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Prairie Homeboy Keillor Defends NPR

Daniel D'Addario — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:17:40 -0400

The Authors Guild was honoring NPR's Fresh Air interviewess Terry Gross with a prize--just after Ms. Gross's network had come under attack by a Republican House of Representatives, which threatened to cut NPR's funding.

Garrison Keillor, Ms. Gross's fellow NPR contributor, wasn't overly concerned about the war over NPR. "It was a skirmish. There'll be a lot more of them after. People on the right perceive public broadcasting as being an animal. We just have to live with them--they're riding high right now." Ominously, the previously avuncular Prairie Home Companion host added, "Something else will happen."

What about NPR was so offensive? Mr. Keillor, who alienated much of the Authors Guild at last year's dinner by joking onstage about the end of publishing, couldn't say. "Unoffensive broadcasting would be a pale shade of fish. We just keep going." As for his own Prairie Home Companion, "we're not political--we're just a silly show."

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Courtney Shares the Love

Daniel D'Addario — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:50:21 -0400

Rock star and tabloid fixture Courtney Love had a bone to pick with The Observer. "You guys referred to me as Paula Fox's granddaughter!" she reprimanded us at the Creative Time Gala, over a recent piece regarding novelist Martin Amis's impending move to Brooklyn. "It was the first time I've been referred to as granddaughter-of," said Ms. Love. She noted, wistfully: "It gave me insight into Frances"--the daughter of Ms. Love and the late Kurt Cobain.

As for her own reading, Ms. Love is digging into Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad. "Who says women can't be good postmodernists?" she asked.
The novel chronicles some fairly desperate characters in the music industry, but is it realistic?

"Ish," Ms. Love demurred. She then referred to us as a "snob"-we weren't sure why!

"Well, not you, but artsy people tend to put rock and roll in a vulgar, not-very-literary category," she said. "It isn't true!"

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Vera Wang, Interrupted: Peggy Siegal Breaks Bin Laden News at Socialite Soiree

Daniel D'Addario — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:54:23 -0400

For some, the news broke on Sunday night via fashion gadfly Derek Blasberg's Twitter feed: "Film publicist Peggy Seigel [sic] just barged into Vera Wang's living room to announce bin Laden is dead." This was some time after Mr. Blasberg was raving to The Transom about the YSL shoes that designer Stefano Pilati once gave him; we were among those gathered in Ms. Wang's Park Avenue apartment not to hear Ms. Siegal's triumphant message, but for a post-premiere dinner after a screening of L'Amour Fou, a documentary about Yves Saint Laurent and his former lover Pierre Bergé.

The evening, French in theme, was filled with wedding-dazed guests suffering a distinctly British hangover. Royal milliner Philip Treacy expressed surprise that many Americans didn't quite get the serpentine, beribboned topper he'd designed for Princess Beatrice.
"Hats are provocateurs-but it's a little bow!" he insisted. "She's like a little Victorian doll!" America, he added, is a nation of hat-wearers despite itself: "America isn't seeing what it's looking at-the baseball cap is so elegant! I wish I designed the baseball cap. Ethnic communities wear hats, rappers wear hats, policemen wear hats! Walking down the street in America--I've never seen so many hats in my life."

We asked hostess Vera Wang what she thought of the royal dress, to which she replied: "You didn't listen to my six hours of commentary on CNN?"

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Goodbye, Dolly?! Carol Channing Fights the Flu as Documentary Debuts

Daniel D'Addario — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:50:37 -0400

We hear that the April 23 red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life was canceled because the 90-year-old actress had a case of the flu. "Is it bad?" one publicist asked another at a festival press junket. The response was grim: "At her age ..." the woman said, her voice trailing off.

The documentary's premiere was set to draw the likes of Chita Rivera, Whoopi Goldberg and Tyne Daly, though as of April 15, the film hadn't been completed. As for the flu, "That's the trouble with making a documentary about a nonagenarian," a Rubenstein flack explained. We have since been told that Ms. Channing is "feeling much better." We wish her well.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Spring Fling, Flung Past: Harry Josh’s Party Hits Reportorial Roadblock

Daniel D'Addario — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:46:54 -0400

Chatting with Mickey Rourke at Harry Josh's Spring Fling party at the Hiro Ballroom, we mentioned we were eagerly anticipating his forthcoming film Passion Play.

"You shouldn't be," he replied. "It's terrible." Mr. Rourke had apologized in April for making similar comments about the film, claiming he'd been "in a shitty mood." Now, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (star of the next Transformers sequel) and her boyfriend, Jason Statham, standing nearby, he was at it again.

"I don't know if you'd even want to watch a slide show of that," he elaborated.

Mr. Josh, the famed hairstylist and party host, was determined to control the press this time around. "Last year it got really crazy, and someone was, like, asking Ashley Olsen questions," Mr. Josh told the Transom. "She was like, 'I didn't realize there would be press here,' and she left." This was conveyed in tragic tones.

Like other outlets, the Transom had been invited to cover the Fling, and like other outlets, we were given strict instructions with ominous overtones: "Blend in. Do not bother the celebrities. Observe-you're good at that, Observer."

