Sammy Hagar: Van Halen Reunion a "Horror Fest"

Sammy Hagar, rock star even at a book signing.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar says the group's reunion in 2004 wasn't what he wanted or expected it to be.

"The Van Halen reunion was a disappointment for me," Hagar said Tuesday night at the Borders in Columbus Circle. "I was just hoping it was going to be great and everybody was going to be happy and a big love fest and just go at it again but it wasn't like that at all. It was the complete opposite. It was a horror fest."

Hagar, also known as the "Red Rocker," said even with all the ups and downs in his life, he has no regrets.

"The past is done and there's no reason to mess with that," Hagar said. "I'm in a really good place right now and very happy with my life."

He added, "I wouldn't want to mess with this moment either because I'm living the dream. This is more than anyone could ever hope or dream for. I just hope that I can keep doing this thing exactly the way it is now. I don't want to fix anything and I have no regrets."

He released his book, "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock," yesterday, which chronicles his experiences from childhood to becoming a headlining rock star. Hagar says that even though some of the book gets graphic, he will allow his four children to read it.

"My sons are one thing... but my little daughters I'm nervous about it still," Hagar said. "I may make them read the Keith Richards book first and then they're going to say 'My pops is like the funny papers.'"

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Suze Orman: "The American Dream is Dead"

Photo of Suze Orman courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Financial expert Suze Orman proclaimed to a crowd at Barnes and Noble in Union Square last night that the American Dream is dead.

"The old American Dream is dead -- the dream where bigger, better, and more was the goal," Orman said Thursday night. "Those days are dead for the majority of America and I think that's great because it's a waste. It's a waste of energy. It's a waste of space. It's a waste of money that you were earning."

She added, "We have now entered what I'm calling 'the New American Dream,' which is a dream where you value who you are over what you have. You value your money more than the things your money can buy."

She released her 10th book, "The Money Class: Learn to Create Your New American Dream," this week and said its major theme is "to stand in your truth in every action, every word and every thought that you think."

"If you always do what is true all the time, I promise you will attract more love to you than you will ever have any idea what to do with," Orman said.

Orman answers viewers' questions about money and investments as the host of her CNBC program "The Suze Orman Show," as well as on segments of the "Today" show, but says her new book will give readers the financial education they need to have.

"You have got to read this book and take notes," Orman said. "When you open it up, the class is in session and it's going to be a class you won't want to miss."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Author Discusses Women on Wall Street

Nina Godiwalla spoke about her new book at Borders.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Author Nina Godiwalla worked on Wall Street and revealed last night what inspired her to write the book "Suits: A Woman on Wall Street," which gives insight to what it's like to be a female investment banker.

"I wrote the book because I want people to learn and see what my experience was like," Godiwalla said Wednesday night at the Columbus Circle Borders. "When you can look at it and see what someone else did, I think it just helps you with your own career."

She explained that she believes the environment in that industry would improve if they started embracing differences more instead of discouraging them.

"The area I worked in was, in my opinion, a little more on the homogeneous side," Godiwalla said. "I found it was a little more challenging to be different. I felt like the culture was more like, you need to assimilate to what we are as opposed to let's be open and we all have different ideas. The hardest part for me was not having a voice or my own opinion."

After all of her experiences on the exchange floor, both positive and negative, Godiwalla says she doesn't discourage anyone from taking a job on Wall Street.

"If anyone can do it better than I can, more power to them," Godiwalla said. "The reality is, I felt like I made so many mistakes. I look back at the experience and I find it almost embarrassing."

Godiwalla is currently the CEO of MindWorks, a company she founded to train business professionals in stress management and meditation. She said she's going to spend some time focused on her company before starting on her next book.

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Bourdain Says Chefs Love Gabrielle Hamilton's Memoir

Gabrielle Hamilton and Anthony Bourdain at Barnes & Noble Union Square.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Gabrielle Hamilton, the head chef of Prune in the East Village, says her favorite dish at her restaurant is something she eats on a daily basis.

"I probably eat a dozen radishes with butter and kosher salt every day of my life," Hamilton said. "I probably have a can of boneless, skinless sardines every day too."

Hamilton released her new memoir, "Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef," and spoke about it with Anthony Bourdain Tuesday night at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square.

Bourdain, who hosts "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" on the Travel Channel, said the book is popular not only with Hamilton's fans, but among their fellow chefs as well.

