Billy Altman

Back in 2004, when the Beastie Boys released their NYC-saluting To the 5 Boroughs, Adam “MCA” Yauch noted in an interview that “what makes New York special is definitely the

water. . . . We got the best pizza, the best bagels, the best hip-hop. It’s the fluid that runs through our bodies.”

Listening to Lady Gaga’s relentless new CD, I can’t help but think of those old TV commercials in which a housewife would unscrew the cap to a bottle of Ajax liquid cleanser and unleash a “White Tornado” on her kitchen floor. Except in Gaga’s case, it’s a (bleached) white tornado being unleashed on every dancefloor of the planet.