The New York Observer (New York, NY) back issues from February 2008:
A Cashmere-Clad Fern, Brooke Shields in Tow, Cut Ribbon on Fashion Week.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ BRYANT PARK, FRONT STEPS, 8:00 A.M.-A few minutes before some chilly spittle started to fall, IMG Fashion senior VP Fern Mallis, Mercedes-Benz VP of marketing Stephen Cannon, writer Candace Bushnell, and Lipstick Jungle co-stars Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay ...
Morning Memo: Michelle Williams Shelves Elle; Cameron Diaz Cruises Chelsea.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Britney Spears was involuntarily committed to UCLA Medical Center last night, arriving with a lengthy emergency vehicle entourage. The hospital can hold her up to 72 hours. [NYT] Spears' stay at UCLA overlapped with a voluntary visit by Grey's Anatomy ...
The Morning Read: Friday, February 1, 2008.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A company that "attempts to gauge the thinking of Americans on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and even house-by-house, basis," is getting paid by Michael Bloomberg. But based on his denial yesterday, the Daily News carries the headline, "Bloomberg's not ...
Lost Fans Totally, Er, Lost After Season Opener.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ There are a few facts that devoted Lost fans will have to accept as they delve into a fourth season of their beloved hit television series. The most painful is that, as of now, only seven episodes are left. (There were supposed to be sixteen. Thanks, writers strike!) ...
The Round-Up: Friday.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ New York candidates awash in real estate cash. Top contributors are companies engaged in development battles. [NY Times] Back to the Asphalt Green! A Manhattan judge voided an agreement between the Bloomberg administration and 20 private schools, which gave ...
Lydia Hearst to Get 'Model of the Year' Laurels; Plus, Sneak Peek at Richardson Shoot for Perry Ellis.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The Michael Awards-the big black-tie fashion-industry smoochfest that gives out awards and raises money for the National Children's Leukemia Foundation-won't be held until May 7th, but at this early date! The Transom can now exclusively reveal 2007's model of the ...
Clinton and Obama Give Themselves a Break.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama got their digs in, but both candidates took pains on Thursday night not to appear hostile or mean-spirited in what was their only one-on-one encounter before Super Tuesday. Instead, the two surviving Democratic contenders ...
Federal Grand Jury Subpoenas Times Reporter.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ New York Times reporter James Risen has been issued a subpoena and will be asked to reveal a source from his book, "State of War," before a federal grand jury on Feb. 7, Mr. Risen's lawyer told the Times this morning. His lawyer said that Mr. Risen will be ...
On the West Coast, At Least, Hillary Gets Barack-Type Crowds.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ SAN JOSE -- In California, Hillary Clinton is campaigning like Barack Obama - drawing massive crowds and casting herself as a grassroots candidate. "Who are we for?" Diane Feinstein, who introduced Clinton, called from a stage crowded with California ...
A California Circus for Hillary.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Here at San Diego State University there were lots and lots and lots of people to see Hillary Clinton. Before she came out the crowd amused itself by flying paper airplanes down to the stage, and cheerladers applauded the introductory remarks by shaking their ...
Events for February 2-4, 2008.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Saturday 9:30 a.m. Reps. Steve Israel and Tim Bishop lead campaign bus tour rallies in support of Hillary Rodham Clinton; Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee headquarters, 757 Horseblock Road, Farmingville. 12 p.m. New York Women for Obama ...
Elsewhere: L.A. Times, Navajos, Santorum Endorse.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The Los Angeles Times endorses Barack Obama and John McCain. Lawrence Nordan at the Brennan Center blog remembers the agreement between Obama and McCain to take public financing if they both reached the general election. The Denver Post endorses ...
Where's Waris? At 'Warm and Cozy' Yigal Azrouel.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ At the Yigal Azrouel show at Eyebeam West 21st Street at noon on Friday, Feb. 1, pouty male models went down the runway wearing mustard-striped cotton sweats tucked into military-style boots, thermal shirts and cardigan sweaters; brown cords and K-Swiss sneakers; ...
The Afternoon Wrap: Friday.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The first day of Fashion Week was blighted by bad weather and a gloomy economic forecast. In keeping with the overall theme, next fall's signature color will be grey. [Reuters] "If you build it, they will toddle": The national fertility rate in 2006 rose to ...
Romeo and Juliet Do the Upper East Side.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Wherefore art thou ...socialite? Yes, add to the list of things that make you love New York (or cringe over the fact that you live here) an Upper East Side adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. The Capulets, nouveau riche; the Montagues, old money. Can you feel ...
Charles Barron's Obama Flyers.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ "White America will not allow Barack Obama to say, 'I'm proud to be black and I want to make history as the first black president of the United States of America,'" City Councilman Charles Barron told me this afternoon. To help get that message out, Barron ...