"They've all read it, and I'm talking about chefs that read one or two books every five years," Bourdain told Hamilton. "They all read the book and they all love it."

Hamilton sold the rights to this book five years ago and said that, even though it was just released on Tuesday, she only started working on it about a year ago.

"It took a long time," Hamilton said. "It's like asking how long it took you to finish college if you went to night school part-time. I have a full time job as the chef of a restaurant and the owner. At the time I sold the book I had a baby and another one coming out. Everything I wanted in the whole world happened all at once, so it took a little while."

The memoir has prompted her family and friends to ask when it will be coming to the big screen, but Hamilton has another goal she wants to achieve first.

"I just want to move to a bigger apartment," Hamilton said. "I live in a one-bedroom East Village apartment with my two sons and every time I take a shower, I'm stepping on Legos. ... If this book is successful, that would be great. That's success for me."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Brooke Burke's Favorite Celeb: Mrs. Brady

Before signing her new book at Borders.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Brooke Burke, the co-host of "Dancing With the Stars," revealed last night that out of all the celebrities she has met during her career, Florence Henderson is the one who has inspired her the most.

"She's an amazing woman who is timeless and still sexy," Burke said. "She taught me an invaluable lesson. She said to me that you have to put yourself first in life. It's not just about the kids. She's really affected me."

Burke, who started out as a contestant -- and eventual winner -- in the seventh season of the dance-off show, said that it is one of the few places she has found that presents a chance to really get to know celebrities.

"'Dancing With the Stars' is interesting because that's an opportunity to see people without their entourage," Burke said. "You really see people for who they are on that show."

She also spoke about her new book, "The Naked Mom," at the Borders in Columbus Circle last night. She said she devoted all of her free time over the past year to writing it.

"I worked on it in a dressing room, in my car, at night, in the morning, every free moment I had," Burke said. "I wondered if I was telling too much or not telling enough, or if things were relevant or if anyone was going to care about this or if people are going to judge me. But I decided I'm just going to do it and I'm going to do it honestly. It was a crazy, therapeutic experience."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Former Aide to Tony Blair: GOP Presidential Nominee "Won't Be Expected"

Jonathan Powell, the former aide to Tony Blair.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
America will be surprised by who the Republican Party nominates for the presidential election in 2012, the former chief of staff to Tony Blair predicted last night.

"I have no clue who it will be," Jonathan Powell said at an event at the 92nd Street Y in the Upper East Side. "But it won't be the expected candidate. It will be someone who isn't big yet - not [Sarah] Palin or [Mitt] Romney."

With the upcoming nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton, Powell explained what his top concerns as chief of staff would be for a royal wedding.

"First of all, I'd be worried about a terrorist attack," Powell said.

After safety concerns were addressed, Powell said that making the wedding marketable would also be a priority.

"I would try to get popularity on the back of it," Powell said. "But lucky for them, this royal wedding seems to have done that on its own, especially with Americans."

Powell recently released his second book, "The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World," and believes the Italian philosopher would certainly have an opinion about Wikileaks if he were around today.

"Surely he wouldn't approve of it," Powell said.

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Financial Expert: 2011 is the Year For Change

Author Ryan Mack during a discussion in Columbus Circle.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Financial guru and author Ryan Mack says that even though this country is currently facing a bad economy, this is the year for everyone to take responsibility for their finances and make changes. 

"As far as I'm concerned, 2010 was the year that everybody was waiting on their ship to come in," Mack said during a discussion at the Borders in Columbus Circle last night. "But 2011 is the year we have got to swim out to it."

Mack released his new financial self-help book this month, "Living in the Village: Build Your Financial Future and Strengthen Your Community." He says it provides a road map on ways to have financial well being, but also strongly promotes activism.

"We provide the principles in the book," Mack said. "But a principle is only as good as the person who receives it and is able to implement it."

He adds, "I wrote this because I wanted to make sure that we all understand that we have a responsibility. I don't want to point the finger anymore. I'm tired of looking at other people and seeing what they're not doing. It's time to ask, 'what am I doing?'"

Greed is one of the problems Mack sites for the downward spiral of the economy, but says that if people work together to embrace change, there will be positive results. 

"If you mix greed with capitalism, then you've got some problems," Mack said. "But if you use love in a capitalistic system, you create jobs and a stronger economy."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Want to Learn About NYC? Avoid the Internet.

