Politicians, musicians, journalists, chefs and actors: A Capital week in review
Angelina Jolie in 'Salt.' Sony Pictures
7:55 am Jul. 25, 20101
How do you run for governor in New York as a Democrat? Don't laugh: Of course it's a Democratic state. But here's the bind: "Party regulars," apparatchiks and union leaders control much of the vote; but the rest of the vote depends on developing the right critique of the state's cumbersome, expensive and debt-ridden government bureaucracy.
The Albany Times-Union's Jimmy Vielkind follows Andrew Cuomo as he tries to walk the tightrope: praising the late great party elder Jack McNulty here, promising to gut government apparatus there. Read Jimmy's story here.
There are some 300,000 South Asians in New York City, but none hold elected office. While second– and third-generation South Asians have achieved political influence in donor and consultant circles, most famously in the campaigns and administrations of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the barrier to elected office may be geographic: "In no New York congressional district do South Asians make up more than 10 percent of the population, even though they make up about nine p
ercent of the population in Queens," writes Avi Zenilman. Koreans, for example, make up less than 3 percent of the population, but they are concentrated enough in one neighborhood to make up 6 percent of a single congressional district. Reshma Saujani, a young, attractive and well-funded congressional candidate, seeks to break the barrier—but she's running against entrenched and scandal-free Carolyn Maloney, which will make this race an uphill battle. Read Avi's story here.
The New York Times during a quarterly conference call this week pumped its efforts to develop local partnerships in San Francisco and Chicago, but it's been quietly developing "hyperlocal" blogs here in the New York area for some time. The next one to come out is "The Local: East Village" (or L:EV). The trick is that their partner in the project is a journalism program at New York University, an institution widely reviled among the existing bloggers in the rather advanced East Village blog-culture. Will the Times be able to overcome the neighborhoods suspicion of both big institutions to read the site? And more: will they contribute their own reporting to it? Because that is a big part of the business model. Read Eliza Shapiro's report here.
The grandson of the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev meanwhile sought to bring something else downtown: his own brand of contemporary "classical" music. At a showcase at (Le) Poisson Rouge, the first stop on his tour of the U.S. meant to generate record-buyers among Americans, a composition for a Fanta bottle stole the show. And Prokofiev
and some of his labelmates talked to Zachary Woolfe about New York City's fading legacy with classical-music experiments. Read Zachary's piece here.
Chef Jim Lahey of Chelsea haute-pizzeria Co., has been on a quest for years to find the perfect corn to use as a topping—yes, a topping— for pizza. Gillian Reagan watched as he tested a new summer recipe involving home-grown kale, basil, corn and yellow tomatoes; read Gillian's profile here.
And if you haven't seen Salt yet, Matt Zoller Seitz is here to tell you it's a more ambitious film than you might think: read his assessment here.
Rooting for @reshma2010