Winter Chillin': Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

I have been on vacation (i.e., out of the office) this week along with my family. Besides the Herculean task of cleaning out my 3rd floor closet in preparation for the final steps of the construction of a new, improved Bathroom Under the Eaves, we have seen a few movies and rambled around Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

We all love Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and Alan Rickman but the jury is out on Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Even my non-vegan kids (well, except for my son) are still not ready to get cozy with a slice of roast beef just yet.

My son and I had a Guys Outing to Manhattan (the gals had gone shopping) to see "There Will Be Blood" with Daniel Day Lewis which is everything the reviewers have been saying about Day-Lewis's performance and then some. This weeping saga of the oil business by Director Paul thomas Anderson is staggering in its depth and restraint for much of its three hours , finally unleashing all of the pent up rage and energy in an unexpected and powerful denouement. The clash of civilizations even in America , that continues today, also is here, with the ongoing conflicts between the progressive and secular oilman and the young minister (Paul Dano). Daniel Day Lewis is in top form here. Up til now I was convinced that Frank Langella in " Starting out at Evening," another stunning performance as an aging author and the young scholar (Lauren Ambrose) who reinvigorates his life, was my Numero Uno for Best Actor Oscar this year, and if they could give two, definitely Danny Boy and Cheech (aka Frank) deserve to walk away with this one.. "There Will Be Blood" is powerful, suspenseful and the chance to watch one of our great actors at work (although my son, who is into film inside and out, thinks that Day Lewis's Method Acting Approach may be off=putting to some in the Oscar establishment)..Strongly recommended.

Another goodie was "Charlie Wilson's War" which was smart, funny, moving and great performances all around by Tom (the New Jimmy Stewart) Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julia Roberts, helmed by Mike Nichols. Another must see if you are interested in Grown Up and Thoughtful Entertainment.

I also DVR'd on cable the other night "Kike Like Me" a documentary by Jamie Kastner, a Canadian TV producer and writer/dramatist, about Jewish identity and how he is responded to in Brooklyn (at 770 Eastern Parkway, the Lubavitch HQ), London, France, Poland and Germany..,It is a disturbing, fascinating and occasionally amusing film (in a painful, probing way) that suggests that conditions are not only dicey for Jews in the middle east, but continue to be so throughout the diaspora. The interviews with American author Carole Gould in London and the Arab youths in France were particularly interesting and troubling.

Well, we here at Waldorf Court are all enjoying this winter break, as the sands of the hour glass fall for 2007, and 2008 beckons right around the corner, and we hope that you are enjoying it too, whether traveling or staying local, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn.

How Things Could Be

The holiday season is rambling along. All of that marvelous good feeling and holiday potential that seems to come to an abrupt halt and then that anticipation of the New Year...

If you want the opportunity to delve down deep once more before year's end, I recommend that you visit the New York Historical Society, 77th and Central aPark West, to see "Here is New York: 9/11 Remembered" ...a huge collection of photos taken by a host of different photographers concerning 9/11. There are amazing artifacts as well, such as a portion of the wheel of American Airlines Flight 11.

When we were at the Newkirk Plaza subway station heading toward the NYHS, we met one of my daughters' music teachers. She and her husband were entertaining visitng friends from Pitsburgh, there home town. THey had expressed an interest in seeing the WTC site. We chatted and realized that since time has passed, not everyone currently living in NYC was here for 9/11. Everyone will have memories of that day, but if you were here it will be impossible to see this exhibit without feeling a wave of emotion. Both for the terribel memories, but also for the realization that for a few days immediately following, New Yorkers lived as though things could and would never be different, that we would live kinder, gentler, more generous lives, more in the moment, more rooted in living lives of personal sacrtifice and meaning..it was an amazing time to live in NYC. A brief window, like the holiday season, into How Things Could Be.

Yule Tide in Brooklyn

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All.

Surreal Estate: 110 Livingston Street

I usually don't get into the Brooklyn real estate blog thang. Of course, stories that impact the collective roof over our heads, or the commercial aspects of where we buy, sell, eat, drink, and generally do business and interact socially are important subjects, but I generally leave that coverage to other bloggers who have the requisite time and interest to do it with depth and "passion."

However, I almost (literally) stumbled across a real estate story that I felt compelled to mention briefly.

