NYC skyscraper is sculpture made of 1 million toy construction set pieces

NEW YORK - The latest skyscraper to go up in Manhattan is 20 metres tall, weighs secen tonnes and is constructed of about one million stainless steel toy construction set pieces.

The skyscraper - actually a sculpture by artist Chris Burden called "What My Dad Gave Me" - was to be unveiled at Rockefeller Center Tuesday.

Burden gained notoriety in 1971 as a performance artist when he had a friend shoot him in the arm with a rifle. For the past decade, he has been working with replica Erector Set pieces.

"What My Dad Gave Me" is billed as his most complex work to date. The six-storey skyscraper will be on view through July 19.

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Rappers sued over Joe Farrell music

UMG labels also named in lawsuit





Kanye West, Method Man, Redman, Common and their record companies were sued Thursday by late U.S. jazz musician Joe Farrell's daughter, who accused them of using her father's music without approval.
The lawsuit, filed by Kathleen Firrantello in the U.S. District Court in New York, names the rappers along with labels owned by Universal Music Group.
None of the record companies or representatives for the rappers were immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit said all the rappers used portions of Farrell's 1974 musical composition "Upon This Rock" in three separate songs -- West in "Gone," Common in "Chi-City" and Method Man and Redman in their song "Run 4 Cover."
Firrantello is seeking punitive damages of at least $1 million and asked that no further copies of the songs be made, sold or performed, according to the lawsuit.

Cablevision Pays $650 Million For Newsday

New York-based Cablevision announced today (Monday) that it has acquired the Long Island newspaper Newsday and related properties for $650 million. The announcement came just two days after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp pulled out of the bidding, saying that the price was unrealistic. While analysts had expected shareholders to react negatively to Cablevision's expensive acquisition, shares in the company appeared to be unaffected by the deal. Cablevision CEO James Dolan said that he saw numerous synergies. "Both Cablevision and Newsday are in the content, customer relationship and advertising business, and we see this as a wonderful fit," he said in a statement. The announcement of the Newsday acquisition comes just one week after the company said that it had agreed to buy the Sundance Channel for $496 million.


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