Page 1 Roundup (04/11)

The Daily News: Trump administration rejects Democratic demand for president’s tax returns, likely paving way for legal battle

Man paralyzed by falling subway debris awarded $110M in MTA lawsuit

CNN: Jeff Bezos to meet with federal prosecutors on extortion and hacking claims

The Hill: Shocker! Trump is going to get out of having his taxes seen by the very people he is required to show them to

ESPN: Feast your eyes on 6-4, 263-pound Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa

New York Post: I don't want to be a part of this society anymore

The Washington Post: Netanyahu win would complicate prognosis for peace plan, analysts say

The New York Times: The U.S. immigration system may have reached a breaking point

Pete Buttigieg challenges religious right on its own turf

Imagining America in 2024

GQ: JFK Jr. had some freaky office style secrets, like a closet full of designer stuff he'd hand out to assistants

The Wrap: Charles Van Doren, champion of rigged '50s quiz shows, dies at 93

Rolling Stone: Conleth Hill on why Debbie Harry accompanied him to the "Game of Thrones" premiere 

The Wall Street Journal: Old wood can cost more than new lumber -- but people want it anyway

John-John Had Legs, Knew How to Use 'Em

I probably won't be buying Christopher Andersen's new biography about John F. Kennedy Jr. -- "The Good Son: JFK JR. and the Mother He Loved" for the stories. We've all heard about his romances with Sarah Jessica Parker(!), Daryl Hannah, Christina Haag and, finally, Carolyn Bessette. And how Jackie O did not approve of many of them, including Madonna. But if it includes more photos like this wire shot of his taking a break from jogging shirtless in Central Park, I may just need a copy to keep under my pillow. 

Order HERE.

Post Script

Hard to say which New York Post cover made me more sad this weekend: Sunday's "JFK Jr. Death Fight," in which two reporters I know and like continue to shamelessly cull through Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ill-gotten private diaries, this time revealing intimate moments the Kennedy family went through after its Golden Boy tragically died in a 1999 plane crash with his wife and sister-in-law.

Or Saturday's "Burnie Goetz," detailing the arrest of subway vigilante Bernard Goetz, who was obviously entrapped by a female undercover cop. That the NYPD has nothing better to do than go after a destitute 65-year-old man who was probably just looking for the attention of a woman -- for a "drug" that isn't even illegal in some parts of the country -- is just pathetic. Aren't there some real criminals you could be going after, guys? Even former chief of police Bernard Kerik thinks this war on drugs is bullshit ... now.

Sounds like the NYPD has nothing better to do now that New York City is the fourth safest city in America. (My childhood home of Mesa is No. 5!)

Exit INTERVIEW

I suppose it could just be that more cool things tend to happen in entertainment at the end of the year, but for the third time in a row I received the final copy of one of my magazine subscriptions that I wasn't planning to renew (for general lack of interest) only to find it to be the most wonderful issue I've seen in ages. This time around it's INTERVIEW, which happens to be the 40th anniversary issue. While the cover is nothing to get that excited about -- that's Kristen Stewart, whom I've enjoyed enough in a couple of films and predict will do a good job as Joan Jett in the Runaways biopic -- it's what's inside that I found fascinating, even if it only serves to reiterate why I've lost interest in the mag's current incarnation. This anniversary issue, of course, it's jam-packed with old photos from the '70s and '80s when -- here I go -- stars were stars and the New York nightlife scene was alive and happening.

Classic photos of a sleeveless Richard Gere by Herb Rittz in '83, Madonna screaming by Laura Levine in '83, Grace Jones by Chris Von Wagenheim in '77, a photo of a nearly unrecognizable Debbie Harry by Barry McKinley in '79, Steve Rubell's Fire Island Pool Party by Marina Schiano in '79, plus Sean Penn and Madonna lying in the grass by Herb Ritts in 1985, the moment I believe Madonna was at her most beautiful ever.

Think I'm just hammering home my Tired Old Queen status? Consider this: in the sections divided by decade, the '70s features wonderful snaps of David Bowie, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Olivia Newton-John, Michael Jackson plus this photo of Bob Colacello, Jerry Hall, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Truman Capote and Paloma Picasso at what they say was the 10th anniversary party for magazine in 1979 but Life says was a 1978 affair at Studio 54 for Deb's cover. (Not sure who's right.)

The '80s sees John Waters, Divine, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Steve Rubell (all at Area), plus Liza Minnelli and Halston, Keith Haring, Debi Mazar, Lou Reed, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro.

The '90s have their moment, with fun photos of Madonna with Versace and Ingrid Casares, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, a young-and-in-love Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt, plus some scary Club Kids like Michael Alig and Olympia.

Then come the '00s, with "can't-forget moments" with Lindsay Lohan, Emma Watson(?), Lauren Santo Domingo(?), Natalia Vodianova(?), Lily Donaldson(?), Gemma Ward(?), Andrea Castragi(?) and Lazaro Hernanez(?). (Any questions as to why I'm not renewing?)

If you're only going to be buy more issue of INTERVIEW magazine, though, October/November 2009 is the one to get.

Thursday Cover Men

Capturing the Spirit of John-John Kennedy

More photos after the jump. ----->

Nearly everyone born in the post-Kennedy assassination generation agrees that the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. was our first brush with a national tragedy, one that felt like the loss of a family member. I'll bet you can remember where you were that fateful Friday afternoon, back in 1999, when you heard John-John's plane had gone missing, with his wife, Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette on board. My friends Jay and Ed and I had just pulled up to their summer rental in Amagansett when we sensed something horrible was going on. The house, normally loud and rambunctuous on a sunny July afternoon in the Hamptons, was quiet as a funeral home. As we approached the sliding glass door, we could see a group of people glued to the television in silence. Never one to shy away from putting my foot in my mouth, I tried to liven things up a bit with a silly, "Are we at war or something?" (The irony of that seemingly over-the-top statement is not lost on me now.) No one said a word, much less a courtesy laugh. I don't think we left the house -- or the TV area -- that sad weekend.

The stylist Emmanuelle Alt along with photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have captured the casual style that defined John-John in the new Vogue Hommes International, and the results are at times eerie and, of course, like the man who inspired the look, very sexy. Both John and his mother were like New York institutions, and their presence is greatly missed.

More photos after the jump. ----->