Serious Inside Baseball: Imaginary Party Report #5260

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:07:18 -0400

The Transom refused to attend Toby Young's book party last night, even though it was clearly the must-attend party of 2002. Did one really have to attend to report it?

Rachel Sklar was in an effusive mood, her rockin' bod swaying slightly with the off-genre Soho House soundtrack. She warmly greeted the overly well-dressed reporter Greg Lindsay. Mr. Lindsay brushed aside compliments on his tan, the result of long hours this summer spent on the fun-loving eastern side of Ocean Beach. Remy Stern rolled his eyes roofdeck-ward almost imperceptibly as Jessica Coen made a crack about the cokey bathrooms of Soho House.

They were all trapped in the so-called "library" room, which contains no books. It was a room too small to contain such egos.

Early enough, Mr. Young's ploy came to fruition. He, and his co-hosts, had invited both Ian Spiegelman and Doug Dechert. The two feuding gentlemen had clearly been in training for this party: both had obviously been consuming massive amounts of carbohydrates in preparation for this moment.

Spencer Morgan in The New York Observer, February 20, 2006:

"Doug, are you going to reach out to Ian?" asked Webster Hall promoter Baird Jones; he is an old friend of Mr. Dechert's and knows how to push his buttons.

"Oh, yeah--I'm gonna reach out with my fist, right in that fuckin' schnoz of his," said Mr. Dechert. He gave his prepared (and likely well-worn) quote about Mr. Spiegelman: "He's a little media mediocrity, and he has the instincts and countenance of a rodent."

(Mr. Spiegelman, reached for comment, declined to be goaded into battle for a second time. "He seems a little obsessed with me. It's kind of gross," wrote Mr. Spiegelman in an e-mail. "I really don't want to be associated with that person at all. And, no, he's not in my book. I write dark, but not that dark.")

And so the boys, at last, shoved each other a wee bit. One question remains: How did Jared Paul Stern, in town just for the night and looking natty, not get any ink out of this party yet?

Observer » Serious Inside Baseball: Imaginary Party Report #5260

Serious Inside Baseball: Imaginary Party Report #5260