“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Reading about the new Monkey Bar and the obsession that Graydon Carter has regarding who sits where kind of gives me the willies. I don’t know why. Part of me would like to think that he’s busy editing Vanity Fair, the magazine I look forward to reading each month, though I will say it has been lackluster as of late. Could there be some kind of correlation? This month, with everyone’s hero Johnny Depp on the cover, the magazine is so thin, it’s like one of those glossy handouts in the Hamptons. And lo and behold, there’s a story about Hamptons real estate in this issue. The other stories seem like obvious choices. A Madoff thing…who cares…and as for his sons, yes they knew…now move on. Bernie is finally off to the pokey…goodbye and good riddance. He needs more media attention like I am going to the moon. Surely it’s just a matter of time before Vanity Fair forgives Ruth, puts her in some Comme des Garcons and sticks her on the cover like some ingenue. Other non-riveting ditties center on the Obama’s press machine…zzz…Nancy Reagan…sweet, but whatever…cheating at Miss Potter’s School (Connecticut based Gossip Girl) and so on.

Lots of people moonlight in New York City because man (or woman) does not live by one income alone…though Graydon’s take must be quite delish. Could this be the makings of his exit…stage left? If not, then it’s a bit of the 1980’s creed that “Greed is Good.” Surely, what Graydon is doing sounds like tons of fun and Lord knows, it solidifies his power center amongst the glitterati and media elite. It is in the same way that the Costume Institute Gala keeps Anna Wintour at the top of the fashionista heap. But the thing that annoys me is that Graydon is doing this high profile snob-fest as a for-profit venture as opposed to Anna’s fundraising fabulosity. As a refugee of the dot org (.org) fundraising universe, a piece of me always likes to think that people with extraordinary power put their access and super fundraising abilities to good use. Not just seating charts, cocktails and nibbly bits for personal gain. Maybe I am just too Democratic these days. Maybe I suspect that elitism is what got us all into this financial mess in the first place. And unless you are of that ilk who is allowed to eat at King Tut’s Tomb, who cares what and where you are eating and who you are sitting next to. Frankly, it would be nice if they put a tip cup in the hands of that monkey with a sign that says, “Donations Appreciated” and gave the money to a charity, pick one.