Our very own Mr. Mickey is being featured in the "Just Ask the Locals" ad campaign launched by NYC & Co., the city's tourism arm. Recognizing tourism as the city's only growth industry -- thanks to those euro-toting travelers and the financial industry's precipitous decline -- Mr. Mayor is rolling out the red carpet. The ad campaign features real New Yawkers like Mickey Boardman -- shot at Indochine -- as well as PAPER faves like Simon Doonan, Tim Gunn, Debbie Harry and Cynthia Rowley. Building on the success of the first phase of Just Ask The Locals launched in 2007, the expanded campaign calls on visitors to ask New Yorkers to share their suggestions on what to see and do in New York City on the interactive web site.

Bob Gruen has to be New York's preeminent rock photographer. If you don't believe me, you haven't seen his knockout installation Rockers currently on exhibit at Morrison Hotel Gallery (313 Bowery). Gruen was at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City back in the day and has the iconic images of everyone from the Ramones to Talking Heads to Blondie to you-name-it to prove it. He practically lived with John and Yoko! And he's a heck-of-a-nice-guy who deserves all his success. What makes him even more special is that he's still shooting many of the young bands today. Because he loves doing it! Really! For the most part, the work is not posed, studio rock god photography, but intimate photos captured on-the-spot. He was there!

Cindy Sherman disavows any association with Guest of Cindy Sherman screening at the Tribeca Film Festival that was directed by her ex Paul H-O. Here's her statement:

Regarding Guest of Cindy Sherman…

"As my name is in the title and my work and self are so abundantly represented, I would like to counter any assumption that I am or wish to be personally associated with it. I am not a participant in any events related to the film's screenings in this festival or future presentations. I apologize to all those who participated, thinking they were doing me a favor in giving interviews and otherwise assisting in the fabrication of this film. Against my better judgment, it was clearly unwise to cooperate with the project at it's inception."

Paul's movie covers his years documenting the art world for his cable TV show Gallery Beat. He eventually became Cindy Sherman's +1. Which he apparently didn't like very much. He made a movie about it. And now she doesn't want to be a part of it. Convoluted!

Yesterday the New York Post ran an article suggesting that the spontaneous outpouring of art works inspired by the Barack Obama campaign were less than viral. Instead, the story by Maureen Callahan, suggested that the campaign was secretely commissioning the works by the likes of Shepard Fairey and the Date Farmers and pretending they didn't know anything about it. Well, as often happens, the truth is somewhat in the middle. In the story Callahan identified Yosi Sergant as the secret operative behind the plot to make it appear as though Obama is the favorite candidate of street artists everywhere.

I caught up with Sergant last night and we had this im conversation.

David: Want to comment on the NY Post story for my blog?

Yosi: Sure. What would you like? The fact that she had over fifteen factual errors
beginning with the spelling of my name? It's such bad reporting/

David: Yes, stuff like that. Did they get the essential story right. That these artists were working for the Obama campaign? The quote by Shepard makes it appear so.

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"I thought Francis Ford Coppola was being cranky last fall when he badmouthed Al Pacino and Robert De Niro -- the stars of Coppola's immortal Godfather films -- for taking parts for the money and losing their passion for doing great work. 'I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come,' Coppola told GQ magazine. 'Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress.... They all live off the fat of the land.'"

With all the hoopla surrounding the Tribeca Film Festival, I have to wonder at the timing of an LA Times article by Paul Goldstein eviscerating two of New York's iconic movie stars, one of whom, namely Robert De Niro, also happens to be the founder of the festival which appears to be growing in importance as Hollywood's movie industry continues to sink into the sunset. The other iconic New York movie star is Al Pacino. The article describes how the two are only in it for the money, no longer willing or able to deliver the kinds of electrifying performances -- Taxi Driver, Godfather to name two -- that made their reputations.

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You have to hand it to John Varvatos for having the nerve to open his new store on the old CBGB's site on the Bowery. Turning punk rock's hallowed ground into a retail store set him up for potential abuse by the many descrying the gentrification of the neighborhood, but he's pulled it off by maintaining a connection with the spirit of rock 'n' roll which identifies the brand. The store has a stage, sells collectible vinyl and vintage hi-fi, while sporting gold records by the likes of Alice Cooper (???) and original posters and graffiti from the glory days of CBs. This Thursday they're hosting an exclusive (sold out) benefit party for VH1's Save the Music Foundation featuring a live performance by The Losers Lounge. Next door, what was once CBGB's Gallery has been taken over by Morrison Hotel, an art gallery focusing on music-related photography, whose next show on April 24 will feature photos by the legendary Bob Gruen.

On a related note, we were not so saddened to see a "for rent" sign on the window of the CBGB's store that opened on St. Mark's Place in the hope of selling CB's merch to the masses. Maybe they should give them a corner at the Varvatos store for their wares.

One of the most contentious posts we've ever had was written about the current Vogue cover featuring LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen. PAPER managing editor Rebecca Carroll, jumping off comments by Harry Allen, opined that she believed the cover to be racist because it succumbed to sterotypes that have been plaguing African Americans for centuries.

