from fishbowlny.com
Today in WWD, Sara James reports that Brit author and "professional failure" Toby Young is in town to promote his book "The Sound of No Hands Clapping," the follow-up to "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People," to be feted at Soho House by Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, recently-notorious former Page Six contributor Jared Paul Stern, investment banker/social fixture Euan Rellie and entrepreneur CEO Cromwell Coulson. How, exactly, did this quartet come to be joined in celebration of a guy who made his name by driving Graydon Carter bonkers?
For Rellie, he owes Young a big one: his wife, Lucy Sykes, who was dating Young back when Rellie and he were roommates in New York in the late '90s (better Sykes than 55-year-old transvestite Rellie once came home to find in their apartment, according to Young's first book). Young said he met Coulson, CEO of the spicily-named "The Pink Sheets" (sadly, a Wall Street outfit) in 1995 upon his arrival in New York, and met Denton at Soho House when he was back in town to promote his first book (no doubt they were drawn to each other by their shared fabulous Brit-mystique). (Disclosure: I read Young's first book and thanked him for it, telling him that I was very poular as a result. He responded: "I'm glad my first book taught you something. I wish it had done the same for me.")
As for Jared Paul Stern, he and Young go way back. WWD reports that Young asked Stern to host the party before the Burklegate imbroglio, and kept his friend firmly on the party shortlist despite the ensuing notoriety (in fact, Young published a piece in support of his friend when the scandal hit). Stern relates the origins of such a bond:
I've known Toby for several years, pretty much since he first appeared on the scene in New York. He used to be a frequent guest at the salons Steve Garbarino and I used to hold at the '21' club, with the likes of George Plimpton, Whit Stillman, Jay McInerney, Candace Bushnell, Marina Rust and Cristina Greeven Cuomo. In his first book he related getting into a scuffle at Pravda, which was reported on Page Six and led to Graydon Carter giving him the axe. He called in the Page Six item himself - to me. I'd say I wrote the lion's share of Toby's Page Six mentions over the years. In another episode related (partially) in the 1st book, he once asked me to give his regards to Martin Amis (whom I was lunching with at 44); Amis' reply was "Tell Toby Young to go fuck himself."
All in all, it looks to be a fun party; if no hands are clapping, it will likely be because everyone there is double-fisting.
