1. company town
    Naked Law Student’s Ex-Boyfriend Tries to Keep Low ProfileLAW • An ex-boyfriend of the nude-video Brooklyn Law chick appeared briefly in the video with her, and he hopes his employer doesn’t find out. Talking to the press is a proven way of maintaining anonymity. [NYDN] • Oh, boy! It’s omnibus-hearing day in the Aaron Charney case! We expect hot cross-motion action. [Above the Law] • Two loud and zealous attorneys, Michael S. Washor and Michael F. Vecchione, are out-shouting each other at a judicial corruption trial in Brooklyn. [NYT]
  2. in other news
    Meatpacking Makes History The meatpacking district has joined the state and national registries of historic places, proudly taking its place alongside lesser Manhattan peers like Trinity Church and the Dakota. That’s right, the whole club-infested, beer-drenched, hair-gel-slicked shebang — not just the formerly cute cobblestone square at Gansevoort and Ninth but all the way from Hudson Street to Washington and from Horatio Street to West 15th — is now historic. In state officials’ defense, the district was nominated for the designation in 2001, when it was slightly less repulsive. And historic status is good news inasmuch as it means the neighborhood’s safe from more new megaconstruction. It also means tax breaks for the area building owners (Soho House has got to be hurting for one) and state-funded renovation-rehabilitation grants. We’d like some money to rehab the Hotel Gansevoort into something resembling presentability. Meatpacking District Is Now Historic [NYP]
  3. company town
    Advertisers Flee Imus FiascoMEDIA • Advertisers ditch Imus faster than you can say “Rutgers basketball” — Proctor & Gamble is out, along with Staples and Bigelow Tea. Considering Imus’s show generates 25 percent of revenue for WFAN, this isn’t looking good. We’ll see what happens when the Rutgers basketball team meets up with him. [WSJ] and [NYT] • SNL producer Lorne Michaels is frustrated with NBC’s vigilante legal department for removing network material from YouTube. [NYO] • Newish Times editorial-page editor Andrew Rosenthal is embracing the Web in ways his predecessors have not. Anyone want a TimesSelect column? [NYO]
  4. company town
    Co-ed Naked Brooklyn Law StudentsLAW • A third-year Brooklyn Law School student has been identified as a woman being spanked and holding gavels up to her breasts in the Playboy TV show Naked Happy Girls. [NYDN] • Was Aaron Charney just afflicted by Sullivan & Cromwell’s general malaise? The firm ranked 60th on a satisfaction survey of midlevel associates in New York. [New York Law Journal via Above the Law] • Judicial paradox: New York Chief Justice Judith Kaye says she’s prepared to sue after Albany failed to deliver on judicial pay raises. [New York Law Journal]
  5. in other news
    Second Avenue Groundbreaking: Fifth Time’s the Charm As the Second Avenue Subway’s now-it’s-for-real-we- promise groundbreaking looms, the Times takes a wary walk down memory lane to recall three similar ceremonies in the seventies. A Willie Neuman–narrated video revisits the consecutive groundbreakings at 103rd Street (1972), Canal Street (1973), and 2nd Street (1974). “The line had at least three groundbreakings,” says the author. Oh, at the very least. As Greg Sargent reported in New York three years ago, the first mayoral pickax swing over the star-crossed project occurred way back in 1925, when the mayor was John Hylan. The next time the line came close to reality was 1950, when voters approved a $500 million bond issue to finance it. No pickax action that time: The MTA quietly funneled the money into repairs of existing lines instead. Ten years later, Nelson Rockefeller got involved, which eventually led to the seventies rash of groundbreakings with similar non-results. In a bit of ready-made symbolism, Mayor John Lindsay’s swing failed to crack the asphalt in 1972. We’ll see how Spitzer does on Thursday. Is That Finally the Sound of a 2nd Ave. Subway? [NYT] The Line That Time Forgot [NYM]
  7. company town
    Bravo Makes Tim Gunn WorkFASHION • Tim Gunn will carry on for another season of Project Runway. Bravo executives can now breathe. [Downtown Darling] • Vogue’s May issue spotlights the ten new top models, including Jessica Stam, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha, and Agyness Deyn. [Fashionologie] • Henry Holland knockoffs continue to flood the market. The culprit this time: Urban Outfitters. [Fashionista]
  8. company town
