Famed NYC street performer the Naked Cowboy says he'll marry gay couples for free in Times Square.
Ever-ready for publicity, the Naked Cowboy, Robert Burck, has thrown his support behind the movement for marriage equality in New York and declared July 3rd "Gay Marriage Day." To celebrate the holiday, Burck, who happens to be an ordained minister, will be performing free same-sex wedding ceremonies in Times Square all day on Sunday, July 3 -- and every July 3 that follows. Via press release, he said "I'm not a homosexual or a hypocrite, I am an American. It is hypocritical, in my opinion, for our legislature to discriminate against gays and lesbians regarding same-sex marriages.
Burck has previously pulled stunts like declaring his candidacy for mayor of New York.
NYFD ladder trucks arrived in Times Square around 12:30am to the wild cheers of the ever-growing crowds. I tried to get down there myself to witness some history, but at this writing there's about 200 people frantically waving for cabs along my block on the Upper East Side.
NOTE: The above photos have been retweeted so many thousands of times tonight that attribution, for now, is impossible.
Courtesy of the Saint-At-Large (NSFW) this week's Swag Tuesday prize is two tickets to the 32nd annual Black Party (NSFW), the longest-running and most famous leather dance party in the world, which this year stars DJ Boris of Berlin, DJ Manny Lehman, and legendary house music pioneer DJ Danny Tenaglia. Advance tickets are on sale here. Also on sale are tickets for the two Saint events that bookend the Black Party, Friday and Saturday's Black Party Expo and Sunday night's closing party, After Black: Asylum.
Enter to win tickets by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to leave your email address in the text of your comment. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. If you cannot be in NYC on the day of the event, your winning entry is transferable to your favorite leather man or gal. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.
Saying they were fulfilling his wishes, yesterday family and friends of slain Portuguese journalist Carlos Castro poured his ashes into a subway grate in Times Square, just steps away from Broadway's famed theaters.
A funeral was held in Newark yesterday for Castro, 65, who was allegedly castrated with a corkscrew by his 20-year-old lover, male model Renato Seabra, on Jan. 7 in a room at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square. After the service, his sisters and a friend took a limo to Broadway and 43rd Street and quickly dumped his ashes without saying a word, said photographer Leandro Badalotti. It wasn't immediately clear if the family had authorization to dispose of his remains in public.
Many subway grates are directly above passenger platforms and it's possible that Castro's ashes landed on riders. Today the mayor's office says Castro's family did not have permission.
Eater reports that IHOP has inked a deal to open 24 restaurants in the NYC area, including a flagship outlet in Times Square. Currently the only IHOP in NYC is in Harlem. Among the other glamorous restaurants in glittering fabulous Times Square: Applebee's, Olive Garden, Sbarro, Chili's, TGI Friday's, and Red Lobster. And don't forget Pop Tarts, the cafe.
As part of MTV's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, the network will lower Jersey Shore cast member Snooki in a giant hamster ball. The ball will drop (violently, some would hope) from the seventh floor balcony of MTV's studios.
The New York Times says that with this week's opening of a new 40-story tower at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, the 30-year remodel of Times Square is finally over.
The plan, to radically make over 13 acres, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, primarily fronting 42nd Street, outlived three mayors, four governors, two real estate booms and two recessions. It faced widespread derision in the beginning from jaded New Yorkers who were wise to grand plans. It faces occasional derision today from New Yorkers who speak of the old Times Square with newfound fondness. It embodied both the hubris of urban master planning and its possibilities, and showed the value of ripping up blueprints and starting over in midstream. And it has been a touchstone experience for a city that is now building, or trying to build, several multibillion-dollar projects, including ground zero, the Atlantic Yards, Willets Point and the Hudson Yards. “So often, people say New York can’t build large-scale projects anymore,” said Lynne B. Sagalynn, a professor of real estate finance at Columbia University and the author of “Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon.” But, Professor Sagalynn said, “Times Square is an example of how a city was able to think on a grand scale and carry it out.”
Matthew Rettenmund reports at Boy Culture that the U.S. Army today accepted the re-enlistment of Lt. Dan Choi. It took Choi a few minutes of knocking to be admitted to the Times Square military recruitment center, which is on a traffic island between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. According to Rettenmund's report, Choi merely has to supply some medical paperwork tomorrow and he's in. In the clip below, Choi says he found today's event to be "absolutely exciting, absolutely vindicating." Congratulations, Lt. Choi!
Local NYC news was outside a Times Square theater last night where folks from a company called Seat Defenders were hawking plastic sacks intended to protect moviegoers from bedbugs. $17.95 for a package of 12 seat covers. One Times Square theater closed for two days over the summer to fumigate after patrons complained of being covered with bedbug bites.
Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was sentenced to life in prison by a New York judge today. Playing to the numerous cameras, the defiant Shahzad warned the packed courtroom that the Islamic war on America "has just begun."
"The defeat of the U.S. is imminent, inshallah, " Shahzad said on Tuesday during the sentencing. Speaking in a 14th-floor courtroom where a clear view of the World Trade Center site can be seen through a window, Shahzad said Muslims have been defending their people and their lands. If that makes us terrorists, "then we will terrorize you," he said, imploring people who embrace Islam. U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, who sentenced Shahzad to the mandatory sentence of life in prison, noted that he failed to show remorse for his actions.
Shahzad also told the judge that when he swore to defend the United States during his oath as a naturalized citizen, he "didn't mean it."
Gothamist reports today that patrons attending this weekend's premier of Scott Pilgrim at Times Square's AMC Empire 25 emerged covered with bedbug bites. The Empire 25 is the city's largest movie complex.
"The staff at the customer service desk confirmed that the theater has known of the infestation for days and that it will not be fumigated until Tuesday," says the bitten woman. "They also told me that the AMC on 125th is fighting a bedbug infestation as well." Bedbugs thrive in the dark, and have previously feasted on moviegoers in Park Slope and Sheepshead Bay. Obviously, this is just another reason to go with Netflix, but doesn't the movie theater have some obligation to warn customers that they're being dinner and a movie? Jamie, a manager at AMC who would only give his first name, tells us they did not have any notice posted, but claims that they did not know about the infestation until last night. He says exterminators will be working in the multiplex after it closes tonight, but the theater is still selling tickets for today. He also tells us that the bedbug problem at 125th street "has been taken care of." Of course, bedbugs are remarkably resilient and aren't eradicated so easily. The Park Slope Pavilion, for instance, has had repeated problems with the parasites, which can live for over a year between feedings.
According to a NY Daily News poll linked in the Gothamist article, 10% of New Yorkers now say they've had problems with bedbugs in their homes, with the infestations appearing to be most severe in the outer boroughs. (Although it's possible Manhattanites are just less likely to be truthful about it.)
Pop-Tarts has joined M&Ms and Hersheys with its own storefront in Times Square, where brand marketing is more important than actual sales.
The focal point of the store, which opens Tuesday, is the cafe. It will serve about 30 snacks and desserts. The menu includes the Fluffer Butter, marshmallow spread sandwiched between two Pop-Tarts frosted fudge pastries; the Sticky Cinna Munchies, cinnamon rolls topped with cream-cheese icing and chunks of Pop-Tarts cinnamon-roll variety; and Ants on a Log?, which is celery, peanut butter and chunks of the Wild Grape version. And then there’s the Pop-Tarts Sushi, three kinds of Pop-Tarts minced and then wrapped in a fruit roll-up. “We did an internal tasting here at the building, and it was the winner,” said Etienne Patout, senior director at the Pop-Tarts brand, part of the Kellogg Company. Visitors can also build their own Pop-Tarts, starting with a basic pastry and asking servers to add frosting, toppings (coconut, sprinkles) and drizzle (caramel, raspberry). They can take their pastries frozen, toasted, microwaved or uncooked, but there will be no self-serve.
The store will feature a six-story billboard above the entrance. Times Square billboards often rent for more than the actual stores beneath them.
Would-be Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad, had he been successful, had plans to attack several other very high profile NYC locations.
If the bomb inside the pathfinder in Times Square went off as planned, a source tells fox 5 that Faisal Shahzad says he was taking aim at four other high-profile targets: Rockefeller center, grand central terminal, the world financial center which is across from ground zero, and Connecticut-based defense contractor Sikorsky. The company manufacturers helicopters for the u.s. Military, including the black hawk. Headquartered in Stratford, Sikorsky also has facilities in Shelton and Bridgeport -- the same two cities where Shahzad has lived. A source tells fox 5 that Shahzad says he had familiarized himself with all of these notable targets. Security expert Michael Balboni is a former homeland security adviser for New York State. He says casing out numerous locations is standard. "They want to maximize the exposure of the attack," Balboni says. "So they want to pick things that are iconic that perhaps have a lot of people so they can increase the body count. Anything to make it as dramatic as possible."
Investigators now say that Shahzad has access to two other SUVs besides the one in Times Square.
Juilliard's Elianto Quintet can occasionally be found playing near the escalators in the Times Square subway station. At the moment I snapped this photo, they were playing Britney Spears' Toxic.
Famed NYC street performer the Naked Cowboy says he'll marry gay couples for free in Times Square. 
