will play at the wedding.

Two best men? Why not? And all the Starks, living and dead. Where will they register?

Exclusive: Famed Sportscaster Warner Wolf Loses Appeal in Age Discrimination Case Against Radio Host Don Imus

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Famed Sportscaster Warner Wolf Loses Appeal in Age Discrimination Case Against Radio Host Don Imus

Famed sportscaster Warner Wolf has lost his appeal of age discrimination against Don Imus in the Appelate Division of  New York. Wolf will not want to “go to the video tape” once he get this ruling.

Last year Wolf sued Imus after the radio host refused to give him a new contract after Wold moved to Florida. Imus also made nasty comments about Wolf on the air. Imus lives in Texas, where his radio show may still be coming from. (No, it’s not. Imus went off the air a year ago.)

The decision:

Supreme Court properly dismissed plaintiff’s age discrimination claims brought under the City and State Human Rights Laws, because the impact on plaintiff from the termination of his employment occurred in Florida, where he lived and worked (see e.g. Hoffman v Parade Publs., 15 NY3d 285, 290-292 [2010]; Shah v Wilco Sys., Inc., 27 AD3d 169, 175-176 [1st Dept 2005], lv dismissed in part and denied in part 7 NY3d 859 [2006]). “Whether New York courts have subject matter jurisdiction over a nonresident plaintiff’s claims under the HRLs turns primarily on her [or his] physical location at the time of the alleged discriminatory acts” (Benham v eCommission Solutions, LLC, 119 AD3d 605, 606 [1st Dept 2014]).

Plaintiff’s claim for tortious interference with contractual relations, also arising from the termination of his employment, was not viable because the documentary evidence demonstrates that his employer did not breach his employment contract, but declined to exercise its contractual right to renew the contract for an additional year (see American Preferred Prescription v Health Mgt., 252 AD2d 414, 417 [1st Dept 1998]; see also Willis Re Inc. v Hudson, 29 AD3d 489, 490 [1st Dept 2006]).

Here’s the original story from last year.

Too bad, Warner Wolf is a great guy. Imus is irascible and incorrigible.

 

Elton John’s “Rocketman” Movie Looks Like It Will Cause a Sensation at Cannes Film Festival if Details Are Worked Out

Roger Friedman
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Elton John’s “Rocketman” Movie Looks Like It Will Cause a Sensation at Cannes Film Festival if Details Are Worked Out

Paramount brought clips from Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John movie, “Rocketman” to New York tonight, at the Museum of Modern Art. The audience, I assure you, loved what they saw.

Star Taron Egerton came and read comments from Fletcher, who’s busy finishing the movie. Studio sources say they won’t be a locked print until early May. That will be right in time for Cannes, where the movie will either open or show within the first three days, according to sources. The studio is staying mum until details are sorted. But as I wrote yesterday, Sir Elton has kept May 13, 14, 16, and 17 open on his tour schedule. I’m also hearing he will perform one or two songs at the premiere party.

Egerton seems exactly right as Elton from the 70s and 80s. Jamie Bell plays Bernie Taupin. Other characters from the movie include Elton’s mum, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden as John Reid, Tate Donovan as Doug Weston, owner of the Troubadour in West L.A.

In the note Egerton read from Fletcher to the audience, the director sent a kind of warning: not everything will be completely factual. He was giving us notice about Elton’s debut at the Troubadour in 1970. The filmmakers have taken license and shown Elton playing “Crocodile Rock” at the 1970 gig, dressed in his Velvet Goldmine look. In fact, “Crocodile Rock” wouldn’t come for three more years. Neither would the outfit.

Fletcher’s note read: “But when we were shooting we loved the energy of the song for the scene and Elton gave us his bless to use artistic license, which as you’ll see we really went to town with.”

Once we’re past that speed bump, “Rocketman” feels like a happy hit. Richer looking than Fletcher’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this film captures Elton’s giddy highs and lows, his incredible showmanship, and wild costumes. The music is what will sell the movie, though, not the details of the story. And you can see that Fletcher has staged dance numbers to go with Elton’s many hits, and they look like they soar.