The legendary 110 Livingston Street, which current --for the moment-- Presidential candidate and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani once declared pre-9/11 "should be "Blown Up" sold a few years back by the City of New York/Board of Education, and which has undergone several years of huge renovation, is now seeking renters. I had heard stories that the lower end apartments were going briskly but the more luxe units were stalled and not selling, apparently not helped by the brisk sales of middle income-type units.

As I walked down Livingston Street, weighed down by holiday gifts and shopping, I almost tripped over a sandwich board in the middle of Livingston Street advertising the availability of "Luxury Rentals" at 110 LIVINGston. Would the renting of these new constructions further diminish the possible future sales price ? What could that rent be like ? Unless the End of Year Bonus Frenzy for those fortunate (for now) to (still) work on Wall Street shakes some big spenders loose from the tree, things clearly can't bode well for the sales of stratospheric coops in the borough of Kings. But it sounds like the Department of Education did the right thing in unloading the former Elks Club when it did.

David Brooks, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party

Based on NY Times columnist David Brooks' track record, and a recent follow up post by Peter Loffredo (http://www.fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/ ) at Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (http://www.onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com/ I can only wonder -- what is Brooks' true agenda ? Pro-Obama or anti-Democratic Party ? He lauds OB's "self-knowledge" and "the scattered facts of [OB's] childhood" now, but when the election comes around, Brooks no doubt can be counted on to use all of those same "scattered facts" he has gained through Obama's self-knowledge/revelation against OB's candidacy. Remember, outside of certain elite, educated areas, the gamesmanship of politics in a hyper-media environment will not necessarily reward those revelations, especially as things are lining up (religiously speaking) among GOP candidates.

I agree that it would be nothing short of a miracle to have a passionate, inner-directed President who understands himself, with resonances of Dr Martin Luther King,Jr and Abraham Lincoln, but as we learned in 2000 and 2004, the GOP must still be expected to play hardball. Much of the voting public nationally is unfortunately not attuned to "self-awareness"..

I don't pretend to have answers either but I do believe that the primary job of the selected Democratic candidate, whoever it is, must be to speak loudly and clearly to those political issues that will curb the corporate and anti-democratic excesses of the past 8 years and focus less on the politics of personality which can only serve to detract from that message....

If the Democracts can't get it together this time, it will not bode well for America's soul or its future...

"Christmas Time in Bensonhurst"

Somethings are just wrong. The "N" word, when used by anyone, but especially by non-African Americans. An Italian-American politician calling a Jewish-American politician a "shmuck". Or, for that matter, when any non-Italian-American speaks in a broken English, Italian immigrant or Bensonhurst Goombah accent for satirical purpose. Somehow, only insult-satire-parody-sarcasm within ethnic groups is really acceptable and avoids bodily injury. There are other angles of course, that are more acceptable, such as when John Tuturro described working with Spike Lee on Do The Right Thing, and providing a litany of insulting Italian-American euphemisms for African -Americans that apparently Spike and company had never heard before but when told in the right context by Tuturro, had filmmakers rolling in the aisles and made it into the film. That is just an example that when it is done right, in the proper context, it can be very funny. So in keeping with the holiday buildup, Sal "the Stockbroker" Governale, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_the_Stockbroker , part of King of All Media Howard Stern's stable, presents a Christmas in Bensonhurst. Enjoy (but only, if, like me, you are 100% Italian-American on both sides for three generations or more). The rest of you, look away.

CHRISTMAS IN BENSONHURST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCNR4UtrQzc

Christmas at "the Summit"

I have never experienced December in Las Vegas. But let's perform a mind experiment and picture Frank, Dean and Sammy in the big room at Sands, 11 PM, December 23, 1961. The marquee outside says "Dean Martin - Maybe Frank, Maybe Sammy" and sure enough, the boys and their pals have all congregated, to share a few laughs, a little holiday cheer, a bit of Egg Nog (light on the egg), for the assembled crowds. Legend has it that in the late 50s, Russian premier Khruschcev, the USA's Ike and France's DeGaulle were planning a Summit Conference to discuss world affairs, and Frank came up with the idea of the boys having their own "Summit" conference.. The extended crowd, led by Pack Leader/Chairman of the Board Frank, with Dino, Sammy, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford (until JFK banned Frank from the White House for his reputed mob ties), and honorary members Shirley Maclaine, Angie Dickinson and Norman Fell (yes, Norman Fell) would henceforth be known as "the Summit" or "the Clan" although to the public, they would always be "the Rat Pack" based on a comment by Lauren Bacall when she surveyed the wreckage of a party attended by Frank and another founding member, Humphrey Bogart, in Vegas and declared "You look like a goddamn rat pack."

