Tammy Baldwin photo via Buzzfeed

An African-American president for a second term; Weed is legal; Same sex marriage passes in more states. And Tammy Baldwin won tonight in Wisconsin - our first openly gay senator! A historical night all around. Seems like a good time for America to take a minute to celebrate...

Continue reading "Tammy Baldwin becomes first openly gay senator"

As of 11:21pm, even Fox News is saying it looks like Four More Years for Obama.

Governor Cuomo is talking to press as we speak. The Daily News summarizes:

Gov. Cuomo announced that limited commuter rail service on Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road will begin at 2 p.m. today--and some subway service will follow tomorrow.

The subway service, he said, will be supplemented by a "bus bridge" from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

While he didn't specifically say which lines will be back up, he did explain that there will be no service in Manhattan below 34th Street because there is no power for that service.

Bus service is back up and running fully today in the city, he said.

Meanwhile, three of the seven East River tunnels have been pumped and are free of service.

More service will be up and running " on a day to day basis," he said.

Cuomo appealed for continued "patience and tolerance" from New Yorkers.

UPDATE, Pat Kiernan says Subways open Thursday:
1,2 train north of 42nd Street, 4 north of 42 and btw Borough Hall and New Lots
5 train in Brooklyn, 42nd St Shuttle
A train in two sections - 34th to 168th and Jay St to Lefferts
D train in two sections: 34th to 205th and Atlantic to Bay Parkway
F train in two sections: 34th/Herald Sq to 179th in Queens and in Brooklyn from Jay to Ave X.
J train between Jamaica and Hewes.
L train only between Broadway Junction and Rockaway Park.
M between Myrtle and Metropolitan, N between Ditmars (Queens) and Herald Square.
R in Brooklyn btw Jay St and 95th Street.
Special 'Bridge Buses" Thursday: Atlantic Ave to 57/Lex, Jay St to 57/Lex and Hewes to 57/Lex.
No service of any kind on Thursday: 3, 7, B, C, E, G, Q.

We'll keep you posted on all related NYC show cancellations (Halloween show cancellations here).

tree down near Prospect Park on PPW - 10/30/2012

"In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which left a trail of deadly destruction, devastating power failures and extensive flooding, millions of people in the New York metropolitan region spent Tuesday assessing the damage and preparing for the possibility that it could be days or even weeks before life returned to normal.

Throughout the day on Tuesday, there were reports of daring rescue operations as people began to grasp the magnitude of the damage done by the violent winds and lashing rains that transformed the landscapes of New York City and the wider region into tableaus of destruction both stark and unprecedented..." [NYTimes]

Continue reading "more Hurricane Sandy pics - before, during & after (from Williamsburg, Park Slope & Upper Manhattan)"

photo via mr kunle

As Curbed points out:

Around 6:00 pm tonight, the facade of 92 Eight Avenue, a rental building between and 14th and 15th Streets in Chelsea, collapsed, possibly due to the insane hurricane winds that are currently gusting upwards of 80 miles an hour. The FDNY quickly responded and evacuated all the residents of the building, which also houses a Muscle Maker Grill on the ground floor. Thankfully, no one was injured or trapped,

Also below, that rather spectacular (and scary) video of the Con Ed power plant explosion from last night.

Continue reading "watch the wall fall off a Chelsea apartment building and the Con Ed power station explosion (video)"

President Obama on Wednesday ended nearly two years of "evolving" on the issue of same-sex marriage by publicly endorsing it in a television interview, taking a definitive stand on one of the most contentious and politically charged social issues of the day.

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Mr. Obama told ABC News in an interview that came after the president faced mounting pressure to clarify his position.

In an election that is all but certain to turn on the slowly recovering economy and its persistently high jobless rate, Mr. Obama's stand nonetheless injects a volatile social issue into the campaign debate and puts him at even sharper odds with his presumptive Republican rival, Mitt Romney, who opposes same-sex marriage and favors an amendment to the United States Constitution to forbid it...

...Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, called the president's statement "a watershed moment in American history" that would aid efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York said, "No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people, and I have no doubt that this will be no exception." [New York Times]

"In 1986, Carter's Mets won 108 games and took the National League East by 21.5 games over the Phillies. Carter suffered a postseason slump in the NLCS, batting .148. However, he hit a walk-off RBI single to win Game 5. Carter also had two hits in the next game which the Mets won in 16 innnings.

