It's all about Love. That's the feeling that hovered in the air on Saturday, February 19 at Paradisus 121, where the "Love in Paradise" reception took place.
Kathleen and Luci flew in from Charlotte, North Carolina and the extended Kat group, including Kat's Aunt Di and Uncle Kenny, who drove in from New Jersey, came together for the first time since Kat, Fabrice, and Lu had moved to Charlotte.
Gary Lee came in from Chicago, setting aside time from his work designing Armani Exchange's new office at 111 Eight Avenue, as well as the launch of his furniture line.
Surprise guests for the evening included David Zippel, whose show with Andrew Lloyd Webber, "The Woman in White" is running in London while he makes plans for "Princesses" which is coming to Broadway. Connie Conrad (seen above) took a break from her busy schedule as an animator on, among other things, those great "Target" ads you've seen lately.
There were eight, count 'em - eight, who had worked together at Eastern Athletic Clubs at the reception and the history of us all came down, once again, to Suzanne, who, back in 1987, didn't raise an eyebrow at the all-of-120-pounds-when-soaking-wet East Villager Lewis when he sauntered in off the street with a Mohawk haircut and objet d'art dangling from his ear, fully convinced that Eastern (then "The St. George") should hire him on the spot. Suzanne saw to it that Lewis got his interview with club manager Ilse, who also barely raised an eyebrow at the scruffy young lad, hired him, and the rest, as they say, is history. Add co-workers Jennifer (above with daughter Juliet), John, Kathleen, Teresa, and Gloria, and the history really starts to unfold.
John and Stacey not only stopped by, but brought Daniella Sarahyba, Brazilian supermodel, who was fresh off the pages of the "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit issue. John is already known as a super-fitness-trainer, but I guess now he is officially a supermodel-super-fitness-trainer. Daniella is one of several models he has on his client list, but the real beauties in his life are wife Stacey (shown above) and daughter Gianna, nearly one year old.
A new friend came into the picture that night, a woman by the name of Arline Rabin (also shown above). Arline is one of those people that you hope is reading the newspapers when you send out press releases for an event like this. Getting to know her reminded me about Brooklyn's own great treasure, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It turns out Arline gives tours at the Garden, and I can't think of a better day biking 3 or 4 times around Prospect Park, a cool-off in the Brooklyn Museum, followed by a tour of the Garden and a nap somewhere in the shade afterward. For those who have never done all of the above, the Garden sits in the Park and is flanked by the Museum on its east side. As if Arline leading a tour wouldn't be enough to get you there.
The Paradisus 121 food is an update on classic Dominican fare and both the pre-dinner and dinner food came out in full platters and never seemed to stop.
Paradisus even added a band to the night's mix, a group called the Paleros. Jorge Arevalo (archivist for the Woody Guthrie Foundation) plays in the band and it turns out he and his wife-to-be Mimi were going to be at Paradisus for their wedding reception a few weeks later. They decided they wanted an image of the piece "Two For the Moon" on thank-you cards for their wedding guests.
While I was hanging a subsequent exhibit at Paradisus on the morning of their wedding reception, I met someone in the wedding party who knew the now-deceased Eros Keith, illustrator for Paula Fox's Newberry Award-winning novel "The Slave Dancer." Karla Kuskin, whose "Ice Cream Dreams" I have illustrated, is the illustrator for Paula's next book. Could the world get any smaller?
Yes, smaller.
The fellow who was Keith's friend and I studied each other for a bit just before the reception started. "I know you from somewhere," one of us started. "Eastern Athletic Clubs, that's it!" the other replied.
Big town, small world. And, in the end, it still really is all about Love.
