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Last night, I saw Lou Reed, in the company of a female who was not Laurie Anderson, at the 7
p.m. screening of Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes at Film Forum.
Reed ranks right up there with Wallace Shawn, Ethan Hawke, Fred Schneider, G.E. Smith, and Rosanne Cash as the celebrities I've bumped into most often since I moved to NYC. In fact, I'd almost, at this point, expect these guys to start recognizing me when we pass on the street. But I've yet to see any of them do a double-take when he or she has encountered me.
I get Fridays off for eight weeks in the summer (since I hold down two jobs currently and usually work seven days a week, getting eight Fridays free during the dog days of summer is, as you might imagine, a godsend).
And today's been as lovely a free Friday as one could hope for. It's hot today in NYC, but the humidity, which renders summers here so very brutal, is down a bit. And I got to enjoy a fancy-schmancy (and quite leisurely) lunch at the delightful Tabla in the company of two good friends.
Like I said, just a lovely summer Friday. But it got even better.
There's a nice vintage clothing shop, Jim Smiley Vintage Clothing on the south side of 23rd street, about halfway between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, that I stop in once or twice a year. It's on the second floor and so probably escapes the notice of most passersby, but it's run by a nice fellow, and the clothes are of a high quality.
He sells mostly women's clothes, so it takes little time at all to go through his menswear. And the prices tend to be on the high side, though not, I suppose, unreasonable, considering the quality. A flea market this is not.
So I stop in now and then, just to savor the beautiful old clothes, even if I don't buy.
But today, I came across a black men's suit from the 1950s, in winter-weight wool. There's a hint of navy blue to it, but it's darker than navy. And in the right light at just the right angle, there are thin black-on-black stripes in the weave.
A very nice suit. Probably not a terribly pricey or upscale one in its day, but vintage men's suit buyers can't terribly choosy.
Surprisingly, the price was just $75. Clearance priced, I guess.
There were no measurements or sizing info on the price tag, so I tried on the jacket, expecting little. What were the chances, after all?
It fit perfectly, or darned close to it. Could/should it be let out perhaps, half an inch? Maybe, but I'm not that good at judging such things, frankly. It's not as though I trouble buttoning it. And the store owner thought it fit just right.
But surely the pants wouldn't fit, right? "What size are the trousers?" I asked the proprietor. He wasn't sure, but reached quickly for his measuring tape.
They were thirty-four inches in the waist, as it turned out. My size.
But surely the length was wrong. I didn't ask him to measure the inseam; I just headed for the dressing room.
They were the perfect length.
So today I bought a very nice, black, winter-weight suit from the 1950s for $75.
Then I went next door to a flashier vintage store at street level. They have some great stuff, but they're very pricey. I saw a great blue suit, lighter than navy and darker than royal blue. Winter-weight wool. The coat fit like a dream, and the pants appeared as if they would (I didn't try them on). But it was $350. Not so bad, really, as these things go. I was tempted. It was a very nice suit.
But I resisted, since I had a great $75 suit in the shopping back I'd checked behind the counter.
I now own three suits (all vintage). I'm nearly a grownup.
Doesn't matter how the rest of my day off goes now. It already qualifies as a success. And if I succumb to the urge to nap here in a few minutes, it'll be well night perfect.
This could get very interesting:
Former CIA Officer Valerie Plame and Husband Sue Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove Over Leak
by Toni LocyWASHINGTON, Jul 13, 2006 (AP) -- The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.
Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak's column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.
The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein's government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.
I'd like a front row seat for that trial.
It's probably old news (I'm so often late to these parties) that there's a website that does a facial scan of a photograph you've uploaded and tells you which celebrities you resemble.
I'm told that I look like, in descending order, conductor and composer Bruno Walter, actor Keifer Sutherland, actor Ken Watanabe, actor Patrick Stewart, actor Kevin Costner, author Michael Crichton, Metallica's James Hetfield, playwright Tom Stoppard, soccer referee Pierluigi Collina, and actor/race car driver Paul Newman.
Paul Newman I get all the time, sure, but Ken Watanabe? I don't see it.