James Frey's Blog, page 4

New Canaan Buzz

from Moffly Media

New Canaan Darien Editor’s Letter: Buzz about town

by Eileen Murphy

New Canaan residents and enthusiasts, Eileen Murphy and James Frey at The Glass House Summer Party. – Photograph by Neil Landino

There is a book that lives on my nightstand called Me Talk Pretty by the American humorist David Sedaris. I don’t bother to put it back on the shelf because something will remind me of one of the stories, and I will reach for it again and again.

Recently I reread a story in which Sedaris explains how he asks obscure and often silly questions to strangers while traveling because he finds they tend to start fascinating conversations. This reminded me of what has recently become my favorite question to ask people around New Canaan: “Have you heard about James Frey’s new book?”

The replies have been varied and passionate. Frey and his books seem to evoke strong reactions in people. Some locals were excited that his novel, Next to Heaven, was set in New Canaan (or “New Bethlehem” as Frey calls it in the book). Others were skeptical about a book with dark themes and “swingers parties” being set in their hometown. Either way, once advance copies hit Elm Street Books in early June, it quickly became the talk of the town, with everyone wanting to know: Is it fact or fiction?

Frey addressed the rumors in a recent coversation with the actress Gina Gershon at the New Canaan Library. He assured the standing-room-only crowd that it is fiction, not based on real people or events. He also said that it is his job as a writer to “hold up a mirror and tell a story about what I see.”

[ click to continue reading at Moffly Media ]

Those are some real nice melons.

from The New York Times

Move Over, $100 Lobster Salad. In the Hamptons, These Melons Cost $400.

Gourmet grocery stores are upping their game in the Hamptons, serving a welcoming wealthy clientele.

By  Dionne Searcey

Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times

It wasn’t even 8:30 on a recent morning when a shopper emptied his basket of dinner ingredients onto the counter of the Farm & Forage Market in Southampton: two king crab legs, two bags of frozen dumplings, two packages of ramen noodles and a bag of dried sea kelp.

The cash register rang up an already eye-popping tally before the customer realized he had forgotten the caviar. He tossed a jar of it onto the counter. The grand total was $1,860.

“I’ll put that on your tab, right?” asked Jonathan Bernard, owner of the tiny, tidy store. The shopper, a private chef who works in a home nearby, nodded and noted he would be back later for truffles.

[ click to continue reading at NYT ]

Semiquincentennial Commences

from the Wall Street Journal

Countdown to America’s 250th Birthday

The U.S. was in a similarly disjointed mood heading into 1976 but pulled off a spectacular national party.

By Paul Beston

Fifty years ago, the U.S. was anticipating a major national anniversary only 12 months away: the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. The road to 1976 was rocky. Americans endured a decade of disorienting social change and tumult ranging from political violence to urban riots. They lost thousands of young men in a traumatic and unsuccessful war. A generational economic boom was over. Social optimism had degenerated into suspicion and bitterness. An American president resigned after a coverup failed to conceal what many had long suspected.

The nation had good reason to eye the bicentennial with caution. But Billboard’s No. 1 song on July 4, 1975, was Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together,” and a year later, the country got itself together to stage a memorable celebration. On July 4, 1976, tall ships and other vessels from dozens of nations filled New York Harbor. Arthur Fiedler conducted the Boston Pops in a concert before a record-breaking audience of more than 400,000 on the Charles River Esplanade. In Washington, grand marshal Johnny Cash marched at the head of a massive parade down Constitution Avenue. Los Angeles staged its own great procession on Wilshire Boulevard.

[ click to continue reading at WSJ ]

Kids On Bikes

from The Atlantic

A Classic Childhood Pastime Is Fading

Kids on bikes once filled the streets. Not anymore.

By Erin Sagen

Illustration by Maddie Fischer

Walk down a quiet American street a few decades ago, and chances were good that you’d come across a vision of the Spielbergian sort: a gaggle of school-age children charging down the block on bikes, armed with a steely sense of purpose, and without any protective headwear.

