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 Lunch with a 21st-century Venus de Milo
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| The Obelisk and a lightpost in Central Park. 4:00 PM. Photo: JH. |
Friday, September 28, 2012. Lovely day, yesterday in New York. Horrendous traffic from the Upper East well into the 30s through midtown. Every street, every avenue. If you ride around as often as I do, you notice because you don’t have time to kill — someone’s waiting.
Wednesday was a dream. I went down to Michael’s via Fifth Avenue. Even the cabbie said to me when we started out, “traffic is good today.”
Naturally, I assumed it would be even better yesterday. I assumed that because I often assume things get better. Call it naïve, call it stupid; it’s both. But a manageable point of view on the day to day.
I had lunch with Jeanne Lawrence, who writes our wonderful Shanghai Diary. It was her idea because she decided a number of years ago to go and live part time in China. She saw it as the coming place to be. She was right. Jeanne loves to travel and loves to live in the environments she travels to. |
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| Me and Jeanne Lawrence of the Shanghai Social Diary. I had a mouth full when Steve Millington decided to take the picture and wouldn't wait for me to finish before he snapped away. |
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Michael’s was very busy. Richard Belzer was at the next table. He gave me a copy of his new book, “Dead Wrong,” which is Number 4 on the New York Times bestseller list. The subtitle is Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-ups. On the cover is a montage of photos: Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy.
The term “Conspiracy Theory” became prominent for the first time in my now long memory after the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. It gained ground as the official response to any disagreement with the official explanation. Since then it has worked its way into the language as sufficient evidence to destroy any evidence that isn’t “official.” To give credibility to any “conspiracy” is to be a Conspiracy Theorist.
After the Assassination of JFK, the idea that one bullet could do so much always struck many as preposterous. But we had the voluminous “Warren Commission Report,” with testimony from everyone remotely related to the man and the day, and Chief Justice Warren was a highly respected man. Nevertheless the questions, suspicions, and various conspiracies about the Assassination all deliver the same conclusion to any sensible thinking person: it was not what we were told it was.
Conspiracy is one of the most common experiences in human behavior. We learn about it as a child in school and in our homes where it is fed by envy or petty jealousy. When we are old enough, we see it all around us. I mean, conspiracy in effort to achieve something that would otherwise not be possible because it is dishonest, deceitful, criminal, etc. We all know about this.
We also know about criminal behavior — many of us personally — even among the most innocent (stealing candy as a kid, for example). So, the likelihood of finding conspiracy and mendacity and greed and crime in one place way up high in the corridors of power, is not so hard to grasp. Shakespeare reminds us over and over, and judging from the longevity of his popularity, we hear him.
Of course I opened Richard Belzer’s book as soon as I got home. I read a couple of pages having do with Marilyn Monroe’s death, the “conspiracy” of which Richard recounted to us at the table yesterday. I had to put it down: I wouldn’t have been able to take care of the rest of my day’s obligations. I can see why it’s Number Four on the bestseller list.
Part of the allure, the thrill of these conspiracies is also knowing that true or false, it matters not in the way we conduct ourselves or our lives. Will there be “justice” in these various cases? No, not any kind of justice that is tangible and credible. Time has erased its name. There will merely be the powerful suggestion that will linger to tarnish memory. |
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| Pamela Anderson and Tristan MacManus. |
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Then, at the next table, which is why I decided to write about yesterday’s lunch ... was Pamela Anderson. She was with Susan Blond, the extraordinary press agent/public relations guru. By extraordinary, I mean she touches the nerve for her clients. And what a list she has.
I had been thinking on my long (almost an hour) trip to Michael’s yesterday, about “why” I go there so frequently. It’s good for business, obviously. You see people, you hear things, you observe, in a cozy yet spacious and bright atmosphere. The walls are covered with his art, and his wife Kim’s work. This week the horticultural/botanical arrangements were huge displays of lemon tree branches with so many bright yellow lemons and matching yellow mums and orchids on them that they almost looked fake — like, Too Much. They weren’t. They were a kind of bi-coastal display: lemon trees are part of the landscape for Michael in Santa Monica and in Malibu.
Meanwhile, back to Pamela Anderson. I know, out there, Ms. Anderson has been around for awhile and is a kind of household celebrity. But here in Michael’s, she’s like a 21st century Venus de Milo. I know, that’s a stretch, but you know what I mean. Look at the picture Steve Millington took of the lady and her young man. Is this the cougar and her boytoy? And shouldn’t it be? She’s Pamela Anderson after all. |
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