But aside from the hard partying, pursuit of wine, women, song, and cool, the guys could still get warm, silly and even sentimental around the holidays. So let's order another bourbon and branch water, sit back and find a moment to enjoy the few days of general merriment leading up to the holidays, and more specifically the End-of-Another-Year when it is time to sing auld lang syne and roll up the sleeves for 2008.

Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra: "It's a Marshmallow World" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV6OI6IBemA

Frank: "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E19PzsLRMNY

Coda to "The Wandering Stranger of Schermerhorn Street"

Well, it has been three days and he is gone. I am convinced the Wandering Stranger of Schermerhorn Street has moved on. Incredibly, since even before I first posted about his arrival on Thursday, September 20, 2007, he has been seated in just about the same spot, on the block outside the parking garage. His plastic trash bags filled with who knows what (cash ? trash ?) are still there for now, neatly piled, where he last left them, only now there are empty coffee cups and soda bottles stacked on them by passersby. Soon they will be gone.

He would be there every morning when I passed him on my way up to Court Street and every evening as I headed home. I wonder if the NYPD forced him to move to a shelter or a jail lockup for his own safety, when this most recent snow and cold snap started. Or did he just see that the weather was going from bad to worse and he picked himself up, scruffy and filthy, beyond ascetic, but always peaceful and reserved, and went---somewhere. Will he be back next year, when the construction of the latest coops and condos is completed, and when we will know who are the actual candidates for the U.S. Presidential election ?

I usually just passed him by as I hurried to and from my office but for some reason, maybe just his pathetic presence, maybe something in me, I was moved to let down my urban, life-long New Yorker shield, and so I gave him a couple of bucks when I passed him last week. He was eating something, he barely looked up but reached out a filthy hand to take my donation. I couldn't imagine anyone letting him into their store to buy anything. Maybe he lives on what he can buy from the hot dog carts on the street.

Although he seemed very inner-focused, I couldn't help but think that he was acutely aware of folks passing him on the street, as though he was attuned to the rhythm and regulars, like me, of Schermerhorn Street. But maybe to him, having staked out his spot, unmoving, it seemed that the world moved around him, and in this place he belonged and all the rest of us were the Wandering Strangers.

--Brooklyn Beat

ADVENTURES IN BLOGGING: Coda to "Dude, Where's My Anchor ?" Which Poses Interesting Questions

Earlier this week, quite out of the blue, I received an email regarding a post on DITHOB that I had written earlier this month . The post, and the email sent to me, concerned the departure from a major local cable news station of one of its more prominent staffers, ostensibly as a result of an on-air call that he had made to another call-in show on the station in which he discussed a former NYPD Commissioner's legal problems, but in making the call, the reporter used a fake name. My post also discussed certain lawsuits that had been discussed in the media last year that had been brought against the station by a woman who was a former reporter at the same station charging sexual harassment and which appeared to implicate the reporter/weekend part-time anchor.

What was eye-opening about the email that I received this week was that the writer indicated that he was the former NY1 reporter/weekend anchor in question, Gary Anthony Ramsay. To quote a character in Miller's Crossing, this posed "an in'eresting et'ical question" since it is difficult to verify the source of an email. The email included a lot of personal information about the call, as well as an explanation of how Mr. Ramsay was exonerated from the lawsuit (that it is directed at the NY1 General Manager). The email was frank, with a lot of information and detail, was extremely well written, exhibiting some frustration and anger, but with a degree of professionalism and restraint that suggested that it was the Real Thing. When I emailed the author of the email back to ask why he was responding to an humble, unknown blog like Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn instead of going more public, at first there was no reply. Maybe it was some kind of web hoax. But would it really matter ? Except for the occasional post picked up by more widely read sites, who reads my lonely little blog?

Nevertheless, I was still reluctant to post it, since I was unclear as to the identity of the author. I wanted to try to pursue some sense of authenticity and quasi-journalistic standard.