Egerton told us after the screening that he spent three months learning the piano but “obviously you can only learn so much. I can play the opening to “Your Song” very well,” he conceded. “But the singing– that’s 100% us. I have no reservations telling you that.”

So get back, Honky Cat. I’m betting that the final “Rocketman” will have audiences singing and dancing in the aisles. Sir Elton’s had low points with drugs and shopping addictions, but you know it’s a story with a happy ending, and more smiles and laughs than any downers.

And PS — Egerton confirmed that Kiki Dee (played by an actress) does make an appearance. Now we can only sleep soundly!

 

Sting Wraps a Seven Week Sold Out Run of “The Last Ship” in Toronto This Week, A Gorgeous Labor of Love

Roger Friedman
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Sting Wraps a Seven Week Sold Out Run of “The Last Ship” in Toronto This Week, A Gorgeous Labor of Love

I got a chance to see Sting on Tuesday night in Toronto, where he’s wrapping up a sold out 7 week run of his Broadway musical, “The Last Ship.”

The show has been overhauled since its 2014-15 Broadway run. Sting and the new team took it to the UK, to Newcastle, where it’s set, and the audience ate it up. Next January, “The Last Ship” sails to Los Angeles.

At Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theater, “The Last Ship” looks even better than it did in New York. A new set looks like it cost millions, and fills the enormous stage gracefully.

There’s a new cast in Toronto, too, starting with Sting who’s playing the role of Jackie White, longtime foreman of the shipyard that’s in danger of being closed. Yes, the audience comes to see Sting, and they get their money’s worth. In the tweaked script, Jackie is very much a center of attention, and has a lot of singing to do. Sting is the star but also a vital part of the show’s ensemble. His unmistakable voice is a pleasure to hear, and his Jackie is a reliable moral center of a play filled with riveting characters.

The rest of the cast is more than able, with some surprises, too. I really liked Jackie Morrison as Peg, Jackie’s wife, whose new story arc grows and grows. By the end of the show when she leads the cast in “Show Some Respect,” Morrison has blossomed into being a key player. Oliver Savile, Sophie Reid, and Frances McNamee are also standouts. A lot of the actors are real “Geordies”– i.e. from Newcastle or its environs. One of them, Marc Akinfolarin, needs a New York agent fast and a couple of good roles down here. He’s the Keala Settle, so to speak, of this show. Watch out for him.

Sting has nothing to prove for his legacy as a rock star, songwriter, performer, actor, all of it. He’s written over a dozen really gorgeous, hummable songs for “The Last Ship,” and doesn’t shy away from revising the story or improving it. Like a great vessel, “The Last Ship” has great bones, and he’s committed to it. I’ll be curious to see how it develops next year on the West Coast. “The Last Ship” remains a little bit of a work in progress, with incredible potential for more runs. One day it will sail back to Broadway, a la “The Color Purple” or “Chicago,” with raves in waves.

Daytime Emmys: Wendy Williams Nominated for Best Talk Show Host Despite Living in a Sober Home, She’s Only the Individual vs. Teams Like “The View” and “The Talk”

Roger Friedman
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Daytime Emmys: Wendy Williams Nominated for Best Talk Show Host Despite Living in a Sober Home, She’s Only the Individual vs. Teams Like “The View” and “The Talk”

The Daytime Emmy Awards nominations are out. “Days of our Lives” scored a huge 27 nominations in all categories, from Best Soap to writing, directing, etc. They picked up 15 acting nominations, which is also unprecedented. Ironically, many of those actors have left the show. “Days of our Lives.” from NBC and Sony Television, operates on a shoestring. They sweat it out every year to see if they’re renewed. But headwriter Ron Carlivati brought them back from the brink of cancellation. Good job!

Other unusual Daytime nominees are in categories like animation, where Oscar nominee Ruth Negga got a nod.

Wendy Williams, who this week admitted she’s living in a sober house and bravely battling personal demons, was nominated for Best Talk Show Host. She’s the only individual host, pitting her against “The View,” The Talk,” “Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest,” and “The Real.”

There are dozens of categories. There’s something for everyone! Too bad everyone can’t win. But “Barney Miller” star Max Gail is a shoo-in to win Best Supporting Actor for his Alzheimer’s story on “General Hospital.” And Beth Maitland, from “The Young and the Restless,” should win Best Supporting Actress. The rest is a cliffhanger!

