by KE Monahan Huntley
January 22
Conan O’Brien’s last Tonight Show,
broadcast from beautiful downtown Burbank
Insert Snooki Wah-wah.
“Oh Snooki, I really like your hair. I think I’m going to get a Bumpits.”—My Life on the D-List: Kathy’s Smear Campaign
Main Street Bundle Up to Trundle Up
Bunya Bunya bat eyes with Dax Shepard’s baby blues on the way to this chic boutique.
Java Cow Pauly Shore stops M. Argentine to ask where the “Moo” is.
NYU Tisch School of the Arts hosts a cocktail party at the ritzy Riverhorse Café. Michelle Argentine and I sip Tisch-tinis and spy on the black clad (and 90s flannel) crowd. Outside, we spot Seth Rogen, yet fail to mention our umpteenth viewing of Superbad the night before. Leaving, we are handed invites to the NBCUNIVERSAL party at the Coda Gallery. Plus chapstick. What would Conan do?
Sisyphus or Scenechronize?
“Because no matter if you are above or below the line, your ass is always on it.”
Rhys Ryan opens the door for us at the scenechronize house on Ontario. Effusive, engaging: not a moment has passed since last year’s encounter. Introductions are made to snow show-biz cohorts Darren and Amber. Jeremiah concocts vodka mojitos garnished with fresh mint leaves; Rhys compliments my pink sweater adorned with rosettes — hand knitted by my great aunt Katharine Barnes — and regales the tale of dining with Don Rickles. Kathy Griffin is immediately invoked, and I relay MacGuinness and my run-in with her Irish laddie, Patrick, in Toluca Lake. Naturally, he and Rhys are good friends.
Deer Valley Resort
Fireside Dining Alpine based menu
With Julia Child-like aplomb, Michelle instructs the chef to prepare Trinxat: savory cabbage rustic potatoes thick slices of bacon cumin seeds: and laughs at guests who do not remove their festival lanyards.
We chat about Shorty’s Stairs. Shorty’s Stairs is named after Ella’s husband and is the short cut from D. Wong and M. Argentine’s Rossi Hill abode down to Main Street. Twin Peaks Agent Dale Cooper once gallantly helped Michelle off of the slippery bottom step.
Michelle: A coal miner’s daughter, Ella passed away this year. She and Shorty lived on Ontario in their original house since forever. Ella kept a chicken coop, the object of a recent legal entanglement with an underhanded property developer. He said the coop was on his property, she said the land in question had been given to her forty years ago. She retained an attorney, settled out of court, and kept the coop.
WBTL: What was she like?
Michelle: Delightful and charming. When she was young, I imagine she was quite handsome.
WBTL: How did she dress?
Michelle: Like she lived in a time warp. Holding her newspaper and parcels, I would give her a lift from the market to home. She would remember Astro, but never me.
Park City Film Series recommends My One and Only, It Might Get Loud, and Sita Sings the Blues. And currently, the accomplished A Single Man.
Slamdance Documentary Shorts
Eh.
IN•N•Out
Pismo Beach
On the way into Park City, D. Wong spots us authentic Mexican lunch served up at Molacasa. On the way out, we dine on chorizo tacos and orange Jaritos at authentic Anaya’s Market. If you cannot find a seat at one of the two tables, makeshift a place setting on the market shelves. Bueno.
January 25
For Kathy Griffin in The Hills: Adjacent, it “. . . turns out thatI’m Stephanie Pratt and that my mother is Audrina.”—My Life on the D-List: Moving the Merch
The Hill’s Stephanie Pratt applies lip gloss in the SLC Airport Ladies, skinny in her blacked out outfit. Walking through the jet bridge I fixate on the blue blue windows that are Jordan Catalano’s eyes.
Now that’s Park City pretty.