Lunch at Michaels

Just got back from lunch at Michaels with my friend David Patrick Columbia of NYSocialDiary, one of the most interesting conversationalists I've ever known and, beyond all that, a swell guy. I always look forward to these lunches, absorbing as much as I can from a man who has seen and experienced so much (very Gemini, that). Between bites of omelette and the truly remarkable Michaels gazpacho, the conversation veered around the 2012 election and debates, Hillary Clinton, the growing selfishness of Americans, Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan, blogs, astrology, Helen Gurley Brown and, of course the death of Gore Vidal. Vidal, as reader of this blog know, is one of my great influences. So it was wonderful to hear from David -- who actually met Vidal many times -- on his death and a little about his life that he knew firsthand.

As background to the conversation there were, of course, the media heavyweights. It wouldn't be Michaels on Wednesday without the powerlunchers. Spotted in the crowd: socialite Cornelia Guest with Boaty Boatwright, Liz Smith, publisher/mogul Chris Meigher, Gillian Tett of the Financial Times, Paula Zahn, Jason Binn, Alan Patricoff, Henry Schlieff and mogul Pete Petersen. Star Jones, always one to make a grand entrance, was escorted to her seat by the awesome Steve Millington, the general manager of Michaels, at around midway through lunch. There was a sort of organic social equilibrium today between the media types, moguls and socialites.