Frank Sinatra

Marty Scorsese recently ducked out of a Bob Marley project and passed it along to another rock doc director, Jonathan Demme. They cited "scheduling conflicts" for the switcharoo, but what will Mr. Scorsese be working on instead? According to Frank Sinatra's youngest daughter, it might be a biopic about Ol' Blue Eyes.  read more »

Apartments with cracked walls, prehistoric floors, Eisenhower-era décor and a half-built cantilevered floor (for an extra bedroom) don’t usually go on the market for $6 million.

But in New York City, the right provenance can make up for almost anything.  read more »

Everybody needs to stop complaining about Chan Marshall. If I hear another person talk about how she has smoothed over the rough edges that made her so great and eradicated all the warts-and-all charm from her repertoire, I'm going to spit.

Just a year ago, after releasing the strongest album by far of her career, Ms. Marshall, or Cat Power as she's known, cancelled a tour due to a breakdown. Plenty reacted with smug I-coulda-called-it satisfaction given her reputation for stagefright and worse. Then, a few months later, Ms. Marshall emerged stronger, leaner, and meaner than ever, and has since been treating audiences (ever larger, ever more thrilled audiences) to some of the best performances of her life. One review of her new album actually praised her former "paranoid-but-pretty" style in contrast to the strength and poise she now exhibits. You'd think people wanted this woman dead.  read more »

Joey Bishop, the last surviving member of the Rat Pack, died at his home of multiple causes, according to his publicist.

CNN via AP:

The Rat Pack -- originally a social group surrounding Humphrey Bogart -- became a show business sensation in the early 1960s, appearing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in shows that combined music and comedy in a seemingly chaotic manner.

Reviewers often claimed that Bishop played a minor role, but Sinatra knew otherwise. He termed the comedian "the Hub of the Big Wheel," with Bishop coming up with some of the best one-liners and beginning many jokes with his favorite phrase, "Son of a gun!"

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Bring cash: Gino's all-union staff won't strike, after all.

Owners and employees at legendary celeb-haunt Gino restaurant (commonly called "Gino's") signed a new employment contract yesterday, ending weeks of speculation about a possible strike and potential closure of the historic Upper East Side eatery.

Read our previous coverage here.

Longtime Gino waiter and union liaison Marco Dell'Aguzzo told The Observer that the two sides reached a compromise Monday morning which maintains workers' health care and pension benefits while capping wages and cutting back on vacation time.  read more »

Bottomline: The New York institution that author Gay Talese deemed "a time capsule" remains entact. Long live zebra-adorned walls and the Monday-night Osso Bucco special!

Under destruction?

• The staff of legendary Upper East Side red-saucery Gino (a favorite of Gay Talese, Frank Sinatra, Wes Anderson and Woody Allen) are threatening to walk out over a contract dispute, according to our new guy on the beat, Chris shott--and the owners say they'll shut down before giving in to their demands. Says co-owner Salvatore Doria: "For not much more can you sell a dish of pasta, you know? This is it!" Talese says it's an "unhappy occasion."
• The Slope Opera continues, with Suzy Hansen writing about Stuart and Wright, the first really expensive boutique to open up in Fort Greene. This gives Brooklyn gals more ways (Butter! Bird! Diane T! Do these names mean anything to you?) to dress in $500 outfits while paying $1500 rents on $25,000 salaries. And a way to look like a real original in Manhattan--even if that black flannel dress is its own price tag walking down Smith Street.
• Michael Calderone breaks down the breakdown of the new newsroom being built for The New York Times: "For generations, the layout of the old Times Building has served as the physical manifestation of the organizational culture: From the back-of-the-newsroom clerks to the Sulzberger on the 14th floor, Timesmen have known their place by knowing their places." No more!
• After selling their 63-acre compound in Alpine, N.J. for $58 million about eight months ago, Emily T. Frick and Dr. Henry Clay Frick II, the grandson of the legendary steel magnate, have bought a co-op at the Old Family Names Only, Please address of 3 East 77th Street for $3.9 million.
• Painter Ryan McGinness has bought himself a "sanctuary" in the noisy, dangerous and now completely outre Meatpacking District for a shade under $900,000.
• And Andrew Heiberger, founder of CitiHabitats, solved a difficult political situation with his old firm by kicking back a little work to a dejected would-be partner.
- Tom McGeveran  read more »
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• Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor running in New York, compared eminent domain to "Communist China." (The Real Deal)
• A real-estate guide to Bob Dylan. (Gothamist)
• Niche marketing has created gay ghettos. (Matrix)
• Perhaps before one invests in a Honduran island that Americans know little about, one must think about resources. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Next in home decoration tips: where to put your Oscar. Frank Sinatra used his as a doorstop. (The New York Times)
• When the Church sells off property to make cash, others call for accountability in business. (The Walk-Through)
• New Jersey has a gas problem. And it bothers the financial district to the point of evacuation. (Gothamist)
• Because the neighborhoods are on the rise for residential sales, a $4 million Greenpoint-Williamsburg Industrial Fund will be used to help manufacturing firms relocate. (The Real Deal)
• Apartment Therapy holds a contest for cool apartments under 650 square feet, because, well, that takes creativity. (Apartment Therapy)
• Priorities in development: Office of Emergency Management to be replaced by Basketball City. (The New York Sun)
• Although the store is closed in Soho, Prada's " mistress of us all" premieres in Paris this week. (International Herald Tribune)