|
|
|
|
|
| |
Saturday, March 02, 2002
Cocktail Caravan Captures Chinatown: Last night, I went to Richard Ryan's Cocktail Caravan, an informal salon he holds every so often. This one was at a new Chinatown bar called Happy Endings, which is located in a former massage parlor. Sorry to say that no one gave me a much-needed shoulder rub (OK, I didn't ask), but I did enjoy a Blood Orange Gimlet (a delicious blend of blood orange juice, fresh lime juice, and, well, you know).
Among my fellow Caravan travelers were two whom I'd seen a few days earlier at Mediabistro's Blue Party, Jonathan Leaf and a lovely woman named Lesley [or Leslie?] whose last name escapes me. At the Blue Party, Richard had playfully baited me into sparring with Lesley over "Beach Baby," a song that she abhors and I adore. As a result, I was surprised and pleased last night when she confessed a love of power pop a la Alex Chilton and Teenage Fanclub.
JAMES AND THE GIANT TEETH: The handsome Mr. Taranto and the glowing
gimlet guzzler listen to the warm. | While I was chatting with Lesley, James Taranto made the best joke of the evening, but it was so subtle that nobody—including me—got it. I was telling Lesley that, if she wrote a personal ad and left out her gender, I would assume she were my soulmate. (I mean, how many people do you know who dig the Kinks and 12th-century literature, or Richard Lester's "The Knack—and How to Get It" and Beethoven?) James then deadpanned that he'd gone on one date with someone he'd met through a personal ad "and it was terrible." "By the end of the date," he continued, "we realized that the only thing we had in common was that we were both warm."
That is actually very funny. If you have trouble with it, as I did, drop me a line and I'll explain.
1:58 AM
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
The Right Amount of Letters: Got a thoughtful e-mail today from Jordan Cole. The son of the Association's late bass player Brian Cole, Jordan plays several instruments and sings in the present-day Association. The e-mail was in response to the just-released two-CD Association collection Just the Right Sound: The Association Anthology(Rhino), for which (as loyal Gaits of Eden/Dawn Patrol readers know) I wrote the liner notes.
I interviewed Jordan for the notes and he gave me good background information about his father, who embodied the intellectually-playful and zany spirit of the Association during their early years. Nice to know that he and his fellow latter-day Associates (including original member Russ Giguere and near-original member Larry Ramos) appreciate the anthology. He may not be far off about a "possible small resurgence":
Hello,
I just got the CDs from Bill Inglot,
and I wanted to compliment you on a fine
piece of writing.
Very impressive, and thank you....
We of the current band are going
to revamp our show around this CD set
which we hope will help sell them as
well as help us by the possible small
resurgence it may bring.
Thanks for the chat back then. It
was fun talking with you.
Jordan Cole
11:40 PM
|
Sunday, February 24, 2002
A Groan Woman: I had a great night at the paper, coming up with two especially groan-inducing headlines. The first was for a story on Paul McCartney's impending marriage, I wrote, "'Paul is wed'". (My editor added the prefix, "Pretty soon, it'll be".) The second was for a story on the Durst murder case in Texas, where a private eye is having my former backyard dredged in the vain hope of finding a corpse's missing head. (Yes, you read right. My former backyard was Galveston Bay, where my parents had a house by the water.) I wrote, "Durst detective can't get a head". That one actually made an editor from the editorial side of the room--the side where they write the stories--call out approvingly, "Who wrote that?" Looks like I've finally mastered the Post's world-famous style. To mark the occasion, I toasted myself on the way home with an appropriate capper to the evening: two 25¢ bags of Cheez Doodles.
The photo at right has nothing to do with this item; I just thought this column was getting too word-heavy. It's a shot by Stephen Lombardo that was used for the cover of the Anderson Council's excellent album Coloursound.That's me in the chartreuse jacket, pretending to be looking at a Viewmaster card.
11:26 PM
|
The Petite Powerhouse Now Brings You the Headlines...andthe War: The newspaper needs me tonight (I'm one of their on-call copy editors), so I'm off to write tomorrow's headlines. (Someone's gotta do it.) Watch this space to learn which ones were mine. I'm also pleased to report that I am now handling the publicity for Verse Theater Manhattan's March production of "War Music" at the Wings Theatre. Much more news to come on that as well.
2:07 PM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
