Thurgood Marshall Resurrected on Broadway

Laurence Fishburne will bring to life the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in a one-man show next spring on Broadway.

Marshall was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice and is well-known for his role as NAACP chief counsel in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case.

“Thurgood” was written by George Stevens, Jr., who received an Emmy for the television miniseries Separate but Equal (1991) also based on Marshall’s life, and is under the direction of Leonard Foglia. Preview performances start March 30 and the play is set to officially open April 30 at the Booth Theatre.

Fishburne is widely-known for his role as “Morpheus” in the Matrix trilogy, but he is no stranger to Broadway. He received a Tony Award in 1992 as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” and appeared in the 1999 production of “The Lion in Winter.”

-Dana L. Oliver

Led Zeppelin Logs On

In the true spirit of rock and roll, Led Zeppelin held out for decades before the internet market forced their entrance into the world of online music distribution. Not only that, soon you’ll be able to download classic Zeppelin tunes onto your cell phone. No more ring ring, and a just a whole lotta love.

A Bit of Good News in Coney Island, for a Change…

Carol Hill-Alpert, co-owner of the Astroland Amusement Park, confirmed rumors that have been swirling in Coney Island in recent weeks last night at a meeting of Community Board 13: she and her husband have reached an agreement with Thor Equities to open Astroland again next summer.

The Associated Press verifies it.

Turns out all the talk about Coney Island’s “last year” was a bit alarmist; the businesses on the boardwalk will be open again in 2008, as well. The Coney Island Cassandras did turn a nice profit for everyone, though, as it was reported at Community Board 13’s Public Safety Committee meeting on Oct. 2 that crowds were up this summer!

A source in the government told me last night that the city will be announcing its long-awaited zoning changes for Coney Island on Nov. 8, around 6 or 7 pm. This will be big news, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

New Mac OS

Apple is set to release their new operating system, Leopard, tomorrow.  Check out this video to see it in action.

The new features look amazing. Timemachine gives the ability to see what your computer looked like on a specific day. The new iChat lets you show video presentations and documents right in a video conference window. Boot camp lets you run Windows on your Mac. However, for some reason, something I find most exciting is the ability to put folder like buttons on the dock, it makes things that much easier.

Can’t wait to upgrade.

Brooklyn Food Landmark Still Makin’ Mean Burgers

It should come as no surprise that the daughter of the man who invented the King Kong Suicide takes her burgers very seriously.

I’ve been working on a multimedia piece on the Cherry Lime Ricky from Tom’s Restaurant (established 1936) in Prospect Heights, so I’ve been frequenting the establishment a lot lately.  I’ve always made my case for Corner Bistro’s burgers and Blue Ribbon’s burgers, but Tom’s may have just topped the list.

As Tony Rosenfeld knows, there’s a lot to be said for a perfect burger.  The food snob in me will often be seduced by the fancy kind (see foie gras post), but if I were to die tomorrow, I would want the simplest version of the American classic possible: A traditional bun, a nice bit of meat cooked medium-rare, a slice of preferably American cheese, the crispest possible lettuce, a single bright red slice of tomato, and some ketchup.  It’s simple really, yet so many establishment’s can’t seem to get it right.

Tom’s Restaurant, however, fulfills all these requirements with the added bonus of a spicy horseradish sauce.  The experience is only enhanced by the addition of a chocolate egg cream made with Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup (as if there was any other way to properly make an egg cream).

Seriously, folks.  Life doesn’t get any better.