My apartment is where they filmed Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe and Walter Matheau

now the funniest thing and this has nothing to do with anything is that the apartment that I am fortunate enough to live in here was the apartment where they filmed this famous Marilyn Monroe movie some like it hot with Walter matheau. And it so happens that my apartment is THE apartment where the film was filmed, where she lived in the movie. So from time to time people will come from far away lands tourists mind you to come look at the building and take pictures of themselves in front of it. now being that its summer, I sit out here every night smoking and writing just what you are reading here for hours. like a fixture on the upper east side scene so to speak. People not only aren't surprised by my ubiquitous presence on these stairs, they expect it. whether they are jogging or waling their dogs or strolling by with a babay carriage they can always look up as they pass by and give a wave and a hello to the long haired guy who sits there with his laptop on his lap and a stogie hanging out of his mouth. Some people are more annoying than others wanting to stop and chat and ask me what I'm writing and all of that, and you can’t blame them. if I'm anything I'm polite. But what I hate is the whole marlin Monroe thing. because you know this is where I live and where I come to work. These stairs are my private, although rather public – but isn't everything in New York? -- little work space. and the last thing in the world I enjoy while I'm trying to pen the longest not-great American novel is people asking me questions on the history of this building and that stupid movie. I've never even seen that movie for gods sake. In fact I don't know if I've ever even seen a Marilyn Monroe movie. That's just not my scene. Well wouldn’t you know that tonight as I'm writing about this ever so important series of events with Ramstein and all things cosmic and life affirming and almightily important, this group of tourists arrive to stand in front of the building with their cameras, drink cans of Budweiser and ask me all about the building and Marilyn Monroe and that stupid movie.



Check it out. someone just sent this to me:

