Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Dinner At Kate's

I must be a good person because I get invited to cool parties.
Last night, Cathy Seipp, Cecile and I had dinner with LA Times food critic Charles Perry at the home of TV producer Kate Coe.
I had to park half a mile away and hike uphill past Adam Parfrey's place because my van has trouble starting unless it is parked on the flat (even then it can be a heart-stopping experience, good thing I haven't had a date in a while).
For a man who has published books translating medieval Arabic cookbooks (Charles is literate in almost all the languages of the Middle East and knows how to cast Harry Potter-type spells), Perry is woefully ignorant when it comes to Jamba Juice. Those elitist Timesers.
For me the perfect meal is a Jamba Chocolate Moo (large) and a vegetarian tostada from the Good Earth. In that order.
Charles worked for Rolling Stone for about a decade (circa 1966-76) as a copy editor and writer. He got to know Tom Wolfe (said he had a smile and a manner that just made people want to talk to him), Joe Esterhausz, and Hunter S. Thompson (Charles copy-edited his 1972 political coverage that turned into the book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail). Charles recalls all the Rolling Stone editors reading Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at once and it made the world seem more vivid, colorful and exciting.
We discussed Alfred Kinsey and his courageous exploration of inter-generational and inter-species ---. Nothing like talk of ---------- to help the digestion. I contributed some heartwarming anecdotes that I had heard through my vast journalistic explorations.
From Cathy Seipp's party report: The Coes have a big Christmas tree in the living room, so this was Luke's cue to toss his seasonal insult in my direction: "How does it feel to be among your fellow gentiles?"
I did NOT say that, Cathy. I turned to the goyim as we were leaving and said, "This time of year is a big deal for you goyim, isn't it?"
Sheesh, you make me sound so insensitive. I was not talking to you Cathy for you are a proud (though Judaicly ignorant and non-observant yid who eats pork) Jew. I was talking to the ones God did not choose.
.......
Another woman complains about my invading her dreams.