The (Limited) Meaning of Obama's MoveOn Endorsement.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ MoveOn, the online network that connects more than 3 million progressives nationwide , has officially endorsed Barack Obama. This may seem like a big deal, since MoveOn has 1.7 million members in the 22 states that will vote next Tuesday, but it probably won't amount ...
In Pro-Obama Brooklyn, Clinton Supporter Predicts Victory.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Barack Obama has relatively strong support from local elected officials in and around the 11th congressional district in Brooklyn, the heart of his support in New York City. But the district's newly-elected Congresswoman Yvette Clarke supports Hillary ...
Eric Boehlert Writing Book About Campaign Coverage For Free Press.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Media Matters columnist Eric Boehlert is writing a book for Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, about media coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Boehlert, who wrote a book for Free Press in 2006 about the press's relationship with the Bush ...
W.G.A. Strike Fosters Ire Among Those 'Below-the-Line'.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Despite signs that a settlement with the W.G.A. might be approaching, all is not well in Strike Land. According to the LA Times, there is an increasing sense of frustration and cynicism among members of the "vast and largely forgotten below-the-line class of skilled ...
Remember Me, Duckie! Designer Brown Gets Multi-Culti Model Cred.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ BRYANT PARK, THE SALON, 1:15 P.M.--Moments before the Duckie Brown autumn/winter 2008 show began, a few stragglers found their seats, bass-heavy trance blared. Seat F-25 (male, effeminate, floor-length alpaca sweater, glasses): "Oh, my god! I didn't see you ...
Great Danes! Claire Joins Zac Efron in Me and Orson Welles.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Claire Danes, whose "gamely impersonation" of Eliza Doolittle on the recent Broadway Pygmalion revival tanked among the critics, will join the cast of Me and Orson Welles, an adaptation of the period coming-of-age novel set in the late 1930s by Robert Kaplow. ...
Report: Macklowe Selling GM Building This Month.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Bloomberg News is reporting that Harry Macklowe plans to sell the GM Building this month. Bids for the 50-story building, arguably the world's most valuable, are due on Feb. 15. And Mr. Macklowe owes billions to his creditors by Feb. 9 (or they need to give him an ...
Obama Warns Tarantino: 'They Will Bamboozle You'.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ On stage in front of a "change" banner at a fund-raiser at the Avalon club in Hollywood, Barack Obama reprised his his 'bamboozled" line last night for an audience that included celebrities. (Quentin Tarantino!). "It's the typical response against a ...
Clinton, Obama Rallies in New York This Weekend.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Barack Obama's campaign will hold a women's rally at Columbus circle at noon tomorrow. An hour later, Hillary Clinton supporters gather for a rally at Union Square. And then there's the "Latinos for Hillary" rally tomorrow night, in Inwood, ...
Lieberman on Confronting the Muslim-Obama Rumor.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Joe Lieberman, who made history as the first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket in 2000, said he once was confronted the storyline about Barack Obama being Muslim and not a strong supporter of Israel. "I've heard about it," Lieberman told me ...
W. on the Couch.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ THE BUSH TRAGEDY By Jacob Weisberg Random House, 242 pages, $26 This is a literary story, a family drama--a tragedy. Jacob Weisberg's The Bush Tragedy is not even strictly a political book: The author gets at George W. Bush's ...
Alma Rangel Endorses Barack Obama.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A release just came in announcing that Alma Rangel is endorsing Barack Obama. Her husband, Representative Charlie Rangel, is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and a major Hillary Clinton supporter. Earlier this week it was reported Alma ...
B.O.E.'s Web Site Has G.O.P. Bloomberg.(Website overview)
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Michael Bloomberg among the most famous politician not enrolled in any political party. But he is still listed as a registered Republican on the new State Board of Elections voter information web site. That's not because Bloomberg is still considered a ...
Joanna Newsom Glistens at BAM, Loves Obama.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The hummingbird-voiced harpist Joanna Newsom played the first of two shows with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM last night, and it wasn't cutesy or quirky or kitschy. It was glorious. But four years ago, when she was 22 years and two months old, ...
And So the Push Begins, Again, on Congestion Pricing.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ With a state commission's recommendation out on congestion pricing, Mayor Bloomberg will now, once again, move to convince enough non-Manhattan legislators in Albany to vote in favor of a pricing plan, a centerpiece policy of his second and final term. The ...
British Heath Ledger Biography Will Be Available in U.S. in June.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A biography of Heath Ledger which will be published as a paperback in England in April, will be available in the U.S. in June, according to a spokesperson for Trafalgar Square Publishing, the company that will import and distribute the book here. ...
