Quoted in the Observer

I was quoted in my favorite NY paper/mag (well, besides the New Yorker) today, the New York Observer.

I like John Koblin's story - though because he was on stage, "in" the party, he didn't quite get the full effect.

Last night, Atlantic Monthly - excuse me, now it's just "The Atlantic" - threw a party to celebrate it's 150 Years.

The theme? The American Idea, the title of a recent issue and an essay anthology of Atlantic writers.

It's an important theme, and with bigwigs like Arianna Huffington, P.J. O'Rourke and former governor William Weld slated to speak, I expected something weighty.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Instead, those of us who bought tickets sat in an auditorium and watched a cocktail party. We watched the glitterati get drunk, grab asses, laugh loudly, shake hands and mingle, and eat smoked salmon. Without ever looking at the crowd of 860 watching them, because they are used to being watched and pretending not to notice.

Then the bigwigs mumbled through some  BS about what the American Idea means to them.

Then Patti Smith got up to play. And that woman, that rock star, she has some ideas about the America Idea. And those ideas are about justice, and speaking out, and the power of the ordinary person.

But the glitterati, they didn't want to hear Patti Smith's American Idea. So they just kept drinking, kept talking, trying to drown her out as she sang "the people have the power," tears clogging her voice.

Comments

[Mary B in chicago]

Funny- I was listening to Patti Smith the other day on xrt and thought to myself - we need a lot more Patti Smith and a lot less Britney....

Hey Jay- you need to give me a call....