Hype Stalker

As we inexorably approach NY Press' Best Of Manhattan issue, it's time to take stock. Is Manhattan still the vital center of the media/entertainment universe, or is Brooklyn really the new frontier? Let's look to that ever-trusty indicator-the media. Exhibit A: the closing of Absolute magazine. When it arrived on our West Village doorstep about a year ago, we nearly threw it away like most catalogs. But sticking out of the mag was a cover letter from the publisher. It went something like this: If you are receiving this magazine, you probably live in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in New York and you're used to the finer things in life. Because of that, this magazine is for you? Well la di da! This now notorious letter immediately made us hate ourselves and want to run headlong into the deepest bowels of Canarsie in search of a soul. But, since that's never going to happen, we just wrote the young tabloid off as poseur detritus. And soon, despite all its aloof talk of the Upper East Side and why this wine goes with that cheese-poof-Absolute magazine was an absolute memory. Although there are rumors that the title may re-emerge like the zombified husk of pulp that is Maer Roshan's baby Radar, soon to be joined by the ugly OK! Magazine wanna-be, Shock Magazine. Anywho, the lack of interest in Absolute, a magazine devoted to making Manhat-tanites feel superior, seemed to be a hint that 718 might indeed by the new black. That was, until New York magazine started its slutty love affair with the borough. First there was "The Brooklyn Issue," followed (not a month later) by "The Red Hook, Brooklyn Issue." (Can the "Bensonhurst Issue" be far behind?) When a tome like New York starts fawning over an area so obviously, you know that area is essentially not where the real action is. The last time Brooklyn was really "what's up" for authentic trend-setters was in the '90s. Rich Wall Street types buying million-dollar condos in BedStuy in 2006 do not a hip burb make. In contrast, back in 1994 Fort Greene, Brooklyn, area comparisons to the Harlem Renaissance were startlingly apt. Future Obie winner Carl Hancock Rux penned epic poetry one block away from Fort Greene Park, DJ Swingsett crafted his drum-n-bass mixtapes the next block over, a pre-Rick Rubin Saul Williams held court at the Brooklyn Moon Café on Fulton and when an unsigned Erykah Badu asked where she should move to in New York City, she was given one answer: Fort Greene. Similarly, Williamsburg was a wild-west art gallery of individualists (not hipsters) who flocked to the area for a taste of what the '70s era East Village in Manhattan once provided-a place for artists by artists. Those days are gone. Today, the only artists who can afford to live in either area are those with grants, trust funds or five roommates. Brooklyn remains one of the greatest places on the planet, but if you're thinking of packing up your acrylics and leaving Iowa to get your start in the artist haven of Brooklyn circa 2006, you'd better pack your credit card.