Though she made many valid points and I never expected everyone to agree with her, I was surprised by the vehemence of many of the comments expressed by those whom I know or assume to be not African Americans. What I took away from this is that there is a longing among many otherwise liberal people for the race issue to be put behind us. Call it fatigue with advocates who are perceived to have been playing the race card for too long. Barack Obama, himself, has worked hard to make distance between his brand of African Americanism and the old school Civil Rights movement's breed of leaders like Jessee Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton. Be that as it may, race continues to be a hot button issue. The reactions to Jeremiah Wright's histrionic preachings is an example of white folks feeling sterotyped by blacks just as blacks feel stereotyped by whites.

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Finally caught up with Skullphone and had a quick conversation about the brouhaha that's been stirred up by his tag popping up on 10 digital billboards around LA. Skullphone would neither confirm nor deny Wired's report that the billboard time was purchased from Clear Channel. The firestorm began when the story was originally reported on Supertouch. I had reported that sources had told me that it was indeed a hack. Here are some sound bites from my conversation with Skullphone

"The art of hacking I know nothing about. What is hacking? What is art?"

"People thought Bob Dylan sold out when he went electric. I guess people weren't ready for it."

"To me it's American art. The (now digital) billboard on the side of the highway."

"'Skullphone digital billboards.' It was a logical fit."

"Once again, it’s a matter of semantics. What does it mean to hack the system. Is getting people to think for themselves hacking?"

"Skullphone has a right to be there."

Two days ago we reported that Skullphone had hacked Clear Channel's digital billboards in LA and threw up his signature tag. Today Wired blog network is running a story in which Clear Channel claims that Skullphone bought the time from them, that he didn't hack it at all.

Well, wait a minute! My sources, who spoke directly to Skullphone, say it isn't true. He did indeed hack is way into the Clear Channel computer. Guess Clear Channel doesn't want to look bad.

PS. Wired -- and the blogs that foolishly picked up their story -- shouldn't have taken Skullphone's word for it either.

Could Divine have been the inspiration for this dress worn recently by Aretha Franklin?

Photo from New York Times

England may have Banksy, but we've got Skullphone. Check it out via supertouch

"Right now the enigma that is known only as SKULLPHONE is easily Clear Channel Communications‘ greatest enemy in SoCal since he hijacked 10 of the advertising giant’s most prominent digital billboards around LA in Hollywood, Westwood, and the art hotspot of Culver City. Hacking into the billboard’s computer network today, our boy positioned his trademark skullphone imagery in between the array of flashing movie, TV, and auto company ads that make up the normal paid advertising barrage on the giant illuminated monitors. Keep an eye out for more photos to come throughout the day…"

There's no shortage of coverage on the hooker antics of disgraced, now ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the media. The moralizing and hand-wringing knows no bounds among the upright media brigade (yeah, right!). So what a breath of fresh air to read Cnidy Adams' column in today's New York Post. The 80-something Adams, a confidant of society doyennes, is not one of my favorite gossip reads, but today I have to tip my hat her way. Her hysterical overview of dillydallying over the years is required reading. Addressing the aggrieved wife Silda Spitzer, she writes:

So what. She may not longer be New York's first lady, but a husband hooking up with a hooker is not reason enough to no longer be a married lady.

Sex, a primal need, outpoints fear, hunger and love as mankind's No. 1 driving force. Unless you're a pig or a monk, many an able-bodied -- and I use that term deliberately -- 48-year-old husband of 21 years has grazed. I'm not advocating it. I'm merely saying, so what? It's like takeout food. Less work for mother.

Taking the moral high ground, Adams concludes that going with a hooker is preferred to having a mistress.

Paying a pro isn't disrespect to his wife. Disrespect is keeping, supporting, housing a mistress with whom there's an ongoing relationship and with whom you share not only time but emotions and thoughts and life. Disrespect is dumping into a trash bin that partner, long out of the workforce after giving her all including her youth, to marry whatever new twinkie works your male menopausal pinky. This "f - - - ing steamroller" didn't do either. If he did, it wouldn't be enough for his wife to hate him - we'd all hate him.

The new revenue model of the music industry seems to be working for the bands if not for the labels. Bands are routinely forgoing getting paid for selling songs or CDs, moving into the profit column instead via the anciliary benefits of living in the time we are. In addition to performing and selling T-shirts and merch to the paying fans, the jackpot these days seems to be making it onto a hit TV commercial. Cansei de Ser Sexy, better known as CSS, is a cool enough band, but what other explanation can there be for their being the number one-all time most viewed Youtube video. Blogger's Blog acknowledges that "They received a fortuitous popularity boost when their 'Music Is My Hot Hot Sex' song (the same song as in the suddenly popular video) was featured in an iPhone commercial." True that, but some bloggers are doubtful. The CSS video is approaching 100 million viewings!

