Moby Goes Raw!
The invitation to last night’s Hennessy shindig at Capitale listed the ubiquitous Moby as one of the “confirmed celebrities.” This was odd, because although Moby might be ubiquitous at Manhattan events, he is not actually omnipresent — and he was in fact ten blocks away, rocking out in the dingy confines of Tonic.
Moby, you ask? Rocking out? Indeed. Perhaps it was the critical yawning that greeted Hotel, his ultraslick double album that sounded like it was commissioned for hotel lobbies. Maybe it was something else. But the fact remains that Mr. Melville, the world’s leading purveyor of feathery melodic techno, has been stealthily refashioning himself into a guitar-wielding post-punk front man. And that persona was on full display last night.
the sports section
Seeking the Mets’ A-Rod
If you’ve lost track of where we are in the playoffs, this is the part where the Mets lose — as they did last night in St. Louis, 4-2 — because they don’t have any pitchers. So let’s fast-forward directly to the scapegoating. Word on the street suggests that we’re going to need an A-Rod soon — by which we mean, of course, not another MVP third-baseman but a mildly underachieving great player on whom we can beat out all of our repressed collective aggression. And, fortunately for Schadenfreude connoisseurs, a possible successor has already stepped up: Mets third-baseman David Wright.
the morning line
Like Candy From a Little Leaguer
• Yesterday we told you that Queens assemblyman Bruce McLaughlin was about to surrender on some corruption charges. That was, it turns out, an understatement. The Feds cuffed McLaughlin for stealing a cool $2.2 million in awesome ways and from awesome sources — including Little League teams. [NYDN]
• A report by the state comptroller (yes, our chauffeurless pal Alan Hevesi) says Wall Streeters earn an average of $289,664 — more than five times the city’s average. Even more spectacular, the financial industry’s pay rates grow faster — a shocking 36 percent over the last two years. Of course, someone has to pay for bottle service. [NYP]
• The battle is on for the title of the 300 millionth American (Manhattan’s splendidly named Zoë Emille Hudson is but one contender). The Times raises a great and uncharacteristically naughty point: Why does everyone assume that yesterday’s arrival was born yesterday? And not, say, smuggled across the border? [NYT]
• LIRR is shifting 2,000 feet of track to fix the dangerous gap between the train and the platform at Shea and plans to do the same at other stations. Each year about 60 people fall in; we recall that last month one such victim was a former state senator. Coincidence? [amNY]
• And the Village Voice’s “Best of NYC” issue is out, complete with the ailing weekly’s trademark mix of picks offbeat (Best Aroma Inside an ATM), earnest (Best Bus), and unfortunate (Best Performance Art Space for Dinner and a Movie goes to Monkeytown, which announced its closing weeks ago). [VV]
intel
300 Millionth American Born in New York! (Except Not Necessarily)The Census Bureau, as you no doubt read, announced that the nation’s population would officially hit 300 million at 7:46 this morning. It’s an exciting milestone for the country, no doubt, but it became ever more exciting for us as New Yorkers when a press release arrived with word the magic 300 millionth had been born right here in New York. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center — and, boy, wasn’t life easier back when it was just Columbia Presbyterian? — scheduled a news conference this afternoon to introduce this 300 millionth baby, Zoë Emille Hudson, delivered on the Upper East Side. We wondered how Presbyterian got so lucky to get this milestone baby, so we called up the PR contact listed on the press release to ask. A few hours later, someone called back.
Daily Intel: So how do you know you have the 300 millionth?
Hospital flack: Of course we don’t know. We just know we had a baby born at 7:46, and that was the time the census had set for the 300 millionth American.
Daily Intel: So was it all a PR event?
Hospital flack: I know that Elmhurst Hospital did something today. I heard Maimonides did something. So that’s three in the New York area that all had babies at 7:46. We got some national coverage. CNN was here, ABC evening news was here. I know Good Morning America was going to go down and do something in Atlanta. So there’s got to be places all over that had their babies and did stories locally.
Daily Intel: You know, the the Times article today said demographers think the 300 millionth probably happened months ago. Do you have a rival candidate?
Hospital flack: No clue.