Living Landmark

Among the masonry and brickwork of New Orleans' tree-lined St. Charles Avenue, one building sticks out—red and green and pulsating. Its history is as curious as its appearance. When, in 1981, the restaurant that occupied Paris' Eiffel Tower was deemed too heavy for its supports, it was dismantled, and after a Byzantine string of negotiations between businessmen on both sides of the Atlantic, shipped to Louisiana in 11,000 pieces. Architect Stephen Bingler incorporated the restaurant into a new iron and glass behemoth that suggested the latticework and sweeping curves of the Parisian landmark floating above the avenue. The re-installation, however, continued to bear the weight of the original failure; the building stood idle for years at a time as venture after venture folded.

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I Made a Terrible Mistake: Rochelle Feinstein Remembers Michael Jackson

Since his untimely death, I, like many, have become obsessed with the meteoric rise and fall of Michael Jackson. For me, it has rekindled my earliest flame of fanaticism: At age six, I attended my first concert, the final leg of the sold-out Bad World Tour. That night in Los Angeles, the stage was rocked by an earthquake - a common occurrence for city residents, but in retrospect, a sign of the shift in celebrity terrain that would come to define Jackson's career.  Read More

Younger Than Jesus, or Wiser Than God?

The reign of youth on the Bowery may be coming to an end, as octogenarians square off against Millennials. The Don King of this match is BLT Gallery, which has been aggressively promoting "Wiser Than God," its hotly anticipated rejoinder to neighboring New Museum's "Younger Than Jesus." Prizing experience over age -- a dwindling concept in the art world -- BLT's "Generational" showcases works, both old and new, by living artists born in or before 1926, making them 83 at the absolute youngest. The unlikely herald of this epochal rivalry is a spindly aluminum sculpture by William King (b. 1925). Perched atop BLT's second-floor fire escape and directed at the New Museum's facade, this tragicomic figure searches inside his cloth red shorts, as if to "size up" the competition. That gesture sets the tone of the exhibition -- and it may be a friendly fight after all. Read More