In a pickle: Cameron Kerry, John Kerry’s younger brother, recently spent a day touring New York City with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver and Kerry stopped at one attraction not to be missed, Noah’s Ark deli on Grand St., where Silver gave a quick primer on the merits of dill versus sour pickles. Kerry is Jewish, having converted for his marriage.
American in pain: The only child of famous composer George Gershwin, Alan Gershwin, 78, called last week, desperate to get some help for his “one and only,” Blossom Tracy, whom Gerswhin claims was done wrong by N.Y.U. Dental Clinic. According to Gershwin, in 1998, Tracy — whose last husband was the late Arthur Tracy, “The Street Singer” — went in for implants and had four good teeth pulled, only to realize years later her sinuses had been punctured. They now want to file a malpractice suit. “I’m just hoping there’s a courageous attorney out there who won’t be scared off by the statute of limitations,” he said. A former Navy medic who fought on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Gershwin speaks about his father on cruise ships and river paddleboats — talk about “Old Man River.” He lives on 55th St., but can sometimes be found at Pennyfeathers restaurant on Seventh Ave. S., where he’s good friends with owner Angela Boone.
Chalk session: Although the protester arrest cases from the Republican National Convention are still being sorted out, one case civil rights attorney Norman Siegel has is that of Josh Kinberg, who was arrested for having an unusual bike that writes messages on the street with chalk, similar to skywriters. Siegel said he may very well have to call as a witness MSNBC reporter Ronald Reagan, Jr., who was interviewing Kinberg at the time.
Spinning Duane: Steven Evans, campaign manager for Emily Csendes, state Senator Tom Duane’s Republican challenger, says that when Csendes asked of Duane in a recent e-mail “Where are you?” she was really referring to Duane’s having the “second worst attendance record in the Senate over the last two years.” According to Evans, Duane was absent from the Senate 21 days during the span. Duane admits he missed a few days in Albany, but attributes that to a three-week course in government he attended at the J.F.K. School at Harvard. “They encouraged me to apply and I did and it was a great experience,” Duane said. “In fact, going to the J.F.K. School was a further commitment on how to better serve my constituents.” Duane says over the past six years, his attendance was “very good.” “I think political discourse would be better if more people tried to keep it on a positive-issues-oriented field,” he said, adding he’d welcome a debate with Csendes, if only some organization like the League of Women Voters would set it up.
Leary gets burned: Actor Dennis Leary may think he’s pretty tough, but East Villagers are proving even tougher. After activist John Penley protested Leary’s filming his “Rescue Me” firefighters series on E. Third St., Leary threatened in Page Six to “kick his ass up and down the block.” But neighbors, in a team effort, apparently scared Leary off when he tried to film in the neighborhood again recently. Penley said he stuck up his own signs — saying “ ‘Rescue Me’ disrespects our block and firemen,” with the phone number for the Mayor’s Film Office — under the “No Parking” signs the film crew plastered on E. Third St. Meanwhile, an E. Second St. resident blared classical music out his window when they tried to film there. “Margarita Lopez’s office made a call, too,” Penley added. “People here on Second, Third, Fourth Sts. have had it.”
Schwartz is back: Arthur Schwartz, Greenwich Village Democratic district leader, says he’s “ready to reengage” with Community Board 2. “I’ve only been to one board meeting in the past year,” he admitted last month. Schwartz was busy taking care of his wife, Kelly, who had a life-threatening health condition after giving birth to their daughter, Jordyn. As for his stint as Village district leader, Schwartz is now in his 10th year. “No one was district leader this long except Carmine De Sapio,” he noted. Well, we all know what happened to De Sapio now, don’t we?