Federal Court Rejects Atlantic Yards Appeal: Full Coverage.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A federal appeals court rejected an appeal by critics of the use of eminent domain in the $4 billion Atlantic Yards mega-project in Brooklyn, a big, if expected, victory for developer Forest City Ratner, and surely a demoralizing blow to project opponents. (There are ...
Sack It to Me! Models Show Off Fibrous Fashion.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Has an entire season--several major holidays, a snowfall or two--really passed since we did this last? 'Twas the night before Fashion Week began, and a crowd in artfully tied scarves and low-slung berets had gathered at Gotham Hall in midtown to acknowledge ...
Joe Lieberman on Bloomberg, McCain.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Joe Lieberman paid a visit to a John McCain phone bank at 35 Worth Street this morning, where I got a chance to ask him about Michael Bloomberg's presidential prospects: "I would say, having a measure of Mayor Mike, I feel he'll only run if he feels he has ...
Back in the USA! Nick Cave to Play Plug.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A lineup has been announced for the 2008 Plug Independent Music Awards, scheduled for March 6 at Terminal 5-and what a lineup it is! Comedian Patton Oswalt is hosting the show, which will feature performances by nominees Dizzee Rascal, Jose Gonzales, and St. Vincent. ...
Burlesque Babe Shakes It In Support of Bloomberg's Coney Island Plan.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ "I think it's very bad-ass," said Brooklyn burlesque queen Angie Pontani. "It's a really bold move and I'm proud of the city for coming up with it." She was referring to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to redevelop Coney Island. "In ...
Bloomberg Skeptical About Secession But Does See N.Y.C as the 'Economic Engine'.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ During Michael Bloomberg's weekly radio appearance on 77 WABC, host John Gambling asked him about Peter Vallone, Jr.'s most recent effort to have New York City secede from New York State and form the 51st state. Vallone's reasoning is mainly economic--the city should ...
Latina Group Backs Clinton, Immigrant-License Stance Not a Problem.
Feb 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ One day before a "Latinos for Hillary" event in Inwood, Hillary Clinton's supporters announced the endorsement of Latina PAC, a New York-based group of professional Hispanic women. Daisy Rodriquez, vice chair of the PAC, explained to me yesterday that the ...
New York on Saturday: Obama Surrogates Defiant, Hillary Supporters Efficient, Rangel Unworried.
Feb 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama weren't in New York today, but their supporters were. A rally for Obama at Columbus Circle this afternoon was billed as a show of strength among women, but the theme, judging from at least one speaker, was a changing of the ...
The Many Gifts of Mike Huckabee (to John McCain).
Feb 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ When John McCain and Mike Huckabee forged an informal alliance just before the Iowa caucuses, skeptics called it a fleeting marriage of convenience. With an assist from McCain, Huckabee would fend off Mitt Romney in Iowa, thereby wounding Romney and ...
'Fresh Prince' Actress: Scarlett Johansson Obama Song 'Historic and Special'.
Feb 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ One of the people involved with the new Barack Obama song "Yes We Can" is Tatyana Ali, of Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Fakin' Da Funk fame, who I bumped into in an elevator after Thursday night's debate here in Los Angeles. She predicted the song would be ...
College Crowd to Clinton in East L.A.: Yes You Can.
Feb 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Who knew that policy initiatives could get such a reaction on college campuses? In a rally this morning at California State University in East L.A., Hillary Clinton used words like "affordable," "student loan" and "apprenticeship training" to elicit cheers ...
A Sudden Round Two on Rail Yard Bids?
Feb 03, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The New York Times' Charles Bagli reported over the weekend that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has asked the five bidders for the West Side rail yards to submit a new round of bids. Apparently, the MTA would like to now lease for 99 years the 26 acres of ...
Maria Shriver Endorses Obama.
Feb 03, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ LOS ANGELES-This could be big. Maria Shriver, the first lady of California (wife of Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) just endorsed Barack Obama on a stage here at an event at UCLA with Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and her cousin Caroline ...
Weekend in Review: The Primary Comes to New York.
Feb 03, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ There are two days left before Super Tuesday, when 22 states will vote in the presidential primary. An ABC News-Washington Post national poll released today has Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton close, while John McCain now dominates the G.O.P. race with 48 percent over ...
At the Home of the Giants (or the Nets, Really) Waiting for Obama.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ EAST RUTHERFORD -- All of the Jersey press is rolling up in here--the boys from Blue Jersey, Mark Bonamo, the managing editor of the Community Newspapers of North Jersey Media Group--at the newly-named Izod Center at the Meadowlands. (Need we ...
Giants to Get Plaque in Canyon of Heroes.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The New York Giants will be honored soon with the first new plaque in Lower Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes in nearly eight years. The plaque, installed by the Alliance for Downtown New York, will join the 203 already embedded in the sidewalk along Broadway, from the ...
