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Sheep's
Meadow in Central Park. Sunday, 4:45 PM.
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Around
the neighborhood. It was a beautiful September weekend
in New York. Warm sunny days and balmy evenings of clear skies
still with a clear sighting of Mars. Getting dark earlier now,
by eight o’clock on Saturday evening, the sky was a dusky
blue with streaks of fading pink clouds in the southern distance,
setting off the silhouettes of the skyscrapers eighty blocks
down. The three-quarter moon was bright. It cast a shiny wide
white/yellow beam across dark and choppy surface of the East
River rushing south. Its glow lit the faces of the neighbors
who were standing along the railing of the John Finley Walk,
looking up at Mars, still in awe of its presence.
The fall season in New York is just about
to heat up. They got started last week
but the fare was still light. Someone told me that the
opening of the new Jimmy Choo store on Madison Avenue
brought out so many (invited)(?) guests that there was
a line around the block, waiting to get in. To a shoestore.
You see why these businesses like a good public relations
person?
In this
late stage of Veblenesque social theories, we now have a society
that is bonded to its retail consciousness. By which I mean, to put
it more plainly: everyone’s out there selling something. A
hundred years ago, in society there was a term used to describe those
who were (forever) outside the ranks of the plutocrats. And that
was “in trade.” Alexander Stewart, who
had the first great department store in New York, and who built himself
a magnificent mansion across the street from Mrs. Astor’s highly
austere (and boring looking) brownstone on 34th and Fifth, was never
accepted. Because he was “in trade.” Today he’d
be sitting to the right of Brooke Astor (If he played
his cards right and had a good PR person).
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Getting
ready for the busy week ahead
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Meanwhile
it’s ka-ching/ka-ching wherever I go. This week,
on Tuesday, I will be participating in a panel discussion at Nextpert
News Network’s Trends Breakfast II. The subject will be “The
Power of Buzz and Gossip in Spreading The Word on New Products.”
The invitation refers to the panel as “”our world class
experts,” and they include Dr. Robert Passikoff,
an expert in “Brand Loyalty,” Pam Danziger,
author of Why People Buy, and me, an expert on nothing but
someone who’s always got an answer. I hope the paying guests
will be pleased. I hope I can think of some juicy morsel of gossip
to toss out to the breakfast clubbers. No one goes away hungry from
these things if they’d had a bit of scoop; that much I know.
Back to business, the 21st century version of Steppin’ in Society: Even
that free world society glossy mag I edit, beacon of the New 400, Quest,
will be holding a cocktail party with Gracious Home at their store
on Third Avenue. On Tuesday. The September issue of Quest is
the biggest ad-wise, in the seventeen year history of the magazine
and don’t think some people aren’t rather pleased. Who
wouldn’t? And Gracious Home, with its clever and highly effective
advertising campaign by Peter Rogers, is a regular
advertiser in Quest. So everybody’s happy.
Gracious Home, if you didn’t know, is the 21st-century version
of a neighborhood hardware store. And not just any neighborhood.
They have everything, of every variety and every price and it is
all chic, first class, clever, fascinating and endlessly useful.
Hardware stores and bookstores are the only stores which interest
me. I stay away from Gracious Home as much as possible because I’d
want everything (and I’d need it all).
They’re having their 40th anniversary this year and so everyone’s
celebrating and Quest is helping them and it’s a lovefest.
And we sure need as much of those as possible, no?
That same night over at LQ on 511 Lexington
between 47th and 48th Street, Fcuk Fragrances is having
a party for its fragrances: Fcuk Him and Fcuk Her. Now,
I ask you ...? I mean, how do you say that? Eff-see-you-kay.
It’s even hard to spell, or type out. The invite
reads: “fcuk wants you to get SCENT TO BED ...” Hmmm
... is that all? And they have a website, if you’re
not going to be in the neighborhood and have a need to
know more: fcukfragrances.com.
Anyway, I won’t be there. I’ll be over at Gracious Home
celebrating preferred customer relations and wishing I could buy
something, a new pair of pliers, anything. And then a bunch of us
are going to Donohue’s on 63rd and Lex for a real homestyle
dinner party. Donohue’s is totally unchic and its old-style
tall leather booths in the area beyond the bar draws the famous,
the infamous, and the neighborhood. They all like the prices and
the portions and the fact that they think it’s a secret and
no one will ever see them there. That’s what they think.
Then on Wednesday morning, some people will be going over to “21” at
Breakfast to hear Sixty Minutes producer Don Hewitt talk
about how “Liberals Aren’t Liberals and Conservatives
Aren’t Conservatives.” Hallelujah.
Then at lunchtime I’m going up to La Goulue where Henri
Barguiirdjian, president of Graff, is hosting a luncheon
in honor of Jamee Gregory and Leslie Jones who
are co-chairman of the 15th annual Preview Party for the International
Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show.
The Antique Show is one of the major social events at the beginning
of every fall season in New York. It benefits the Society for Memorial
Sloan Kettering and Gregory and Jones are members of that esteemed
fund-raising arm of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Graff,
purveyor of amazing looking diamonds and jewels is a sponsor. The
Preview Party brings out a lot of the crème de la crème
of New York, especially the collectors who write out big checks to
buy the pieces and objets at the Fair, so everybody’s happy, ka-ching
ka-ching.
Then on Thursday there’s more and Friday even
more, and that’s not counting the opening of the
New York City Opera or the Museum of the City of New
York’s annual Fall Dance with its scores of before
the dance cocktail parties all over (the Upper East Side)
of New York.
And then on Sunday, at Union
Square Park, North Plaza the Great American Mutt Show
is holding their annual Party with animal contests and
pet adoption. If you’re an animal lover, or even
if you just like dogs and cats, this is really fun. Lots
of people bring their pooches and other pets and it’s
a quadriped’s confab. And a joy, and even sometimes
with a tear, and then more joy. It’s a great Sunday
in New York city-wide neighborhood event. You’ll
see amazing pets putting their best paws forward and
you might even see a little lovebug or two you might
take home to bring some joy into your life. |
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