    Burt Neuborne Still Fighting for FeesLAW • Holocaust survivors continue to dispute Burt Neuborne’s millions in legal fees, despite a judge’s call for a truce. [New York Law Journal] • When you sue your law firm for giving you bad advice, the attorney-client privilege is gone, ruled a Manhattan appeals court in a 4-1 decision. [New York Law Journal] • The future of Diet Coke is at stake! The Equal v. Splenda trial starts on Monday. [NYT]
  9. company town
    ‘Times’ Gay Mafia Underground Even to its MembersMEDIA • Ben Brantley, identified by Out as part of the Times’s “gay mafia,” claims he didn’t even know some other colleagues listed were gay. The first rule of the gay mafia … [WWD] • Ed Bradley wins a posthumous Peabody Award for his 60 Minutes pieces on the Duke rape case. [Peabody Awards] • Larry King wants to keep going for another ten years and then pass his show along to Ryan Seacrest. At which point it might actually get softer. [NYT]
  10. company town
    Kate Moss’s Topshop Collection Goes OnlineFASHION • At last! Take a look at Kate Moss’s Topshop collection. [Racked] • Gap ups the ante on high-low designer collaborations, teaming up with Doo.Ri, Thakoon, and Rodarte. [Fashion Week Daily] • Set your DVR to Cinemax on April 30 to glimpse rare footage of Helmut Newton at work. [Radar via Fashionista]
  11. company town
    Giuliani Asks Press to Back Off His Third WifeMEDIA • Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani asks the media to lay off his wife. Media laughs to itself and continues writing. [WCBS-TV via Mediabistro] • In an effort to make viewers stick around for commercials, Fox will experiment with running short programming clips during the break. [WSJ] • The entire Harper’s archive is online, a cornerstone of the magazine’s relaunched Website. [Harper’s]
  12. company town
    Investment Banks Mull New Trading FloorsFINANCE • JP Morgan, Lehman, and Merrill are in talks with developers to build new trading floors in Manhattan. [Bloomberg] • Donald Trump set a new low last night, defeating WWF owner Vince McMahon in a “Battle of the Billionaires.” [AP via Yahoo] • The SEC celebrates April Fools’ Day with a prank press release about new disclosure rules. [Financial Times via MSNBC]
  13. company town
    Law-School Rankings LeakedLAW • The U.S. News 2008 law-school rankings were somehow leaked. Yale’s still No. 1, but Harvard and Stanford swapped this year to be two and three, respectively. [Law School Discussion via Legal Blog Watch] • If you’re looking for a good M&A lawyer, wait till they all come back from the Corporate Law Institute at Tulane. [DealBook/NYT via WSJ] • Seyfarth Shaw finally ups associate pay to match other New York firms. As one partner said back in February, “We don’t follow all the other firms over the cliff like lemmings. We wait, think about it, discuss, and then jump off the cliff.” [Above the Law and Above the Law]
  14. company town
    Allegra Versace Seeks Treatment for Anorexia FASHION • Allegra Versace, daughter of Donatella and heir to the fashion empire, is being treated for anorexia. [NYP] • The ever persistent rumors of Hedi Slimane leaving Dior Homme keep swirling. Slimane has let his contract go unsigned for nearly a year. [WWD via Flypaper] • Kate Moss picked close friend Irina Lazareanu as the face of her new Topshop collection. Lazareanu, incidentally, used to be the drummer of Pete Doherty’s band, Baby Shambles. [British Vogue]
  15. company town
    Want a Raise? Move to LondonFINANCE • Another point for London: U.K. traders average salaries and bonuses 50 percent higher than their U.S. counterparts. [Bloomberg] • Everyone has a theory about why Goldman and J.P. Morgan were shut out of Blackstone Group’s IPO, but who’s right? [Deal Journal/WSJ] • Ernst & Young was censured and sanctioned by the SEC on Monday for alleged violations of auditor-independence rules. This was the second slap against the accounting firm in nearly three years. [AP via Forbes]
  16. company town
    Ad Agencies Better Figure Out the Internet Right QuickMEDIA • Nike abandons its longtime ad agency Wieden + Kennedy to search for a more digital-savvy firm; Madison Avenue fears its own Internet ignorance. [WSJ] • Has Tribune Co. finally settled on Sam Zell as a buyer? [WSJ] • Sharing a Daytime Emmy with another winner? The National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences is charging $350 for a second statuette. [Variety via Mediabistro] • Life magazine is dead for the third time. Time Inc. announced today that it will discontinue the Life Sunday newspaper supplement on April 20. [Time Inc.]
