A provincial in New York encounters Yoko Ono, Art Garfunkel, Penny Marshall, Woody Allen, José Ferrer, Martin Balsam, Brad Dourif, Itzhak Perlman, Hank Jones, and two celebrity dogs
There was a great article in the New York Times (yeah, back when it had that potential) that proposed a point system for encounters with famous people. The highest points were given for the most famous people encountered in the most random circumstances. For example, fighting over a cab with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and then agreeing to make two stops with them would be a high score encounter. Seeing Patrick Ewing walk out of the Garden after a game is basically zero points.
I don't recall. My sweet, lovely mother-in-law paid for the wedding. She was a lady of modest means, and we didn't want to hit her savings too much. On a shoestring, we managed to pull off the most fun and elegant wedding I've ever attended. Around 70 in attendance. Held at a magnificent rooftop restaurant atop a Columbia faculty apartment (The Terrace atop Butler Hall). Harpist for the processional and recessional. And Michael Mark's fantastic music. This picture shows the precise spot where we said our vows: https://eventmanagement.columbia.edu/content/butler-atrium.
Nice. My wife and I married in her mom's and stepfather's living room. 30 people total. My stepfather paid for the rabbi (one of the few in the New Jersey who didn't insist that I convert) and for a nice restaurant where everyone could order off the menu.
Don’t remember who played guitar. (Not Django Reinhardt!) We probably Grappelli him 6 or 8 times. He was our favorite. He exuded absolute joy in playing. Trying to think who he performed with in Greenwich Village a couple of times. It’ll come to me. And I believe I saw him perform with Dave Grossman at Carnegie Hall. (I probably have the tickets in my file cabinet.)
You've reminded me of a moment that will forever be happily etched in my brain. In March 1989, I was attending an industry conference at the Fountainebleau Miami Beach. I entered the elevator late afternoon to head down for a cocktail reception my firm was sponsoring. Hard to believe, but at that time it was still suit and tie dress code, even in Miami. A floor or two lower, the elevator stopped, the door opened, and I was suddenly staring directly at Lauren Hutton. She very quickly looked me in the eye, gave me her famous gap toothed smile and stated "That is a really nice tie." I think I melted in a puddle. At 45, she was gorgeous.
I would have enjoyed seeing Hutton, as well. At Art Basel in Miami, we ran into Parma Lakshmi—around the time she was married to Salman Rushdie and doing her cooking show. She, too, was gorgeous.
I had not realized you and I had nearly met (metaphorically speaking)! :-) I'm a born-and-raised New Yorker and I was at Columbia from the fall of 1976 to the winter of 1980. I was in a joint A.B.-M.I.A. program and did my undergrad work in three years, graduating as a member of the 1979 year group before finishing at the School of International Affairs in December 1980.
Your comments about celebrity encounters in New York are spot on. My parents' apartment was on the upper East Side and running into well-known public figures while shopping was part and parcel of my upbringing. I remember my mother--who worked in the art world--once pointing out Andy Warhol, who looked and dressed like a bum.
Embarrassingly my own encounter with such a figure came one time that my parents had drug me off to the Met. On the crosstown bus back to the East Side afterwards, I espied a gentleman whom I'd long admired...former Senator James Buckley. I rather rudely wormed my way to the back of the bus to greet him, but was completely overawed and just lamely said something like, "...You're... Senator Buckley!" With impeccable grace and self-effacement, he acknowledged the fact and asked me some anodyne questions I have no memory of. But it was certainly a most memorable moment.
...I expect the irony of your cool, New-Yorkish affect in contrast to my awkward, bumpkinesque response is not lost upon you! :-)
Yup! I was taking classes in SIA during your final semester, and my wife was working in the basement. We met at the little cafe at 116th and Amsterdam. … Where did your mother work in the art world? My wife plied that world, too. … Buckley was a splendid fellow, as what Moynihan, who defeated him. … Bumpkinesque is OK, too. :) Been there at times.
My mother worked at MOMA until I was about ten, and then she became what was then called a "free-lance" editor. Mostly catalog and indexing work, back in the days before computers or electronic documents...I imagine most folks nowadays couldn't even get their heads around that! :-) I remember she worked on the first catalog for the Hirshhorn and put together an index for the English translation of Louis Malle's Religious Art of the 12th Century.
