The Week in Pictures for Feb. 15

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include a gigantic Northeast snowstorm, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg’s retirement announcement and the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in Sunday’s Times, Sam Roberts will spea with The Times’s Bill Keller, Rosie Schaap and Eleanor Randolph. Also, Bill de Blasio, a mayoral candidate, and Jerry Goldfeder, an election lawyer. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured daily in the main print news section of The Times. You may also browse highlights from the blog and reader comments, read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Madison Square Garden, Permit Lapsed, Faces New Planning Pressure

Madison Square Garden Zoning Text Amendment Environmental Impact Statement The Eighth Avenue facade of Madison Square Garden as it would appear with new signage sought by the Madison Square Garden Company.

Madison Square Garden has been operating without a zoning permit for three weeks and will keep doing so in the near future.

David W. Dunap/The New York Times Detail of the James A. Farley Building, across Eighth Avenue from Madison Square Garden.

On Jan. 24, 1963, the Board of Estimate â€" then the city’s most powerful governing body â€" granted a special permit to allow construction of a new Madison Square Garden arena, with 22,000 seats, directly atop the Pennsylvania Station passenger concourse. The permit was required, in part, because the arena exceeded the 2,500-seat limit that zoning rules imposed on the site. It was to set to expire 50 years after approval.

Yes, for those doing the math at home: The expiration date has come and gone.

Now, the Garden is not in violation of the city’s zoning law. It has already applied for an indefinite extension of its permit, and the Buildings Department has been granting temporary certificates of occupancy.

The Madison Square ! Garden Company, which is headed by James L. Dolan, said in a statement on Tuesday, “We fully expect to continue to operate the arena in the ordinary course.”

The expiration of the permit is more than a matter of administrative arcana, however. It has been seized on by advocates of a comprehensive planning process for Penn Station and the Garden. They want the City Planning Commission to use the permit renewal as leverage to compel serious discussion about moving the arena to a new site, and getting it off the top of the train station â€" an idea that surfaces and sinks again with some regularity.

“We shouldn’t just resign ourselves to the status quo,” Raju Mann, the acting chairman of the land use committee of Community Board 5, said in an interview.

On Thursday, as the Garden’s application began its journey through the city’s land-use procedure, Community Board 5 voted 36 to 0, with one abstention, to deny the permit extension, as well as the Garden’s accompanying request to install much larger signage on the Eighth Avenue facade.

Instead, the board proposed that the permit be extended only for 10 years, enough time for a thoughtful plan to be developed, but not so much time as to allow Garden executives and city officials to ignore or shrug off the idea. The board said it believed that a new arena at a different location would be “in the long-term interests of the tens of millions of people who travel through Penn Station every year,” as well as nearby property owners, New York City generally and the region as a whole.

The Madison Square Garden Company said in its application (PDF) that large new promotional and advertising signs would “enliven and enrich the ! public ex! perience” in the surrounding area “by creating a visual connection between the indoor activity and outside, thus expanding the excitement of the Garden into the streetscape.”

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Community Board 5 said it was “concerned about the visual impact of new illuminated signage” installed at Madison Square Garden on the facade of the James A. Farley Building, across Eighth Avenue.

The community board said it opposed the signage because the large new LED billboards would be directly aross Eighth Avenue from the landmark James A. Farley Building, a monumental post office with a noble neo-Classical colonnade. The board said the presence of more advertising around the Eighth Avenue entrances to Penn Station â€" which are hard enough for newcomers to find unaided â€" “would likely confuse travelers and make this neighborhood even more difficult to navigate.”

Robert D. Yaro, the president of the Regional Plan Association, a private organization, said in an interview: “I have this old-fashioned idea that New Yorkers are entitled to having a world-class arena in Manhattan and a world-class train station. We’ve demonstrated convincingly that you can’t have both of these on the same site.” He said that a shorter extension of the special permit was a “pretty good idea” as a planning measure.

The architecture critic of The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman, made a similar point in a Critic’s Notebook on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the planning agency noted in a statement this week that a permit without a time limit would be “typical of virtually all special permits granted by the City Planning Commission in recent years.”

But neither a spokeswoman for Madison Square Garden Company nor a spokeswoman for the City Planning Commission would directly answer the question of why an indefinite permit was necessary.

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Madison Square Garden as it appears now.

[The full text of the commission's resolution from Jan. 16, 1963, is available as a PDF. It is No. 9 on the calendar. Included is the rationale by which the commission refused to take into account the fact that building the Garden would mean razing the original Penn Station. "Whatever the merits of preserving and protecting privately owned buildings by virtue of their special historic, architectural or esthetic importance," the commission said, "the Zoning Resolution is not now an instrument for such protection."]

Madison Square Garden, Permit Lapsed, Faces New Planning Pressure

Madison Square Garden Zoning Text Amendment Environmental Impact Statement The Eighth Avenue facade of Madison Square Garden as it would appear with new signage sought by the Madison Square Garden Company.

Madison Square Garden has been operating without a zoning permit for three weeks and will keep doing so in the near future.

David W. Dunap/The New York Times Detail of the James A. Farley Building, across Eighth Avenue from Madison Square Garden.

On Jan. 24, 1963, the Board of Estimate â€" then the city’s most powerful governing body â€" granted a special permit to allow construction of a new Madison Square Garden arena, with 22,000 seats, directly atop the Pennsylvania Station passenger concourse. The permit was required, in part, because the arena exceeded the 2,500-seat limit that zoning rules imposed on the site. It was to set to expire 50 years after approval.

Yes, for those doing the math at home: The expiration date has come and gone.

Now, the Garden is not in violation of the city’s zoning law. It has already applied for an indefinite extension of its permit, and the Buildings Department has been granting temporary certificates of occupancy.

The Madison Square ! Garden Company, which is headed by James L. Dolan, said in a statement on Tuesday, “We fully expect to continue to operate the arena in the ordinary course.”

The expiration of the permit is more than a matter of administrative arcana, however. It has been seized on by advocates of a comprehensive planning process for Penn Station and the Garden. They want the City Planning Commission to use the permit renewal as leverage to compel serious discussion about moving the arena to a new site, and getting it off the top of the train station â€" an idea that surfaces and sinks again with some regularity.

“We shouldn’t just resign ourselves to the status quo,” Raju Mann, the acting chairman of the land use committee of Community Board 5, said in an interview.

On Thursday, as the Garden’s application began its journey through the city’s land-use procedure, Community Board 5 voted 36 to 0, with one abstention, to deny the permit extension, as well as the Garden’s accompanying request to install much larger signage on the Eighth Avenue facade.

Instead, the board proposed that the permit be extended only for 10 years, enough time for a thoughtful plan to be developed, but not so much time as to allow Garden executives and city officials to ignore or shrug off the idea. The board said it believed that a new arena at a different location would be “in the long-term interests of the tens of millions of people who travel through Penn Station every year,” as well as nearby property owners, New York City generally and the region as a whole.