Later that evening, I happened to use a different computer to check my email. I usually don't IM on my PC. However, shortly after logging on to see if he had responded, "GAR" IM'd me and we discussed his email. He confirmed that it was indeed Gary Anthony Ramsay and that I was probably surprised to get his email. When I questioned him - Why share this with an humble blogger? , he suggested that he cared more about individuals than the mass (I guess, anonymous) audience, since that is how he viewed his work, tht it should be meaningful to the individual viewer.. When I asked why he wasn't taking his side public, he indicated that he would shortly. He also indicated that he was making a presentation this week at an area college. He also indicated that the original email that he had sent me was written "for the record" in reply to my email, but he did not send it with the intent for it to be posted. In my original post, I mentioned the accusations against him brought by the woman reporter, which I termed "Shenanigans." This seemed to have struck a particular chord in him, and also seems to have prompted the email to me, since he felt that he was being unfairly characterized in response to what he saw as a good deed, giving an upset and partied-out co-worker a ride home, which was then used against him for ulterior motives and reasons. I responded that if I only mentioned one side of the lawsuit, or mischaracterized his involvement in it (he was not involved) it was because that was all that had been reported in the media to date on this issue. Nothing was mentioned about the lawsuit in the any of the coverage of his departure from the station.

When I mentioned the quandry of not knowing 100% the identity of the sender of the email, he agreed that, from a journalistic point of view, it could be an issue, but that he wrote to me for the record; he did not intend for it to be reprinted. I decided to offer him the opportunity to write something that he found more acceptable for posting. Alternatively, I intended to write about it once he did "officially" go public. I subsequently received the "user friendly email below" as he characterized it, which he said was intended for publication. Hopefully, this will not prove to be a mistake on my part. But the email seems detailed, convincing and knowledgeable about goings on at the station. While Mr. Ramsay clearly committed a serious professional gaffe in contacting the show under a pseudonym to give political commentary, it seems unfortunate that he himself has become "a victim of the media" since it would appear that the full story has yet to be told and he, so far from his viewpoint, has been cast in a bad light for not only his own mistake but also for the other (alleged) sins of NY1 management.


Despite all of my quasi-journalistic travails with this issue, I am a writer with a web log, not a professional journalist, more of a 21st century-citizen-media person. I decided to share this because it seems to have the ring of truth and perhaps, having exchanged a number of emails and IMs now, I am more comfortable that the writer is who he says he is and that he has something to say to shed further light on the situation at the station that hasn't been previously heard. I think also, if the only information out there is incomplete, this additional information also needs to be known. If a retraction proves to be necessary, so be it. Interestingly, in our most recent exchange, when I inquired how his meeting at the area college went, Mr. Ramsay indicated that it was a charity event and it went very well, and that people have a way of cutting through to see what is behind the nonsense. Well, sooner or later, one of must know that I really did try to get closer to the story on this, since the media does not seem to be covering it. See what you think.


--Brooklyn Beat



-----Original Message-----
From: ----------- @aol.com
To: UPWARE@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 8:01 pm
Subject: A user friendly version

First let's talk about the "incident".


I did not identify myself - a mistake. I did not because I did not want to be bothered with the questions I had to deal with anyway. But when called by John Schiumo 20 minutes later I told him the truth. I made no effort to disguise my voice. If you haven't heard the clip of my exchange with John. (and that HACK, Richard Huff at the Daily News, DID NOT)... You would know that it was not a "crank" call if you heard the clip of the show. Unless you describe a calm, ordered layout of facts already in the public domain as a prank.

I am a weary as a citizen journalist of misinformation being repeated and ranted so much and so loud that it becomes fact as well the non-action/failure of journalists or people who play them on TV to correct it.

My call was ill-advised But I was home after a long day of working on the story topic of the show all day. My first mistake was becoming one of maybe a dozen people who happened to be watching the show. As you know TW cable programs many boxes to make NY1, the first station to come on. I heard person after person come up with all these crazy notions about the topic: Bernard Kerik, the 16 count federal indictment he faced and IF that would affect the campaign of Rudy Giuliani. These comments were inaccurate and unchecked as I told the NY Times. So I picked up the phone.

I said that Mr. Kerik pled guilty to many of that same charges in State court so he has admitted some wrongdoing already. That is true not an opinion.

Yes, I used the word RIDICULOUS when describing the belief that the Hillary Clinton campaign organized this whole thing. To believe it you'd have to believe this scenario:

*So ten years ago Hillary persuaded Mr. Kerik to take gifts and favors from a construction company with suspected ties to the Mafia...to not report that as income* (a charge Mr. Kerik has admitted).

*Then Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Kerik to become homeland security secretary to embarrass Mr. Bush. *
*And finally he convinced Alberto Gonzales, the republican attorney general, who was run out of Washington for being to political, to pursue this investigation to make the front running republican candidate look bad*

If I said it was ridiculous to believe in the tooth fairy or in the notion that men can give birth in 2007, few would argue the use of the word.

