Photograph of Running of the Brides participants by Mark Lennihan/AP Early this morning brides-to-be lined 14th Street in hopes of finding their dream dress at a discount price. The annual wedding dress sale at Filene's Basement, dubbed The Running of the Brides, included around 2500 gowns (of which reportedly zero are left). And every lady wants to find the designer dress with an off-the-rack pricetag, which can be akin to finding a needle in......

Photograph of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debating in Cleveland by Kiichiro Sato/AP Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off for the 20th time last night in Cleveland, Ohio, as they head towards the big March 4 primaries next week. The rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination "traded insults," as they accused each other of negative attacks regarding their health care policies. The NY Times described Clinton as "relentless" - insisting on "responding......

One very new New York resident has been given a crash course on city living. Kevin, the blogger at Naked Sponge, just moved here a week ago from Canada and he's already jumped into the subway tracks to save a life! Something that could possibly help him in his apartment hunt (nothing says "perfect tenant" like a Post headline calling you a hero). He explains his underground adventure:See, I was waiting for the L train......

When They Might Be Giants released their twelfth album, The Else, over the summer, The Village Voice called it “as tuneful and rockin' as all the rest, from the withering ‘I'm Impressed’ to the female-empowerment anthem ‘Take Out the Trash.’” Keeping it fresh is no small feat for a band with such an impressive body of work, accumulated over the course of the past 25-plus years. But a listen to The Else or, even better,......

Anthony Lappé is a writer, blogger, television producer and executive editor of GNN.tv, the web site for the Guerrilla News Network. He's written for mainstream press like the Times and was the National Affairs Editor for Black Book, and in 2003 he collaborated on the award-winning Showtime documentary about Iraq called BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, which covered the front lines of the simmering guerrilla war in Iraq in 2003. Part of what......

In June of 2007, Mark Malkoff made news with his attempt, documented in a funny video, to patronize each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks in a single day. Now the Comedy Central staffer is back in the press with his latest quirky idea; he spent last week living in the Paramus, New Jersey IKEA to avoid his fumigated apartment. The strange experiment has been humorously documented on his website; we got him on the phone in......

We think NYC area hospitals should be on alert: TMZ reports that Britney Spears is headed to NYC. Well, if not NYC, something close:"Spears left Van Nuys Airport at 4:00 PM PT this afternoon. We're told Brit Brit, Adnan and one other male passenger were on the plane. The plane is about to land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Next stop ... unknown."Coupled with earlier TMZ reports about Spears apparently needing treatment for "severe......

Native New Yorker Michael McKean is so identified with his ensemble work in Christopher Guest’s films – This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration – that it’s easy to forget that he created the iconic Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski in Laverne & Shirley some 32 years ago. What a long, strange career it’s been, with parts in almost-entirely forgotten films like Steven Spielberg’s 1941, hits like Clue and, in......

Tim Russert has invited all the presidential candidates to appear on Meet the Press, and yesterday former Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared. We imagine many New Yorkers watching the program gnashed their teeth and/or swore at the TV (we happened to do both), as Giuliani tried to answer questions ranging from the straightforward (Giuliani's Iowa poll numbers, Russert asked, "Fifth place, is that a problem?") to the interesting (Russert on Giuliani's consulting business: "A Las......

Writer/director Robert Tinnell has sifted through his fond childhood memories of big Italian Christmas gatherings and emerged with a unique fusion of comic book and cookbook called The Feast of the Seven Fishes. Originally a popular internet comic, the humorously fictional book is inspired by the Italian Christmas Eve tradition involving big seafood dinners and lots of red wine. (The book's boisterous familial storyline will also be adapted into a feature length film of the......

Singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins has steadily cultivated a loyal following with his warm and thoughtful catalog of tunes. Subdued but soulful, and sometimes swinging, Perkins's debut album Ash Wednesday won critical raves for what Pitchfork called his "ability to merge instrumentation and lyricism to create a romantic's sense of atmosphere." Rolling Stone's review observed a somewhat sombre tone in the album and attributed it to Perkins's unique and rather traumatic family history: His father, actor Anthony......

It's hard to say what enigmatic actor Crispin Glover is best known for: Back to the Future's George McFly? His role in Charlie's Angels? Almost kicking David Letterman in the head? If Glover has his way, he'll ultimately make his mark with his trilogy of films exploring the ways in which the monolithic American movie industry systematically excises various taboos from cinema. The first film in the series, the surreal non-narrative What Is It?, employed......

Bartelstein is Back Steve Bartelstein will be back on anchoring starting Saturday morning on WCBS alongside Mary Calvi. It was back in September when he revealed to the Post’s Cindy Adams that CBS made overtures to him on the day he was fired from WABC - and that he had testicular cancer. He’ll also be doing some reporting for the station as his health permits. Bartelstein made his first appearance on the station on yesterday’s......

Debbie Harry's internationally known as the smart, cool and sexy front woman for pop/punk sensation Blondie, but when it comes to her solo career she prefers to be thought of as Deborah. The slight but significant name change might imply a conservative shift in tone, but her latest album - the first in fourteen years - finds her as vibrant and upbeat as ever. (Website, myspace) There's something inspiring about seeing Harry, whose storied career......

This is not good timing for the Fire Department. Yesterday, two police officers noticed a fire in a West Farms house and saved its seven residents. Then, noticing that the house next door was on fire, the two cops evacuated five more people. One of the officers, Chris Scott, said that the the FDNY showed up during the second fire, and the residents lauded their efforts. Judy Ramdeen said, "They rushed into a burning building......

