Today, for the first time ever, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined daytime host Martha Stewart in-studio for a special taping of “THE MARTHA STEWART SHOW.” The hour long episode, which is slated to air Wednesday, May 13th (syndicated, check local listings), is dedicated to what has been called the greatest city in the world – New York City.
In front of an audience filled with those who keep the bustling city running, from street vendors to taxi drivers to doormen, Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped Martha prepare oatmeal raisin cookies. Martha was also joined in studio by: documentary filmmaker and writer, Ric Burns; the winner of this year’s street vendor competition, Calexico; and garden designer Lynden B. Miller who has turned some of New York’s public gardens into a special green oasis. Viewers will also enjoy a performance by underground subway string band, Ebony Hillbillies. Plus, studio audience members will enjoy a gift presented by Broadway’s own Mary Poppins!
Photo credit: Anders Krusberg/The Martha Stewart Show
During a special taping of “The Martha Stewart Show” (syndicated, see local listings), Martha was joined in studio by former President Bill Clinton. During the hour long episode celebrating President’s Day, which will air Monday, February 16 in honor of the holiday, Clinton discusses his work with the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, the state of the economy, the challenges faced by President Obama’s new administration and the country’s new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Clinton on his dog Buddy:
MS: How important was it for you to have Buddy at the White House?
BC: Amazing. Hillary gave me Buddy when Chelsea was going off to Stamford, because she knew that I would be in the tank about it. I was a total wreck when my daughter went to college. I picked a lab because they’re one of the ten most intelligent dogs and they’re highly trainable and they’re kind. I named Buddy after my uncle. Harry Truman once said, ‘If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” So I had a dog.
Clinton on his wife’s new role as Secretary of State:
MS: Your beautiful wife has just been selected Secretary of State. We’re all very proud of her. What do you think her biggest challenges are?
BC: Well, first she has to restore our standing in the world as a trusted leader and partner for peace, security and prosperity, and she has to do it very adverse circumstances because the of the global economic crisis, the apparent paralysis of problems in the Middle East, all the troubles in Afghanistan and Iraq, and so the thing she’s got to do is try to operate on all these fronts but not lose the forest for the tree. And she has to do it in an environment in which normally the President would be more visible overseas, but he has to stay home more.
MS: He’s [Barack Obama] obligated to fix the economy.
BC: Absolutely. So her big challenge is to get and establish the sense of team work in the national security team under the President with all the other players, and then try to get all these things going at once. I think she’s off to a good start and I think he’s off to a good start.
Clinton on Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
MS: What do you hope to achieve this year with the CGI?
BC: Well, its going to be our fifth year when we meet, and what I hope we’ll do is survive the economic storm, and I hope that there will be an effort this time for those who can give to really support the non-government organizations that have been hurt by this downturn.
MS: Even in this hard time, we have to give. I think that’s a good message.
Clinton on the newly elected President, Barack Obama:
MS: What do you think are his [Barack Obama] biggest challenges?
BC: I think he’s got a great team.
MS: Many worked for you!
BC: They did work for me, and they did a good job for me and I think they’re making good decisions. I think…the stimulus bill is absolutely necessary. It’s important that the American people understand that the stimulus bill alone can’t bring the economy back, but it’s a bridge over troubled waters. It’s going to take awhile to fix the banking system. We have a private economy, we’ve got to get the banks lending again and all of that. But this bill will keep state and local governments from laying off hundreds of thousands of people or raising your taxes at a time when we shouldn’t do that. Either will hurt the economic recovery. This bill will help us to build new a energy future that is more independent and create millions of jobs while doing it. So it will help to rebuild America’s infrastructure , something that has been ignored for too long. And it will help us get through this. So I feel good about that. I think the next big challenge he faces is what is the most effective way to get the bad assets off the balance sheets now so banks feel free to loan and to rework as many of these home mortgages as possible, where the people who took the mortgage out and can’t pay it now are honest, hardworking people. What’s the best way to do that? If they can get that right…
MS: And without making them sleep in their cars.
BC: Yes, without making them sleep in their cars. If they can get that right, which will require everyone to take a little hit, including the people who issued the mortgages, you know, we all have to sacrifice a little bit here, then you will see, fairly soon, banks making solid loans again and then the economy will begin to come back. I noticed the other day the stock markets seemed to be saying that the Treasury Secretary didn’t give us enough details on the home mortgage thing, it didn’t give us enough details on the bailout.
MS: It plummeted.
