Under threatening skies in a cozy and picturesque former Hudson River train station, twenty or so lovers of literature (or something) came to see the novelist DeLaune Michel and myself perform in a reading sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center. The Center’s director, Jerri Lynn Fields, opened the evening with a discussion of the …
I had lunch with John Stacks, my mentor, exemplar, confessor and friend during my years at Time magazine. I was delighted to see him, and to chew over the presidential campaign, the surprising delights of visiting the east of Italy, and how coop board critics are similar to Hamas. I am thrilled to say that …
I received a nice note from an artist in California named Lisa Jonte (see http://www.Girlamatic.com, or http://www.never-done.com, or http://www.Arcanumvisual.com), who was trying to track down an article I wrote called When Disney Ran America, which appeared in the June 1991 issue of Spy. After I sent her a copy, I received a lovely note that …
Last week, the good folks from Orvis had a group of magazine editors up to their Sandanona hunting preserve in Milbrook. Among the group were my colleague Chip Rowe and myself, and–brace yourself, pun ahead–we had a blast. Sandanona is a terrific facility, now entering its second century as a preserve, set on 400 beautifully …
Ah, the smell of horsehide and fresh-mown grass—and that was just on the bus! Yes, it was Tuesday night at the ballpark, as about forty or so Playboy staffers headed off to Shea Stadium on an office outing to see the hapless Seattle Mariners play the even haplessier New York Mets in an inter-league struggle …
One of the best highlights of summer these last few years has been seeing Shakespeare in Central Park with my daughter Molly. We’ve seen Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona: The Musical, Mother Courage, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hair, and, last week, Hamlet. The productions aren’t always great, but it’s always fun …
Anyone who cares about magazines should drop by Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art, as my friend Ken Smith and I (above) did yesterday, where there is an exhibit devoted to George Lois, who was the art director for Esquire between 1962 and 1972. The word iconic gets thrown around a lot these days, but during …
The fabulous ASME Awards took place last night. Saw a lot of old friends, many of whom hauled away hardware. Congratulations to Jim Meigs, Susan Morrison, Michael Hainey and Graydon Carter, and consolations to Kurt Andersen, Rick Stengel and Walter Kirn. Playboy editors Amy Grace Loyd and AJ Baime keep a small carbon footprint as …
I had fun lunch last week with James Rosen, who is a Playboy Contributing Editor, a Fox News correspondent, author of The Strong Man, a new and likely to be quite controversial biography of John Mitchell, and a lethally accurate impersonator of Bob Woodward. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Estiatorio Milos. I’m …
I had a great time at a party that Playboy co-hosted last week in honor of my friend and former colleague at Spy, Daniel Radosh. Daniel has just published an amusing and insightful new book called Rapture Ready! Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture, several chapters of which first saw light of …