To The Crowd! Nearly 1K Raised For WTC VIEW This Week

Our crowd-sourcing campaign for WTC VIEW Onstage kicked off with a bang this week.  We've raised nearly 1K since Wednesday which has been great!  We still have oh, 24K to go....but this is a great start and, as the word gets out, I'm sure we'll keep going over the next 40 days and reach our goal in April.

A lot of people have asked me recently what exactly crowd-sourcing is?  It's sorta the opposite of traditional funding, where you seek the smallest number of donors giving the largest amounts possible.  In crowd-sourcing, you farm the task out to the Internet through social-networking, emails, Twitter, etc. and try to get a large number of people giving smaller donations.  The math is basically that with crowd-sourcing, you want 1,000 people giving you 20 dollars as opposed to 20 people giving you 1,000.  So it's just as crucial to give as it is to post, like, re-tweet and share our campaign with anyone you think is interested in supporting the arts, specifically theatre in NYC.

I don't have to tell you that times are tough. They have been even tougher in the theater world, while some shows spend millions and millions of dollars (something about a spider?), new work has a tough time finding support here in the city.  Because of this, WTC VIEW will depend solely on donations, most of which are tax-deductible to make this all happen. So please, give what you can't....and if you can't give, keep spreading the word online; our link is www.indiegogo.com/wtc-view. Thanks so much and have a great weekend....

Sarah Palin Thinks Cathy Griffin Is A Bully?

You know, lately is seems that you read a headline about something Sarah Palin has done or said and you go....what?  Huh?!  Well, she's done it again this week, calling Kathy Griffin a bully.  Kathy Griffin is a stand-up comediam who makes people laugh for a living.  Where in the world does she connect this with being a bully?

The sad thing is that she chose to do this on the eve of President Obama's bullying conference at the White House today which addresses the all to real problem of real bullies in schools, which recently have lead to a rash of suicides of LGBT teens.  This issue is deadly serious.  Well, fortunately, Kathy Griffin had a great sense of humor about the whole thing as she talked about it on the Lawrence O'Donnell Show last night.  She handles herself so well in this and has a surprise answer to Sarah's challenge to "come up to Alaska" so they can have words.  Oh brother.

Like I've said before, just keep talking Sarah....

Bowery Boys Look At Manhattan & The Movies

When people think of New York and the movies, you tend to think of how the city has been featured in many classics;  from "Taxi Driver" in the 70's, to "Working Girl" in the 80's, to "Men In Black" in the 90's, and "Sex & The City" in the 'aughts.  However, NYC's movie history as a pretty backdrop runs way more than skin deep.  A lot of people forget that, long before Los Angeles became home to the film industry, it all started here in the city.  And also in New Jersey, at Thomas Edison's Black Maria (left)....America's first movie studio located in glamourous West Orange, NJ.

My favorite local history podcast, The Bowery Boys, takes a look back in their current episode to the start of the film business here in New York and all the various players, many lost to history while some including a fellow named Loew, live on today.  They provide a nearly hour-long overview of the nascent movie business as it got its start before the turn of the century and, in the 10's, started to migrate West where the light was better and the real estate a helluva lot cheaper.  A great listen if you're interested in the history of the movies.

Aaron Johnson Kicks-Ass In New REM Video

Aaron Johnson, the deceptively geeky guy from KICK-ASS, takes on a slightly different role as a dancey dude in this new video from R.E.M.  He has some pretty sweet moves as well as a very impressive Jew-fro which he knows how to work to maximum groove effect as we struts the streets of London.  It's a great little video for a great new R.E.M. song.  Enjoy!

We Need YOU To Help Bring WTC VIEW Off-Bway This May

As I previously reported here last month, my play WTC VIEW is getting its off-Broadway debut this spring at 59E59 Theaters.  To make this happen, today is the start of a 6-week fundraising campaign to raise $25K by the end of April and we need your help.

This is not a traditional fundraising campaign. The traditional model is all about finding the smallest number of large donors.  But with crowd-sourcing it's the reverse: We are looking for the largest number of small donors via social networking, with the hope that we can get 1,000 donors kicking in 20 bucks as opposed to 20 donors with a 1,000 bucks. Not many people have a cool grand lying around these days.  But a $20...or even a $10? That's a little easier to swing.  Also, since we are a fiscally sponsored project through Fractured Atlas, donations to WTC VIEW are tax deductible too.