  17. company town
    Aaron Charney Wants Your StoryLAW • Do you know anything about the Aaron Charney case? His lawyers want to hear your story. [Above the Law] • GE’s in-house council cuts 44 firms from its preferred provider’s list, including Paul, Hastings and Sherman & Sterling. [Corporate Counsel] • Anyone want to buy a giant legal publisher? ALM is up for sale. [Legal Blog Watch]
  18. company town
    Sullivan & Cromwell’s Silent PartnerLAW • Is Sullivan & Cromwell partner Stephen Kotran the quiet hero in the Charney case? [Above the Law] • Department of Justice e-mails recall high-school girlfriends and Raging Bull. [Radar] • Justice Anthony Kennedy recuses himself from a case involving Credit Suisse because his son is a managing director there. So why didn’t that come up last December when Kennedy was involved in the decision to grant review? [Legal Times]
  19. company town
    Janice Dickinson Booted From Fashion WeekFASHION • Janice Dickinson’s slurred antics get her banned from all IMG fashion events, including New York Fashion Week. [Fashionista] • Leave your dancing shoes at home. The Costume Institute is scaling back this year’s gala to just dinner, no after-party. [Fashion Week Daily] • Jil Sander’s moving out of the 57th Street flagship store. Moving in? Miu Miu. [The Shophound]
  20. company town
    Jim Cramer, Manipulator?FINANCE • Mad Money host Jim Cramer (and New York columnist) recalls his good old days of stock manipulation. [YouTube via NYP] • Activist shareholder Evelyn Y. Davis demands that the board of Goldman Sachs stop distributing stock options immediately. [DealBook/NYT] • Wannabe buyer attacks Smith & Wollensky CEO, claiming that accepting another, lower bid would personally benefit Alan Stillman. [Crain’s]
  21. company town
    Gareth Pugh Dazzles But Doesn’t SellFASHION • Gareth Pugh, the darling of London Fashion Week, has yet to turn his critical acclaim into commercial success — he hasn’t sold one dress. [British Vogue] • Pete Doherty continues his rise from junkie rocker to fashion “It” boy as he graces the cover of this month’s Vogue Homme. [WWD] • St. John’s abandons its youth outreach program — sexier, fitted clothing modeled by Angela Jolie — and returns to its conservative, older-woman roots. [LAT]
  22. company town
    CBS Sports Understands the Kids and the YouTubeMEDIA • CBS Sports launched an NCAA Tournament channel on YouTube yesterday. Not everyone’s afraid of the Web. [MediaWeek via mediabistro.com] • But things aren’t as good over at CBS Radio, where CEO Joel Hollander is letting his contract lapse after disagreements with Les Moonves. [NYP] • Starting this weekend, you can add the Sunday Times of London magazine to the pile of things you don’t have time to read. [WWD]
  23. company town
    Notes Go Missing in Charney CaseLAW • Gallion & Spielvogel is drawn into Aaron Charney case when notes the firm kept during a settlement conference are destroyed. [Soloway via Above the Law] • State Chief Judge Judith Kaye asks business leaders to lobby for judicial pay raises. [Crain’s] • Harvard Law tops the list of 25 leading schools based on the success of its graduates. [Law Dragon via Above the Law]
  24. company town
    How Much Is Mike Bloomberg Worth?FINANCE • Will new accounting rules force a clearer picture of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s net worth? [Breaking Views via WSJ] • Two of the thirteen people recently indicted for insider trading were Long Island football heroes. [Newsday] • Students graduating from the country’s leading MBA programs can command starting salaries over $180,000. [Bloomberg]
  25. company town
    Weinstein Goes from Film to FashionFASHION • As rumored, film producer Harvey Weinstein bought Halston. [Reuters via CNNMoney] • Ralph Lauren will be honored with the CFDA’s first-ever “American Fashion Legend Award.” [British Vogue] • Sarah Jessica Parker to launch her own line, Bitten. [The Daily]
  26. company town
    Giant Bonuses for Former Clerks Make Judges Feel Even WorseLAW • Associate pay raises are pretty good, but $200,000 signing bonuses for former Supreme Court clerks are even better. [Slate] • Ben Rosenberg starts work today as chief trial counsel for the New York State attorney general’s office. His first task is to win back some of Dick Grasso’s money from the NYSE. [Law Blog/WSJ] • Lawyers who play Second Life are bringing their real legal expertise to this artificial world. [ABA Journal via Legal Blog Watch]
  27. intel
    A (Conservative) People’s History of New York City“A website founded by US religious activists aims to counter what they claim is ‘liberal bias’ on Wikipedia, the open encyclopedia which has become one of the most popular sites on the web. The founders of Conservapedia.com say their site offers a ‘much-needed alternative’ to Wikipedia, which they say is ‘increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American.’” —The Guardian, London, March 2 New York City (also Gotham, Sodom, Gomorrah, The Big Apple, Satan’s Condom) is the headquarters of the elitist East Coast liberal empire [1] and the world’s largest sustained experiment in secular humanism.