Antony's legion of fans might be surprised to find that the Prince of Darkness has recorded a song you can dance to. I can remember Antony being a good sport and painfully performing at one of our parties, even though his music then was not exactly suited for a room of nightlife revelers. Maybe we influenced him. Who knows. In any case, here it is "Hercules & Love Affair" remixed by Frankie Knuckles.

I'm saddened by the death of William F. Buckley, Jr. The erudite author, editor and founder of the one-time conservative bible The National Review, Buckley was a thorn in the side of liberals everywhere, especially during the turbulent '60s when his views on the Vietnam War contrasted sharply with the New York intellectual set that was his natural millieu. On his TV show Firing Line, he'd take on Noam Chomsky, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal et al, his trusty legal pad at his side, matching and occasionally surpassing them with is multi-syllabic salvos. What makes him particularly endearing today is his staunch classic conservatism, which is very different from the Neo version propounded by contemporary ideologues which has made a mockery of our Constitution. Often called the liberals’ favorite conservative, he was an independent thinker, truly out of the box. Like this video (which comes in three parts on Youtube) where he articulates his belief that drugs should be decriminalized.

Is Moby the new Mark Ronson with a twist? Moby's new record Last Night features the Mobester as producer. He doesn't sing himself, but lets the vocalist take the spotlight. What's the twist? Well, with Moby, politics is always in the picture as well. Like in this video "Disco Lies," where Moby grafts an old-fashioned disco Diva tune to a vegan message.

Waiting for the Fashion Week shows to begin, some people -- like my colleague Mickey Boardman -- love to chit chat and celebrity spot. I prefer reading one of the free publications distributed in and around the tents at Bryant Park. Each show begins a half-hour after the announced starting time, which finds me at the Diesel show reading Women's Wear Daily and coming upon an article which interviews members of the fashion flock about the Presidential nomination campaign. Here's what I learned.

For Hillary Clinton: Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta, Marc Bouwer and Nicole Miller

For Barack Obama: Dominick Dunne, Jamee Gregory, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, Nigel Barker, Tommy Hilfiger, Isabel Toldeo

In photo above Ann Hathaway wears Hillary by Marc Jacobs

Errol Morris is no Michael Moore. While they are both Oscar-winning documentarians of considerable note -- Moore for Bowling for Columbine, Morris for The Fog of War -- their approaches are considerably different. Moore is the wise clown who makes himself the centerpiece of his productions; Morris is more the traditionalist, the director in the background who has the uncanny ability of getting his subjects to speak openly about some very dark and difficult subjects.

Standard Operating Procedure is Morris' latest effort, a meditation on photography as much as it is a film about the prisoner abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Using film, re-enactments and photographs, he tells the story through the voices of the people who were there, shot in beautiful close-up that is both riveting and shocking. When the now familiar photographs appeared in newspapers and TV coverage around the world, the United States lost any sense of moral superiority we might have had left. In SOP we learn as much about the people who caused the abuses as we do about the unfolding picture of what was done in that hellish place. Perhaps surprisingly we find ourselves sympathizing with some of the soldiers who took the fall for the brass who pretended to be ignorant of the abuse. As a testament to its uniqueness SOP will become the first documentary to enter the competition at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The YouTube clip above is an outtake from the film in which Col. Janis Karpinski, at the time of Abu Ghraib a Brigadeier General, was the commander of the prison and later in charge of Saddam Hussein once he was captured.

Don't you love a marriage made in heaven? That's what the press release calls the collaboration/remix of Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" by Peaches. I can't really argue with that.

The occasion for this unlikely pairing, captured here on video from a performance in Berlin, is the 20th anniversary of the release, which was, believe it or not, once the fastest selling single in music history. A full slate of Delicious Vinyl's classic records by Young MC, The Pharcyde, Masta Ace, The Brand New Heavies, Def Jef, Born Jamericans, and Fatlip re-imagined by Hot Chip, Spank Rock, Diplo, Bonde Do Role, A-Trak, Ed Banger's Mr. Flash & DJ Medhi is also in the works. Each release will be available on limited edition vinyl, launched with a special DV Twenty Years Fresh party in select cities worldwide. (Stay tuned for dates and locations to be announced soon.) The tracks will be part of a triple vinyl full-length album slated for release in 2008.

Artist Shepard Fairey of Obey and Andre the Giant fame has thrown his street cred and artistic skills behind the candidacy of Barack Obama. As he wrote on his site where you can order the print above:

I believe with great conviction that Barack Obama should be the next President. I have been paying close attention to him since the Democratic convention in 2004. I feel that he is more a statesman than a politician. He was against the war when it was an unpopular position (and Hillary was for the war at that time), Obama is for energy and environmental conservation. He is for healthcare reform. Check him out for yourself www.barackobama.com. Proceeds from this print go to produce prints for a large statewide poster campaign. Thanks. -Shepard

Anyone interested in helping out please email info@obeygiant.com with OBAMA as the subject title for instructions. This screenprint is 24 X 36, edition of 350. Available next Wednesday, January 30th.