Library of Congress 25 New Songs Chosen for National Recording Registry: Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” EW&F’s “September,” ” “La Bamba,” “Sweet Caroline,” and More

Roger Friedman
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Library of Congress 25 New Songs Chosen for National Recording Registry: Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” EW&F’s “September,” ” “La Bamba,” “Sweet Caroline,” and More

The Library of Congress has chosen 25 new recordings for the National Sound Registry. It’s an electic and terrific group including “Soul Man,” “Sweet Caroline,” Yiddish recordings, Jay Z, and more. Also on the list is the soundtrack to “Hair,” Cyndi Lauper’s debut recording, and “Minnie the Moocher.” Plus Earth Wind & Fire’s essential “September.”

The awards go to the recordings themselves and the people who made them. (Oddly today, by coincidence, David Porter, who wrote the lyrics to “Soul Man” for Isaac Hayes, has released his own Greatest Hits with re-recorded instrumentals of their famous Sam & Dave songs. The album notes make no mention of the performers. Skip it.)

Congrats to all the inductees!

2018 National Recording Registry

  1. Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
  2. “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)
  3. Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
  4. “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)
  5. “Bach Six Cello Suites” (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
  6. “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)
  7. “Gunsmoke” — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)
  8. Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
  9. “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)
  10. “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)
  11. “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years” (album), Stan Freberg (1961)
  12. “GO” (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)
  13. “War Requiem” (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)
  14. “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)
  15. “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)
  16. “Hair” (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
  17. Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
  18. “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)
  19. “Superfly” (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)
  20. “Ola Belle Reed” (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)
  21.  “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
  22. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)
  23. “She’s So Unusual” (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)
  24. “Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set” (1996)
  25. “The Blueprint” (album), Jay-Z (2001)

Review: Jordan Peele’s “Us” Shows That His “Get Out” Was No Fluke: Scary and Searing Social Studies

Leah Sydney
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Review: Jordan Peele’s “Us” Shows That His “Get Out” Was No Fluke: Scary and Searing Social Studies

“Us” had its first all media screening in Los Angeles tonight and it was packed; they had to book a second theater at the Arclight in Hollywood. This will be happening in theaters all across the country this Friday when it is released and rightly so.  Jordan Peele wrote directed and produced this mixture of horror/mystery/suspense/ political humorous film.

This is a movie where your hands are covering your eyes at least some of the time.  Simply terrifying, yet the narrative connects the dots in an horror filled, suspenseful intriguing and clever way. Social commentary was the theme of his “Get Out,” and he brings the same sensibility to this film in a pitch perfect, precision like way.   The story starts with a beyond cute young girl named Adelaide who wanders off from her fighting parents at a boardwalk carnival in Santa Cruz CA.  She goes in to a house of mirrors and much to her horror, discovers a real girl who looks just like her.

Lupita Nyong’o plays the grown up woman who is still unnerved from the memory, as the audience soon is too. When her family, her loving and patient husband Gabe (Winston Duke) as her husband, her daughter Zora (Shadadi Wright Joseph) and son Jacob (Evan Alex) go back to Santa Cruz to their lake house and return to the same beach with a reluctant Adelaide. There they meet their friends, the Tylers (Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker) along with their spoiled millennial kids.  They go home and that night Jacob tells his parents, “There’s a family in our driveway,” hands down that becomes a classic movie line. Looking out their front door in pitch-black darkness, they see the creepiest silhouettes ever.

From there the story, the clues, the mysteries, the subtexts of every line, the symbolism, for some obtuse for some crystal clear.  There is a ton to shift through.  What’s clear though is that there is the “Us” and there are the “Others.”

Nyong’o is simply terrific, she’s equally convincing and at ease playing the loving devoted Mom and the soulless opposite. The cast is her equal. Music plays a key role in the film and the score by Michael Abels is sensational (he also scored “Get Out’) and the songs, including Janelle Monae’s “ I Like That,” Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleur,” the Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations,” all fit seamlessly.  Film geeks and the masses of people that will flock to see this will be debating and figuring out each and every scene.  Betcha this Halloween the “US” costumes will be everywhere. Peele hits a cinematic grand slam, his oh so unique take on the current state of this country works brilliantly in “US.”

