Another side of reality

A barn in Ithaca, New York. 2:45 PM. Photo: JH.

May 27, 2009. Overcast and much cooler, yesterday in New York. Almost chilly; a surprise break in all the sunshine we’ve been having.

The town is still coming back from the long holiday weekend respite. If they were anywhere last night it was over at the Museum of Modern Art for their 41st annual Party in the Garden. Cocktails at 7, dinner at 8 and after-dinner reception (more guests) at 9. There was a live performance by Grammy Award Winning Artist Estelle, and DJ Cassidy; and enough boldfaced names and movie stars to fill a year of People Magazine features. Such as: Candice Bergen, Glenn Close, Ellsworth Kelly, Dionne Warwick, with spouses, friends and partners, of course; Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman Jr., Larry Gagosian, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis, Brice and Helen Marden, Donald Bryant, Richard Meier; lotsa Rockefellers: David Rockfeller, David Rockefeller Jr. and Susan Cohn, Sharon Rockefeller, Justin Rockefeller, Agnes Gund, Senator Schumer, Jerry Speyer, artists, lots of artists: George Lois, Ken Jacobs, Paul Graham, Leanddro Erlich, Adam Bartos, Ramin Bahrani, Hsieh Tehching, Jonathan Horowtiz, Dorothea Rockburne, Jack Shear, Florian Slotawa, Dan Wood, Aernout Mik, Josephine Meckseper. More: Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder, Jamie and Lee Niven, Barbara Castelli, Steve and Alexandra Cohen, Alex Herzan, Paul Herzan, Gerrit and Sydie Lansing, Marnie Pillsbury, Anna Marie Shapiro, Rafael Vinoly, Timo Weiland, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim.


	Peter Cary Peterson in 'NYC Prep.'

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star. I got a call yesterday morning from a major television production entity in London asking me if I knew of any rich teenagers whose life they could profile and who would invite them in with a camera. I think of myself as the wrong person to ask because it’s hard to imagine people of that economic ilk being willing to “expose” their privileged existence, especially in these perilous financial times. But then maybe I’m wrong.

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from my friend Paige Peterson about her son Peter Cary Peterson’s part in another BRAVO “reality show,” NYC Prep. The workaday world’s version of rich kids. Then later in the afternoon we received Washington Social Diary’s Carol Joynt column writing about BRAVO’s plans for a Washington, D.C. Housewives reality show, and who she thinks could and would.

Carol loves this stuff. Reality. She’s not alone. I’m less intrigued. It reminds me of that old Firesign Theatre line: “lives of poor people as told by rich Hollywood stars.”

Paige sent me a clip from the NYC Prep with her kid on screen.15 is the perfect age to really get into this stuff. Well, okay, maybe 17. The kid expounded unscripted -- a 17-year-old NYC prep school kid and his reality.

I thought: who needs writers? The phenomenon is ominous for the written word. The actors have taken over and the audience wants to join them. Is it the 21st century version of the Inmates and the Asylum analogy? We’ve come full circle, back to the original question: What is Reality?

Meanwhile, another side of reality also on video is a clip JH produced for Jordana Z’s Bits and Morsels column on today’s NYSD. It’s Sandro's Sous chef Alex Medina, making a torta di nonna from scratch. Now this is a fantastic reality to behold, no matter what town you’re in and who your housewives are. See for yourself.

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