Did Someone Try to Whack Michael Imperioli?

When I woke up this morning, the wife (as almost any New Yorker does) had on NY1 for all the latest news, weather and traffic updates. I don't know about you, but there's just something about hearing "sunny skies" coupled with "at least two people are dead from the shooting" that gets me all set to go at 7am. While still slightly comatose, I remembered hearing something about an explosion near Madison Square Garden -- but thought nothing of it, as random explosions have become quite the daily norm here. It wasn't until halfway through the day that I realized this explosion was pretty big news, and that it occurred right outside a studio owned by actor Michael Imperioli (aka Christopher from The Sopranos). My first reaction: "Holy crap, did someone just try to whack Christopher ... like, for real?"

Studio Dante, as it's called, is described as "an unexpected jewel-box that was built to house progressive new plays," so says The Hollywood Reporter (via the studio's official website). After realizing that the bomb went off at 1am, and that it was pretty safe to say Imperioli was nowhere near the place at that time, I took comfort in knowing the actor wasn't harmed. And neither was anyone else, apparently, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that the bomb, which was "some kind of small explosive device," blew out "windows of a van parked in front of the building, and thankfully no one was injured." Apartments in and around the area were evacuated, and as of now terrorism has not been ruled out (although I can't imagine Imperioli would be an enticing target for them). Now that everyone is safe, I guess it's time to figure out why in the world someone would detonate a device in that area. Heck if I know ... maybe they're still pissed about that mysterious final episode.