The Madison Square Garden Company said in its application (PDF) that large new promotional and advertising signs would “enliven and enrich the ! public ex! perience” in the surrounding area “by creating a visual connection between the indoor activity and outside, thus expanding the excitement of the Garden into the streetscape.”

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Community Board 5 said it was “concerned about the visual impact of new illuminated signage” installed at Madison Square Garden on the facade of the James A. Farley Building, across Eighth Avenue.

The community board said it opposed the signage because the large new LED billboards would be directly aross Eighth Avenue from the landmark James A. Farley Building, a monumental post office with a noble neo-Classical colonnade. The board said the presence of more advertising around the Eighth Avenue entrances to Penn Station â€" which are hard enough for newcomers to find unaided â€" “would likely confuse travelers and make this neighborhood even more difficult to navigate.”

Robert D. Yaro, the president of the Regional Plan Association, a private organization, said in an interview: “I have this old-fashioned idea that New Yorkers are entitled to having a world-class arena in Manhattan and a world-class train station. We’ve demonstrated convincingly that you can’t have both of these on the same site.” He said that a shorter extension of the special permit was a “pretty good idea” as a planning measure.

The architecture critic of The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman, made a similar point in a Critic’s Notebook on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the planning agency noted in a statement this week that a permit without a time limit would be “typical of virtually all special permits granted by the City Planning Commission in recent years.”

But neither a spokeswoman for Madison Square Garden Company nor a spokeswoman for the City Planning Commission would directly answer the question of why an indefinite permit was necessary.

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times Madison Square Garden as it appears now.

[The full text of the commission's resolution from Jan. 16, 1963, is available as a PDF. It is No. 9 on the calendar. Included is the rationale by which the commission refused to take into account the fact that building the Garden would mean razing the original Penn Station. "Whatever the merits of preserving and protecting privately owned buildings by virtue of their special historic, architectural or esthetic importance," the commission said, "the Zoning Resolution is not now an instrument for such protection."]

Big Ticket | Towers of Limestone, Sold for $32.5 Million

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times A four-bedroom condo at 15 Central Park West includes several en-suite bathrooms.

The luster and lure of the statuesque limestone towers Robert A. M. Stern designed at 15 Central Park West have not diminished, nor apparently has the supply of well-heeled buyers who do not flinch at the notion of spending $7,000 or more per square foot for the privilege of residing there whenever they drop into town. A four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath condominium with multiple Central Park vistas has sold for $32.5 million and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records. The original listing price last June was $36 million.

At 4,584 suare feet, the apartment, No. 7D, is among the largest of the nonpenthouse units at 15 Central Park West, where the stunning penthouse formerly owned by Sanford I. Weill, the ex-head of Citigroup, famously sold last year for $88 million to absentee Russian owners. (Like most billionaires, they are partial to assembling a global residential footprint, as are the buyers of No. 7D, who will apparently use the residence as one in a string of impressive pieds-à-terre.)

Access to the apartment, which has monthly carrying charges of $9,271, is by a grand gallery that opens, through French doors, onto a 32-by-20-foot corner living room with park views. The adjacent library, with its built-in accouterments of French aspen, also overlooks the park. There is a chef’s eat-in kitchen and pantry; the breakfast bar seats six and, according to the listing, the kitc! hen, too, has oblique park views. The master suite, with two baths, picture windows and built-in bookcases, fronts the park; the other three bedrooms all have en-suite marble baths.

Despite settling on a sale price around 9 percent below their target, the sellers, Arthur S. and Evelyne Estey, nearly doubled the investment they made in 2007, when they bought the residence for $16.9 million. Both are veterans of the Lehman Brothers collapse. Mr. Estey has since started his own hedge fund, while his French-born wife, who had a managerial role at Barclays after leaving Lehman, last spring became the chief financial officer of Lycée Français de New York on East 75th Street. (The Lycée is the alma mater of the couple’s children.)

Did they decide to be true to their school and move to the East Side Their broker, Kyle W. Blackmon of Brown Harris Stevens, who lives at 15 Central Park West and was the listing agent for the Weill sale, declined to comment. Mr. Blackmon has sold over $250 million in prperty at the building, $155 million of which came in transactions last year. The sellers used a limited-liability company, Rhyolyte, and the buyer opted for one called 15CPW7D.

Tamir Shemesh, a senior vice president of the Corcoran Group, represented the buyers. He said they first became enamored of 15 Central Park West after visiting friends who own homes there. “They had been inside many times,” Mr. Shemesh said, “and decided they wanted to be associated with one of the best buildings in New York City.”

The apartment’s gracious size and layout, its plethora of en-suite bathrooms and its proximity to Central Park were also contributing factors. As was the price. “We did some negotiating,” Mr. Shemesh said, “and in the end, both sides were happy with it.” The delighted new owners, he added, are already making cosmetic tweaks and “putting their own imprint” on their acquisition.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

Condom-Giveaway Program Celebrates Birthday

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times At a party at New York University on Friday celebrating the sixth birthday of the city’s NYC Condom program, artwork from the packaging was posted on the walls.

At an art gallery, placing four condom cakes by the front door sets a certain tone. At the event Friday morning celebrating the sixth birthday of the city health department’s NYC Condom campaign, that tone was fun mixed with triumph.

Before the campaign started in 2007, the department handed out three million free male condoms a year, said Geoffrey Cowey, a former associate health commissioner. By last year that number had increased to about three million a month, as a result largely to a marketing campaign that brings images of the nation’s first city-branded condom to pay-phone walls, smartphone apps and, on Friday at least, the tops of four vanilla and chocolate cakes.

The program proved so successful that cities including Los Angeles and Philadelphia asked for advice on how to copy it, according to the department.

“The issue,” said Mr. Cowley, now a health reporter for MSNBC, “was how can we make condoms not this sleazy unmentionable that you get out of a sleazy vending machine at the gas station bathroom, and into something that everybody wants to have”

The answer, the city decided, was to eschew traditional public health messages like those on products like tobacco, which Mr. Cowley said aimed to terrify people, and instead trade on the fact that sex is fun.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times Cakes at the party celebrated the condom package’s different designs.

The art exhibit, which opened Friday along hallway walls on the eighth floor of New York University’s Kimmel Center, showed the evolution of that message over time.

The ads featured couples smiling knowingly at each other, surrounded by color-soaked New York fixtures like the Brooklyn Bridge. Early ads displayed the NYC Condom logo in the iconic lettering of the subway system, replaced later by the somewhat more risqué slogan “Get Some.”

“The M.T.A. had never been entirely crazy about being a condom compny,” Mr. Cowley said. “They had to review a lot of our marketing materials. So we wanted to get out from under their censors.”

The program’s leaders seem to relish opportunities to tweak those with gentler sensibilities. During his prepared remarks, Mr. Cowley thanked The New York Post for giving the program a “bump” with a  scathing editorial, which in 2008 called the “Get Some” campaign “a borderline-sleazy message to appeal to the base instincts.”

Such rebukes mean “we must be doing something right,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney, an assistant health commissioner.

“We want to make New York City the safest city in the world to have sex,” she said.

