Making Friends And Pissing Off Scientologists

Ahh, MI was back at it again for the blog. She covered an event earlier this week in NY. Remember the goofy photo of Elijah Wood the other day? Yeah, that one. It is from that party. Anyway, I had her do me a favor or two while she was at the party, and needless to say what I asked her to do didn't always go over very well. Especially with the Scientology publicist for Riley Keough. Here is MI's night.


Tuesday night after work I ran down the subway stairs to catch the train home so I could change for the Art of Elysium Benefit hosted by Elijah Wood and “model” Riley Keough (aka Elvis’ granddaughter) at the Milk Gallery later that evening. Of course, the train took a good 15 minutes and was hot as hell, so I was sweating my ass off with no time to shower in between my 10-hr. work day and the celeb & model-filled gala.

After a quick change in my 500-sq.-ft. apartment, I hopped back on the subway (more sweating) and walked the 2 blocks to Milk Gallery. When I got there, a small line was forming and the red carpet was still empty. I forced my suave friend Andrew (he made me replace the original adjective I used to describe him) to meet me there because, while I’ve been to events like this before, I’ve never been tasked with actually going up to them and taking pictures and/or being assaulted by overzealous publicists (more on that later).

Artist Russell Young’s latest prints were on display and there was an open bar(!). I’m most apt to compare Young’s work to Andy Warhol’s- his silk screens of rock icons like David Bowie & Iggy Pop were the main draw, the cheapest of which were going for around $1200- all in the name of charity of course.

Elijah Wood came in with an entourage that included his pixie-esque sister, which made me nervous because Andrew has a thing for skinny blondes. Of course Andrew nonchalantly walked up to her and began asking her all about her brother. I’m sure she really appreciates it when total strangers do this.

A lot of hot models attended like Agnyess Deyn and May Andersen and I spent a lot of time staring at shoes I could never afford. Zoe Kravitz looked adorable and Brittny Gastineau was surprisingly sweet.

Elijah was a doll and gladly took a picture with Andrew, who left early for a blind date. His game never fails to amaze me. I’ve known him since high school and he never got girls like he does now. Two weeks ago he went on 3 dates in 2 days- one was a former Miss Teen USA contestant. Just goes to show how desperate we are for more available men in this city. Move to New York Ent!
Tried to get a photo of Elvis’ granddaughter, but her publicist basically chewed my head off for even thinking something so outrageous (I am just an “everyday person”). I found it interesting that the biggest star there (Elijah) had the sweetest publicist and Elvis’ granddaughter (had to look her name up again to even include it in this post) had the publicist from hell. Ah, ego.
I scared away Joshua Jackson when I asked for a picture…Guess he doesn’t read the blog, Ent! Watched Amy Sacco do her thing from afar and befriended publicists Yael Fraynd and Helena Goldglantz.

The best part of the night was meeting Evan Altman and Sandra Ardito. They are opening a new hotel in August- The Cooper Square Hotel- that Evan described as “downtown rock n roll with a fabulous plethora of hotel guests.” Hopefully an invitation to the opening party will follow –wink-.
All in all, it was an okay night. Definitely a relief to meet my friends at our dive bar afterward. I feel bad for those non- “every day people” who attend these sort of affairs every night. The constant competition to be the skinniest, prettiest, most famous, largest entourage seems so exhausting and unrewarding. I’d take my 500-sq.-ft. apartment, sweaty subway rides, cheap beer and 9-to-5er over that any day of the week.