London in New York

Happy New Year! Hard to believe it is already 2007. As a child I envisioned that by now the world we lived in would be like the JETSONS with flying cars and space stations. The only thing JETSON like, however, is the hype, pomposity and incessant marketing leading up to New Years Eve. Like Valentines Day on steroids or Hallmark Gone Wild, it is rather insane the pressure that many feel to make this the most spectacular night of the year. The reality, at least for me, will never live up to the hype. I try not to get caught up in that, especially since the best nights of my life have not been at a party or spent in drunken haze amid a random crowd of strangers and “friends.”

Amateur Night is what many refer to the partying mindset on New Years Eve. Playing into this insecurity of the populace is every club owner and promoters who guarantee you the best night of your life. So you will forgive me if despite their best efforts, I do not buy into the notion that my dreams will be fulfilled “partying like a rocktstar” with Paris, Nicole, DJ AM, Linday Lohan or what ever other celebutante is hosting your special party. Let’s be honest about what this really means. Said celeb arrives and is either photographed in front of a billboard with your logo on it (commonly referred to as a step and repeat) or is photographed briefly partying in the “V.I.P.” section of said establishment long enough to collect their 5 figure payment and to do something edgy which results in being gossiped about on Page 6, Gawker, TMZ or PerezHilton.com As a result every buffoon utterly lacking in taste or self esteem buys into this notion of “V.I.P.” status and is all too happy to sit at one of your tables at venues like Marquee, order bottle service and pay $300 or more for a $40-50 bottle of Vodka and the opportunity to sit amid pseudo celebrities packed around a table among “friends”, who you cannot even hear speaking. Honestly if your VIP status is derived in this fashion may you R.I.P. The height of Amateur Night Poseur-ishness was best exemplified by a “friend” who asked that I appear at a special event at a club on New Years Eve that he was he was co-promoting, to take a picture of him and his date ‘arriving’ at approximately 10:30 p.m. I literally shook my head in disbelief. I know that Time Magazine dubbed this the year of “YOU” but I did not realize that some of you would take it so literally.

I have no issue with cocktails, partying, listening too good music, the opportunity to enjoy the company of friends while making some new friends, engaging in lively banter or dancing. While my perspective may seem reminiscent of the uber clueless Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in my opinion, what passes for meaningful social life in New York City (and other major cities) and what all too often gets way too much press is not a life that any normal or sane person aspires to. This publicized nightlife in New York City largely consists of club owners and their friends in media and PR leading sheep to slaughter. This mindset is poisonous to the happiness of people who would be far happier if more of us could seriously figure out a way to connect on a meaningful basis. Clubs are a small (but profitable) aspect of social life in New York City but definitely not the answer for many of us. If you are club going bottle service regular because you perceive that it helps you feel that you have arrived on some level and you derive a sense of status from that, know that you are merely cheap kill for those selling you the opportunity to be part of a lifestyle which only enhances the income stream of nightlife entrepreneurs who wish to have a hand in your wallet.

New Years Eve and the Times Square ball drop to bring in the New Year is a phenomenon which attracts millions to New York, is viewed by many more millions around the world and is thus very good marketing for our city. This is all so easy to forget when any of us have had to contend with trying to make it around midtown Manhattan in the last few weeks. During that time, people from all over this country and the world jammed stores, Rockefeller Center and other tourist attractions in Manhattan. Although I was able to see the New Year being rung in other cities around the world before heading out myself for the evening, courtesy of some links on my Google home page and the Drudge Report, for some reason it never truly resonates with me until the official ball drop in Times Square in Manhattan. For the last few years I have been at my friend Marcel’s annual New Years Eve Loft Party which he hosts in the a west side loft, a few blocks south of Times Square. This year I saw the ball drop from a projection screen behind stage as my friend Valeria Gurka and her New York Time Machine Band performed at Marcel’s party.

To my fellow New Yorkers, consider yourself fortunate that you live and work in a place that everyone in the world wants to come to visit. Consider that also when a tourist asks for guidance or the time of day. Aside from being civic minded and polite to strangers, remember how you treat people, including the random stranger may impact whether people choose to come back and visit our city.

NEW YORK IS BACK.even as the rest of the world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket. The fact is that there are many more in the Middle East who deserve a similar fate as Saddam. Hopefully we will get around to it in due course. But at least New Yorkers can rejoice at the end of the Pataki era.

As Eliot Spitzer said in his inaugural address:

“Like Rip Van Winkle, the legendary character created by the New York author Washington Irving, New York has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by. Today is the day when all of that changes � when we stop standing still and start moving forward once more.”

Probably the most significant and exciting thing for many a New Yorker, is the departure from the Governor�s mansion of do-nothing, stand for nothing Governor George Pataki. History will likely remember him as the least consequential figure in the history of New York. Governor Pataki, a man devoid of passion, vision and sense of the historic importance of New York City’s downtown community, illustrated a complete lack of leadership which resulted in a botched rebuilding process for the Twin Towers. Mr. Pataki’s legacy will be that as Governor he inherited a state with a city that had the Twin Towers as symbol of freedom and prosperity but yet under his leadership and his appointed LMDC, 5 years after 9/11 there is no building on that ground but rather a plan that sells New York short. All that exists is a plan to rebuild 1 (one) “Freedom Tower” Mr. Pataki will be remembered by those of us who love New York City as a man who in the aftermath of 9/11 pursued “Five Years of the Wrong Plan for the Wrong Reasons”

If it sounds a bit harsh, I am far from being the only one who believes that this man did absolutely nothing to improve the lives of New Yorkers, except to insure his position and that of his wife Libby Pataki, in the Governor’s mansion. Ironically, it is speculated that Mr. Pataki may seek the nation’s highest office. To those who would support such candidacy, take it from New Yorkers, many of whom were duped by this man, shame on you if you lend any credibility to this man’s candidacy. You must say No to Pataki for President. Mr. Pataki was an abysmal failure who deserves to be left in the scrap heap of New York political history. Mr. Pataki was a post-machine era politician who embodied the worst of machine era politics in terms of corruption, patronage and cronyism. If Mr. Pataki were to pen a book, taking a page from Barack Obama�s book entitled �The Audacity of Hope�, his would be entitled “The Audacity of Political Ambition” The best that the New York Times could say about this man is that: “At moments when leadership was needed, this was a governor whose performance was always adequate. It is hardly the kind of summation that makes for a political legend, but New Yorkers are well aware that it is possible to do worse”

“Pataki is prepared to give the nation what he gave New York: out-of-control spending, corruption, political favoritism, and neglect,” warns Hudson Institute president Herbert London, a veteran Gotham conservative activist. “To suggest that the last 12 years of his leadership were a failure would be a grotesque understatement. Pataki is an anchor around the ship of state, drowning residents in debt and special favors.” (See: Delroy Murdock, Goodbye George; See also: Frederic U. Dicker who wrote a political obituary for Mr. Pataki entitled, “Good Riddance”)