Best judo session ever. Besides that, not much significance today. Anyway, it’s kinda late and I’m lazy, so I’m keeping it at that. By the way, everyone should see this. Really funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GzHMtSoiE
Day 12. It's late. But this is definitely one of my better iSight shots.
“That’s right, you were a good friend of Linda Stein’s,” The New York Daily News columnist Joanna Molloy said greeting me during the midday recess in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. “Tell me about her?”
My most resounding memory of Linda Stein is an all-nighter with her beginning at the Ritz hotel in Paris in the early 1990s. My most immediate memory is the last time I saw her on the upper East Side a few days before she was murdered in late October 2007 in her one-bedroom Fifth Avenue apartment, allegedly assaulted repeatedly by her assistant Natavia Lowery, who is on trial now charged with her murder. I considered where to go with memory. What to say about Linda Stein?
Courts and trials aren’ t my usual beat, are they? When I saw two interesting looking men walking in our direction and, looking down, noticed the silver bracelets on the shorter man’s wrists, I thought of the handiwork of a young, popular with the fashion set jewelry designer Philip Crangi, or Verdura, only to snap out of my silly association and focus. Time and place. The man was handcuffed and being led by a detective. I told Joanna where my mind had just gone. She laughed.
Linda Stein was a well-known real estate broker whose clients famously included Madonna, Sting, Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Angelina Jolie. She had been a Bronx-born schoolteacher who, matched by one of her student’s, met and married Seymour Stein, a founder of Sire Records and a colleague of the late Ahmet Ertegun. In the course of her career, or careers as we heard the assistant district attorney Joan Iluzzi-Orbon say in her opening statement on this first official day of Linda’s murder trial, she had “reinvented herself,” over and over. She had managed musical groups, including the Ramones. She had “reinvented” and gone into selling real estate when Edward Lee Cave, the real estate legend and former Sotheby’s bigwig, had met Linda during her days as a collector of art and antiques. Much later, she had become “our New York Auntie Mame,” the young social figure and fashion editor Lauren Santo Domigo has described her, when her daughter Mandy went to the Kent School in Connecticut and, among her suite mates, was Lauren, as well as the gallerist Amy Greenspon. On breaks from Kent, as Mandy’s guests, they frequently assembled at Linda’s Central Park West apartment.
Linda was a true New Yorker, someone who lived the Manhattan dream you see in Preston Sturges movies recast in a Warhol film. In the mid-1980s, when people drew great distinctions between “uptown” and “downtown” in New York, she was the queen, the elegant hybrid of both worlds plus a lot of Paris tossed into her crazy salad life. She spoke French fluently and included among her nearest and dearest not just Elton John and Madonna but also the French interior designer Jacques Grange and decorator Mica Ertegun, wife of the late Ahmet.
At the time of her death, she was working for Douglas Elliman’s real estate shop, one of their highest earners. Douglas Elliman had provided, through an employment agency, Natavia Lowery, this very pretty young woman, whose checkered employment history they failed, alas, to check. Now Natavia is accused of Linda’s brutal murder–bashing her head in six times with a yoga stick–as well as identity theft and stealing $30,000 from Linda. A lawyer for Natavia conceded that his client was guilty of theft, but not of murder. Although she had confessed, it was a false confession, the defense attorney is claiming on his client’s behalf because, while Linda might have spent her life “reinventing,” Natavia had spent her life “telling people what they wanted to hear,” so her confession to the authorities was false, fatally false. Despite the objections of the prosecutor, the defense lawyer continues to speculate overtly and covertly about who might have committed the murder, suggesting it might even have been one of her two daughters.
Despite the grueling playing of Mandy’s 911 calls to try and get help for her mother who lay “cold and hard,” Linda and her life is now on trial, her “feisty” nature, her battle with breast cancer, the privileges of the Fifth Avenue apartment itself, her perhaps over-use of medically-intended marijuana, her inability to use her arm fully to blow dry her hair or button a sweater as a result of the aggressive surgery to treat her breast cancer, and more.