You’re less likely to catch that kind of scene today. Over the course of the 1990s, an average of 20.5 million children ages 7 to 17 hopped on a bike six or more times a year, according to data from the National Sporting Goods Association, a sports-equipment trade group. Only a few decades later, that number has fallen by nearly half, to about 10.9 million in 2023. Of those kids, according to the association, just less than 5 percent rode their bikes “frequently.”

[ click to continue reading at The Atlantic ]

The Bling Kings

from Front Office Sports

‘More Is More’: The Elite Luxury Jewelers Decking Out Athletes

Pros—and even amateurs—are partnering with high-end jewelers to create custom pieces with six-figure price tags and a lot of flash.

BY HILARY GEORGE-PARKIN

from RapTV

Jalen Hurts walked into a postgame press conference in December 2024 wearing what would become the most viral piece of jewelry in pro sports last year: a diamond-encrusted pendant bearing his personal motto, “Breed of One.” 

“So that’s what y’all wanted to see, huh?” the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback said as he took his seat in front of the cameras. He was talking about his performance—he threw two touchdowns and ran in a third that game—but the line very well could have been about the chain. 

In the lighting of the press room, the Cuban chain and glittering pendant commanded the spotlight. It was jewelry as a statement: a period, a flex, a brand in all caps. A signature chain, custom pendant, or flashy grill can steal the show before an athlete even says a word.

[ click to continue reading at Front Office Sports ]

Joyce Carol Oates on James Frey and Norman Mailer

from X

dd

[ click to read on X ]

Lili Anolik and James Frey Discuss Eve Babitz

from the CT Examiner

Author Talk with Lili Anolik & James Frey Elm Street BooksJuly 22 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pmdd

Join us Tuesday, July 22nd at 6:00 PM for an author talk with Lili Anolik, here to share her book Didion & Babitz. Joining her in conversation will be local author, James Frey.

Ticket purchase required and includes a copy of Didion & Babitz. Copies of Next to Heaven by James Frey will also be available for purchase.

About the Book:
Could you write what you write if you weren’t so tiny, Joan? —Eve Babitz, in a letter to Joan Didion, 1972

Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin, and filth of her apartment, a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. The boxes were pristine, the seals of duct tape unbroken. Inside, a lost world. This world turned for a certain number of years in the late sixties and early seventies and centered on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood.

For more information

[ click to read at CT Examiner ]

Least Favorites

from Air Mail

James Frey

The infamous author, who is back with a new book, shares his least favorite things—excluding Oprah

“Go fuck yourself.”

James Frey knows what it is like to have been up and down and over and out. Ever since Oprah Winfrey publicly shamed him for fabricating parts of his 2003 memoir, A Million Little Pieces, he’s adopted a Sinatra-esque “That’s Life” attitude. He’s rolled with the punches of cancel culture—but 20 years later, he’s punching back. His new novel, Next to Heaven, centers on a swingers’ party and a murder. It’s sexy, funny, and unafraid to voice taboos—much like Frey’s early work. (Except, this time, there’s no need to call in a fact-checker.) To celebrate its release, the author shares his least favorite things. —Carolina de Armas

[ click to continue reading at Air Mail ]

Money Addicts

Lalo Schifrin Gone

from The Hollywood Reporter

Lalo Schifrin, Acclaimed Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Mannix’ Themes, Dies at 93

The Argentine native blended jazz and classical music, earned six Oscar noms and four Grammys and inspired a martial-arts legend.

BY MIKE BARNES

Lalo Schifrin, the six-time Oscar-nominated composer, pianist and conductor renowned for his electric, jazz-infused themes and music for Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Starsky & Hutch and Bullitt, died Thursday. He was 93. 

Schifrin, who received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2018, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Los Angeles, his son Ryan Schifrin told The Hollywood Reporter. He lived for the past few decades in a Beverly Hills home once owned by Groucho Marx.

A native of Argentina whose father was the Buenos Aires Philharmonic concert master for more than three decades, Schifrin was trained in the world of classical music before being hooked on American jazz when he was a teenager.

[ click to continue reading at THR ]