Dr. Sweeney then proceeded to offer a visitor a delicious slice of vanilla cake.

Public Domain, My Dear Watson Lawsuit Challenges Conan Doyle Copyrights

Some 125 years after his first appearance, Sherlock Holmes remains a hot literary property, inspiring thousands of pastiches, parodies and sequels in print, to saying nothing of the hit Warner Bros. film starring Robert Downey Jr. and such television series as “Elementary” and the BBC’s “Sherlock.”

But according to a civil complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Illinois by a leading Holmes scholar, many licensing fees paid to the Arthur Conan Doyle estate have been unnecessary, since the main characters and elements of their story derived from materials published before January 1, 1923, are no longer covered by United States copyright law.

The complaint was filed by Leslie S. Klinger, the editor of the three-volume, nearly 3,000-page “Annotated Sherlock Holmes” and numerous other Cnan Doyle-related books. It stems from “In the Company of Sherlock Holmes,” a collection of Holmes-related stories by various authors, edited by Mr. Klinger and Laurie R. King, herself the author of a successful mystery series featuring Mary Russell, Holmes’s wife.

The complaint claims that Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., a business entity organized in Great Britain, sent a letter in December to Pegasus Books suggesting it would prevent “In the Company of Sherlock Holmes” from being sold by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and “similar retailers” unless it received a licensing fee. In a telephone interview, Mr. Klinger said he had reluctantly paid a $5,000 fee for a similar collection he edited with Ms. King, “A Study in Sherlock,” published by Random House in 2011, even though he believed it wasn’t legally necessary.

“I didn’t want to pay it then,” Mr. Kli! nger said, adding: “Enough is enough. This time it was really too big a threat.”

The complaint asks that the court make a declaratory judgment establishing that the basic “Sherlock Holmes story elements” are in the public domain, a point that some have previously argued, if not in court. The Conan Doyle estate’s American literary agent and lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment.

In a statement posted online at Free-Sherlock.com, Mr. Klinger said he was not trying to interfere with the estate’s legitimate rights, noting that the stories in the new collection avoided drawing on elements introduced in any of the 10 Holmes stories published after Jan. 1, 1923, which remain under copyright until 2023.

The complaint also did not challenge the fact that Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., was “the sole and exclusive owner” of the material that remains under copyright. The Conan Doyle copyrights have been the subect of intense legal wrangling over the years, leading some creators to pay licensing fees to what they later realized was the wrong party.

Public Domain, My Dear Watson Lawsuit Challenges Conan Doyle Copyrights

Some 125 years after his first appearance, Sherlock Holmes remains a hot literary property, inspiring thousands of pastiches, parodies and sequels in print, to saying nothing of the hit Warner Bros. film starring Robert Downey Jr. and such television series as “Elementary” and the BBC’s “Sherlock.”

But according to a civil complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Illinois by a leading Holmes scholar, many licensing fees paid to the Arthur Conan Doyle estate have been unnecessary, since the main characters and elements of their story derived from materials published before January 1, 1923, are no longer covered by United States copyright law.

The complaint was filed by Leslie S. Klinger, the editor of the three-volume, nearly 3,000-page “Annotated Sherlock Holmes” and numerous other Cnan Doyle-related books. It stems from “In the Company of Sherlock Holmes,” a collection of Holmes-related stories by various authors, edited by Mr. Klinger and Laurie R. King, herself the author of a successful mystery series featuring Mary Russell, Holmes’s wife.

The complaint claims that Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., a business entity organized in Great Britain, sent a letter in December to Pegasus Books suggesting it would prevent “In the Company of Sherlock Holmes” from being sold by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and “similar retailers” unless it received a licensing fee. In a telephone interview, Mr. Klinger said he had reluctantly paid a $5,000 fee for a similar collection he edited with Ms. King, “A Study in Sherlock,” published by Random House in 2011, even though he believed it wasn’t legally necessary.

“I didn’t want to pay it then,” Mr. Kli! nger said, adding: “Enough is enough. This time it was really too big a threat.”

The complaint asks that the court make a declaratory judgment establishing that the basic “Sherlock Holmes story elements” are in the public domain, a point that some have previously argued, if not in court. The Conan Doyle estate’s American literary agent and lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment.

In a statement posted online at Free-Sherlock.com, Mr. Klinger said he was not trying to interfere with the estate’s legitimate rights, noting that the stories in the new collection avoided drawing on elements introduced in any of the 10 Holmes stories published after Jan. 1, 1923, which remain under copyright until 2023.

The complaint also did not challenge the fact that Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., was “the sole and exclusive owner” of the material that remains under copyright. The Conan Doyle copyrights have been the subect of intense legal wrangling over the years, leading some creators to pay licensing fees to what they later realized was the wrong party.

Easing the Passage From Prison

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times Irving Brewster, with his 5-year-old daughter on his lap, waited to speak at a “graduation” ceremony for ex-offenders who completed a nine-month re-entry program at the Harlem Community Justice Center.

As family and friends made their way through the metal detector and past the uniformed guards, Lloyd Williams sat off to the side, going over his speech, mumbling to himself. In a few moments, the courtroom in the Harlem Community Justice Center would be filled with parolees turned graduates. After spending half his life in prison, Mr. Williams, 46, wearing a crisp suit and tie, was the valedictorian of sorts, one of the night’s guest speakers.

Almost a year ago, the 53 parolees walked out of prison and into this program run in East Harlem. They are part of the churn of incarceration data, prison costs and bad decisions. And even though New York State statistics say that within seven years, nearly two-thirds of former offenders are rearrested and more than half are again convicted, the program seeks to help parolees returning to the Harlem community make the transition from their time spent behind bars.

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times Lloyd Williams, who spent 30 of his 46 years in prison or on parole but is now a husband and father holding down two jobs, told his story.

The nine-month program, one of about two dozen specialized “re-entry courts” in the country, is a collaboration between the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and a public-private partnership, the Center for Court Innovation, with support from other groups.

“When I came through here, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Irving Brewster, 49, told those gathered as he accepted his certificate at the ceremony on Wednesday.

“But because of my two little babies in the back,” he said, pointing to his 6-ear-old son, who stood  on a chair grinning at him, and his 5-year-old daughter, “I’m determined to move forward.”

Mr. Brewster lives a short walk from the courthouse. For him, the certificate means almost a year clean, and almost a year out of trouble. He now has a temporary job, through the program, as a maintenance worker, and a curfew of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. as part of his parole. His life was once spent mostly on the streets; now he spends time going over homework and getting his children ready for school. He planned to hang his certificate up in the living room.

Each parolee is assigned a case manager and a parole officer and regularly stands before the administrative judge. The program helps with everything from emergency housing to mental health services, from getting a MetroCard to rebuilding battered family relationships and rewiring criminal thinking. A recent evaluation showed that parolees who completed the program were less likely to be rearrested, to be convicted again o! r to viol! ate parole.

Finding employment is a critical challenge, said Christopher Watler, the project director at the Justice Center. Only about half of the graduates were employed.