 

Death in Greenwich Village: As Anti-Septic Hudson Yards Opens, 40 Year Old Spaghetto Trattoria Is Closed by New Landlords

Roger Friedman
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Death in Greenwich Village: As Anti-Septic Hudson Yards Opens, 40 Year Old Spaghetto Trattoria Is Closed by New Landlords

I know, everyone is excited about Hudson Yards. It’s glass, steel, and chrome. It’s so ugly it’s mind blowing. A whole new futuristic neighborhood with no ties to the past has risen on Tenth Avenue and 30th St.

At the same time, there are yet more deaths of landmark spots in Greenwich Village. My favorite restaurant for over 40 years, Spaghetto Trattoria, on the corner of Carmine and Bleecker, is gone. The building that house it, 228 Bleecker, was apparently flipped again recently. It was sold for $18.7 million just a few years ago. Who knows what they got for it this time? The great blog Vanishing New York reported the restaurant had 15 years to go on the lease. That does not seem to have mattered.

So we go back to 1979. The corner restaurant was called Bleecker Luncheonette. It had a black slate front, and a criss cross metal fence that was pulled down most of  the time. Hours of operation were 12-2pm and 5-7pm. Period. It opened, it closed. There was no grace period. The windows faced Carmine Street. There was a lunch counter and about four tables. A little old Italian lady made the food, it was all fresh, and tasted like nothing else.

She pretty much had one waited. His name was Rene, he did everything. Within a couple of years, according to my memory and time, the little old lady died. The Luncheonette was bought by someone local, who put some money into the decor and expanded the place so it was now a proper restaurant with an outdoor cafe, checkered tablecloths, and a real bathroom. Rene was now the manager. It was a jolt. I remember one day in the 80s looking at red tiles Rene had found to match the old flooring. Everything would be authentic.

Mainly, the food did not change. Rene kept the recipes. And the prices never went up very much.

This is the spot in the movie where calendar pages flip by, from 1980 to 1990 to 2000 to 2010. Time stood still. I lured friends there who wanted to go to Da Silvano across Sixth Avenue, to see celebrities. The lambchops were $52. This was in 1999. Wait, I’d say, I’ll take you to my favorite place. The pesto sauce was so tangy you didn’t look for bold faced names. Maybe in 2012, I actually had a birthday party at Spaghetto. Like 50 people, all jammed in, loving the pasta and the sauces. Rene smiled like a Cheshire cat. Four decades had passed.

Today I must report the restaurant is shuttered. Most of Bleecker Street between Sixth and Seventh is unrecognizable now. The reason people came to the Village, to the “Little Italy” part of it is gone. I think of House of Oldies records remains, I don’t know why, on Carmine. There is one Italian pastry shop, Rocco’s that won’t last. Cent Anni, a fancier place, is long dead. Anything authentic has been sold to greed. At the corner across from Spaghetto there’s a chain gelato store– who cares? You can get it anywhere in the world.

Elsewhere in the nabe, the White Horse Tavern has been sold to people who will kill it, I’ll bet you now. It’s like when the Cedar Tavern was taken apart on University. The new owner said it would return, but he demolished the building. Where famous artists used to fight (recently depicted in “Mrs. Maisel”) there is now a nail salon. It looks like Cafe Loup may finally be gone, the taxman returned. There are gaping retail holes all over the village. The Cornelia Street Cafe, where writers read and singers sang, is a memory. The list goes on and on.

It’s Bill DeBlasio’s New York now. Many of our streets have been cut down to one lane, so cars compete on the pavement with everything and everyone. Most of the day, the traffic is terrible. We have no supermarkets, just a Citarella. Little by little almost all have closed. Apparently no one needs food, or paper towels. The city that never sleeps is closed by 10pm. “The kitchen closed at 10pm,” is what I hear now most of the time. Uh, we used to hang out here at 1am, I tell them. Even Il Cantinori shuts down early. Why wait for customers who are home, using Seamless and GrubHub to watch Netflix.

Congrats, we’ve moved to the suburbs. We can always meet at Starbucks.

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