  28. company town
    NYSE President-To-Be Better Watch His BackFINANCE • In the ongoing war between man and machine at the NYSE, incoming Exchange president says he doesn’t want “five guys named Vinnie” completing his trades. [NYP] • Operation Spamalot: SEC suspends trading on 35 stocks promoted in recent spam campaigns. [NYT] • Ivan Boesky slated to appear in the can’t-believe-it’s-not-out-already sequel to Forrest Gump. [/Film via DealBreaker]
  29. company town
    Heatherette Honcho Throws Weirdly Normal Birthday PartyFASHION • Heatherette designer Traver Rains turned 30! And, apparently, his “Wild West” surprise party started on time and everyone invited actually got inside. [Fashionista] • Calvin Klein has high hopes that CK in2u will replicate the success of CK One. [NYT] • Giorgio Armani will design uniforms for Russell Crowe’s Australian rugby team. [British Vogue]
  30. company town
    Hovering Parents Overtake Corporate RecruitingFINANCE • Big firms concede to overinvolved parents and now include them in the recruiting process of recent grads. [Career Journal/WSJ] • Happy belated 70th birthday, Ivan Boesky! [DealBreaker] • The management maxims offered in business books might just be bull, not foxes and hedgehogs. [Forbes]
  31. company town
    Tyra’s Audience Yearns for ‘Oprah’ TicketsFASHION • Tyra makes audience wear swimsuits and flaunt their weight. No car giveaways here. [Fashionista] • Jeweler Raymond Weil’s breach-of-contract suit against Charlize Theron (he says she wore Dior) moves to federal court. [British Vogue] • Ralph Lauren and Johann Rupert join up for a new luxury watch and jewelry line. [WWD]
  32. company town
    ‘Voice’ Voiceless, AgainMEDIA • David Blum out at the Village Voice. He was the fourth editor there since December 2005. [Gawker] • Flummoxing DVR users everywhere, ABC green-lights a sitcom based on the Geico cavemen commercials. [WSJ] • Pulitzer judging starts today at Columbia University; judges from Willamette Week, the Indianapolis Star, and others read actual printed copies of newspaper articles. [E&P]
  33. company town
    Warren Buffett Wants a New Warren BuffettFINANCE • Buffett 2.0: Oracle of Omaha seeks young understudy to take over Berkshire. [Fortune] • Thirteen charged with insider training, including Morgan Stanley, UBS, Bear Stearns, and Bank of America employees. [NYT] • Goldman, Merrill, and Morgan Stanley traders rate own firms barely above junk-bond status. [Bloomberg]
  34. company town
    It’ll Always Be Brian Williams’s ShowMEDIA • NBC to fire Nightly News exec producer John Reiss. But is it for ratings, or does Reiss not get along with anchor Brian Williams? [NYT and LAT] • Tunku Varadarajan moves from an editorial-page writer to an assistant managing editor at the Wall Street Journal, only the third time in 50 years someone has jumped that divide. [NYO] • Bellevue Hospital starts its own imprint; wannabe Ken Keseys hope for literary success. [NYT]
  35. company town
    Traders Feared Terrorist AttacksFINANCE • The Dow’s fall yesterday convinced some traders that terrorists had attacked the city once again. “Our first thought was that they blew up Grand Central, or the Empire State building, or the GW,” one said. [DealBreaker] • Adding insult to sell-off, Merrill Lynch slugged five big banks with a lowered rating, downgrading Goldman, Lehman, Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse to neutral from buy. [Bloomberg] • Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein says that the market for buyouts will cool. “There will be declines. We can’t continue like this forever.” Speak for yourself, rich guy. [DealBook/NYT]
  36. company town
    Steven Soderbergh’s Life Not Interrupted By Jury DutyLAW • Director Steven Soderbergh gets out of jury duty in an Upper East Side sex-crimes trial. [NYT] • Roger Meltzer leaves Cahill Gordon & Reindell and takes his $20 million book of business to DLA Piper, where he will be the head of corporate finance. [The American Lawyer] • With his Anna Nicole Smith antics, Judge Larry Seidlin makes the best case against cameras in the courtroom. [Crime & Federalism via Inside Opinions]
