Her hundreds of plants are layered into a composition of informal design, expressive of her refined aesthetic and untroubled eccentricity. But you need more room to do that. I believe Im a great friend. Grammy-Award winning group members Vin Rock and KayGee reminisce on their New Jersey beginnings, the 30th anniversary of 19 Naughty III and monster hit Hip Hop Hooray, and their relationship with cannabis as a party catalyst and creative tool. Fran Lebowitz: I cover the waterfront. And you know what we have enough of? Richard Robinson thinks there should be a TV station thats only the best commercials. No, Im just intrigued by them, because, to me, theyre like talking animals. Over some twenty years, Kincaid has made what my partner, the poet James Fenton, calls a plantsmans garden, full of rare species. Ill take you to 21 if you type for me. Ive typed some of my columns. So in New York we have zillions of different kinds of people, many of them hate each other, but violence based on that hatred is really uncommon here. They had one guy who was like an Elvis imitator, only he imitated Oscar Wilde. I never had any skilled jobs because I never had any skills. Lebowitz: I have to say I have only written back to important people, people in the publishing business. Interview, at the time, six people read it, believe me. Lebowitz: Sepia is my all-time favorite. Once a girl was sitting on the window ledge smoking a cigarette and the matron walked in and the girl jumped out the window. I guess I could have gotten into driving school. 246, Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti discuss how writing her first novel helped Cusk discover her shape or identity or essence. Next, Allan Gurganuss reading of his story It Had Wings, about an arthritic woman who finds a fallen angel in her backyard, is interspersed with a version of the story rendered as a one-woman opera by the composer Bruce Saylor. And I was once ejected from the Whitney Museum for making comments during a film about baking. But this idea that people cannot kill each other? When she was sixteen, her family interrupted her education, sending her to work as a nanny in New York. I remember I got $500 for it. People say, Oh, did you like New York better when it was filthy and dangerous? No. I Cover the Waterfront is a 1933 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by James Cruze and starring Ben Lyon, Claudette Colbert, Ernest Torrence, and Hobart Cavanaugh.. Based on the book, by Max Miller, a reporter for the San Diego Sun, the film is about a reporter who investigates a waterfront smuggling operation, and becomes romantically involved with the daughter of the man he is . So every time I move, they have to be moved around, and I always fight with this guy when we do this, because he is a private librarian, which means, generally, he works for very rich people who never read their books. This guy came in and showed all these fake advertising campaigns and fake brands of vodka. All rights reserved, In an essay specially commissioned for the podcast, Aisha Sabatini Sloan describes rambling around Paris with her father, Lester Sloan, a longtime staff photographer for. You sit or stand in the subway, and you look aroundI do, because I dont have a phone so Im not playing a gameand you see people. Fran Lebowitz, the writer, cultural critic, and professional raconteur, spoke with me over the phone via landline, as she famously doesn't own a cell phone or computer. Fran Lebowitz photographed in Chelsea, New York, January 2021. No one has ever said it that way. I like that Oscar Wilde. Fran Lebowitz: I Cover the Waterfront. Lebowitz: Every single time Ive ever written I thought I couldnt do it. Who hasnt typed for me in a long time? I could probably get a secretary for what I spend getting my friends to type for me. The Modern Farmer came on before Sunrise Semester, and it was about farming. Its a very bad idea. I cant imagine what I could have done with it. But this was the 60s, and there were all of these Harvard medical students there learning to be doctors, so all the doctors in the hospital had hair down to their shoulders and granny glasses. I wrote an editorial about the matron and got kicked off the paper. Because I had an ounce of marijuana. High Times: How far did you get in school? Full-time Im watching daytime TV., The following interview took place one afternoon in an apartment overlooking the East River. Although complaint was her form, the result was a celebration of practical intelligence, a kind of Dr. Atkins epicureanism. After he described his husband's final day, terminally ill and surrounded by their four poodles, I said, "That's so special. And sometimes I went on at ten oclock in the morning and read to the guy sweeping up from the night before. Its almost as good as being a mechanic. I just dont like domestic life. LEBOWITZ: Yes, I was born in New Jersey and I lived in New Jersey until I was 18. Because I could not possibly be in a relationship now for more than six days. All-around cultural oracle Fran Lebowitz really began her ascent to that pulpit here at Interview, in 1972, writing a wonderful column about terrible movies, and then covering the waterfront, as she called it: opining on sundry topics, giving advice, ranting, reflecting, and hooking the reading world (such as it is) on that voicethat saucy, Their consciousness is so different from ours that they constitute a different species. Truckstop Women was one of my favorites. CLEMENTE: So everything that you write is written by hand? Talking is not writing. Im afraid Im sitting beyond my means.. Lebowitz: Ive had a number of interesting, colorful jobs. With one suitcase? I know Ive said this before, but the audience for the artswhether it was for writing or films . They all say, Oh I did it this afternoon, or, Oh, Im finished. . But it's a pleasurable one. It is boring and it is arithmetic. FRANCESCO CLEMENTES LARGE-SCALE INSTALLATION, ENCAMPMENT, WILL