Lady Gaga Does Staten Island

by EVAN MULVIHILL · October 11, 2011

    [Photo via Gothamist] Lady Gaga didn’t spend Columbus Day celebrating her Italian heritage—she didn’t even take the day off. The international pop star, aka Stefani Germanotta, took to the Forgotten Borough’s Snug Harbor Cultural Center yesterday to shoot a music video for her next single, “Marry the Night.” While her team kept the production hush-hush, the news leaked to Island middle- and high-schoolers, who had the day off.

    “It was all over Facebook,” 13-year-old Amanda McCormick told me—after approaching me as someone who “looked important.” I happened to be spending the day there visiting family, so I took the 5-minute walk from my mom’s house to check out the scene. My sister told me she’d already been kicked out of the set—or, as my brother put it, “savagely turned down” by Gaga’s team after requesting an audience with Mother Monster.

    My sister’s friend Brandon Caruso, son of the infamous “Lord Michael” Caruso, attempted to pull some strings to get onto the set. “The music industry is pretty small, and you can call in favors with anyone if you know the right people,” said the surprisingly savvy 17-year-old, whose father manages ex-Wu Tang Clanner Ghostface Killah.

    Brandon, my sister, and three other high school seniors had no luck once they’d snuck inside and dropped names that this father suggested, though. “We asked security for her manager, and this short red-headed guy came over. We explained we had the exact name of someone the manager knows personally, but he got unnecessarily nasty with us.”

    While Brandon told me the short redhead was named Troy, I’m pretty sure it’s not her main manager in charge Troy Carter, seeing as he has a slightly different complexion. “My friend said he’s an assistant of hers—he’s seen photos of him holding her dresses and shoes,” said Brandon when asked who this mysterious manager could be.

    In any case, the redhead rebuffed Caruso and the snoopy teens wholeheartedly, telling them they could “absolutely not” come on set. When the Lady left the set hours later, she was completely covered in a bedsheet, so nobody could see what she was wearing and bootleg photos of her video costume couldn’t hit the Internet. (Her designer buddy Nicola Formichetta made a pilgrimage to the Island to help her get dressed, as evidenced a fan who posted a twitpic with the dude, and apparently there is a ballerina theme for the video.)

    She sings in “Marry the Night,” “New York is not just a tan that you never lose.” Staten Island, however? Seems like she doesn’t mind telling her Forgotten Borough fans to get lost.

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