  37. company town
    Goldman Bonuses Depress AllFINANCE • Goldman lieutenants score $52.5 million bonuses, take home more than most Wall Street CEOs. [NYT] • Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman calls making a $36 billion real-estate deal “an out-of-body experience.” [Knowledge@Wharton via DealBreaker] • Are public companies going private just so the CEO can make more money? [DealBook/NYT]
  38. company town
    Lauren Bush Saves the World One Handbag at a TimeFASHION • Presidential niece Lauren Bush is developing a socially conscious clothing line, no doubt inspired by her family’s long-time commitment to environmental causes. [Fashion Week Daily] • A PETA soldier storms the Prada runway in Milan, gets tackled by security. [Elle.com] • The 18-year-old sister of model Luisel Ramos, whose death six months ago triggered the skinny-model ban in Milan, has also passed away from complications related to an eating disorder. [Downtown Darling]
  39. company town
    The Guy With the Biggest Birthday Party WinsFINANCE • Birthday parties aside, Stephen A. Schwarzman tops Fortune’s private-equity power list. [Fortune via CNNMoney] • Jeff Dorman, a senior managing director of prime brokerage services at Bear Sterns, resigned late last week. Poor guy didn’t even last a year. [DealBook/NYT] • Is Jim Healy, head of fixed income at Credit Suisse, about to resign because of friction with new heads Brady Dugan and Michael Ryan? [DealBreaker]
  40. company town
    Anyone Want to Buy a Lad Mag?MEDIA • Felix Dennis puts Maxim, Stuff, and Blender officially on the auction block. [NYP] • Did David Lynch plan this advertising campaign? Annie Leibovitz shoots Scarlett Johansson, David Beckham, Beyoncé, and Lyle Lovett for ads promoting Disney theme-parks. [Radar Online] • Steve Rattner thinks newspapers should be nonprofits, but Jack Shafer says that’s a horrible idea. [WSJ and Slate]
  41. company town
    Mayor’s Girlfriend Leaves Public for Private SectorFINANCE • Diana Taylor — the mayor’s First Girlfriend — leaves post as state superintendent of banks for boutique investment firm Wolfensohn & Co. [NYP] • Harold Ford Jr. loses Senate race in Tennessee, wins position at Merrill Lynch. [CNNMoney] • Former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill wants hedge funds to open up their books. [Spiegel via DealBreaker]
  42. company town
    We Can’t Wait for the Wax Heatherette FASHION • Kate Moss is the latest fashion celeb to be immortalized in wax. Visitors to Madame Tussauds in London can have their photos taken next to her on a bed. How apropos. [Downtown Darling] • In an attempt to fatten up models, Krispy Kreme is sponsoring London Fashion Week parties. [On the Runway] • Gisele Bündchen will walk just one runway this season — Dolce & Gabbana in Milan. The Brazilian supermodel is the face of D&G’s new fragrance, aptly named the One. [Fashion Week Daily]
  43. company town
    Fashion T-Shirts Get PersonalFASHION • Henry Holland’s new line of naughty tees was finally revealed. Our favorite? WHAM BAM JESSICA STAM! [Fashionista] • GLAAD is honoring Tom Ford at its annual Media Awards. Must not have seen that creepy Vanity Fair cover. [Fashion Week Daily] • According to Yigal Azrouel and Viktor & Rolf, le geek c’est chic once again. [FlyPaper]
  44. company town
    Top Moneymaker Leaves LehmanFINANCE • Lehman lost its top-producing banker on Friday to a sudden resignation. Was Woody Young passed over for head of the finance group? [NYT] • Monday morning got you feeling uninspired? Ninja Stockbroker will return you to market-high glory. [Nova Cartoons via DealBreaker] • Fresh off its blowout purchase of Equity Office, the Blackstone Group scoops up Pinnacle Foods (Duncan Hines, Vlasic) for $2.16 Billion. [AP via CBS News]
  45. company town
    Associates’ Pay Up, Partners’ Profits Down?LAW • Aaron Charney had secret settlement talks with Sullivan & Cromwell as late as January 31. A sticking point: the destruction of Charney’s home hard-drive. [Above the Law] • Former Thacher Proffitt & Wood associate pleads guilty to insider trading — firm happy to learn Amir Rosenthal wasn’t using client information. [NYLJ] • Will partner profits stay flat because of associate pay raises? [NLJ via DealBook/NYT]