“Work is a real need in Harlem, particularly if you’re someone with a criminal conviction,” Mr. Watler said. “If these guys aren’t working, it’s a problem long term. Just keeping someone problem-free while they’re on parole is not enough. You actually have to help them to reintegrate into society.”

Over the years, Mr. Watler said, parolees in the program have been coming in younger and younger.

Some of those who have come through the program were career criminals, upending families and neighborhoods through violent crimes. Some were nonviolent first-time offenders. This week’s graduating class of 53 was the largest in the history of the program, which began in June 2001. They were mostly African-American or Hispanic; four were women. They had a variety of offenses in their criminal histories, andranged in age from high school seniors at 18 to grandparents at 60.

The two-hour ceremony began with a prayer, followed by a hymn from the choir standing in the jury box. A string of noted speakers from the criminal justice system offered words of warm encouragement and cold reality. After graduation, the participants finish off their sentences in the regular parole system.

Terry Saunders, who is chief administrative law judge for the Corrections Department â€" and is known in the program as “the hugging judge” â€" reminded the graduates of the difference between talk and action. “The change has to be permanent,” he said. “This has to stick for life. Failure is not an option.”

Piotr ! Redlinski for The New York Times Cisco Sabater gave his parole officer a bouquet and thanked her “for being patient.”

The four parole officers in the program called up the graduates; only about half showed up for the ceremony. But one by one each spoke, if only to say thank you. They thanked the program. They thanked the staff. They thanked their parole officers. They thanked their mothers, wives, girlfriends and children. Families smiled, clapped, cheered and took pictures.

For Jaquan Roberts, who from his boyish looks and grin appeared to be in his early 20s, the ceremony marked “the first time in five years I am proud of myself,” he said as he held his certificate. Another graduate, Cisco Sabater, with headphones around his neck, handed his parole officer a bouquet of fresh flowers “for being patient with me, and for being genuine.”

Mr. Williams, who spent a total of 30 years of his life in prison or on parole and is now a husband and faher who holds down two jobs, as an exterminator and a buildings superintendent, peered over his glasses and told his story.

“I ran those streets,” he told the crowd, as his mother, who for years cried for him and visited him in prisons throughout the state, looked on.

“From murder to robbery,” he continued, “from shooting people to selling drugs â€" that was my life. And I’m deeply sorry and ashamed of the actions that I have caused, for I hurt a lot of people.”

But that has changed, he said. “I’m inspired by you brothers and sisters,” he said. “Because it has taken you a less time to do what it took me 30 years to do.”

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times A small gospel ch! oir sang ! at the ceremony.

Easing the Passage From Prison

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times Irving Brewster, with his 5-year-old daughter on his lap, waited to speak at a “graduation” ceremony for ex-offenders who completed a nine-month re-entry program at the Harlem Community Justice Center.

As family and friends made their way through the metal detector and past the uniformed guards, Lloyd Williams sat off to the side, going over his speech, mumbling to himself. In a few moments, the courtroom in the Harlem Community Justice Center would be filled with parolees turned graduates. After spending half his life in prison, Mr. Williams, 46, wearing a crisp suit and tie, was the valedictorian of sorts, one of the night’s guest speakers.

Almost a year ago, the 53 parolees walked out of prison and into this program run in East Harlem. They are part of the churn of incarceration data, prison costs and bad decisions. And even though New York State statistics say that within seven years, nearly two-thirds of former offenders are rearrested and more than half are again convicted, the program seeks to help parolees returning to the Harlem community make the transition from their time spent behind bars.

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times Lloyd Williams, who spent 30 of his 46 years in prison or on parole but is now a husband and father holding down two jobs, told his story.

The nine-month program, one of about two dozen specialized “re-entry courts” in the country, is a collaboration between the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and a public-private partnership, the Center for Court Innovation, with support from other groups.

“When I came through here, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Irving Brewster, 49, told those gathered as he accepted his certificate at the ceremony on Wednesday.

“But because of my two little babies in the back,” he said, pointing to his 6-ear-old son, who stood  on a chair grinning at him, and his 5-year-old daughter, “I’m determined to move forward.”

Mr. Brewster lives a short walk from the courthouse. For him, the certificate means almost a year clean, and almost a year out of trouble. He now has a temporary job, through the program, as a maintenance worker, and a curfew of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. as part of his parole. His life was once spent mostly on the streets; now he spends time going over homework and getting his children ready for school. He planned to hang his certificate up in the living room.

Each parolee is assigned a case manager and a parole officer and regularly stands before the administrative judge. The program helps with everything from emergency housing to mental health services, from getting a MetroCard to rebuilding battered family relationships and rewiring criminal thinking. A recent evaluation showed that parolees who completed the program were less likely to be rearrested, to be convicted again o! r to viol! ate parole.

Finding employment is a critical challenge, said Christopher Watler, the project director at the Justice Center. Only about half of the graduates were employed.

“Work is a real need in Harlem, particularly if you’re someone with a criminal conviction,” Mr. Watler said. “If these guys aren’t working, it’s a problem long term. Just keeping someone problem-free while they’re on parole is not enough. You actually have to help them to reintegrate into society.”

Over the years, Mr. Watler said, parolees in the program have been coming in younger and younger.

Some of those who have come through the program were career criminals, upending families and neighborhoods through violent crimes. Some were nonviolent first-time offenders. This week’s graduating class of 53 was the largest in the history of the program, which began in June 2001. They were mostly African-American or Hispanic; four were women. They had a variety of offenses in their criminal histories, andranged in age from high school seniors at 18 to grandparents at 60.

The two-hour ceremony began with a prayer, followed by a hymn from the choir standing in the jury box. A string of noted speakers from the criminal justice system offered words of warm encouragement and cold reality. After graduation, the participants finish off their sentences in the regular parole system.

Terry Saunders, who is chief administrative law judge for the Corrections Department â€" and is known in the program as “the hugging judge” â€" reminded the graduates of the difference between talk and action. “The change has to be permanent,” he said. “This has to stick for life. Failure is not an option.”

Piotr ! Redlinski for The New York Times Cisco Sabater gave his parole officer a bouquet and thanked her “for being patient.”

The four parole officers in the program called up the graduates; only about half showed up for the ceremony. But one by one each spoke, if only to say thank you. They thanked the program. They thanked the staff. They thanked their parole officers. They thanked their mothers, wives, girlfriends and children. Families smiled, clapped, cheered and took pictures.

For Jaquan Roberts, who from his boyish looks and grin appeared to be in his early 20s, the ceremony marked “the first time in five years I am proud of myself,” he said as he held his certificate. Another graduate, Cisco Sabater, with headphones around his neck, handed his parole officer a bouquet of fresh flowers “for being patient with me, and for being genuine.”

Mr. Williams, who spent a total of 30 years of his life in prison or on parole and is now a husband and faher who holds down two jobs, as an exterminator and a buildings superintendent, peered over his glasses and told his story.

“I ran those streets,” he told the crowd, as his mother, who for years cried for him and visited him in prisons throughout the state, looked on.