Just as he's been plying his charm during a campaign swing in South Carolina, the NY Times has a big story about how former mayor Rudy Giuliani works his New York City credentials without being too encumbered by associations with such a liberal-leaning town (even his own liberal leanings!). Giuliani takes the time during his speeches to make old NYC look bad so he winds up looking good. For instance, there used to be a......

Jonny Greenwood was named the BBC’s composer-in-residence in 2004; during this time he debuted "Popcorn Superhet Receiver", a twenty-minute work for string orchestra inspired, in part, by the phenomenon of white noise and Penderecki’s "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima". Tickets are on sale for a two-night performance of the composition at The Church of St. John the Apostle in January as part of The Wordless Music Series; works by John Adams and Gavin Bryars......

When 9/11 hit, Jonah Ray was attending community college, but the catastrophe of that one September day made him drop out, move to LA, and pursue a career in comedy. Since then, he's become a fixture of the Los Angeles's alt comedy scene, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, written for the Andy Milonakis Show, played the role of Clancy Mole Man on Adult Swim's Saul of the Molemen, and......

"I don't think I'm in any position to tell someone what they should or shouldn't do, what's cool or what's not. I don't fucking know. I don't even know for myself. I just do what I like to do unconditionally, and if somebody has a problem with that, then whatever." Lesley Arfin has done it all, wrote it down in her journal, and now she's revisiting it and the people she wrote about in her......

Eater confirmed that cupcake confectioner heavyweight Magnolia Bakery is opening its first branch location on Columbus Avenue and West 69th Street. Magnolia owner Steve Abrams, an Upper West Sider, told Eater, "My friends who know I own Magnolia keep asking when I'm going to open them a bakery up here. So I think it's time." Well, it's probably time and having the right retail space. The store will occupy the corner that Japanese restaurant Lenge......

Nigeria is a so-called “developing” country saddled with a corrupt government, crushing international debt, appalling slums, guerilla warfare, malaria, kidnappings, environmental disasters and an average life expectancy of 47. It’s not as bad as other African countries; of course that’s not saying much. If you’re like me, it’s a place that’s just not very high up on your list of vacation destinations. Thing is, we go there just about every time we fill up the......

For one night only, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin is bringing his popular LA show Combo Platter to NYC's UCB Theater. Every installment of CP begins with Garlin asking the audience for a topic that inspires a freewheeling conversation between he and his high-profile guests, in this case Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Susie Essman and comedian Jim Gaffigan. A true gourmet comedy treat! Your film, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, is opening on......

"I'm a nice old lady. I have salt and pepper in my hair. And I would fight ferociously against anybody who would limit my ability to do something just because I'm sixty-four years old." The Gray Panthers are a pan-generational organization promoting senior citizen rights, but also campaigning for issues such as peace, health care, and workers rights. When Judy Lear joined the NYC network , she revitalized the whole organization. She's led protests, gone......

L.B. Jeffries would be screwed! City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. is proposing legislation to ban "non-consensual peeping with cameras to peeping with the naked eye" according to the NY Sun. The crime would be a misdemeanor, with a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail. CityRoom has some of the legislation: b. Voyeurism in a private place. It shall be unlawful to deliberately view another person, without that person’s knowledge and......

"Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C., which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood," these were the opening lines in a letter written by David Berkowitz to columnist Jimmy Breslin thirty years ago. It seems Berkowitz has the writing bug again, as last week amNewYork received a two-page letter from the one and only Son of Sam. This one postmarked from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, NY - where he......

Carolyn Goodman, a clinical psychologist and civil rights advocate, died at age 91 at her Upper West Side home yesterday. Goodman's son Andrew and two other men, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney, were working to help blacks register to vote in the South in 1964 when they were killed by the KKK in Philadelphia, Missipppi. The murders later became the basis for the film Mississippi Burning, and the NY Times' obituary of Goodman explains......

Of Rebecca Curtis, Time Out New York has said, "This is a writer who astonishes with her versatility of styles and techniques," calling her stories, "Wise and often emotionally devastating" The Village Voice declared that her debut short story collection Twenty Grand, "Showcases the talent of one of the more promising short story writers in America today." And a boy who Rebecca had a crush on at 18 said, after being poisoned by her, "......

The family of the tow truck driver who was right on top of the steam pipe that exploded in Midtown spoke about 21-year-old Gregory McCullough's progress. His mother, Tanya McCullough-Stewart, told the NY Times he had opened his eyes for the first time last week, "They can’t tell us if he’ll be O.K. because his injuries are too severe. He is still in a coma but the nurses said he can hear us. So I......

There was a great story in the Post about a trio who managed to stop two teen muggers on Wednesday. And there was an equally great photo of two-thirds of the crimestoppers: Jan Garten and pit-bull mix Gee. On Wednesday afternoon, 84-year-old Garten was walking on Central Park West near 89th Street when she realized she was being followed by two young teens. "I noticed an African-American kid, about 14, walking behind me, holding a......

The City Council voted, 46-2, to allow NYC public school students to bring cell phones to and from school - though not to use them during the day. The bill was meant to address concerns of parents and students who believe cell phones are critical to students' safety (see these tales of cell phone-less horror). City Councilman Lew Fidler who sponsored the bill said his 17-year-old son walks eight blocks for a bus and "We......