The Mets won the 1986 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Carter batted .276 with nine RBIs in his first World Series, and hit two home runs over Fenway Park's Green Monster in Game Four. He is the only player to hit two home runs in All-Star Game (1981) and two home runs in a World Series game. Carter started a two-out rally in the tenth inning of Game Six, scoring the first of three Mets runs that inning on a single by Ray Knight. He also hit an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that tied the game. Carter finished third on the NL MVP ballot in 1986." [Wikipedia]

You might notice that things look slightly different all of a sudden. It doesn't look that different, but a little. Basically the site is wider - it's now a more standard size that takes advantage of some of that available screen space. Pathetically, this upgrade has been in development for something like two years. To say I multitask is an understatement and it's hard to prioritize things like redesigns when there are so many posts to post and bands to book. I'm glad this is finally live!

Speaking of bands to book, we have 91 of them playing our SXSW parties starting Wednesday. For that reason, today (Tuesday) was probably the dumbest possible day for me to make the switch over to this new design, but I couldn't wait any longer. If you notice anything broken, please don't hesitate to "contact us" via the new "Contact" page (never had one of those before)... actually that page is still kind of bare at the moment. Feel free to leave comments too. A developer that is standing by will see them quicker in the comments too. I already found one bug as I was typing this.

What's new? You'll notice more standardization across all pages of the site. For instance the Petfinder featured adoptable pet of the day is now on every page instead of just hidden on category pages. There's a new ad size and more featured content. I know it's hard to find content after it scrolls off the homepage on this site. It's a common complaint. Some of the new design features take that into account. I also know I still have a long way to go in that area, but hopefully things have improved slightly for now.

Remember you can always see a list of today's shows by clicking on "What's Going on Today". You can now also always see a list of BrooklynVegan-presented shows by clicking on "BV Events". With all the live shows we put on now (including the fun one at Knitting Factory last night - thanks everyone who came out), it's kind of amazing that there was never a page like that before. "Contests" will bring you to any posts with a contest in them. "Recent Galleries", though already a feature of the site for a few months, is now is a bit more automated making it easier for me to update. Same with "Recent Features", and I added "Most Popular" to go with "Recent Comments". Look through the sidebar if you don't know what I mean.

All posts now have a "Share This" button in case u want an easy way to send a link to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace (not thinking this one is going to be used too often), Digg or Google Reader. Besides that there's a few minor design things and other random new pages. All in all, not much new, and nothing revolutionary.

All of the feedback by testers has been positive so I hope you like it too, and thanks for everything!

"In celebration of the release of their new album Work, Shout Out Louds are in New York to play a sold out show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn tonight. As a special surprise, Shout Out Louds will play a free show tomorrow, March 2nd at Pianos on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side. No tickets necessary, but space is extremely limited! First come, first served! The show starts at 7 p.m."

"NEW YORK (AP) -- A US Airways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, sending passengers fleeing for safety in the frigid waters. New York City firefighters are responding to the crash. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries. Witness Barbara Sambriski, a researcher at The Associated Press, said, "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water." [Associated Press]

"Eyewitness News has learned a plane has crashed into the Hudson River. The plane is a US Airways flight 1549 from LaGuardia to Charlotte. There were 146 passengers on board the flight, along with 5 crew members. There is no report on their conditions. The plane went down near 57th street. The plane took off from LaGuardia at 3:11 p.m. Ferries are rescuing passengers, some who are seen standing on the wings of the plane." [ABC News]

NY1 is saying it went down near 50th street, near the Intrepid. The plane is still intact and floating downstream. It may have hit birds, and seemed to be more of an emergency, and "smooth", landing... They said a witness said all passengers survived.

CNN is reporting from the rescue area. Said people are in good shape, but freezing and shivering in blankets. A witness said he thinks everyone got off the almost-full plane. The pilot reported a "double bird strike".

The West Side Highway is closed at 34th St...

The water is 40 degrees. Circle Line boats are helping with the rescue.