“From murder to robbery,” he continued, “from shooting people to selling drugs â€" that was my life. And I’m deeply sorry and ashamed of the actions that I have caused, for I hurt a lot of people.”

But that has changed, he said. “I’m inspired by you brothers and sisters,” he said. “Because it has taken you a less time to do what it took me 30 years to do.”

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times A small gospel ch! oir sang ! at the ceremony.

The Week in Culture Pictures, Feb. 15

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York TimesThe singer Yan Wang performing a Beijing opera excerpt with the New York Philharmonic as part of a Chinese New Year celebration at Avery Fisher Hall.

More photographs.

A slide show of photographs of cultural highlights from this week.

For Whitney Cummings, Good and Bad Ratings News

When you have created or helped create three shows on television in less than two years, as the comedian Whitney Cummings has, the ratings can bring good news and bad news simultaneously.

First the bad news: “Love You, Mean It With Whitney Cummings,” her weekly talk show that had its premiere in November on E!, was canceled on Thursday after 11 episodes. The show averaged less than 400,000 viewers.

Her NBC sitcom, “Whitney,” has also struggled. The most recent episode, on Feb. 13, drew 3.6 million viewers, slightly lower than its season average of 4 million. In the 18-to-49 demographic, the ratings category most important to advertisers, it is currently huddled with many other NBC sitcoms that have underperformed, like “Community,” “Guys With Kids” and “The New Normal,” leading to concerns abut a possible cancellation for “Whitney.”

Now for the good news: “2 Broke Girls,” the CBS sitcom Ms. Cummings created with Michael Patrick King, is doing just fine, thanks. Currently in its second season, that sitcom has become a stable presence among the Top 10 broadcast programs in overall viewers and in the 18-to-49 demographic. Since the start of the new year, it has averaged 11.6 million total viewers.

Graphic Books Best Sellers: A New Superhero Power Couple

At the top of our hardcover graphic books best-seller list this week is volume two of “Justice League,” the latest collection featuring the top heroes of DC Comics. In these stories, the heroes confront a new villain and readers get a glimpse into a new power couple, whose relationship will have repercussions for everyone. Volume one of the series hits our paperback list at No. 7.

“7 Miles a Second,” an autobiographical tale by David Wojnarowicz, is at No. 5. It chronicles his life as a young hustler on the streets of New York City. The book is published by Fantagraphics. At No. 8, from Image Comics, is “One Trick Rip-Off / Deep Cuts,” by Paul Ppe, which is about young lovers trying to make better lives for themselves â€" though that begins with trying to rip off the One Tricks, a street gang in Los Angeles. This edition, published by Image Comics, includes a section of previously unpublished work by Mr. Pope, and a manga story originally available only in Japan.

As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.

Caught for Posterity in Love

Michael Kamber Deise and Shawn Lucas stood for their Valentine’s Day portrait at the Bronx Documentary Center on Thursday, part of an afternoon-long procession of couples.

“Torture” is the word Sandy Herrera uses to describe being photographed. “I hate taking pictures,” Ms. Herrera, 21, said. “I guess I’m insecure.” Which is why her boyfriend of two years, Sergio Ramirez, 23, was floored when she suggested they pay a Valentine’s Day visit to the Bronx Documentary Center, which had invited couples from across the borough to pose for photographs.

Michael Kamber “This is the highlight of our relationship,” Sergio Ramirez said. His girlfriend, Sandy Herrera, was not so sure, even though the photo was her idea.

“This is the highlight of our relationship,” Mr. Ramirez said. Ms. Herrera had just nuzzled his neck sheepishly in front of the camera.

“She’s very anti-photo, so for her to bring this up means a lot,” he said. “It’s like we’re glued now â€" she’s accepted us as a couple. She tried to repel me, to push me away, but I broke through.”

Th! e Bronx Documentary Center is a window-lighted, white-walled gallery in the South Bronx, a classroom-size cultural hub on a bustling corner amid shopworn bodegas. The space was once a German meetinghouse, and until recently, a nightclub. In 2011, a photographer, Michael Kamber, bought the building and set a goal: create a place for Bronx residents, and others, to engage with photography and documentary film. (Mr. Kamber has also worked as a photographer for The New York Times.)

“We’re very aware of being outsiders,” said Danielle Jackson, the center’s co-founder and a recent transplant from Flatbush, Brooklyn. “Anything we can do to let people know that this is a space for the community. We want to meet more of our neighbors.”

Michael Kamber Chris Harris and Aleatha Manns

On Thursday, the neighbors came in droves. Among the first: Deise and Shawn Lucas, both 31.

“I loved this woman before I knew her name,” said Mr. Lucas, who married Deise four years ago. They have five children between them. “She’s my favorite enemy. It’s not pleasurable to argue with anyone else.”

Chris Harris, 45, and Aleatha Manns, 47, entered soon after. They met several months ago at the video rental store at 149th Street and Morris Avenue where Mr. Harris works. Ms. Manns couldn’t stop staring at him. What does Mr. Harris like about his girlfriend “Her attitude,” he said. “It stinks. But it’s pretty, it’s attractive. I love her mean little faces, the way she rolls her eyes at me.”

A lot of couples break up, Ms. Manns said, “but maybe we’re the two that’s different.”

Michael Kamber Douglas and Sylvia Solomon

Douglas Solomon, 61, and Sylvia Solomon, 62, have been married for 39 years. They met at a house party in 1967.

“I walked her to her girlfriend’s house, and we stayed up talking until 3 or 4 in the morning,” Mr. Solomon said. “I said goodnight, kissed her on the cheek, and left. Didn’t even get her phone number. Fortunately, on Monday we met on the same bus. And that was God’s blessing. You can’t write a better autobiography than that. There was a time when all we had was a can of beans between us. And we’re now great-grandparents.”

Michael Kamber Tiquan Martin

Tiquan Martin, 11, came alone â€" without his Valentine. “She’s a girl named Joselyn,” he said. “I’ve had a crush on her for a while. I tried to get her some candy, but I told her brother to give it to her, because I get butterflies. I don’t know if she got it.”

Michael Kamber Phyllis Codrington and Tauheed Mitchell Jr.

Phyllis Codrington, 25, a home health aide, was among the last to stand for a photograph. She came in with her son, Tauheed Mitchell Jr., age 6. “I don’t have family,” she said. At Tauheed’s birth, “I was alone,” she said. “The only reason I live l! ife is be! cause of him.”

Ms. Codrington has few photographs from her childhood. Which is why â€" after passing the documentary center every day since its opening â€" she decided to come in. “When he gets older,” she said, “this picture is going to be waiting for him.”

Caught for Posterity in Love

Michael Kamber Deise and Shawn Lucas stood for their Valentine’s Day portrait at the Bronx Documentary Center on Thursday, part of an afternoon-long procession of couples.

“Torture” is the word Sandy Herrera uses to describe being photographed. “I hate taking pictures,” Ms. Herrera, 21, said. “I guess I’m insecure.” Which is why her boyfriend of two years, Sergio Ramirez, 23, was floored when she suggested they pay a Valentine’s Day visit to the Bronx Documentary Center, which had invited couples from across the borough to pose for photographs.