I know the cafe you mean, but can't remember its name...my buddies and I mostly hung out at the Hungarian Pastry Shop at 111th and Amsterdam. Crowded and often hard to find seating, but they made stuff to die for.
Speaking of Moynihan, I was in the audience at the Low Library when he debated Reagan on the topic of the Panama Canal. I actually appear on-screen in an audience shot, for maybe a fraction of a second...I'm sitting next to a friend of mine who's smoking a calabash pipe. Moynihan was indeed a fine fellow, but eventually he devolved into just another tool of the Dems, alas.
Weirdly, I actually went to high school with his son, Timothy Patrick Moynihan, who was in the year-group ahead of mine. I see somewhat sadly that he has gone to his reward, and is presumably now regaling the Lord with his weird, offbeat cartoons. So it goes... :-(
I have lots of SIA stories I could share but I've already babbled on far too long! ;-)
A brush with fame. Walking down the street in Palm Springs, I came upon Jackie Mason standing talking to a friend. As I walked by, he shrugged, put both palms upward, and said in that unmistakeable accent, “I don’t care where we eat.” Not exactly Itzhak Perlman on an elevator, but I’ll take it.
Fun read – and compels me to relate a chance celebrity encounter (in every sense of the word) of my own. When John Lindsay was elected Mayor of New York City, I was an undergraduate at Princeton dating a young lady whose parents were apparently generous donors. Thus I escorted her in their company to Lindsay’s inauguration ball. I was running late, and left my room in the hotel on the run. I careened blindly around a corner and ran into Kirk Douglas...(literally – ran into) - knocked him flat. I was (am) 6’4”, 225 lbs ... he is (was) considerably shorter and lighter. I apologized profusely as I helped him up, and he very graciously dismissed my concerns. He was a class act.
One of the receptions I played for at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine was in honor of a visit by Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek. Somewhere in my files, I have a photo of myself from that day, standing with Kollek and John Lindsay. So add that to my stack of encounters. :)
You make a strong case for making the Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon” look like child’s play.
If Kevin Bacon and I ever meet, mankind will reach the point of singularity.
There was a great article in the New York Times (yeah, back when it had that potential) that proposed a point system for encounters with famous people. The highest points were given for the most famous people encountered in the most random circumstances. For example, fighting over a cab with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and then agreeing to make two stops with them would be a high score encounter. Seeing Patrick Ewing walk out of the Garden after a game is basically zero points.
Great stories!
Fun stories. How much did you pay for the band. Hey, I'm an economist, which means I get to ask.
I don't recall. My sweet, lovely mother-in-law paid for the wedding. She was a lady of modest means, and we didn't want to hit her savings too much. On a shoestring, we managed to pull off the most fun and elegant wedding I've ever attended. Around 70 in attendance. Held at a magnificent rooftop restaurant atop a Columbia faculty apartment (The Terrace atop Butler Hall). Harpist for the processional and recessional. And Michael Mark's fantastic music. This picture shows the precise spot where we said our vows: https://eventmanagement.columbia.edu/content/butler-atrium.
Nice. My wife and I married in her mom's and stepfather's living room. 30 people total. My stepfather paid for the rabbi (one of the few in the New Jersey who didn't insist that I convert) and for a nice restaurant where everyone could order off the menu.
Enjoyed your writing, the videos, and the beautiful artwork so much. Thank you for a grand start to my morning!
You’re welcome!
And what brave soul played guitar when you saw Stéphane Grappelli? Amazing encounters, enchantingly told. Is a book of memoirs in the offing?
Don’t remember who played guitar. (Not Django Reinhardt!) We probably Grappelli him 6 or 8 times. He was our favorite. He exuded absolute joy in playing. Trying to think who he performed with in Greenwich Village a couple of times. It’ll come to me. And I believe I saw him perform with Dave Grossman at Carnegie Hall. (I probably have the tickets in my file cabinet.)
You've reminded me of a moment that will forever be happily etched in my brain. In March 1989, I was attending an industry conference at the Fountainebleau Miami Beach. I entered the elevator late afternoon to head down for a cocktail reception my firm was sponsoring. Hard to believe, but at that time it was still suit and tie dress code, even in Miami. A floor or two lower, the elevator stopped, the door opened, and I was suddenly staring directly at Lauren Hutton. She very quickly looked me in the eye, gave me her famous gap toothed smile and stated "That is a really nice tie." I think I melted in a puddle. At 45, she was gorgeous.
