Pop Culture

(click on covers to read articles – you can enlarge pdfs for readability)
T Travel Magazine/NY Times - Other People's Houses
This is one of my favorite articles - not just because it was in the New York Times travel magazine but because I was able to articulate a very specific feeling of magic that infused not just the houses in which I wrote but the novel they inspired.
Tatler - How Far Will a New Yorker Go for Sex
As part of Tatler's All-American issue, I was asked to contribute this romp. Surprisingly, quite a few of the people I interviewed were more coy and reticent than you might have expected.
Tatler - Life's a Bitch
Back when it was edited by the scrumptious Jane Proctor, Tatler ran this column, where guest writers could vent freely. I wrote about the importance of the Author Photo. I've since exchanged boxing with a trainer for paddle tennis - different sport, same deep satisfaction when whacking something right at someone else's face.
Tatler - Physical Jerks
This is the first piece I did for Tatler, and it was a blast letting rip (sorry, bad pun) while being a New Yorker very unlike their upper-crusty UK audience.
New York Daily News - Celebrity Ski Do
My introduction to the swag bag - the celebs got all kinds of ski gear and fab stuff, and the journalists got herded into the back of the bus, as Carrie Fisher put it, along with the "celebrity sheep." I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life, and when I got home, I came down with a horrible case of the flu. Tough luck if you're a freelancer on deadline - the story was due. So I wrapped myself up in blankets, teeth chattering, and somehow managed to type this up (yes, my age is showing - this is pre-computers), and my sister took a taxi to the Daily News to deliver it. It was worth it, because I still get mileage out of the "Trust us, there's nothing uglier than an angry bunch of freeloaders" line.
Egg - Where There's Smoke... There's Firemen
Looking at this story now is heartbreaking, as Captain Patrick Brown (shown here) died in one of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. This feature ran in the premiere issue of Egg, one of my very favorite magazines. It was edited by the genius Hal Rubenstein. My best friend and another genius, the photographer Deborah Feingold, and I pitched this idea as a fashion concept - using firemen as models. Not just because they'd look good, but because we wanted to meet a bunch of them. Undaunted by having only a prototype of an oddly named magazine, we brazenly went knocking on the doors of a bunch of downtown NY firehouses. Most of the guys thought we were nuts, but Deb took Polaroids of willing victims, and the result was gorgeous. I still miss Egg, and I still really miss Pat Brown. When I go running along the East River, I can see the walkway named after him at 18th St. He would have gotten a real kick out of that.
Mirabella - After the Fall
Through a contact in Toronto, I was able to find Cathy Smith--who'd become notorious after John Belushi's sudden death, as she'd been a junkie and sold heroin to him–and got her to speak candidly about him and her life.
Elle Australia - Jackie Collins
The only hard thing about talking to Jackie was dealing with the constant interruptions - having lunch with her on Sunset Boulevard was like holding court with the Empress of Tinseltown. She knows absolutely everyone who is anyone.
Women's Weekly Australia - Candace Bushnell
Candace and I go way back, and it watching her career explode into mega-success has been incredibly gratifying--because she's not just a great Cosmo-sharing friend but an incredibly hard-working and imaginative writer (who loves Edith Wharton).
Women's Weekly Australia - Domino Harvey
This story was extremely difficult to report as there had been so much misinformation about Domino Harvey, who died at 35 just before the bio-pic, Domino, starring Keira Knightly, was released. I was able to track down her former bounty-hunting partner, who agreed to an interview.
Women's Weekly Australia - Martina Navratilova
Rarely have I interviewed anyone as guarded as Martina. I flew down to Sarasota and we met at a house not far from her own, and I had to ask questions while she did the photo shoot, which is never easy. But she still was one sexy lady.
Glamour - You're What? Pregnant?
Back in the Middle Ages of feature writing, when certain Conde Nast magazines still had high budgets for their freelancers, I flew to interview these dads, one in Indianapolis, one in Pittsburgh, and one in Los Angeles. Happily for me, the LA dad was delayed out of the country, so I was given permission to stay for a few extra days at the Chateau Marmont and wait for him. My room was immediately upgraded, and as luck would have it, Candace B (see above) was there, working on a script. We had a blast.
W - The Beautiful and the Wasted
This was a fascinating topic to research, as I knew plenty of closeted alcoholics whose lives were veering out control (yet were secretly applauded by their friends as their drinking prevented them from eating, so they were super-thin).
Bergdorf Goodman - Let Them Eat Chocolate
Ever since I stumbled upon a well-thumbed copy of Angelique, the first in a series of historical novels set during the reign of Louis XIV, I've been addicted to the entire series (which should not be out of print in English – they're delicious). In Angelique I discovered the story of David Chaillou and his chocolate shop in Paris, and had no trouble researching more about the topic, especially the taste-testing.
Avenue - The Value Years
Last but not least, I can't look at these wonderful contributions to world civilization without cringing or laughing or both. Check out the unbelievably prescient comments about computers by Esther Dyson.