HAMPTONS INTERVIEWS
The Hamptons: The Disney World Of New York??
[From Stephanie and Liam's skydiving adventure]
This past weekend, at the Red Cross benefit in East Hampton, George Gurley approached us to ask to describe our summer out East this season. I couldn’t come up with anything “juicy” enough for his column (”Summer of Surf Lodge?” didn’t seem to hold enough scandal for him), though I pointed him to a couple of friends who I was sure could satisfy his debaucherous-seeking pen. Stephanie Wei and Liam McMullam gave him a full account of their sky diving adventure, for his piece titled: “Stephanie Goes Bombs-A-Wei From Plane In Lark With Liam McMullan“, as well as some fabulous one liners from Stephanie that are too good to not share:
“After declaring it the summer of debauchery, decadence and absurdity, she said the Hamptons feel forced this summer, like Disney World.”
“It’s just that everything is a little bit over-the-top,” she said. “I walk into parties sometimes and it’s like, did they import these people?….
Tripoli’s Travels: An Interview With Surfer/Curator Tripoli Patterson
Tripoli Patterson is a pro surfer. He’s lived in Bali and New Zealand. He puts together fantastic exhibitions for artists he discovers in his travels. His tee-shirt line’s like Christopher Holland’s on acid. New York’s hipster elite love him. So too do older, more established gallery owners. Among the east end’s young wave riders, he is God. And he is only 24. In part one of our interview, he divulges the world’s best beaches, Brazilian ladies, and New Yorkers’ naïveté.
What’s the story behind “Tripoli?” Have you visited it?
My Mother always love the name “Trip” for a boy so when she had me that’s what she wanted to name me. However my father wasn’t as found of the name, probably thinking it sounded a lil too, you know, Trippy. So my aunt Heidi came up with the name Tripoli which pleased my dad, because he is a very religious man and it refers to the name of the three kings who brought Mary presents for Jesus’ birth. And my Mom got her way as well because she knew she could call me Trip for short.
Jeff Goldstein On His Glaciers Of Ice
Here in the Hamptons there are many boutiques and labels which strive to capture the essence of patrician weekend-wear. While the old guard still sport their St. James stripes and lightweight Chanel tweeds and the unsure stick to Ralph, Lily, and whatever the Intermix mannequins are wearing, the young, the artsy, and the sartorially aware movers and shakers have learned to use Blue&Cream in East Hampton as their closet, stylist, and evening hangout par excellence.
Curious as to the origins of this rather avant-garde collective, we hit up the store’s creator and owner Jeff Goldstein and got him to give us the 411 on juxtaposition, staying ahead of the curve, and why Charlotte Ronson is his muse:
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Beet It: An Interview With The Multi-Talented Literatus Roger Rosenblatt
Quogue’s reining renaissance man on liberal arts colleges, teaching writing vs. writing, and why he loves south shore winters.
Roger Rosenblatt has been the essayist for TIME and the New York Times, and a correspondent for PBS‘ NewsHour. He was the New Republic’s and US World Report and News‘ senior editor. He’s written 12 nationally acclaimed, often best-selling books. He’s amassed a Peabody, an Emmy, and two Polks. And he does not use email. I ask how such a feat is possible in our age of round-the-clock virtual connection. “A combination of inborn stupidity and laziness,” he tells me.
The people he cares about communicating with, and the people who care about communicating with him (me), have to pick up the phone. So Rosenblatt, then, is somewhat of an old-schooler. A hyperobservant, savagely witty old-schooler, as evidenced by his newest novel, the new-school satire Beet. More »
The Kettlebell Of The Ball: Interview With Lorna Kleidman
When Rachelle and I first met Lorna Kleidman in the lobby of Core Dynamics, the same thoughts crossed both of our minds: a) this woman is a lean, mean, fighting machine, and b) how? The answer lies in a little metal ball with a trapazoid-shaped handle, and the determination of one asthmatic boxing burn-out to wield it. Somewhere between Lorna’s physical appearance, her friendly, yet empassioned demeanor, and the fact that, in just three years, she went from greenhorn to International Master of Sport and National Champion, she sold us. Below, Lorna talks Spetznaz, Ferraris, and why you’ll never need to run again…
When we first watched you, we were a little apprehensive. The way the exercises are performed, with all that momentum… it looks like they could hurt you!