So please check out our campaign which went live today on IndieGoGo.  I also put together a short video in which I talk about my inspiration for WTC VIEW and why I feel strongly that now is the time to bring this show to New York audiences as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. However, the only way this is going to happen....I repeat the ONLY way....is if you give.  WTC is a small non-profit play at a non-profit theater and we are depending on these tax-deductible dontations for our production budget.  The other thing you can do, that would be a huge help, is share our IndieGoGo campaign with your Facebook friends of Twitter follows and LIKE our Facebook page as well.  The direct link is: www.indiegogo.com/wtc-view  

Thanks so much and stay tuned for more updates on the show, including casting news, and also some more videos too.

The Man Who Almost Assasinated JFK In 1960

In December of 1960, Richard Pavlick was the first disgruntled postal worker to make headlines.  It wasn't exactly the headline he was hoping for and not many people read it due to a terrible plane accident in Brooklyn that happened the same day.  Pavlick was arrested with a car full of dynamite (left) in Palm Beach, FL where President-elect Kennedy was staying.  He had been stalking the JFK and waiting for the right moment to drive into him or his house and blow him up because he thought the Kennedy's wealth had stolen the election of 1960.  He apparently came very close to do it one afternoon when JFK exited the residence but changed his mind when he saw Mrs. Kennedy and the children, because he had nothing against them.

Anyway, this is a fascinating bit of lost history I just found out about when reading a review for a new book by Jeff Greenfield called "Then Everthing Changed." The book, just out this week, serves up three fictional alternative histories of the 60's, 70's and 80's where timing changes everything and history takes a radically different course.  I am definitely planning on reading this as one of my favorite recent books was Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America", about an alterna-30's where Lucky Lindbergh actually becomes  President and the nation sprials into neo-Facism.  Alternate history is a popular and growing genre of fiction, with other writers including new Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and Michael Chabon.

Randy Rainbow Is Dating Charlie Sheen

I was waiting for this one since last week, when Charlie Sheen started opening his mouth and was unable to close it.  Randy's phone relationship with Charlie is great, though it doesn't have the same spice that it did with Mel.  Charlie does a lot of talking....that's for sure.  Anyway, this is another hilarious video by Randy Rainbow. Celebrity meltdowns are good for business!
 

An Advertising Sign Of The Times--Weight Gain For Women

If you watch TV or flip through a magazine, when there is an ad about women and their weight it usually involves how to lose it.  But back in the not so distant past, women were often concerned with being too skinny.  Seriously.

I was doing some research on Raquel Welch (long story) and came across this advertisement circa 1967 of Raquel advertising a weight gain product for women called "Wate-On". Checking the ingredients, it's essentially a precursor of "Ensure" which is popular today.  Anyway, I do love the line at the top of the ad--"I can't afford to be skinny." As another ad famously used to say, you've come along way baby....

Good News: DOMA Almost Dead, Bad News: GOP Rep Still In Closet

This week President Obama finally came to his constitutional senses and directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which was increasingly being challenged in courts across the country because, well, it's unconstitutional.  It was great news and a sign that the President is coming to understand that marriage equality is a civil rights issue and not a moral question.  According to his spokesman, even his position on gay marriage may be evolving.

Anyway, in other news, Rep. Aaron Schock came out with a statement saying he was "disappointed" by the President's call.  This would not be news from an average Republican in the House of Representatives.  However, most Republicans do not share his sense of fashion or his remarkable six-pack abs.  Looking at the picture here on the left (nicely posted by Andy Towle on Towleroad yesterday),  Rep. Schock is the fellow on the right, in the tourquoise belt, tight white jeans and lavender gingham print.  Seriously.  Like, whatever Mary!

Rep. Schock has repeatedly denied he is gay but, coming from a large family in which he is the only remaining single sibling, the writing is on the bathroom stall wall as a certain former Senator might say.  It's funny but also a bit sad really.  Which basically describes my feelings about closeted gay Republicans in general.

Donuts Of The Week

Well, after many posts about my interest in donuts, it appears the NY TIMES is jumping on the bandwagon.  Just another example of Hi-Fi Bri being a bellweather of cultural taste...or donut trends. :)

The main focus of the TIMES piece is a new joint in Bed-Stuy called "Dough".  It sounds slightly ridiculous in it's creation of somewhat artisanal donuts, with dulce de leche, cacoa bit toppings and "a vivd magenta hibiscus".  Seriously?!  The Nutella filled creme donut sounds a little more my speed though so I will have to make the trek and check it out.

They also give mention to a place that sounds more to my liking in The Point called the Peter Pan Donut Shop.  It's offerings look closer to my favorite joint, the Donut Pub on 14th Street (which was ignored).  It's got the traditional cruellers and chocolate topped creations, as well as jam filled treats that sound delicious. And there were also a few paragraphs on the new Doughnut Plant on 23rd Street that recently opened.  Their Chocolate Blackout is a personal fave and the PBJ concoction an NYC classic.