Michael Kamber “This is the highlight of our relationship,” Sergio Ramirez said. His girlfriend, Sandy Herrera, was not so sure, even though the photo was her idea.

“This is the highlight of our relationship,” Mr. Ramirez said. Ms. Herrera had just nuzzled his neck sheepishly in front of the camera.

“She’s very anti-photo, so for her to bring this up means a lot,” he said. “It’s like we’re glued now â€" she’s accepted us as a couple. She tried to repel me, to push me away, but I broke through.”

Th! e Bronx Documentary Center is a window-lighted, white-walled gallery in the South Bronx, a classroom-size cultural hub on a bustling corner amid shopworn bodegas. The space was once a German meetinghouse, and until recently, a nightclub. In 2011, a photographer, Michael Kamber, bought the building and set a goal: create a place for Bronx residents, and others, to engage with photography and documentary film. (Mr. Kamber has also worked as a photographer for The New York Times.)

“We’re very aware of being outsiders,” said Danielle Jackson, the center’s co-founder and a recent transplant from Flatbush, Brooklyn. “Anything we can do to let people know that this is a space for the community. We want to meet more of our neighbors.”

Michael Kamber Chris Harris and Aleatha Manns

On Thursday, the neighbors came in droves. Among the first: Deise and Shawn Lucas, both 31.

“I loved this woman before I knew her name,” said Mr. Lucas, who married Deise four years ago. They have five children between them. “She’s my favorite enemy. It’s not pleasurable to argue with anyone else.”

Chris Harris, 45, and Aleatha Manns, 47, entered soon after. They met several months ago at the video rental store at 149th Street and Morris Avenue where Mr. Harris works. Ms. Manns couldn’t stop staring at him. What does Mr. Harris like about his girlfriend “Her attitude,” he said. “It stinks. But it’s pretty, it’s attractive. I love her mean little faces, the way she rolls her eyes at me.”

A lot of couples break up, Ms. Manns said, “but maybe we’re the two that’s different.”

Michael Kamber Douglas and Sylvia Solomon

Douglas Solomon, 61, and Sylvia Solomon, 62, have been married for 39 years. They met at a house party in 1967.

“I walked her to her girlfriend’s house, and we stayed up talking until 3 or 4 in the morning,” Mr. Solomon said. “I said goodnight, kissed her on the cheek, and left. Didn’t even get her phone number. Fortunately, on Monday we met on the same bus. And that was God’s blessing. You can’t write a better autobiography than that. There was a time when all we had was a can of beans between us. And we’re now great-grandparents.”

Michael Kamber Tiquan Martin

Tiquan Martin, 11, came alone â€" without his Valentine. “She’s a girl named Joselyn,” he said. “I’ve had a crush on her for a while. I tried to get her some candy, but I told her brother to give it to her, because I get butterflies. I don’t know if she got it.”

Michael Kamber Phyllis Codrington and Tauheed Mitchell Jr.

Phyllis Codrington, 25, a home health aide, was among the last to stand for a photograph. She came in with her son, Tauheed Mitchell Jr., age 6. “I don’t have family,” she said. At Tauheed’s birth, “I was alone,” she said. “The only reason I live l! ife is be! cause of him.”

Ms. Codrington has few photographs from her childhood. Which is why â€" after passing the documentary center every day since its opening â€" she decided to come in. “When he gets older,” she said, “this picture is going to be waiting for him.”

The Sweet Spot: Feb. 15

In this week’s video, A. O. Scott and David Carr offer their impressions of Times Square, with some secret revelations. Is it the best place in the world, or the worst

The Sweet Spot: Feb. 15

In this week’s video, A. O. Scott and David Carr offer their impressions of Times Square, with some secret revelations. Is it the best place in the world, or the worst

Calling All Nico Fans

If you’ve secretly harbored the belief that Nico, the sultry German chanteuse who sang briefly with the Velvet Underground, was a major but sadly unappreciated cultural icon, your moment may be at hand.

Just last month John Cale, who worked with Nico in the Velvets and produced the best of her solo recordings, devoted the first evening of his three-night residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music paying tribute to Nico with a program of her songs. And at the Cutting Room the night before Mr. Cale’s Nico concert, the performance artist Tammy Faye Starlite presented “Chelsea Mädchen,” the show in which she has been channeling Nico in all her Teutonic glory - using songs, interview excerpts and interpolations of her own - sice 2010.

Now the Cutting Room is giving Ms. Starlite a residency of her own: she will present “Chelsea Mädchen” at the space every Monday evening in June.

She did get an endorsement, of sorts, from Mr. Cale, who approved of Ms. Starlite’s interest in bringing out Nico’s dark humor in the spoken parts of her production.

“I think it’s a really good idea,” Mr. Cale said. “It’s the other side of the coin. The humor in Nico is very hard to find. She was really good at creating the perfect storm. She would read a room, and would say things that would send everyone off at the same time. As an agent provocateur, she was perfect.”

In the meantime Ms. Starlite is turning her attention to a portrayal of another, more recent downtown rock goddess, Deborah Harry of Blondie: she will be fronting the Pretty Babies, an all-female Blondie tribute band, in a Blondie tribute on Feb. 22, also at the Cutting Room.

###

2Chainz Arrested on Marijuana Charges on Way to Concert

The rapper 2Chainz was arrested on drug charges Thursday night, said the Maryland State Police, who briefly detained him on his way to play a concert. A police spokesman, Sgt. Marc Black, told The Associated Press that troopers had stopped a van for speeding on Route 50 near Easton, Md. The officers said they smelled marijuana in the car, conducted a seach and found a backpack with a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of the drug inside it.

The rapper, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, was in the car and told officers the backpack belonged to him, the police said. He was arrested and cited for possessing drug paraphernalia and marijuana, then released. A conviction could result in up to a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. Mr. Epps, 35, performed later that night at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He was nominatd this year for a Grammy Award for best rap album, but lost out to Drake.

The Sweet Spot: Tackling Times Square

In this week’s video, A. O. Scott and David Carr offer their impressions of Times Square, with some secret revelations. Is it the best place in the world, or the worst

Book Review Podcast: A Lincoln for Our Time

The Heads of State

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Steven B. Smith reviews “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism” by John Burt. In many ways, Mr. Burt’s book is a response to another classic account of the debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, Harry V. Jaffa’s “Crisis of the House Divided,” published in 1959. Mr. Smith writes:

For the first time in over halfa century, Jaffa’s book has a serious rival. John Burt, a professor of English at Brandeis University, has written a work that every serious student of Lincoln will have to read, although its sheer bulk alone â€" more than 800 pages â€" as well as the density of its prose may deter all but the most intrepid Lincolnophiles. It is a work of history presented as an argument about moral conflict, and a work of philosophy presented as a rhetorical analysis of Lincoln’s most famous speeches. Unlike Jaffa, who projected Lincoln through the long history of natural law from Plato and Cicero through Aquinas, Locke and the American framers, Burt refracts Lincoln through the philosophy of Kant, Rawls and contemporary liberal political theory. His is very much a Lincoln for our time.

