Last Scene Here
Put a Bid on It
Everyone’s a Critic
It’s always astonishing what MassArt manages to scare up for its annual auction. This year, my personal favorites were the Cindy Sherman tea set (donated by the Barbara Krakow Gallery) and the “Die-Pod,” whichs looks like a ’50s-horror-movie poster showing a woman sitting by a tombstone with iPod controls superimposed on its surface (created by Class of ’03’s Nick Rodrigues).
Among those inspecting and speculating on the art, or simply schmying around at the gala preview party, were the auction’s patron twins, Paul and Wes Karger, and their respective beauty queens, Pamela Vargas and Ashley Bickford, collector and connoisseur Allison Salke, boho hipster Zach Lanoue, brunette beauty Sondra Levenson and her husband, Norman, the quintessentially cute Marty Dykas, the unfortunately heterosexual Matt Greer, wee slip of a jewelry designer Brelyn Spindel and her main squeeze, Mark Andrus, who’s interesting career path has included working as a therapist, making a fortune off pita chips and now developing real estate.
The evening’s funniest remark: Regarding a photo of three poodles, one guest said, “Personally, I prefer those paintings of dogs playing poker.”
Food, Glorious Food
Community Servings’ big simkhe, LifeSavor, began, as per usual, with a lavish cocktail party at the Langham Hotel, where everyone who’s anyone socialized like mad and then went out to the city’s top restaurants for dinner. But not before bidding on silent-auction items.
One prize was an evening on the town with me, and I’m proud to say that I went for more than tickets to a horse show. More importantly, there was the possibility of having at least a few words with such lovable types as dual citizens of Boston and Bangkok Oedipus and Amy, the absurdly charming Jack Ribakoff with the absurdly gorgeous Jennifer Kim, girlfriend of a future FedEx CEO Alana Hagarty, hipsters of the North Shore horsey set Haskell and Alison Crocker, the chronically delightful Bonnie Berger, the criminally blue-eyed Rob Gravis, his handsome other half, John Milligan, crazy-cat-lady trapped in a gay man’s body Shawn McBride and his translator, Daron Manoogian, tall drink of water Deitrich Falkenthal, suaveness personified, Serge Denis, the mayor himself, Tom Menino, smoking hotness Ben Perkins, and I could go on and on.
In return for getting auctioned off like livestock (did I mention that I went for more than a horse show?), I was awarded dinner at Lucca Back Bay with the thoroughly agreeable likes of latter-day Dorian Gray Andrew Rogal and his exquisite young thing, Rachel Gilson, and über-groover Laura DeLuca (aka DJ D-Lux), along with her man, Adam Wheeler. As for the guy who won an
evening with me: Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go to
a horse show?
Sacre Coeur!
Short of hopping a flight to Paris (which means dealing with jet lag and Parisians), you couldn’t imagine a more Moulin Rouge–ish evening than Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Soirée à Paris, held at the Mandarin Oriental, Boston.
A mime (yes, you read that correctly) greeted guests, and during the cocktail hour, some plein-air painting was done indoors by someone impersonating Georges Seurat, while can-can girls and hot guys (one thing Paris does have) worked the crowd. This included new board members Sam Mazzarelli, John Raftery and Bryan Simmons, luscious minx Marisa Greenwald and her handsome brother, Michael, gazillionaire former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey and her husband, Sean, hunk o’ burnin’ interior designer Michael Ferzoco, and someone whose false mustache made the rounds of several tables.
Like a real night in Paris, I have absolutely no memory of how it ended, but apparently it did, because I woke up in
my own bed the next morning, without any jet lag, but une
peu de gueule de bois.
Photo Credits top to bottom: Marty Dykas and Matt Greer at MassArt’s auction; I’m an auction item at Community Servings’ party; Kier McDonough and Anja Kola at Commonwealth Shakespeare’s gala