Kenneth T. Jackson speaking in Union Square.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
New York City is one of the most fascinating and culturally rich cities in the world. With all the details and history of this vibrant metropolis, Kenneth T. Jackson feels it is essential to have a compilation of credible information about the city for people to reference. So he helped create one, "The Encyclopedia of New York City."

Jackson edited the book's second edition, which was released last month.

"The Internet, whether it's Wikipedia or Google, has killed reference books around the country," Jackson said last night at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. "Even the Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer in physical form. But with this, you can turn to any page and learn things you didn't know about New York City and know it's all true. You can't do that with the Internet."

The second edition has over 5,000 entries and 700 illustrations. Jackson says that even though it is called an encyclopedia, it should be on coffee tables in homes, not just on a shelf in a library.

"The idea is to reach a general public with this book," Jackson said. "Not just to reach a specialized library reference audience."

Jackson, who is also a professor at Columbia University, was part of the team that released the original edition of it in 1995. He says the editors saw that New York City has changed in many ways since then, from the World Trade Center no longer being a part of the city skyline to the implementing of the E-Z subway pass, all of which are reflected in the second edition.

"I think there's more information about one city between the two covers of this book than any book on any other city in the history of the world," Jackson said.

With all the information Jackson learned about New York City during his research, he says there was one thing that surprised him the most.

"I was surprised that New York was the oyster capital," Jackson said. "I found out that half of all oysters in the world are brought in from the New York Harbor. I think that's surprising."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

'The New Yorker' Editor: "I Think Obama Will Be Re-Elected"

Editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
David Remnick, the editor of "The New Yorker," revealed his prediction of who will win the presidential election in 2012.

"I think that Obama will be re-elected," Remnick said during an event at the 92nd Street Y in the Upper East Side last night. "Right now, with nine percent unemployment, he still has a popularity rating of now high 40s and I don't see him losing."

He also listed a few candidates for the Republican nomination, but said he doesn't expect any of them to be able to beat Obama.

"I can't see Mitt Romney doing it," Remnick said. "And as many nightmares as I've had in my life, I can't see Sarah Palin either."

Remnick, who wrote the 2010 biography, "The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama," said he doesn't find fault with Obama for not having any CEO's in his first cabinet.

"I have to say that the people who feel underrepresented in the economic policy-making of the United States do not seem, to me, to be investment bankers and CEO's," Remnick said. "I think those interests are pretty well taken care of. Those people were rescued."

"I think the people in America who are underrepresented, who are angry and who are suffering, are the unemployed, the people who are graduating from college and are taking on jobs that they never could have imagined, the people who had their houses foreclosed. I find this so-called rage among the CEO's and business class, who feel somehow ignored and betrayed, to be comical."

Remnick said the constant news cycle changed the media, but that there's no point in reflecting on a time when we didn't have it.

"You can't wish away technology," Remnick said. "There's crap on the Internet and there's very good things on there too. It just is what it is."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Author Brad Meltzer: Bush 41 Helped With New Book

Author Brad Meltzer's new book was released this week.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Presidential tradition dictates that an outgoing Commander-in-Chief leaves a letter for the incoming president, and the letter remains confidential between these leaders. But political author Brad Meltzer revealed last night that during research for his latest book, he received a copy of the message George H.W. Bush wrote to Bill Clinton.

"He sent this letter to me and told me that no one had ever seen this before," Meltzer said during a discussion at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. "I love that he trusted me with it."

The Brooklyn native's latest conspiracy novel, "The Inner Circle," was released yesterday. It's the story of a political archivist discovering secret stories and documents in the White House and solving political mysteries.

His discussion Tuesday night didn't just focus on politics. Meltzer, who also hosts "Brad Meltzer's Decoded" on the History Channel, also discussed how he feels the Facebook phenomenon is changing our culture.

"With Facebook, you are immediately confronted with your past," Meltzer said. "It's like someone is confronted with their own history and it makes you ask that question, which to me is the whole question of what the book is, is 'what has your life become?' I'm fascinated with that."

To answer that question, Meltzer said that even with all of his recognition he's had for his books and TV show, he has a different way of measuring success.

"No one is known in life for the famous things that they did," Meltzer said. "Thomas Jefferson never took credit for writing [The Declaration of Independence] while he was alive. IT wasn't until people read his obituary that they knew he was the author. That kind of humility, I think, is what makes a person. That is how I think you know when you have made it."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Author Rachel Machacek Hopes to Turn New Book Into a Movie

Rachel Machacek reads an excerpt from her new book.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Author Rachel Machacek released her tome, "The Science of Single: One Woman's Grand Experiment in Modern Dating, Creating Chemistry, and Finding Love," this week and revealed last night that she is open to turning it into a movie.