BC: That’s true. But we all need to understand here that this is highly complicated and once you go down a road it is hard to reverse it. So its OK with me if they take a couple of more days to get this right. But the point is that their asking right questions, how can we save as many people and their homes as possible, how can we refinance these mortgages so people can pay them, what is a fair allocation of sacrifice in the losses that will occur as you redo the mortgages and then how can we make the banks secure enough to make loans. Most of you come from communities where your banks did not have any of these subprime mortgages, they didn’t make any of these funny loans, but they are scared to make a loan now. Why? Because first it was the housing crisis going down, now everything else is going down, so banks are afraid that they made loans that were great when they made them, but they are afraid they are going to be forced to write down the loans because the basis of the loan, the underlying collateral, is no longer what it was. They’ve got to fix that that. We’ve got to stop the decline in asset values, then the banks the will operate the way you are used to them operating.
MS: And yet, I have just noticed people are starting to buy houses.
BC: Absolutely.
MS: Smart, young couples are realizing that they can finally afford a house they really like. And they are starting to buy. I think that that’s an encouraging sign for all of us.
Martha Stewart on Top Chef Wednesday 12/17
It’s Christmas time on Top Chef NY this Wednesday 12/17 @ 10/9c, with two very special guest judges – television host, author and magazine publisher Martha Stewart, and actress Natasha Richardson.
First, Martha will be guest judging a holiday-themed quickfire challenge. Then, in the spirit of the holidays, the chefs use their skills to give back to the community by catering a seasonal cocktail party hosted by special guest judge, actress and foodie Natasha Richardson, for AmFar, the foundation for AIDS research.
You can find more info about Top Chef here: http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/5/index.php
Martha Says Size Does Matter on New Edition of “The Martha Stewart Show”
Today’s edition of “The Martha Stewart Show” (nationally syndicated, check local listings), was dedicated to one of America’s most popular foods – hot dogs! In the attached photo, Martha holds up a 15-foot long hot dog modeled after the world’s largest hot dog, which was 197-ft long! Martha commented, “For those of you who don’t think length matters, I disagree – especially when it comes to wieners. There’s just never enough bites in a hot dog.”
The 15-foot hot dog was made in Brooklyn, NY by Empire National and was hand delivered to Martha’s studio for the special taping.
For more info check out:
Martha Stewart Is Cleaning House
MARTHA Stewart has turned into a hatchet-wielding cost cutter, dropping the ax on members of her TV show’s staff.
An insider tells us the home-products hustler booted her longtime hair and makeup specialist, Eva Scrivo, as well as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia broadcast president Sheraton Kalouria, and one of the show’s unidentified directors.
In Scrivo’s case, Stewart “ordered up a history of invoices submitted by her personal purveyor of powder puffs,” the spy said. “[She] was irate at Eva’s markup on blond hair dye, pancake [makeup] and eyeliner – all a bit too costly for the shrinking budget of her ratings-challenged, make-it-from-scratch TV snoozer . . . Queen Martha immediately commanded Eva’s dismissal . . . A collateral casualty was Eva’s poor sidekick sister, Vinetta.”
Scrivo, who has a salon at 50 Bond St. and is opening a second in the Meatpacking District, confirmed that she and Vinetta no longer work for Stewart. But, she said, “I would still consider Martha and I good friends . . . All relationships evolve. I decided I have to focus on the growth of my business.”
A Stewart rep insisted everything is fine in the doyenne of domesticity’s world. As for the behind-the-scenes blood-letting, the flack said in a statement: “The television staff is ebullient. The season has gotten off to a wonderful start. Martha looks great.”
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia chairman Charles Koppelman denied anyone had been fired, telling us: “It’s some disgruntled employee telling you this, obviously. She just changed hairstylists.” He insisted it was Stewart’s production staff that made the changes, not Stewart herself, and that Eva and her sister were freelancers.
Koppelman said he, not Stewart, cut Kalouria a few months ago because of changes in programming development but praised him as talented and “a very nice guy.”
(source)
LIGHTNING struck twice for Martha Stewart. Earlier this summer, a white pine was hit on her farm in Bedford. Then, a thunderbolt hit her beach house on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, knocking off molding and shingles and frying her sprinkler control panel, stereo system and electronic driveway gate. “Thank goodness for a comprehensive home-insurance policy,” Stewart wrote on her blog. “And I’m just so grateful that the house didn’t catch fire, causing much more major damage and heartbreak.”
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Martha Stewart Interviews Emeril Lagasse On Her SIRIUS Radio Channel, Martha Stewart Living Radio
Martha Stewart Loses A Beloved Dog
MARTHA Stewart has taken blogging to a whole new level. The domestic diva chronicled the last days of her beloved Chow, Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow, who died a week ago. “I went outside for one last pee,” she wrote in the dog’s voice. She goes on to call her beloved pet “elegant and kind and reserved and charming up until the very last moment. He was the only pet I ever had, with the exception of Blue Maximilian Chow Chow Chow, who was never disobedient, and never, ever, required me to raise my voice.”
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