TRAVEL TO EVELEIGH, AUSTRALIA, THIS SUMMER. When it was on at 1:30 I saw no reason to get up in the morning, but now its on at 11:30, so sometimes I wake up to watch it. But so far I have not. LEBOWITZ: I only know how many there are because for the last several years Ive moved every five minutes, so theyre counted. Glenn OBriens interview with the iconic Fran Lebowitz from the August, 1978 issue of High Times magazine. I once read that deer are in the rodent family, and I still believe this. But now, as Ive grown up, all my friends have developed much more mature writing habits. Go to California. The study where she writes is a sunroom surrounded on three sides by windows. They dont know what anything is, so they have to make it up. I said, How could I help you choreograph a ballet? In an essay specially commissioned for the podcast, Aisha Sabatini Sloan describes rambling around Paris with her father, Lester Sloan, a longtime staff photographer for Newsweek, and a glamorous woman who befriends them. Which, in my opinion, was: What is culture without gay people? Lebowitz: The Village Vanguard. I ended up smoking Lucky Strikes, just because I liked the way it looked, the gesture. I dont like to go out during the dayits too crowded. The New York Times, especially at that time, was gigantic. The other day I read that last year 58 million tourists came to New York where a puny eight million people are trying to live. Lebowitz: I was a behavior problem as far as talking. Ive never seen the Kardashians; Im not sure who they are. Because if people dont hold grudges, it means they just dont care what people do.FRAN LEBOWITZ, LEBOWITZ: It was for The New York Times. Had COVID-19 not been the new reality, we probably would have met at some vintage New York landmark, like The Players Club or McSorley's Old Ale House. Go back. I think that would solve both problems. In the case of most good writers the writing is better than they are. I published it under the name of the headmaster who threw me out of school. texted me, 'Crazy idea, but I think you should play Fran Lebowitz on "Update,"'" he continued. And, first of . But . In her study at home in North Bennington, 2018. This must be about 15 years ago. Id rather have people shooting up in my apartment; at least I dont have to smell it. I met Marc in . I firmly believe that. CLEMENTE: Have you been following the presidential campaign? LEBOWITZ: I used to. One is that deers are rats. In the earliest days of the lockdown . She is widely recognized for her collection of essays, including Metropolitan Life, The Fran Lebowitz Reader, and Social Studies. French symbolist? Thats not writing. In between writing books Lebowitz is a guest editor and occasional columnist for Vanity Fair. Her father, Harold Lebowitz, owned a furniture store and upholstery workshop. Even ones that preceded me. I dont remember who published it. I saw the only job that was worse than writing. Fran Lebowitz, ace epigrammatist, is further a first-rate conversationalist, a hall-of-fame bibliomaniac, a chronic self-caricaturist, a gal-about-town, the soul of the city, a snappish social . I didnt know how to type, Marc knew how to type. By the time my youngest brother was born her life had collapsed on her, but she was a very elegant woman when I was young. Book 7. I never would start writing before midnight and I would finish at, like, seven in the morning. America is a great idea, so thats why its a great country. When I moved out nine years later, there was no ceiling in the bathroom. There may, in fact, still be no ceiling in the bathroom. Fran Lebowitz was born on 27 October 1950 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA. She was part Carib Indian, and they used to call her the Red Woman. The dancers sit there waiting for him to come up with something. The Fran Lebowitz Reader. It seemed cruel even to other people because I was known as what we called a bright child. No, there wasnt any cause for celebration, though my mother did make me a new dress and see me off to the airport. Romantic love is mental illness. I wanted to see Robert Young. They have a fresh approach. We Pick Up With Our Adventurers As The Party Begins. Things that New Yorkers need. After I moved to New York, I modeled for people like Steven Meisel. My fathermy stepfatherhad gotten ill, and my parents had three boy children. And I even have the Richie Rich home game. After the latters death, the former mysteriously disappeared. Why dont you just put some of your books in storage? And I always say the same thing: What if I told you I had four children? Required fields are marked *. Thats the problem. The thing that would irk me the mostaside from driving the cab; as you know, Im very lazy, I hate to workpeople would say, Was that a good job? I hate all jobs, okay? All Rights Reserved. And in order to do that, you have to change it so they like it. My idea of pure hell. There are certain relationships I think Im great at: Im the worlds greatest daughter. I was simply sent away to support them. Lebowitz: I dont think I was a poet for even an entire year. Bloomberg was always bragging how many hotels were being builtI remember seeing him on the news, saying, And this is the nine millionth hotel in Queens. Queens! She said theyd take one pack out and then move the rest up. I saw an ad in the Village Voice that said WantedPoets. This really weird guy named Jack Scully, who was an ex-monk, had somehow convinced Max Gordon, who owned the Village Vanguard, that the fact that the Vanguard was empty during the day was losing him a great fortune. They would give you $15 and a sandwich. But I know a lot about them because its impossible not to. Nearby are a vegetable garden caged against wildlife and a cottage in which lives Trevor, her bearded young assistant. In introducing Fran Lebowitz to a contemporary large audience, the combination of biographical perspective and quasi-vrit style addresses the