On this week’s podcast, Mr. Burt discusses “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism”; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; Jeffrey Frank talks about Richard Nixon and Dwight D. Eisenhower; and Gregory Cowles ha! s best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Popcast: An Exasperated Grammy Post-Mortem

Mike Blake/Reuters Dan Auerbach, left, and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys at the 55th annual Grammy Awards.

This week on Popcast: a Grammy post-mortem, and a modest proposal.

Jon Caramanica and our host Ben Ratliff both wrote about last Sunday’s Grammy awards and telecast. Mr. Caramanica wrote: “If the Grammy narrative is to be believed, the last time there was musical innovtion worthy of celebration was the mid-1980s, which may well line up with the prime creative period of many Grammy voters.”

Mr. Ratliff wrote: “Grammy voters want popular music to have credibility, breadth and a kind of moral weight. But they are also, and always have been, tired of new complications. It’s not just that they are behind the curve; they are starting to bet that things really were better in the old days. Simple preference has turned into style. They are perforce becoming antiquarians.”

Still audibly chafed, they outline the contorted logic of the awards, including the Black Keys Perplexity, the Folk-Stomp Realness Chimera, and the Law of Adele; separate and identify the qualities in popular music that the Recording Academy tend t! o privilege or ignore; and propose sensible and unlikely alternatives to the current system.

Listen above, download the MP3 here, or listen on iTunes here.

RELATED

Jon Caramanica’s Critic’s Notebook on the 2013 Grammys

Ben Ratliff’s Critic’s Notebook on the 2013 Grammys

James C. McKinley Jr.’s report o the 2013 Grammys

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Tracks by artists discussed this week. (Spotify users can also find it here.)

IFC Films Acquires \'The Canyons,\' Lindsay Lohan Movie With a Tale Behind It

Jeff Minton for The New York Times On the set of “The Canyons” in Los Angeles last summer: Amanda Brooks, Lindsay Lohan and Paul Schrader.

If you’ve read about “The Canyons” and wondered what it might look like on a screen  you’ll soon you’ll be able to see this  Lindsay Lohan movie in a theater or on a television near you.

IFC Films said on Friday that it had acquired for North American distribution “The Canyons,” a sexual thriller directed by Paul Schrader (the screenwriter of “Taxi Driver” and director of “Affliction”), written by Bret Easton Ellis (“American Psyho”), and starring Ms. Lohan and the pornographic film actor James Deen.

“The Canyons” drew some early attention for the online strategies of its filmmakers and producer Braxton Pope, who opened some roles up for casting on the Web, and raised money for the movie through crowdsourced contributions.

But “The Canyons” is arguably better known for an article on the making of the movie, written by Stephen Rodrick for The New York Times Magazine, in which he chronicled, among other incidents, the temperamental behavior of Ms. Lohan on the set  and a sex scene that Mr. Schrader filmed while he was in the nude, in an attempt to make his leading lady more comfortable.

IFC said in news release that “The Canyons” will be released in early summer, and will be shown in a special presentation at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, where it will! be followed by a conversation with Mr. Schrader and Kent Jones, the director of programming for the New York Film Festival. The movie will also be shown on digital and on-demand platforms.

In a statement, Mr. Jones said: “On one level, ‘The Canyons’ is a visually and tonally precise, acid-etched horror story of souls wandering through a hyper-materialistic hell, with a fearless and, I think, stunning performance by Lindsay Lohan at its center; on another level, it’s an inspiration and an example to us all: it’s difficult for me to imagine another filmmaker of Paul Schrader’s stature diving into the world of crowd-sourced moviemaking, let alone with such fervor, dedication and rigor.”

There was no immediate comment from Ms. Lohan.

This Week\'s Movies: Feb. 15

In this week’s video, Times critics share their thoughts on the Chilean political drama “No,” the supernatural romance “Beautiful Creatures” and the new film from the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, “Like Someone in Love.” See all of this week’s reviews here.

This Week\'s Movies: Feb. 15

In this week’s video, Times critics share their thoughts on the Chilean political drama “No,” the supernatural romance “Beautiful Creatures” and the new film from the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, “Like Someone in Love.” See all of this week’s reviews here.

A Grammy-Winning Formula for Paul McCartney: Don\'t Show Up

Mary McCartney/MPL Communications Ltd. Paul McCartney

Would you have any interest in speaking to Paul McCartney about the Grammy Award he won on Sunday, a publicist asked over e-mail the other day. O.K., O.K., twist our arms, why don’t you

Mr. McCartney won the Grammy for traditional pop album for “Kisses on the Bottom,” a collection of his covers of standards like “It’s Only a Paper Moon” and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” as well as new songs like “My Valentine,” which he wrote for his wife, Nancy Shevell. It is one of at least a few distinctions Mr. McCartney has received in a career hat includes numerous solo offerings, several albums with Wings and, before that, his records made with a pop quartet called the Beatles.

Mr. McCartney spoke from London about his Grammy victory and why, by design, he wasn’t at this year’s ceremony. The conversation (excerpts below) began just before 7 a.m. Friday morning, when an unlisted phone number appeared on this reporter’s cell phone and a voice responded, “Hello, David.”

Q.

Is this who I think it is

A.

Yeah, sorry, this is Paul. Yeah, Paul McCartney.

Q.

[after ecstatic laughter] Good morning, how are you

A.

You’re in a jolly mood this morning. I’m very well, thank you. How can I help you

Q.

So you’ve just won another Grammy Award. Don’t you ever get tired of these things

A.

Nope. You don’t get tired. It’s very nice. And the Gr! ammys have become more and more important, media-wise. It’s a bigger, better show. When you look at all the people in the musical field who are up for them, it’s gratifying to think that you’ve picked one up.

Q.

It’s been reported that this is your first Grammy for an album of new recordings since “Let It Be.” [Mr. McCartney has also since won Grammys for individual songs, and the “Band on the Run” album won a Grammy for its engineer, Geoff Emerick.] Does that sound right to you

A.

You know what I don’t keep count. I’m the worst on facts about me or facts about the Beatles. It’s like, “It’s 50 years to the day-†And I go, “Oh is it” What am I supposed to do Keep a little diary and watch every little event So, no, I’m always pleasantly surprised at these facts or these fictions. I can’t help you on that. I’m sure there’s a million experts who could verify that. It’s nice, because I don’t have to keep track. There’s a lot of other people who keep track for me. It’s a luxury.

Q.

I imagine it must be gratifying to be recognized for this album in particular, which was such a departure for you.

A.

It is a completely different kind of album. I’m very pleased, also, for the producer, Tommy LiPuma, and Al Schmitt, the engineer, they’re such cool guys, very old school. And we had such a ball with Diana Krall. There was a moment in the studio where we were struggling with an intro, I think - although I must say, we didn’t struggle too much on this album - but it wasn’t like it was all charted. We just had the chords and the wor! ds, and w! e did pretty much improvisations. And there was a moment where we were struggling with an intro - should it be this or should we open like this And Diana was looking a little bit worried. And I said, “Diana, look. I’m from Britain and I’m in L.A., the sun is shining, I’m in Capitol’s famous Studio A where Nat King Cole recorded. Diana, I’m on holiday.”