Mandy, who found her mother in a pool of blood that cold October night, spent the day on the witness stand describing the scene of the crime, Linda’s one-bedroom Fifth Avenue apartment, how it worked, its services, elevator men and deliveries, and identifying the body we saw in photographs face down dressed for a walk in the park. How her mother’s last words before she went to work that day, editing footage of “Burning Down the House,” a film this documentarian made about the club CBGB, which she had to of course describe for the uninitiated, was to wear Linda’s scarf, it was cold outside. But Mandy didn’t want to take it because “it was too good” a scarf. Having once been a client of the couture, and Azzedine Alaia, Linda’s wardrobe in her later years was decidely Loro Piano chic, not cheap, and casual.
On the night I remember most in Paris all those years ago, it was mid-July. I was there to report on the couture shows. Linda Stein was traveling with her friend, and client, Sylvester Stallone, who had a fierce crush on Naomi Campbell, in Paris modeling in the shows. After a dinner given by Gianni Versace–the Milanese-based designer had covered the pool at the Ritz for his first Paris couture show, a big deal for Gianni, and for Paris–Linda Stein organized for Naomi and Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, the three graces of the era, to have a nightcap in one of the grand suites of the Ritz with Stallone and after a ton of laughs we all went off to a disco and there is a famous Roxanne Lowit photograph of Naomi, Linda and Christy walking down the Champ d Elysee at dawn.
Like an unhappy wedding, the courtroom is seated with Linda’s family and friends on one side and Natavia’s on the other. One thing is already evident. Two families have been forever heartbroken. Linda’s daughters, Mandy Stein and Samantha Wells, have their mother and tender memories to a violent crime and horrific trial.
Natavia Lowery, facing up to life in prison, idles in Riker’s Island except for the daily commute to court, where, at Riker’s, she gave birth to a daughter whom she now rarely sees.
The trial is expected to continue for at least six weeks.
“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.”
- Madonna
Story of my life. I’ve been saying something similar to this since the first time I was called a bitch for pursuing the things I wanted relentlessly. As I’ve always asked, name me one CEO that wasn’t an asshole or a bitch, or at the very least perceived that way, at one time or another in his or her life. So, HA to all you haters out there.
O.O
Madonna’s ill-fated and over-appreciated album Hard Candy has a couple of bangers floating around from its sessions still. Yes, a track produced by Timbaland titled “Across The Sky” has mysteriously leaked just in time for the promotion of her live CD/DVD set for the same album. It’s a little bass-heavy, as our friends over at HardCandyMusic describe it, but it’s actually better than most of the tracks on the album – and then Madonna’s vocals kick in. It sounds like something Justin Timberlake would do. Click here for it through another site.
Check out this part of Adam Lambert’s “On the record with Fuse” interview where we get to see him talking about meeting Madonna back in May 2009! Adam explains how Monte Pittman hooked him up with the Queen of Pop and that he was completely “freaked out” by her presence!
Needless to say that it would be amazing if sometime in the future Adam gets to work with Madonna…!
This is the second part of our point-counterpoint discussion. The topic of today’s Point-Counter Point: Is Jersey Shore or The Olive Garden a more unfair stereotype of Italian-American culture?
I’d like to begin this reply by using the most indefatigable evidence in the universe: math. According the Olive Garden the Never Ending Pasta Bowl combinations are nearly endless. And according to leading commercials the math required to figure out the total number of combinations would require at least a team of astrophysicists working for weeks to accurately calculate. So here we go.
There are a total of seven possible pastas: Spaghetti, Whole Wheat Linguine, Linguine, Fettuccine, Penne, Angel Hair, and Orecchiette. There are also a total of six possible sauces Creamy Parmesan Florentine, Roasted Portobello Pomodoro, Alfredo, Meat Sauce, Five Cheese Marinara, and Marinara. So let’s plug that into the old math machine, and I am sure the number will be high in the millions…
…
…
…
For those of you unfamiliar with the number forty-two, let me tell you that it is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Now are you going to tell me that such a clearly holy number, from the holiest of pasta deals, from, clearly, the holiest of Italian-American themed restaurant chains is offensive to a certain ethnic group from a certain boot shaped nation? Pfffft, whatever.
But if you must insist on forcing me to defend the most hallowed of fake stucco halls, I shall oblige you only to ensure that the OG’s reputation remains untarnished. The simple fact is that the Olive Garden gives so much to world and asks for almost nothing in return. Reasonably priced pasta dishes? Check. Friendly service? Of course. Endless salad and breadsticks?! My cup runneth over.