I would have said the same thing if I were asked to join a panel discussion of reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/nyregion/18anchor.html?ref=nyregion

I used a fake name to tell the truth in a calm way and it was in no way a prank. You would have thought however, I hit someone while driving drunk or plagerized, Two things I have never done. (There is a network anchor in town who fabricated a story about being kidnapped in Haiti -- He just signed a contract for 8 Million a year) ---- but 15 years of doing a damn good job in this profession was swallowed in one bad news article. let's forget my Edward R. Murrow award, recognition from the AP, the NY Press Club and the National Association of Black Journalists. Let's not mention my dangerous trips to Kosovo, Haiti and Iraq in the tabloid TV piece that was moved to page 7 on a Saturday. Or make a real effort to get my side of the story.

Mr. Richard Huff took all of his info from a mean spirited mediocre producer who I dislikes me because he is mediocre and I have told him so. This person told the Daily News I was drunk and used profanity (two lies) knowing that Huff would not make much of an effort to dig out the truth. This producer also knows that Richard Huff HATES NY1 and uses any chance he gets to put it down. This former racecar reporter/stenographer doesn't even live in the city. Unfortunately, Mr. Huff got played and I got smeared. Oh well I know the drill.

Now on to my what was the word you used? shenanigans??.

I am NOT a defendant in the case of Sammarco Vs NY1. The GM is, the Managing editor is, as well as a former HR person. Again I AM NOT. What I am (or was) is a very high profile witness to her non-case. What you don't know is that Ms. Sammarco case was ruled "unfounded" by the federal agency that investigates those charges but this is America so ANYONE can sue. Ms. Sammarco in on her 3rd set of attorneys in 6 years since she raised the allegations. And lets take a look at her current attorney - Joe Tacopina - who represented cops in the Amadou Diallo shooting, the young man just arrested for murdering Natalie Holloway in Aruba and (in another twist of NY irony) Bernie Kerik. Right after our 2nd set of depositions in 6 years, Mr. Tacopina did his usual thing and planted the story in the NY Post. I was ordered to not repsond. Not in my nature but I did.

Ms. Sammarco wanted to be an anchor--a talent she DID NOT have. I had a job she coveted and said publically, the only reason I had it was because of race. Trust me, it was a job I had to fight for but that is another story. She drove the tech crews crazy asking them to re-tape minor stories over and over again. She and the gay male reporter who allegedly made that picture of her were the closest of friends. She and he once crashed a party of mine that she was not invited to. Sound like a person who was afraid and intimidated by the two of us? I once felt sorry for Adele after her long time fiance DUMPED her. We were leaving a good-bye celebration when she fell apart. I moved her away from the front door so our coworkers would not see her in the state she was in. On the night she speaks of in her lawsuit. She was drunk out of her mind at a Channel 47 party, in a room full of men she did not know. I took her home out of courtesy - My mistake.

If I had know she was looking for an opening in this long planned lawsuit against NY1 --- I would have left her there and read about what happened in the papers the next day. That is my philosophy now given the trouble it has caused. Do you know after the article in the paper about the lawsuit. My family received death threats from racist psychos and I had to have an armed guard with me THRU the holidays last year. Sound like fun (shenanigans) to you??

You are right about one thing -- NY1. It could be so much more than it is which is why I decided to leave there in July 06. They asked me to stay at the end of my contract. The guy who runs the station surrounds himself with substandard people so he can look like a brilliant guy. 2 reporters are golf buddies, another is a golf buddies wife. Two managers are in there positions because of "special relationships". One barely comes to work and the other is perhaps the dumbest person in NY TV news. This boss once embarrassed one of our BEST reporters by describing him as a "Ghetto Superstar" during the Republican National convention here in NYC. Now who was he trying to impress.

The reason you don't hear about this stuff is the same reason you hear about Government or Police corruption until its too late. When the gate keepers are the wrong doers who can you trust?

As you can tell there are frustration I too have with journalism. Its like loving a woman that doesn't love you back. But as many of my colleagues, relatives and friends would tell you, I gave it the very best I had and put my life on the line for it many times. That includes giving the best to you and your better half:who may have only seen it as wallpaper till you got to the weather.

But thanks to my one, minor but human error you don't have to be bothered with me on your set.

I know this is long but considering your extended indictment of me I thought I should get equal time.

Good Life and Good Luck

GAR