"I have a friend in Los Angeles who is bugging me to turn this into a screen play," Machacek said last night at the Borders in Murray Hill. "I don't have any immediate plans, but I'd like to."

The book chronicles her dating experiences over a year and says she went on approximately 150 dates with around 60 different men during that time.

Machacek, 37, said her original idea for the book was to tell stories from dates where she implemented tips from romance self-help books, but her plans changed.

"I decided that was too boring," Machacek said. "Instead I decided to write about the science of the dating process" -- and this is where she got the title of her book.

Machacek lives in Washington D.C., a place she considers a "serious city," and says this doesn't make dating for an introvert easy. Because of this, she turned to technology, including online dating. She now says it's one of her preferred dating methods.

"It's the easiest way," Machacek said. "You just go online, click on people, put them in your shopping cart, you wink at them, or you hotlist them, or you flag them. It's just easy."


This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Tim Gunn Defends Book's Unflattering Anna Wintour Depiction

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
"Project Runway" host Tim Gunn defended his decision to keep the controversial anecdote about Anna Wintour's diva behavior in his book during a talk in Manhattan last night.

"[It's in there] because of the aftermath," Gunn told the audience at 92nd Street Y in the Upper East Side Sunday evening. "There are three aspect to it: don't bully, don't threaten and accept responsibility."

In his tome "Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making it Work," the fashion guru details how Wintour allegedly had her bodyguards carry her down the stairs rather than take the elevator following Peter Som's 2006 fashion show at the Metropolitan Pavilion.

Gunn also confessed he "never dreamed" he'd be part of the wildly successful fashion reality TV show in which his wry use of phrases such as "Carry on" and "Make it work" became part of the zeitgeist.

"I never dreamed that I would be part of it," Gunn said. "No one was more shocked about it than I."

He added, "I loved taping season one. It was entirely a new life experience for me. I had never been part of anything like that."

Gunn also said fashion reality TV contestants aren't guaranteed fame like many in the reality TV music industry.

"I don't for a moment want to trivialize 'American Idol,' so forgive me in advance," Gunn said. "If you are an alumnus or an alumna of 'American Idol' you could potentially hang your shingle outside, fill this beautiful auditorium and sing to them. For a fashion designer, it's much more complex. The designers who have been on the show can only achieve as much as their ambitions and their resources really allow them to."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

My story lead the NBC New York home page and was linked up in the celebrity entertainment section in the other nine NBC local-media markets: Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Connecticut, and Dallas-Fort Worth. 

Portia De Rossi: My Secrets Made Me Sick

Portia de Rossi speaks about her book "Unbearable Lightness."

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Starlet Portia de Rossi said the burden of keeping her emotions bottled up and her eating disorder hidden made her ill.

"It's a classic, stupid thing to say, but the secrets make you sick," de Rossi said. "I had to come out as having eating disorders and only by doing that could I really, truly say that I'm fully recovered."

De Rossi, 37, promoting her memoir at an Upper East Side Barnes and Noble over the weekend, said she battled anorexia from the start of her career as a model at age 12 until the time she played Nell Porter on "Ally McBeal" in 1998.

"I became aware, by the end of the book, that while I was really talking about wasn't my eating disorder and it wasn't my sexuality, it was this struggle for self acceptance and to be able to just feel comfortable in my own skin," de Rossi said of her tome "Unbearable Lightness."

De Rossi, who came out in 2005, has credited wife Ellen DeGeneres with helping her come to terms with her identity and said Friday night she found writing the book to be cathartic.

"It sounds very selfish in a way, but I really wrote this book for myself," de Rossi said. "I wrote it for my teenage self. I wrote it thinking that it was the book I wished I could've had access to when I was suffering so deeply from the disorder and struggling with my sexuality."

She added, "When I first realized that what I was writing was going to be called a memoir, I thought, I'm only 37. It just sounded so grandiose ... Then I thought, I'm not going to write about the event that happened in my life, I'm going to talk about the events that happened in my head."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Famed Playwright Neil LaBute Battles Stage Fright

Playwright Neil LaBute spoke at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
"In the Company of Men" playwright Neil LaBute said he felt on edge about the Thursday night debut of his latest show starring David Duchovny and Amanda Peet.

