Events
Grooving at Guild Hall
It’s time to look again. Guild Hall is still dignified, but it’s not quite as solemn as we used to think. In past years this East Hampton museum and performing arts theater has incorporated high-minded exhibitions with a mixed bag of performance programs, some quite urbane and adventurous, others a bit fusty and moth eaten.
They’ve lived, they’ve learned, and this year they’ve found their beat. The experimentation has paid off with big rewards. The 2005 season is right on target, a finely tuned medley of bright, modern programs with not a fossil in the lineup. We were expecting a recent benefit evening of Broadway music to be another sentimental walk down that timeworn road, but it turned out to be inventive and interpretive, edgy, jazzy and inspired.
We’re absolutely buzzed by some of the coming programs. There’s a series of eight play readings including a tribute to Arthur Miller; there are special performances with stars like Andrea Marcovicci, Judith Ivey and Lypsinka; and there is soigné series of cool French films, including Godard, Malle, Rohmer and Truffaut. Broadway still figures in the lineup but it’s not the insipid, drippy stuff you see on TV. Here the programs are clever and insightful.
The biggest news is a knockout exhibition that opens in August with two of the stellar artists of our time: Robert Rauschenberg and Cindy Sherman. This is a shining season for Guild Hall—for culture, for entertainment, for being hip, informed and topical. July 11, 2005
Play It Cool
When we were kids, we were happy to spend our summer days on the beach, unsupervised, just about all day every day in good weather. So our initial reaction to the idea of a children’s museum in the Hamptons was curiosity and a bit of skepticism. We changed our mind as we came to see that a children’s museum is much more than a playground, a place to keep kids entertained for the afternoon. It is, instead, a place to instill a love of learning, a curiosity about the world, and extend the boundaries of the imagination. How cool is that?
We should never stop learning—that’s one reason we have museums for adults—so the sooner we start, the better off we are as individuals and as a society. A good way to start is by supporting the Children’s Museum of the East End, or CMEE, pronounced See-Me.
Construction of the museum on 12 acres of land in Bridgehampton is almost complete. But its various programs didn’t have to wait for a physical home. The museum has been conducting classes and workshops for years at other locations, everything from “Birdhouses in Clay” to “Robotics” to “World Mask Making.” By turning out smarter, more innovative, more peaceful and accepting future generations, the Hamptons can be known for more than our expensive real estate and lavish lifestyles.
We noticed recently that Dempsey & Carroll stationery is now available in the Hamptons. A hand written note stands out in this age of email, and we always check under the envelope flap to see if it is Tiffany, Cartier or Dempsey & Carroll. It’s astonishing how much cachet you can buy for a few hundred dollars. Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, George Soros and Madonna send (and no doubt receive) notes and invitations on Dempsey & Carroll stationery. Buy why haven’t they written to us lately? Printhampton, 42 Hampton Road, Southampton, 283-9572. August 16, 2005
Food Chain
We were totally booked for August. But at the price of exhausting ourselves and having to spend the weeks after Labor Day in a recovery room, we’re making time to attend the Hamptons Wine and Food Festival on August 26th and 27th. It’s just too delectable to pass up.
Each day from 10am to 3pm is filled with live cooking demonstrations, tastings, competitions, lectures, seminars and book signings. And the participants include many of the top names in the food and wine worlds, like David Burke, that pioneer of American cooking, Steven Jenkins of Fairway Markets, the author of Cheese Primer, television commentator Robin Dorian, chefs Waldy Malouf, Alfred Portale, Rick Moonen, and Michael Romano, authors Lauren Chattman, Pamela Morgan and Peter Berley, wine experts Joseph Bastianich, Steve Olson, Joshua Wesson, and our local guru from Amagansett, Michael Cinque.
How did the organizers pull together such major event in their first year? You’ll have to ask Jodi Della Femina Kim, Stuart Racey and Jerry Romano for the answer. Our only complaint: so much is happening at every hour that we have to make some tough, triage like decisions. And that’s only the daytime. Wine and liquor samplings take place in the evenings and a VIP party Saturday night wraps it all up. And of course the Hampton Classic Horse Show begins the next day.
Tickets available on Ticketweb or call 866 468-7619. August 13, 2005
Notes from the underground
The valet parking was annoyingly slow but everything else about the Hamptons Designer Showhouse was on the fast track. Now three years old, the showhouse, presented by House & Garden Magazine for the benefit of Southampton Hospital, has become a top attraction in summer’s already red hot social scene. The opening gala is practically a command performance, and one of the few events to attract a real cross section of the Hamptons—everyone from the old guard to playful hipsters.
The décor was opulent and swank. The decorators didn’t hold back, and why should they? They tested the limits of flamboyance. They stepped over the line with riotous extravagance in the best and certainly most expensive of taste. It’s too much for real life of course, but it is exactly what we want from a showhouse in the Hamptons during our golden season.
We loved the basement. That’s right, the cellar. It’s now standard for all the big, new spec houses to put a media room, gym and wine cellar in the basement. But the downstairs decorators mercifully departed from the clichés. We especially liked what Ann Pyne and Amanda Dreyer of McMillan did.
Amazingly, the virtually windowless room along with a darkroom, intended as a photography lovers retreat, was the least claustrophobic place in the house. They covered the builder’s paneled walls—meant to make the area look more like upstairs than downstairs—with a distressed linen suggesting concrete, and hung them with terrific photographs. The fancy moldings were masked with blocky trim, and used drop clothes replaced acoustical tiles.
It was witty and intellectual fun and had real integrity. As a bonus, the room had what for us was the most elegant touch in the house: renowned docorator Betty Sherrill, sitting on the sofa. Now that’s an accessory that could start a trend. June 26, 2005
Show Business
Does celebrity ownership increase real estate value? We know of no actual studies but the general opinion of brokers is that while it creates curiosity and interest, it does not pump up the price. Value is still determined by location and quality.
But what about having a Showhouse? Last year’s Hamptons Designer Showhouse, a benefit for Southampton Hospital, took place in a spec house in Wainscott, and a few months later the house was sold at close to the $6 million asking price. Potential buyers get that “you live here” experience seeing every room, closet, hall and porch embellished and garnished, decked out and gussied up. Then all it takes is your own decorator’s inspired vision and a colossal budget to keep that showhouse spirit.
This year’s Hamptons Designer Showhouse, presented by House and Garden Magazine, is set in a sumptuous nine-bedroom spec house in Southampton. It’s a dramatic house, and the list of decorators participating is equally impressive. The not-to-be-missed opening night gala is scheduled for July 25th. Call 631 537 6616 for tickets. May 5, 2005