I would have enjoyed seeing Hutton, as well. At Art Basel in Miami, we ran into Parma Lakshmi—around the time she was married to Salman Rushdie and doing her cooking show. She, too, was gorgeous.
She sure is!
I had not realized you and I had nearly met (metaphorically speaking)! :-) I'm a born-and-raised New Yorker and I was at Columbia from the fall of 1976 to the winter of 1980. I was in a joint A.B.-M.I.A. program and did my undergrad work in three years, graduating as a member of the 1979 year group before finishing at the School of International Affairs in December 1980.
Your comments about celebrity encounters in New York are spot on. My parents' apartment was on the upper East Side and running into well-known public figures while shopping was part and parcel of my upbringing. I remember my mother--who worked in the art world--once pointing out Andy Warhol, who looked and dressed like a bum.
Embarrassingly my own encounter with such a figure came one time that my parents had drug me off to the Met. On the crosstown bus back to the East Side afterwards, I espied a gentleman whom I'd long admired...former Senator James Buckley. I rather rudely wormed my way to the back of the bus to greet him, but was completely overawed and just lamely said something like, "...You're... Senator Buckley!" With impeccable grace and self-effacement, he acknowledged the fact and asked me some anodyne questions I have no memory of. But it was certainly a most memorable moment.
...I expect the irony of your cool, New-Yorkish affect in contrast to my awkward, bumpkinesque response is not lost upon you! :-)
Yup! I was taking classes in SIA during your final semester, and my wife was working in the basement. We met at the little cafe at 116th and Amsterdam. … Where did your mother work in the art world? My wife plied that world, too. … Buckley was a splendid fellow, as what Moynihan, who defeated him. … Bumpkinesque is OK, too. :) Been there at times.
My mother worked at MOMA until I was about ten, and then she became what was then called a "free-lance" editor. Mostly catalog and indexing work, back in the days before computers or electronic documents...I imagine most folks nowadays couldn't even get their heads around that! :-) I remember she worked on the first catalog for the Hirshhorn and put together an index for the English translation of Louis Malle's Religious Art of the 12th Century.
I know the cafe you mean, but can't remember its name...my buddies and I mostly hung out at the Hungarian Pastry Shop at 111th and Amsterdam. Crowded and often hard to find seating, but they made stuff to die for.
Speaking of Moynihan, I was in the audience at the Low Library when he debated Reagan on the topic of the Panama Canal. I actually appear on-screen in an audience shot, for maybe a fraction of a second...I'm sitting next to a friend of mine who's smoking a calabash pipe. Moynihan was indeed a fine fellow, but eventually he devolved into just another tool of the Dems, alas.
Weirdly, I actually went to high school with his son, Timothy Patrick Moynihan, who was in the year-group ahead of mine. I see somewhat sadly that he has gone to his reward, and is presumably now regaling the Lord with his weird, offbeat cartoons. So it goes... :-(
I have lots of SIA stories I could share but I've already babbled on far too long! ;-)
A brush with fame. Walking down the street in Palm Springs, I came upon Jackie Mason standing talking to a friend. As I walked by, he shrugged, put both palms upward, and said in that unmistakeable accent, “I don’t care where we eat.” Not exactly Itzhak Perlman on an elevator, but I’ll take it.
That’s a good one, too!
Fun read – and compels me to relate a chance celebrity encounter (in every sense of the word) of my own. When John Lindsay was elected Mayor of New York City, I was an undergraduate at Princeton dating a young lady whose parents were apparently generous donors. Thus I escorted her in their company to Lindsay’s inauguration ball. I was running late, and left my room in the hotel on the run. I careened blindly around a corner and ran into Kirk Douglas...(literally – ran into) - knocked him flat. I was (am) 6’4”, 225 lbs ... he is (was) considerably shorter and lighter. I apologized profusely as I helped him up, and he very graciously dismissed my concerns. He was a class act.
One of the receptions I played for at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine was in honor of a visit by Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek. Somewhere in my files, I have a photo of myself from that day, standing with Kollek and John Lindsay. So add that to my stack of encounters. :)
I concede … 🤗
What a fun essay!
Thanks!