Radio Payoffs Are Described as Sony Settles

By JEFF LEEDS and LOUISE STORY
Published: July 25, 2005
To disguise a payoff to a radio programmer at KHTS in San Diego, Epic Records called a flat-screen television a "contest giveaway." Epic, part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, used the same gambit in delivering a laptop computer to the program director of WRHT in Greenville, N.C. - who also received PlayStation 2 games and an out-of-town trip with his girlfriend.
In another example, a Sony BMG executive considered a plan to promote the song "A.D.I.D.A.S." by Killer Mike by sending radio disc jockeys one Adidas sneaker, with the promise of the second one when they had played the song 10 times.
The gifts, described in a $10 million settlement with Sony BMG that was announced yesterday by New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, exemplify what Mr. Spitzer called a broad effort by the recording industry to curry favor with radio station programmers in exchange for their promises to play specific songs.
The focus of Mr. Spitzer's inquiry is now expected to shift to the other three major record companies - Vivendi Universal, the Warner Music Group and the EMI Group - and the radio companies whose employees have accepted gifts in exchange for playing songs. Mr. Spitzer's investigators have served subpoenas on several radio companies, including Clear Channel Communications and Emmis Communications.
"This is not a pretty picture; what we see is that payola is pervasive," Mr. Spitzer said, using a term from the radio scandals of the 1950's in describing e-mail messages and corporate documents that his office obtained during a yearlong investigation. "It is omnipresent. It is driving the industry and it is wrong."
As part of the deal, Sony BMG acknowledged "that various employees pursued some radio promotion practices on behalf of the company that were wrong and improper, and apologizes for such conduct."
Yesterday, the company fired the top promotion executive at its Epic label. And it disciplined four executives in its Sony Urban unit and at Epic by imposing financial penalties and placing them on probation, said two people briefed on the actions.
Sony BMG also agreed to pay a $10 million fine, to be distributed to nonprofit organizations that promote music education; to follow new policies governing its efforts to cajole programmers; and to better monitor its promotional spending.
The finding that gifts were used to help tailor the playlists of many radio stations comes as audiences show signs of rejecting the music choices made by programmers. The iPod and other portable devices have begun cutting into the popularity of radio, and the growth of satellite radio has been putting pressure on the station owners to play a broader range of music.
For more than four decades, federal law has prohibited broadcasters from accepting secret payments or anything of value in exchange for airplay of a specific song. While music companies have long tried to sidestep the law, Mr. Spitzer says they have continued to violate it.
The state investigation found that Sony BMG, which releases music by acts including Jennifer Lopez, Good Charlotte and Beyoncé, had provided stations with entertainers for station-affiliated concerts or paid for station equipment or other bills in exchange for having its songs played. It also provided vacations and electronic goods for on-air giveaways in a direct trade for airplay. And it hired independent promoters to funnel money to radio stations.
In addition, the investigation found that the company had tried to distort industry airplay charts - creating the false impression that a song was taking off - by paying stations to play its songs as sponsored advertisements. It has also used interns and hired vendors to call radio stations with requests.
As a result, Mr. Spitzer said in the settlement documents, "Sony BMG and the other record labels present the public with a skewed picture of the country's 'best' and 'most popular' recorded music."
While many of the promotions detailed by Mr. Spitzer appear to come cheap - for example, $939 to fly a Buffalo programmer and a guest to New York City in connection with the addition of a Jennifer Lopez track to the playlist - they add up to millions of dollars a year. More than that, the settlement documents provide an unusual window on a sector of the music business where the public airwaves are discussed as a commodity, and where little is allowed to stand in the way of bolstering a song's chart position.
In one case cited by Mr. Spitzer, an executive at Sony BMG's Columbia Records label - after learning that airplay for the John Mayer song "Bigger Than My Body" had declined on certain stations that had accepted a promotion package from the label - told his staff in October 2003 that "many stations here will NOT be given the promo with the airplay" being given at the time. "Either deal with it or pull it," the executive said.
In other cases, Mr. Spitzer said, Sony BMG, a unit of Sony and Bertelsmann, had negotiated large deals with radio conglomerates, in which the record company would fly dozens of national contest winners to see an artist perform. In return, the radio station would commit to playing specific songs a certain number of times a week. He cited one case in which Epic had struck a deal with Infinity Broadcasting involving the Celine Dion song "Goodbyes." By e-mail, an Epic executive, whose name was not disclosed, said each station had committed to "report" the song on its playlist on a certain date in October 2002.
Infinity declined to comment. Clear Channel said that it was cooperating with the inquiry and that "the allegations made today will be fully investigated and any wrongdoing will be met by swift and appropriate disciplinary action."
It remains to be seen how far-reaching the impact of Sony BMG's new policies will be in altering the culture of promotion. As part of the settlement, Sony BMG agreed to an array of changes. For instance, the company said it would no longer provide stations with cash or gift cards, which are difficult to track, for use in listener contests. The company also said it would no longer use "spin programs," in which it pays stations to play songs as commercials, to manipulate the charts.
The company is also expected to end its relationships with independent promoters unless they meet strict new guidelines, a prospect that many consider unlikely.
In a practice once widespread, the promoters acted as middlemen paying radio stations annual fees - often exceeding $100,000 - not, they say, to play specific songs, but to obtain advance copies of the stations' playlists. The promoters then bill labels for each new song played; the total tab costs the industry tens of millions of dollars a year. Under the new rules, Sony cannot reimburse promoters for any expense for a radio station or contest winner.
The industry has been divided over the impact of the settlement. Many executives say Mr. Spitzer's inquiry amounts to too little too late: radio companies like Clear Channel and Cox Radio severed their deals with independent promoters before the investigation began, for example.
Others, including several independent record labels, say the settlement could signal a shift that might break the major record companies' chokehold on the airwaves.
"This sounds to us like something that will be very helpful," said Don Rose, president of the American Association of Independent Music. "It's obvious to us that we're not getting the fair share because of the embedded relationships with big radio."


This is shedding light on something the industry already knows and deals and works with. You want airplay you pay. I can show you my receipts at the office for checks written to stations, promoters and bestbuy for gift certs exactly how much it costs us to chart the song superhero girl last year. I think I spent about ten g’s on it. and if I had more money I could have been played on more stations. They tell you straight up when you call. You want play? You gots to pay. No one even beats around the bush about it. I don't know if this will help or not. chances are it will not. but we will see. There's just no way that a station is going to play a song by an artist or label if they aren't going to get anything out of it when they have hundreds of songs by artists and labels that they are going to be paid for. its really that simple.


Current spin: dandy warhols, dandys rule o.k. dig it.



China is making a bid to buy out the American oil giant known as Unocal. Think about that. the second largest super-power in the world today besides America already owns over fifty percent of American Treasury bills and is now making a bid to buy one of America’s largest oil companies. Michael Moore says the way he looks at American capitalism as practiced by most American corporations is that they're so greedy and stupid that they will sell you the rope to hang them on if they think can make a buck from it. If this deal goes down, I would agree.


Current spin: dandy warhols, the dandy warhols come down. I just like this band.

Last screening: born to boogie, the marc bolan T.Rex film. none other!!!! totally restored and in full color for the first time! so much fun. The movie stuff is very cheesy but the concert footage is so fucking cool. just to see marc and the boys up there doing their thing at the peak of it.