  46. company town
    Sulzberger Tires of Wondering Whether Print Is DeadMEDIA • Pinch Sulzberger: “Will we print the NYT in five years? I don’t care.” [Haaretz via E&P] • GE CEO Jeff Immelt calls a Post story about a sale or spinoff of NBC Universal, “more or less made-up stupid drivel.” [Fortune] • Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen “too big” to share VF’s Hollywood cover. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Chris Rock, and Jack Black apparently not so big. [Deadline Hollywood/LA Weekly]
  47. company town
    Blood Money: Blodget vs. CramerFINANCIAL • Stock picker Henry Blodget threw a party for his new advice book, The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual, then challenged rival stock picker Jim Cramer to an on-air debate. [DealBreaker] • Vornado finally cried uncle in its battle with the Blackstone Group to buy the nation’s largest office landlord. [DealBook/NYT] • Heads are rolling at hedge fund D.B. Zwirn & Co., which was busted in October for misallocating expenses. [NYP]
  48. company town
    Paper Trail Disturbed at Sullivan & CromwellLAW • Did Aaron Charney “misplace” documents belonging to a partner’s file at Sullivan & Cromwell? The firm’s countersuit suggests so. [Above the Law] • Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft is rising up the ranks of most profitable firms, thanks to some cut-throat tactics and, apparently, a wicked bowling night. [New York Law Journal] • Save a life, become a hero, and suffer the (tax) consequences. A law professor explains why the Subway Superman might get walloped by the IRS this tax season. [Mauled Again via Legal Blog Watch]
  49. company town
    How Clean Is Your Company Cafeteria?MEDIA • The cafeteria at Bloomberg LP got a bad score from the city Health Department. Hearst and Condé Nast were much more sanitary. [Radar Online] • Serendipity exists for online newspapers as well as print, thank you very much. [WSJ] • Despite what former GE boss Jack Welch had to say about him recently, Jeff Zucker is getting a promotion at NBC. [LAT]
  50. company town
    Arthur Sulzberger Punishes Morgan StanleyFINANCE • The Ochs-Sulzberger family wants their money out of Morgan Stanley, after a London-based Morgan managing director tried to incite a shareholder revolt at the Times. [Fortune via CNNMoney] • Hedge-fund heavies like T. Boone Pickens, Paul Tudor Jones II, and Carl Icahn have all donated to Rudy Giuliani’s exploratory committee. They maxed out their donation: a whopping $2,100. [DealBook/NYT] • Equity Office’s board rejects Vornado’s cash-and-stock takeover bid and instead goes for Blackstone’s cash offer of $54 a share. Shareholders will likely vote next week. [CNNMoney]
  51. in other news
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, New York HistorianHere’s a nice change of pace: A legendary sports figure has come out of retirement to write a book about the past, and this time we’re pleased about it. No, it’s not O.J.’s scribblings; instead, legendarily goggled Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has published a work of history. On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance hit the shelves yesterday, according to an NPR report. It’s full of fascinating details about upper-Manhattan athletics in the age of the Cotton Club — like that the Cotton Club’s main competitor, the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom, hosted its own basketball team, the Harlem Rens. At the Renaissance, the dance floor doubled as a basketball court, and a Rens game reportedly featured the first interracial jump ball in basketball history. But Abdul-Jabbar has harsh words for another rival, Harlem Globetrotters, whose clowning around he associates with the Cotton Club’s tradition of catering to a white audience. You can only imagine what he must have to say about the Washington Generals. The Harlem Renaissance, On and Off the Court [NPR]
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