Like any skill (golf, swimming), if you don’t learn proper technique, you could potentially get injured. But the reality is that once you learn the fundamental drills, the swing, for example, you have a full-body movement that is efficient, effective and less injurious than most other modalities. That’s why the Russians made kettlebells the only tool to keep their populous fit- it kept farmers, factory workers, laborers strong and productive, reducing health care costs. More »
Interview With NY Times Best Selling Author (Of My Go To Beach Reads): Emily Giffin
[Emily Giffin signs books at Intermix in Manhattan]
In between book readings, numerous posings with fans across the country, posh parties, and interviews with the likes of Candace Bushnell, Emily Giffin was gracious enough to stop by our humble space for my most enjoyable interview yet. During the lunch, (put on by the staff of Dean and Deluca), I quickly discovered that this two-time NY Times best selling author, no, more importantly; this woman who satisfied my sister and I’s guilty pleasures of chick lit during summers spent on lakes in places far removed from Manhattan soirees, was actually as fun in real life as her words were for me on paper.
Her down-to-earthness is shared with identical parts fabulousness, and both come out within minutes of meeting her. She’s been called “A modern day Jane Austen.” and I like the comparison, as her heroines are becoming equally influential, (though I doubt her predecessor was as hip). Toting her addicting charisma, her radiant smile, and her new book, Love The One You’re With (which I finished in two days), Emily dishes out her real life tale… a best selling story in itself.
When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?
Well, I’ve always been interested in writing. It’s sort of one of my earliest passions. As a little girl I would write stories and poems. I still have them all saved I would say as early as four or five. I used to say “I want to be an author when I grow up.” I thought about Journalism, but there was something about going to college and graduating, It sort of felt like a weird thing to all of a sudden, graduate from college and try to write a novel. I was less interested in journalism at that point. So, I went to Law school by default.
Jasmin Rosemberg Tells Us How The Other Half Hamptons
Go HERE for our interview with Jasmin Rosemberg in full.
We’re more than a bit in awe of Jasmin Rosemberg. At twenty-three, the bubbly Brooklynite bunked Standard & Poor, landed herself a column at the New York Post chronicling her Hamptons share house experience, and lived to write the bacchanalian tale. A slew of reporting gigs and media spotlights ensued (Life & Style, BlackBook, Page Six, VH1), as did a novel, out June 25th. How the Other Half Hamptons reads like Animal House 2.0: The Hamptons, with all the delicious cultural references and sartorial digs its location necessitates. In our current SATC-crazed enviroment, we can’t help but draw comparisons to another, fictional NYC columnist, for while Rosemberg’s fashion sense may be a tad less eccentric, she’s just as endearing. We got the dish on Park Slope childhoods, old-school literary brat-packers, and what should be in every share houser’s suitcase.
GofG Interviews Some Unruly Heirs
Douglas Marshall and Claire Willett interviewing Unruly Heir team at the Blue and Cream store, Southampton.
Interview With Emmett Shine And James Cruickshank Of LOLA New York
[James Cruickshank, Alexander Young, and Emmett Shine, founders of LOLA New York]
I knew I would become friends with Emmett Shine and James Cruickshank long before they even knew I existed. LOLA New York was a name that subliminally imprinted itself in my head months ago. I don’t know when or how this happened, but I do know that for over a year I have been curious to figure out just what it stood for and who was behind it. All signs in my universe pointed to LOLA…from my walks around Soho to the people that I met that continually spoke about it like a secret club that I had yet to discover. Well the searching is over, and the guys behind LOLA are every bit as “cool” as I suspected. Hailing straight from Southampton, they are becoming our newest resource for all things East. You are equally likely to spot them outside the Village Cheese Shop in Southampton (the spot of Emmett’s first job as a teen), on bikes as you are to in an art showroom filled with socialites in Chelsea. They’re one part Manhattan movers, one part laid back locals out east…though don’t that last part fool you, these two will run CIRCLES around you work wise, and their part of the reason New York will never “die”.
How long have you known each other?
J: we were conceived around the same time so… post womb.
What exactly is LOLA?
E: LOLA is a collective of art-based entrepreneurial individuals working together on exciting and diverse projects that put forth creativity, aspiration, and enjoyment.
J: LOLA is a way of life.