Of course at the Olive Garden, it’s not really about the food. It’s about the experience. It’s about being transplanted to the rolling hills of Tuscany, flowing fields of wheat golden in the morning sun, and Giovanni, the young, dark, sculpted gardener gently nibbling at your toes – excuse me, I was lost in the moment there for a second…and isn’t that exactly the point? To be transplanted to a place with decadent food, bold wines, and beautiful people, if only for an hour, and escape the gross, simplistic, and discourteous world we live in on this side of the Atlantic. We need this escape and we deserve it, and I am proud that a franchise that claims to represent my ethnic homeland is the one to give it.
And what of Jersey Shore? Is it indeed the case that these seven examples of hedonistic hair gel and boob jobs are the best examples of Italian-Americans that we as a society can present? Are these the future leaders of this country? JWoww the next Madonna? The Situation the next Martin Scorsese? Pauly D the next Samuel Alito?! I certainly hope not. Yet if this is the highest representation we have found (and we know only the loftiest manifestations of our culture make it onto the TV), I fear for us. Oh yeah, you sit around claim to watch it “ironically.” Claim that you watch it as an example of how not to act, an example of the most disgusting human behavior you have ever seen. How is that entertainment?! That is simply not an explanation for watching such a morally corrupt program. You might be watching Jersey Shore to make yourself feel better… “Hey, I’ve only slept with four girls in a hot tube- Six?! That Pauly D just doesn’t know where to draw the line.” Or maybe it’s a secret perverse desire that drives addiction… “Wow, JWoww’s boobs are so fake-gross, oh god please let me touch them.” Either way, the fact that you would even watch this show, let alone support it, is demonstrating some serious emotional dysfunction.
So what’s the alternative? Yes, it’s easy to mock the heartfelt slogan, When you’re here, you’re family. But maybe we need something really sincere, just maybe, in these tough times, we need a place to open its doors and say, Hey you look hungry-how about 3000 calories of Alfredo sauce to fix you right up?
The Olive Garden is that place.
Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour, which ran from August 2008 to September 2009, earned its provocative headliner a cool $408 million, making it the second most successful tour in history, and, from March 29, fans will be have the opportunity to channel even more money into her pockets with the much anticipated release of the tour DVD. Filmed over a four-day residency at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, where Madonna played to over 256,000 fans, the concert film naturally includes a “historic” performance of ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, as well as ‘Like A Prayer’, ‘Ray Of Light’, ‘Hung Up’ and ‘Four Minutes’.
Although the tracklists for the DVD/Blu-Ray and CD have not yet been confirmed, much of the footage has previously been aired worldwide on Sky One and by TV channel Epix. Additionally, an uncut version was shown exclusively in four South and Central American countries in September 2009. The DVD/Blu-Ray includes 30 minutes of additional exclusive behind-the-scenes footage filmed throughout the tour.
Here’s the cover:
Alan Pedder
Madonna is not a cultural pop fashion icon for nothing, as these pics show in her fashion shoot for Dolce & Gabbana.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 1.11.2010~
After three weeks off stuffing our faces with turkey, Quality Street and mince pies, we’re back! This time, we’re dreaming of escaping the big freeze and prolonging the holiday period with Songs About Cities. What better than a cool song inspired by a far flung destination to take your mind off the chill factor?
Sartoriology recommends: Fergie – London Bridge.
A Work In Progress picks: Friendly Fires – Paris.
Ellie elects: Jay Z and Alicia Keys– Empire State of Mind (its second appearance on TTSS).
Favourite Thing opts for: D-Kay and Epsilon – Barcelona. New to me and I really like it. One for MrsHorse at Rumour PR too!
Soldiersailor suggests: Deadmau5 – Faxing Berlin.
And just because I love it (for more than just the fact it’s a Madonna version): Buenos Aires – from EVITA.
Before putting our tools down and taking a break for Christmas, The Fashion Office chose their recommended Songs About Money. I’m pretty sure we’d all like some more of that right now. Sadly, with more than a couple of weeks to wait until pay day, why not check out what made the list in the meantime? Enjoy.
More embarrassing than braces? Having Madonna as your mom.
(Madonna and her daughter Lourdes Leon)
Well, maybe a bit more than embarrassing.
Picture by: PRPhotos.com Caption by: juharr via Our LOL Builder
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Image Credit: Dolce and Gabbana
Vanity Fair Italy features Dolce & Gabbana’s new spring/summer 2010 campaign featuring Madonna photographed by Steven Klein.