Observe we did: Jay-Z and Will Smith arrived together and were promptly whisked out of visible territory. How about Fergie? A gaggle of men surrounded her booth, watching her sing along to Usher, squealing at the scene they obscured.

Ashley Olsen was giving the party another go. Sometime after, she nearly fell to the ground in an embrace with Mr. Josh, he whispered in her ear, gesturing toward the Transom. Ms. Olsen sprinted toward the door and was gone.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Waldorf Apocalypse! The Explorer's Club Dinner

Nate Freeman — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:32:39 -0400

One year, nine months and two days before the world will end, the Explorers Club paid homage to our demise with its 107th annual dinner. The theme was “Exploring 2012: The Maya Prophecy.”

For some light entertainment, the club ferried in men and women dressed as ancient shamans. In face paint and feather-heavy head garb, they pounced upon the skeptics with Mesoamerican hellfire, whooping and beating on drums.

Some guests seemed impressed, but regular members scoffed—they were, after all, men and women who had scaled mountains, touched arctic poles, wrestled wild things and dashed through archaeological ruins.

Stella Schnabel was a bit dubious about the 2012 eschatology. “I do think it’s very interesting, it’s something to look into, but I don’t believe in it,” Ms. Schnabel said. “It’s a good theme, because it’s a festive one.”

The apocalypse? Really?

She considered, then grew more sober. “The apocalypse is happening in Japan right now,” she noted.

Ms. Schnabel then wheeled The Observer over to Edward O. Wilson, famed biologist and Harvard professor emeritus. He was sitting with Neil Patterson, chairman of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

“I’m not really into the theme,” Mr. Patterson said. “Are you, Ed?”

The 81-year-old academic titan didn’t miss a beat.

“The end of time will come 1,000 years after Jesus returns—and that will happen within the next week or two,” Mr. Wilson said, deadpan. “We have to have the Rapture, for all of us who have been baptized in the Catholic Church. Then we have the Tribulations, when the Antichrist rules Earth.”

“That’s a coupla days, right,” Mr. Patterson interjected.

“No, that’s a thousand years,” Mr. Wilson responded. “And don’t forget Armageddon! When the armies of Satan will meet the armies of Jesus. Jesus will win, of course, and time will come to an end.”

Then we can all relax, Professor?

“Forget this ridiculous story of the Mayans,” the famed scientist concluded. “And stick to the simple truth found in the Book of Revelation.”

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

Gaga For Gaza!

Nate Freeman — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:17:51 -0400

In candy apple red slip-ons, silk pajamas, a chest-baring shirt and a scowl, Julian Schnabel blustered toward The Observer to defend his new film, Miral, which was about to have its premiere at the U.N.

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Palestinian journalist and Schnabel squeeze Rula Jebreal, the film focuses on the title character’s coming of age, her rebellion against her father and her infatuation with dreamy but violent revolutionaries.

For Monday’s screening, the first in the U.S., the Weinstein Company booked the General Assembly Hall, where, in 1947, the state of Israel was signed into existence.

The American Jewish Federation was not pleased with the location, and had fired off a letter urging U.N. officials to block the event.

“Obviously, they’re showing the movie, and the AJF can’t do a damn thing about it!” Mr. Schnabel told The Observer. “I’d love it if they would see it.” He and his producer, Harvey Weinstein, had extended an invitation. “No response,” Mr. Schnabel said.

“I’m used to it,” Mr. Weinstein said of the protests. “Trust me. That’s not the first letter. It’s the first letter to go super-public. And it won’t be the last letter.”

Attendee Josh Brolin was asked what he thought of the controversy. “I don’t know much about it!” he said.

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

Of Pizza and Politics: Lefties Throw a Party

Daniel D'Addario — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:55:46 -0400

London Review of Books editor Mary-Kay Wilmers is looking for a new employee. The ideal hire, if an American, "would have to say all the right things about the publication-and have a knowledge of history, as we're a bit lacking at the moment."

Ms. Wilmers, sipping Campari at a book party in her honor at Pravda, asked The Observer what we thought of political situation in the Middle East, and after a few carefully chosen words, we reminded her that we were not employed by an international publication. She winced. "America thinks about its interests far too much. I was here when this all began, in Egypt, and the news said: 'Area relevant to U.S. interests in crisis.' I don't worry about the interests of the U.S." She winced again--or perhaps it was an impish grin. "Or of Netanyahu."

Politics were on the minds of many attendees, including Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, who was obsessing over Wisconsin--"It's not just about pay and perks for workers-it's about 30 years of right-wing assault!"--while preparing for a Saturday flight to Moscow, for the release of her husband's new book. She'll be attending Mikhail Gorbachev's 80th birthday party while she's there. What will she give him? "I haven't thought about that. He has an extraordinarily beautiful family, and that's such a gift."

The Observer also spoke to Nation columnist Katha Pollitt, who was troubled by the Wisconsin protests as well. "I'm going to send [the protesters] a pizza tomorrow! I found out about this today and I thought they had enough pizza at that point." What else was on Ms. Pollitt's mind? The dearth of female bylines. "The LRB could do better," she advised The Observer, making sure to add, "Don't make me sound stupid." We'd call her lively, even luminescent, we advised Ms. Pollitt, effusively. "'Opalescent' is a good word," she said.