Q.

The victory is its own reward, of course, but you weren’t at the Grammys ceremony this year. Why not

A.

We started to get a theory that when you don’t go, that’s when you win. But Nancy likes the event, and I do too, because she does. In some ways, it’s better than the Oscars - the Oscars are great and super-important, but the Grammys is like a really cool concert and you get some very good performances. But this is what happens: We went a couple of times and sort of sat there, and graciously accepted defeat. With that moment you look for at the Oscars or the Grammys, whe the cameras go to the people who didn’t win, and they’re smiling wonderfully and applauding. “And the winner is - John Mayer!” And you go: [through clenched teeth] “Oh, wonderful. How wonderful. What a good singer.” Secretly you’re thinking, “He’s not as good as me though.” It’s a very human moment.

This year I was actually presenting at the Baftas, they’d asked me to present a film music award that night. And then coming home from that, I got a text saying “You’ve won a Grammy.” So the car was alight with triumph. Hence the theory, you mustn’t go if you want to win. But having said that, we might go next year.

Q.

Do you have one place where you keep all your awards and trophies

A.

No, I don’t. I’m particularly lax on that. I don’t know where they all are. I’m just not organized. I s! aid to so! meone the other day, “Would you believe the Beatles were up for an Oscar, for ‘Let It Be,’ and we didn’t even know we were up for it”

Q.

Is that even possible

A.

Well, exactly. In those days, it was. Because it was less of a global ceremony. And the Beatles were very much in a - “Let It Be” was the time that we were breaking up, so the news had not reached us. If you take that as indication, how unconcerned - how unplugged - we just weren’t plugged into that. Nowadays it’s very hard to avoid it. I don’t think any of us ever collected all of our gold discs, to put them up on walls. So I don’t have a trophy room. Some of them go up in my office, which I think is an appropriate place to intimidate businesspeople. [laughs] Which is my aim in life.

I’m very honored to get them. I don’t organize them and catalog them. The excuse is always - which is the truth - I’m too busy doing it. I’m talking to you now before Igo into the recording studio to record new songs of mine. I love that - I love that I still am enthusiastic, I’ve still got the energy and the desire to keep doing it. So the analysis has to take a back seat.

Q.

What’s the album you’re working on now

A.

It’s a new studio record, my new songs. I’m always writing songs and I’ve got a bunch that I want to record. I’ve been working with a variety of producers, and today I’m actually working George Martin’s son, Giles. I’m actually just going down the road to the studio. I’m just going to pull over, have a little walk down the road, pull into the studio and start thrashing about on my guitar.

Q.

Those fellows that you worked with at the 12-12-12 benefit concert, will they show up on your new album

A.

!

“Cut Me Some Slack,” which I did with the Nirvana boys, will be on Dave Grohl’s album. That’s his project. He just rang me up, said: “Do you want to come over for a jam I’m working on this project about the old Sound City days.” I was in L.A., so I went over with my wife and two of my daughters and they just hung, the gals, while me and Dave went over to the studio, feeling like two little teenagers escaping. Dave got on the drums, I got on guitar, Krist Novoselic got on bass, Pat Smear got on guitar. I just shouted some words - [demonstrates] “Mamaaaaaaaa!” - got into that mode. What was so lovely about it was that it really was just, “Hey, do you want to have a jam” It was totally organic. It was like an improv afternoon. Really if you think about it, it should be something that a major label would dream up. [executive’s voice] “I want you boys to get together, and we’re going to put a lot of money behind this.” But it wasn’t, it was just our idea and we did it in one aternoon.

Q.

Well, you’ve got my number now. Feel free to give me a ring if you’d ever like to jam in New York.

A.

What do you play

Q.

I play the plastic guitar in Rock Band.

A.

Oh, cool. I bet you’re better at it than I am. My grandkids always beat me at Rock Band. And I say, Listen, you may beat me at Rock Band, but I made the original records, so shut up.

Fewer Illegal Immigrants in New York, Study Finds

New York has far fewer illegal immigrants than California, Texas and Florida, and their ranks have been declining, according to a new analysis by the Center for Migration Studies’ International Migration Review.

The analysis by the academic journal estimated that New York was home to 750,000 of the nation’s 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants in 2010, compared with 2.9 million in California, 1.6 million in Texas and 1 million in Florida.

The influx of unauthorized immigrants peaked in 2000, the analysis said, and by 2009 New York was one of 29 states that recorded a net loss - 35,000 - in that population.

Meanwhile, Florida and several other southern states reported gains in their illegal immigrant population that year.

Generally, the decline reflected the impact of the recession on jobs.

No Better Place to Schlep

Dear Diary:

I overheard this one evening while walking down the subway steps. I found it to be very enlightening and so very true.

Younger woman: “Excuse me, can I get a MetroCard and talk to an attendant down there”

Older woman: “You can get a MetroCard but there’s no more booth attendant.”

Younger woman: “O.K., as long as I get a MetroCard. I’ve been away from New York for eight years and just got back. I’m so happy I could hug everyone. Have you ever lived outside of New York and come back again”

Older woman: “Sure, a few times.”

Younger woman: “Yeah, you know I’ve schlepped stuff in many cities, but schlepping here in New York is the best. I don’t know why I moved away.”

Older woman: “Well, real New Yorkers always come home.”

Read all recent entries and our udated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

Bellevue Hospital Stops Taking Emergency Cases After Computer Issue

Bellevue Hospital Center, one of the city’s busiest trauma centers, was forced to stop accepting emergency care patients on Friday morning because of a problem with its computer system, fire officials said.

It was not clear what caused the problem or if it was related to damage the hospital suffered from Hurricane Sandy.

“There is something going on with their electrical system,” said a fire official who received the alert to divert all patients. The hospital was still receiving psychiatric patients, the official said.

Hospital officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bellevue suffered extensive flooding from the hurricane, with 10 million gallons of seawater flooding the basement. The hospital lost power and evacuated hundreds of patients.

There was no immediate information about how the current electrical problem was impacting patients now at the hospital.

Bellevue Hospital Stops Taking Emergency Cases After Computer Issue

Bellevue Hospital Center, one of the city’s busiest trauma centers, was forced to stop accepting emergency care patients on Friday morning because of a problem with its computer system, fire officials said.

It was not clear what caused the problem or if it was related to damage the hospital suffered from Hurricane Sandy.

“There is something going on with their electrical system,” said a fire official who received the alert to divert all patients. The hospital was still receiving psychiatric patients, the official said.

Hospital officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bellevue suffered extensive flooding from the hurricane, with 10 million gallons of seawater flooding the basement. The hospital lost power and evacuated hundreds of patients.

There was no immediate information about how the current electrical problem was impacting patients now at the hospital.