xtcian

ordered enchiladas and I ate em

6/21/04

Driving back to the city for only one day – especially in the midst of all this writing we're doing – can be a total pain in the ass. However, nothing is more important than getting that rat bastard out of the White House, so we got ourselves into the John Kerry fundraiser being held on 24th Street and being respectful, I got myself into a tie.

Star Jones was the emcee for the evening, and she looked awesome. She's also genuinely funny, which I didn't know (since I avoid shows like "The View" with abject fear), along with comedian Andy Borowitz, who said "fucking" a lot. So did Chris Heinz, John Kerry's stepson, and I have to tell you, it instantly put me at ease. Whatever happened to "fucking" in normal discourse? It felt like 1979 again, and I was home.

above, Star Jones; below, Chris Heinz

Chris Heinz has a little bit of the ol' John Kennedy Jr. thing going on – exact same hair, same ease with a crowd. Chris, however, is a very smart guy, and handled the questions with the ease of someone who actually has answers. He told the crowd not to worry if they didn't see any Kerry ads; put simply, nobody is spending a dime in places like New York or California where the Electoral votes are already wrapped up.

He encouraged everyone to do some grass-roots work in swing states, since they are really the only places that matter in the election. Tessa and I have decided to go to Pennsylvania and see how much trouble we can cook up.

I was going to talk to Chris after the shindig was over, but then I found out that the DJ was NONE OTHER THAN Q-TIP HIMSELF! Besotted, I wandered over and told him he was responsible for some of the best cultural moments of my post-adolescence. For those of you who don't know, Q-Tip, along with A Tribe Called Quest, made albums that were transcendentally beautiful hip-hop. Not only did he write "Left My Wallet in El Segundo" and "Luck of Lucien," but he was responsible for the "electric eye" rap in the middle of "Groove is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite. He was UNBELIEVABLY nice.

spazzing out with the too-cool Mr. Tip

Meanwhile, Tessa talked to one of her faves, the amazing actress Patricia Clarkson:

Say what you want about New York, but if you stay here long enough, you do get to tell your heroes how much you love them.