"It is an exciting and horrifying thing," the famed scribe known for his dark and comedic explorations of morality told an intimate crowd at the Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo last night about the debut of his latest work, "The Break of Noon."

LaBute, whose "Reasons to be Pretty" was nominated for a Tony in 2009, read from the new work, which chronicles the life of an employee who claims to see the face of God following the worst office shooting in America. LaBute also read from past work and shared a short story he wrote just that morning for the event.

"I'm happy I still have a pleasure for writing," LaBute said. "I sit down and write things because I like it, not because it's for anything, but because it's a pleasure to do it."

LaBute also revealed why he tends to weave in corporate culture into his work. He said his fascination with business jargon developed when he worked for a software company while studying at NYU.

"I loved the sound of the foreign language that I didn't understand in the offices," LeBute said. "Nobody ever seemed to really be doing anything but would say, 'I have this meeting and I have to file a 507 later today.' I loved the banter and I've put that into the world of the offices I write about."

"The Break of Noon" is debuting at the MCC Theater in Manhattan tonight.

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

"What Not To Wear's" Clinton Kelly Reveals Secret to New Book: Tourists!

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Fashion guru and "What Not to Wear" co-host Clinton Kelly told the crowd at 92nd Street Y last night that many of the style mistakes mentioned in his latest book came from an afternoon he spent sitting by the window at a Times Square Starbucks.

"I just watched all the tourists go by," Kelly said during the final stop on the tour for his new book, Oh No She Didn't: The Top 100 Style Mistakes Women Make and How to Avoid Them. "I kept writing down fashion mistake after fashion mistake after fashion mistake. In the time it took me to drink one tall latte, I had 85 of the 100 mistakes."

Kelly also addressed his relationship with "WNTW" co-host Stacy London.

"Stacy and I get along really well," Kelly said. "We are great friends at work and we make each other laugh every single day. I guess we're lucky like that."

Kelly divulged his fashion do's and don'ts, drawing on stories from the show as well as his latest tome.

"Sweat pants are the devil," Kelly said. "They will only make your life worse. Only wear sweat pants when you are sweating."

He also advised all women to only use fashion magazines as a tool to learn about the latest trends, not to define your personal style.

"Style is how you take fashion and make it your own."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Russell Brand: "I Am Excited About Getting Married"

Katy Perry and Russell Brand are expected to wed soon.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

British comic Russell Brand said he was thrilled about his upcoming nuptials to pop starlet Katy Perry.

"I will say I am excited about getting married," Brand said Wednesday night at Barnes and Noble in Manhattan while promoting his new book "Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal."

"It's a lovely thing to get married. I think it's a peaceful thing and I'm very happy about it."

The couple got engaged last year, but Brand remained mum on the details and did not reveal a specific date or place for the wedding.

In lieu of a traditional reading, Brand interacted with the wall-to-wall crowd -- answering their questions and telling jokes. He humorously informed fans "that man on Facebook is not me."

While Brand's fiance is busy with her concert tour, the "Get Him to the Greek" star started a weekly radio show on the UK station talkSPORT earlier this month, which follows him on his book tour for the next 20 weeks.

Brand also revealed last night that before too long he will have another radio show to tune into -- this time it will be in the states.

"There will soon be a new radio show on Sirius," Brand said. "Look out for that."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Ari Berman at the White Slab Palace Bar

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Political journalist Ari Berman told NiteSide at "The Little Idea" rally last night that there is a core group he feels is being affected the most by the bad economy.

"The people who are really getting hurt by the economy are Obama's base -- young people, minorities to some extent, single women -- these are the ones who are really getting hit hard," Berman said at the White Slab Palace Bar in the Lower East Side. "They expected a change and now they're getting the short end of the stick with the economy."

Berman, a reporter for "The Nation" magazine, touches on this in his book, "Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics," which was released this month.

"Basically if you have a catchy title, you have to have a clunky, long subtitle," he joked. "But the subtitle is indicative because the book is about the evolution of the Democratic Party in American politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama."

Dean, the former Governor of Vermont, was unsuccessful in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and Berman felt this was an important story to include in his book.

"I wanted to tell the story of the grass roots political movement that propelled Barack Obama to the White House," Berman said. "I felt like a lot of the books about Barack Obama, while a lot of them were very good, were missing that story."

He also felt it was crucial to visit states such as Indiana, Colorado, and North Carolina for his research so he could see how campaigners "turned these red states blue."

"I felt like then I wouldn't just have a book about politics," Berman said. "I would also have a book about the broader view into what is happening in the country.

Arianna Huffington: 9,000 Have Signed Up For Bus Ride to D.C. Rally

Arianna Huffington after speaking at the White Slab Palace.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Arianna Huffington said more than 9,000 have taken her up on her televised offer to bus anyone interested from New York to Jon Stewart's rally in D.C. later this month.

"I'm expecting more to join us," Huffington told NiteSide at "The Little Idea" rally at White Slab Palace in the Lower East Side Wednesday night. "I'm sure Jon Stewart will be there too but probably the day before."

Though the media maven shocked "The Daily Show" audience on Sept. 28 when she offered free buses from her offices in SoHo to the Oct. 30 "Rally to Restore Sanity" in D.C., she had an agenda of her own last night: promoting her latest book "Third World America."

"We aren't a third world yet but are an interjectory to be a third world because it gives it a sense of urgency," Huffington said. "I talk about what we need to do to revitalizing ourselves, the community, and the country."

She encourages everyone to remove funds from big-time banks and instead invest in their local counterparts as part of her Move Your Money campaign.

"While money controls politics, we are less in control than we should be," she said. "Ultimately, the ones who are in control are the ones who are giving the big donations and sending the lobbyists up on the Hill."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

"Girls to the Front" Author Sara Marcus Pushes Punk Rock and Lady Gaga

Sara Marcus at her book launch party in Williamsburg.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
It is possible to be a fan of both subversive punk rock and pop music's biggest current star? Author Sara Marcus thinks so. She recently wrote "Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution," the first book to document the history of the underground, feminist, punk music movement of the 1990s. Turns out, though, she now also admires Lady Gaga.

"I have to say, even though I'm not a fan at all of Lady Gaga's music, I really have a lot of respect for the way that she's using her celebrity as a platform to be a beacon of hope to the freaks and the misfits among today's teens and adolescents," Marcus said. "You don't see very many mainstream artists speaking specifically to those kids the way that she does."

Marcus celebrated the release of her book Saturday night at the Williamsburg venue and bar, Bruar Falls.

Growing up in the midst of this feminist punk scene inspired Marcus to write the book. Having the support of Riot Grrrl superstar and former Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna (who is married to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz) sure didn't hurt, either. 

"[Hanna] told me that she was really glad I was the one doing this," Marcus said. "So that was really helpful and really encouraging."

Marcus also said that while thousands of scholarly papers have been written about this generation of underground music, she wanted to be the first to write a narrative book about it, in order to make sure everything was captured correctly.

"It just seemed like if I didn't write it based on the experiences of me and the people that I knew, someone else was going to write the book," Marcus said. "And they would write it about this distorted idea and the real power of [the movement] was going to be lost."

While she had an array of legendary sources for her book, Marcus says her favorite was a woman connected to and a big fan of the Riot Grrrl scene, but whose name was never in the headlines. 

"Mary Margaret is in the book from the beginning right through the very end," Marcus said. "She let me into her life in this profound way that it influenced the way that I approached the book. She instilled me with this great sense of awe and humility and the responsibility I had to honor the lives and experiences of everyone in the book. It really set the tone for everything."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Author Don LePan Says an "Ethical Impairment" Inspired His Novel

Don LePan during his reading at KGB Bar in the East Village.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Author Don LePan, reading excerpts from his latest fiction work at KGB Bar in the East Village over the weekend, said the inspiration from his tome came from a passion to stop factory farming.

"It was an ethical impairment, really," LePan told NiteSide. 

"I'd been really upset about factory farming and I thought surely I can write something to make some kind of contribution to the effort to stop factory farming. The moment I had that thought, within 30 seconds, the story line for it came together in my mind."

LePan read from his book "Animals" Sunday night at the venerated watering hole, which hosts Sunday Night Fiction where emerging writers come to reveal their work. Though the scribe said he felt reaction to the book has been positive, he hopes to reach more people. 

"I only feel it would be a success if the numbers (of people reached) were far, far larger," LePan said. "'Black Beauty' had a huge impact on the treatment of horses in the Western world and it would be great to have an impact like that."

While he does feel passionate about the issues he addresses in this book, LePan is shifting gears for his next novel, entitled "1940."

"It is a romance novel based on my parents situation," LePan said. "Its' a very different sort of novel."

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.