It's estimated that as many as 80,000 lines of cocaine per day spill into London's River Thames, after passing through users' bodies and sewage (we recall a similar story regarding the cocaine content of an Italian river). This leads us to wonder: What do you suppose the coke content of NYC's rivers would be? Surely the East River would make the Hudson look like a mere recreational user.
As we pore over the press regarding alleged rapist Peter Braunstein — who once worked at Women's Wear Daily and the Village Voice — it's hard not to notice a pattern. From various articles in the Post and Daily News, a sampling of language:
As we earlier mentioned, some website has claimed to discover alleged rapist Peter Braunstein's blog — but at that time, we were unable to find the cached pages. Then we pulled our heads out of our asses, got our shit together, and found the strength to deliver. We are loyal, if nothing else, to our shared fascination with the macabre.
We're finding out more and more about alleged rapist Peter Braunstein — the former Women's Wear Daily and Village Voice writer who, after a few years of stalking ex-girlfriend and W beauty editor Jane Larkworthy, seems to have turned his sick-ass gaze on one of Larkworthy's former co-workers, who he brutally attacked on Halloween.
• Muslim-by-way-of-Portland blogger Laila Lalami celebrates the publication of her first novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, with a reading at the Barnes and Noble on Astor Place tonight. If you re gonna be a Muslim blogger in this country, you might as well be one in Portland. [flavorpill]
• More hot writer-on-writer action at Housing Works Used Book Caf : short story scribe Nathan Englander talks with novelist Myla Goldberg about her latest work, Wickett s Remedy, which chronicles the adventures of a woman during the influenza epidemic of 1918. Timely! [Housing Works]
• Raucous bar band The Hold Steady headlines a show at Webster Hall tonight for self-loathing hipsters. Ben Folds plays Radio City for those looking for something a little easier on the ears and a lot easier on the liver. [Upcoming x2]
In this rather ho-hum Monday edition: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and a puppy; Scarlett and Harnett, Lindsay Lohan at Soho Grand, Adam Sandler, Nicole Kidman in DC, Morrissey and Johnny Marr, Willem Dafoe, John Mayer, Alec Baldwin, John McEnroe, Bill Clinton, Anderson Cooper, Michelle Branch, Nick Valensi, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, Molly Ringwald, Tate Donovan, Mariska Hargitay, Tom Ford, Carolyn Murphy, Aerin Lauder, Barbara Walters, Stephen King, Lesley Gore, Alexis Stewart, Holland Taylor, Annette Benning, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sting, Marcus Schenkenberg, Fabian Basabe, Usher, Betsey Johnson, Tony Yayo, Brad Garrett, James Carville, Eddie Izzard, Jacinda Barrett, and Wayne Knight.
On Friday, a reader sent a picture of himself with David Cross, the actor and comedian who has lately been the victim of an imposter, a depraved doppelganger who reportedly cruises lower Manhattan claiming to be the Arrested Development actor in an effort to get laid.
Last week, we mentioned a positively terrifying story from Halloween: A man, dressed as a fireman for Halloween, tricked his victim into thinking there was a fire, then forced himself into her Chelsea apartment and sexually assaulted her for nearly 13 hours. This weekend brought major developments in the case, courtesy of the Daily News: The primary suspect is 41-year-old Peter Braunstein, a freelance writer who worked for Women's Wear Daily and the Village Voice, and who was also, it seems, batshit insane.
Friday:
• Round two of Flavorpill s monthly First Fridays party at the Guggenheim s Russian exhibit offers Michigan boys Matthew Dear and Ryan Elliot on the decks. Because Peter the Great would have wanted you to peep his collection that way. [flavorpill]
• Fresh off some Times-sponsored fellatio, Swedish outfit the Shout Out Louds play to a packed house at Bowery. [BB]
Saturday:
• The Endangered Species Band wraps up the New York Gypsy Festival at Maia Meyhane. Can t say we attended many of the Festival s offerings, but we did find the cutest boho skirt on Ludlow Street... [flavorpill]
• Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, the brotha-sista duo who comprise The Fiery Furnaces, perform at Northsix in Williamsburg tonight. Eleanor also doubles as the fashion muse of Gawker's own Intern Alexis, so Alexis will be there, drunk, for you to take advantage of. Just make sure you give her a courtesy call the next day or we'll have to spend the next week coddling her. [North Six]
Sunday:
• Uh, scantily clad, sweaty folk running all over Manhattan? Count us in. [NYCMarathon]
Sightings are sent in by alcoholic, possibly hallucinating readers. Send yours to tips@gawker.com.