opposition between private and public (Arendt and Habermas). To me, it would be even a slower way to write. Theres a connection. Maybe 20 people had read it, and he acted like it was in the Daily News. Like, in World War I, a whole generation of Englishmen died all at once. And I also knew I didnt want to write like anyone else. Lebowitz: I smoked Tareyton the longest, then I switched to Lark. In Andy Warhol's Interview: Volume 1: Best of the First Decade 1969-1979, edited by Sara J . On the way he started to drive into a tunnel, and I decided they might be going into a tunnel but I wasnt, so I tried to jump out of the car. And I like cities. CLEMENTE: And when you wrote these columns, how did you go about that? I would rather have a typist. There is only nervousness or death. High Times: Did you watch television as a child? LEBOWITZ: Or ballet. Then I went to a prep school that had a paper called the Wilson Wyndowe. I have about ten thousand. I was more of a drinker. Homesicknessthis kind of interrupted loveis a big element in your work. It wasnt enough that he had Charles Mingus playing there every night. CLEMENTE: Do you think youre the manifestation of integrity? CLEMENTE: Is there any aspect of New Jersey that you miss? High Times: When you were writing The Best of the Worst what was the best bad movie you ever saw? And then I would go to the Factory and turn it in. Their antidote to this was giving me about 22 Thorazines. I wrote it in a loose-leaf notebook in pencil. I like Dorothy Parker. Immigrants are good, tourists are bad. She needed something bigger to disapprove of, and so her column became I Cover the Waterfront, and her beat became the entire universe of questionable taste. That doesnt exist any more. LEBOWITZ: Yes, the night before. I mean, knowing James Joyce . This conversation began at a public event at the 92nd Street Y in 2013, and was picked up again in her Vermont kitchen eight years later, in the summer of 2021, when the social restrictions of the pandemic had, for a time, eased. A pen. I like Ebony too, but its no Sepia. The good thing about being in someone elses apartment is its so much easier to leave than it is to get someone out. The two close friends first came together for an HBO documentary Public Speaking in 2010, directed by Scorsese, which introduced Lebowitz to a new generation and helped established her continued relevance. I did every single one like that. The title refers to her frustration with people so absorbed in their devices that they bump into you on the street. LEBOWITZ: That was later, for my next column, I Cover the Waterfront. That was after I met Marc. Theyre all right-wing nuts. I was at that time living on the floor of a friends room at Boston University, and I knew that if I didnt smoke that ounce of marijuana, someone else would. To celebrate, we're republishing Glenn O'Brien's interview with the living legend from the August, 1978 print edition of High Times. New Yorkers, weve seen Donald Trump for, like, 30 years; we know who he is. Then, in 1972, she began writing for Andy Warhols Interview. It was written in the nineteenth century by, I think, a seven- or eight-year-old child who was the daughter of someone very rich who had this book printed. Lebowitz: I was unceremoniously expelled from prep school in my senior year for no apparent reason. The person who checks you in and takes your name and insurance came over to me and actually said, to me, Why did you choose Mass. Lebowitz: Tareyton, because thats what my mother smoked. And at that time he had every important movie, and that ended my movie-reviewing career. While working in the local Carvel ice-cream store, she attended an Episcopalian day school until she was thrown out for non-specific surliness. Certain that she would starve to death following this banishment, Lebowitz skipped college and moved to Manhattan, where she pursued such jobs as taxi driving, belt peddling, apartment cleaning (with a small specialty in Venetian blinds), and selling advertising space forChangesmagazine. I used to sneak out of bed to watch it. High Times: What are your favorite magazines? By Susan Devaney. And, of course, New York was always more expensive than any other place in the United States, but you could live in New Yorkand by New York, I mean Manhattan. AIDS completely changed American culture. Things that people will say to me, mostly, is that you shouldnt have all these books. I think I first came across it in one of the Bronts. Don Rickles. It was charity really. 817K views 3 years ago #amanpourpbs Known for her sardonic wit, social commentator Fran Lebowitz is a New York legend. On the Boston University phone you dialed N-E-E-D and a concerned Jewish graduate student came over and took me to Mass. Not only dont they not understand people different from them, they hardly understand themselves. Every single one. And I feel this way more and more about the Republican candidates, certainly. I loved to smoke. Fran Lebowitz is 69 years old October 27. High Times: Have you gotten any marriage proposals? No, youre not. Of course, every year it gets harder to find them. CLEMENTE: No, I can sleep. It was a very terrifying experience because when I started to flip out having smoked this much pot I was in a room with people who had also smoked this much pot and no one would help me out. Those memories are a constant source of some strange pleasure for me. She said, You know what its like being with you? But after a while Fran outgrew the bad-flick format. I remember one of the best days of my life was an all-day A.I.P. At the age of 21, Lebowitz was hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist . Fran was raised in Morristown, New Jersey. I have a number of bookcases, big wooden bookcases with glass doors; most of them are 19th century. Good Books Books To Read Acceptance Speech National Book Award Wordsmith Great Words Ex Libris Reading Material Women Humor More information . And I said, