Yesterday I snuck my way in to Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia University. Well, not snuck exactly- my name was on the RSVP list and I had a printout of my confirmation, but it was only with the help of an “inside man” that I was able to arrange it- alumni of Columbia (which I am) were not invited, just students and faculty.

It was a pretty fascinating experience. I had to push through protesters and a throng of media in order to get to the entrance of Lerner Hall, the student center where he gave the speech. In the lobby, I could hear the university publicist talking on his cell phone, using similar language to that I hear in the entertainment media world: “Yeah, well i think the USA Today editorial really helped us, and Brian Lehrer’s commentary on WNYC worked in our favor as well, so i think we’re in pretty good shape going into this afternoon…” etc.

As has been reported widely, CU president Lee Bollinger gave a blistering introduction- I am surprised that Ahmadinejad was able to keep his cool (although the first portion of his remarks was a gripe about said intro). He then launched into a rambling discourse on the origins and benefits of science, followed by some oft-repeated complaints about how the west has misused and monopolized science for their own nefarious purposes. I’ll leave analysis of his subsequent remarks about Iran’s nuclear program, its treatment of academics, women, dissidents, Jews, and homosexuals, and his own questioning of the holocaust to the serious news outlets. What I’ll note though is that Stephen Colbert’s observation about the pacification of America held true. Nobody disrupted the speech, nobody protested inside the auditorium, nobody walked out en masse. Given the students’ hostile reception to Jim Gilchrist, founder of the minutemen, you’d think they’d be ten times as incensed at Ahmadenijad’s presence, but I believe that President Bollinger’s excoriating intro may have defused some of that energy. Plus, the presence of dozens of U.S. secret service agents and the sheer curiosity factor of hearing what he had to say probably also kept protestors in check.

It was history in the making, and I’m glad I had a chance to witness it firsthand.

I read this morning that Chamillionaire does’t curse on his new album Ultimate Victory (although a title that ambitious can be a curse in itself).

It reminded me that he isn’t the first artist to clean things up.

In July of 1991, Heavy D and The Boyz released their third album, ‘Peaceful Journey,’ which contains the best self-consciously profanity-free rap of all time, “Don’t Curse”. It was perfectly timed, given that hip-hop was then at the center of a major controversy over obscene, violent, and sexist lyrics.

Just a year earlier, in 1990, the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” label had become the industry standard to warn parents and children of offensive content thanks to the efforts of activists like Tipper Gore and groups like the Parents’ Music Resource Council. 2 Live Crew had stoked the furor over racy lyrics to new heights when they released ‘As Nasty As They Wanna Be’ in 1989, and in 1992, Ice-T would bring things to a head with his song “Cop Killer” (which he was already playing on tour in the summer of 1991).

Faced with all this outrage, Heavy D got together with what might be the best all-around collection of lyricists to grace one track until Nas’ mind-boggling where are they now megamix to record “Don’t Curse”- a lighthearted, clever, playful take on the controversy over a typically brilliant beat by Pete Rock, based on a sample Otis Redding’s “Tramp”. It’s one of my all-time favorite party jams, made even better by Big Daddy Kane’s uber-suave purple ensemble, and the “In Living Color” inspired set and fly girl dancers. Check it out.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iztp036z54]

Lyle Lovett, Howard Stern, baseball analyst Harold Reynolds, Atlanta Braves’ left fielder Matt Diaz, and Uma Thurman are a roster of celebrities you would not normally expect to encounter all in one day, but that is what happened to Michael McDermott and I during his press day here in NYC.

Michael and I started off at SIRIUS, where he did a great, intimiate 30 minute interview with Meg Griffin. Aferwards, he performed four songs from his new album “Noise From Words” in Studio A, the main glass-walled studio in the lobby . While he was warming up, Howard Stern walked by and gave Michael the nod. Shortly afterwards, Lyle Lovett showed up for a studio session of his own. That blur in the background behind Michael is Lyle- I swear!

Our next stop was the MLB.com studios for an interview on their “Midday” program. Michael is a major Cubs fan and has sung the national anthem not only at multiple Cubs games, but also for the White Sox, the Packers, the Lakers, and the LA Kings. In the lobby we ran into veteran baseball analyst Harold Reynolds who chatted with Michael briefly about the Cubs’ playoff chances. And in the studio just befor us was hot-hitting Braves LF Matt Diaz.

We wrapped up the day at Bloomberg Radio for an interview with arts reporter Paul Goguen. We finished early, so Paul treated to drinks at a nearby restaurant while we waited for Michael’s ride to the airport. The bartender told us we’d just missed Uma Thurman, who’d been parked in the corner booth for most of the afternoon. A near-miss, but still an interesting end to a very busy day.

As has been previously noted on this blog, we were treated us to an absolutely delicious lunch at Peter Luger last week. I don’t have much to add to the serifs that have already been devoted to the subject except this little tidbit, that struck me given our company’s business.

Hanging in the foyer of the restaurant was a reprint of Stanton Delaplane’s “Postcard From New York” column in the San Francisco Chronicle, dated 1953, meaning it probably was filed to the SF Chron offices from New York literally as a postcard. The relevant passage reads “Peter Luger’s is famous for being frequented by news-paper people and press agents- and for a very curious reason. The steaks are so excellent that the press agents and New York columnists have agreed not to let it get in the press lest you and I fall upon this retreat and crowd it.”

I guess the secret is out now, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the food- his description of the meal he had during the Eisenhower administration sounded EXACTLY like what we had for lunch that day.

Tuesday night I had the great privilege of seeing our client Suzanne Vega at Joe’s Pub, performing music from her new album ‘Beauty & Crime’, out July 17 on Blue Note. I don’t often gush like this, but I was floored. She’s such a beguiling and powerful presence on stage, her songs are rich and melodious, and the band was just killer.

All the new material translated beautifully from CD to stage, and the few older songs she played were a revelation. She even pulled off a faithful reproduction of the DNA dance remix of ‘Tom’s Diner’ (a song whose famous hook I first heard as a precocious 4th grader on the track ‘Set The Mood’ From the Austrian Euro-house trio Bingoboys’ 1991 release The Best of The Bingoboys). It was also fun to picture myself in the song; I spent many a morning after an all-nighter at Columbia guzzling coffee and eating a greasy breakfast at the very counter she sings of.

You can check out Steve Smith’s evocative recap of the evening on TONY’s blog here

This week was a busy one in NYC for The Tragically Hip, who are in the midst of a U.S. tour in support of their tremendous new album ‘World Container’. On Monday I escorted Gord Downie to interviews at WNYC, Extra, and Bloomberg Radio. Here is Gord with Producer/reporter/ Hip afficianado Paul Goguen of Bloomberg.

Gord is one of the most fascinating musicians I’ve spent time with- over the course of the day we talked about everything from Mid-20th century Eastern European literature to global warming to bike riding, to little tricks you can do with a pen, like flipping it around your thumb (a habit we both share, it turns out).

Tuesday, Aliza Rabinoff took Gord to CNN for an interview with Shannon Cook that aired on their online video service CNN Pipeline. Later that night, the guys put on a cracking, 2-hour, sold-out show at Irving Plaza.

Afterwards, Gord stopped to say hi to Shannon Cook and CBS Tech Reporter Daniel Sieberg…

…while Shore Fire’s Mark Satlof and Mike Mettler of Sound & Vision (a veteran of over 150 Hip shows) played it cool.

It’s no secret that there are some major baseball rivalries here at Shore Fire. Diana, myself, and the elusive Chris Thieke are huge Yankees fans, while Boston transplant Nick Loss-Eaton favors the Red Sox. I believe that there are a few Mets partisans lurking about the office as well.

One thing we can agree on, however, is that this youtube clip has everything that makes baseball such a great spectator sport: fan-player interaction, internecine fighting, grown men acting like children, bored announcers, inappropriate use of the slo-mo and replay buttons, and most importantly, flying pizza.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsdes0QI4W4]

Thanks to Deadspin for the link. Their hard hitting investigative work on this story is here.