Wednesday night, finally, the long-delayed, much-litigated hybrid taxicabs first hit the streets of New York City. They're Ford Escape SUVs (so much for the Lexuses we were hoping for), and, allegedly, 12 more should be on the road within two weeks. Which, the way the TLC has been handling this so far, should translate into a few months.
Big news in TabloidTown: Daily News reveals that their rivals at the Post have ties to La Cosa Nostra.
Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes opened their Christmas Spectacular yesterday, despite orchestra members being either on strike and/or locked out (considering they showed up to play yesterday and were met by security guards, we'd say the latter) due to long-winded contract negotiations. Thus yesterday's performance was set to a canned soundtrack — which, thankfully, didn't prevent the enjoyment of 9-year-old Billy Ward of Springfield, Mass.
Yesterday, we mentioned that a fake David Cross was running around Manhattan, impersonating the Arrested Development actor and comedian so as to nail some chicks (in fact, we think our most recent Gawker Stalker sighting may, in fact, have been a sighting of Fake David). Cross, rightfully disturbed and disgusted by this hipster-charlatan, writes us:
• Chrystie Street Gallery kicks off their NYC Photobloggers exhibit with a reception tonight at 7:00pm. Buy a photograph and put bread on the table for a Lower East Side hipster near you. [CSG]
• French video game giant Ubisoft throws a multimedia extravaganza at the Walter Reade Theater to herald the upcoming arrival of their King Kong game (as well as the actual movie). Attendees will likely be the only people frumpier than Kong director Peter Jackson. [flavorpill]
• $56.50 to check out Triumph the Comic Insult Dog at Town Hall tonight? Joke's on you, buddy. [Town Hall]
The inferno of Chelsea's glittery nightlife hell, Marquee, is approaching its second anniversary. To examine why the venue thrives while others disappear every other day, the Times sent poor Lola Ogunnaike to experience the magic. To best understand Marquee, we turn to the words of its people:
The Daily News today nudges all New Yorkers' favorite — and deserved — bogeyman, the MTA, by determining the ten worst stations in the city's subway system. There's "peeling paint, crumbling concrete, leaks and grime" in the ten, the paper says. The particularly bad news is that their locations demonstrate just the sort of inequality you'd expect: Five are in the Bronx, one is in Bensonhurst, and the only two in Manhattan are on the J/M/Z.
Late yesterday, Radio City's 35-piece orchestra walked out of contract negotiations, forcing the music hall to cancel final rehearsals for the Christmas Spectacular, which was scheduled to open tonight. Orchestra members currently get paid $1600 per week for 2 performances, daily, 6 days a week. While the musicians' union accepted a new contract offer from management, union leaders claim management suddenly decided not to sign the new deal. As such, the musicians walked and members of the stagehands union followed.
In this costume-heavy edition: Scarlet Johansson, Josh Hartnett, and third wheel Michelle Trachtenberg, Sting and Trudie Styler, Giorgio Armani, Lindsay Lohan, Fabian Basabe, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Taye Diggs, Cam ron, American Pie Alumni Jason Biggs and Eddie Kaye Thomas, Better Midler, Elvis John, Martha Stewart and Elvis Duran, Matt Damon, David Cross, Sigourney Weaver, the Strokes, John Cameron Mitchell, David Schwimmer, Ed Burns, Liv Tyler, Julianne Moore, Harvey Keitel, Justina Machado, Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, Missy Elliot, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr, Sandra Bullock and her biker beau, Jimmy Fallon, Molly Shannon, Michael Stipe, Ivana Trump, Bebe Neuwirth, Alec Baldwin, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Tim Curry, Kathy Griffin, Richard Branson, and Ally Sheedy.