Back at Yale, Clinton Gets Emotional Again.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ "Oh this is so nostalgic," said Hillary Clinton as she walked into the Yale Child Study Center this morning. Clinton was referring to her work here in the 1970s, but the tableau of the roundtable discussion, and a moving speech by the center's director and ...
W.G.A. Strike (Almost) Over?
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Several reports claim that an end to the four-month long Writers Guild of America strike is imminent. The New York Times reports that "a tentative agreement" may come "as early as [this] week." But W.G.A. members and leaders are telling striking writers that they ...
Poll: Hillary Still Solid in New York and New Jersey.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A new poll from Quinnipiac says that despite evidence of gains for Barack Obama elsewhere, Hillary Clinton holds on to ...
The Morning Read: Monday, February 4, 2008.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ An entrepreneur in California helps lay the groundwork for a Michael Bloomberg presidential run, although he's doubtful it'll happen. Bloomberg may be analyzing Tuesday's primary results more closely than anybody. The mayor says he doens't like ...
Me and the Best Super Bowl Ever.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ There was a moment, many beers into the Fox party on Super Bowl Eve, that seemed to sum up the conspicuous question mark known to New York Giants football fans as Eli Manning. Up onstage the band kicked into Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean," and in visual ...
Morning Memo: Marc Jacobs' Lovable Side; James Frey Spills Book Beans.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Can Halston's newest (and sixth!) designer, Marco Zanini, bring the label back to its glory days? [NYT] Observer reporters Choire Sicha and John Koblin voted on which of the five Romney brothers is hottest, but here's the skinny behind their blog. [Talk of ...
Patriot-Destroyer Gisele in Bleachers at Rag & Bone.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Maybe it was the rain, which had soaked through coats and leather boots, causing a vaguely earthy smell to permeate the packed bleachers at Cipriani 42nd Street; or perhaps it was bronzed, shiny supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who--exhausted from sucking all the life ...
For 15 Bucks, Skip Bucket List and Check Out the Met.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ If you have fifteen dollars and are not afraid of heights, you can always go see an opera at the Met. The performance will be excellent; but if it isn't, it hardly matters--the walls are covered in velvet, the ceilings are painted gold, and there are more ...
Art or Artifact? The Dilemma of 'Outsider Art'.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Last weekend, 34 galleries from around the world set up booths in the Puck Building for Sanford Smith's 16th Annual Outsider Art Fair. Most of the art shown was not very good, but it is instructive to see so much of it together. The viewer learns that ...
Diane von Furstenberg Show Colorful, in More Ways Than One.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ At some runway shows, the style of the tall, blow-dried fashion editors in the front row eclipses that of the actual models, who wear severe hairstyles and clothing that, for all its value in advancing new silhouette(s) for fall, is often not anything you'd actually ...
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ In a sign of worse to come, home prices in New York are finally starting to drop. Some predict the fallout could be worse than when the "real estate bubble" burst in the eighties. [NY Times] Who pays the most property taxes? Not Ron Perelman and Rupert ...
The Week in DVR: Strike May End, But We're Still Stuck With Lemur Kingdom.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ MONDAY First, the good news: it looks like the strike may be coming to an end. Now, the bad news: even in the most hopeful scenario, new episodes of popular shows, like Grey's Anatomy, won't hit the airwaves until April or March, if at all before the fall ....
No Beauty Rest for Simmons! Hip-Hop Mogul Mugs With Lydia Hearst At Rock & Republic Ratf*ck.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Though the L.A.-based designer of Rock & Republic, Michael Ball, has expressed disdain for the Bryant Park tents in the past, he had no problem showing there on Saturday, Feb. 2. It was a standing-room only spectacle. Socialite Lydia Hearst, wearing a sheer ...
In a While, Crocodile! Lacoste Seeks to Remake Preppy Image.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Lacoste's famous crocodile logo was conspicuously absent from the label's party at the Bowery Hotel on Saturday, Feb. 2, though the show that morning, held in the tents at Bryant Park, was full of preppy duds: brightly colored patterns and white V-neck sweaters. J'ai ...
Columbus Circus: Big Clinton Group Taunts Little Obama Group.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may have been friendly during their last debate on CNN, but their supporters still like to yell at each other. At Columbus Circle yesterday afternoon, a handful of Obama volunteers handing out literature were taunted by more ...
Rangel Somewhat Less Certain About a Clinton Victory.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Charlie Rangel was busy yesterday morning. On his way to speak at three churches uptown within 90 minutes, Rangel made an unscheduled stop at West 155th Street, where Clinton supporters were kicking off a 61-block march north. "Okay, what a ...
The Last Time(s) New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Mattered.
Feb 04, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Voters in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will head to the polls on Tuesday, the first time ever that the tri-state region has wielded so much influence so early in each party's nominating calendar. In the past, all three have generally scheduled their ...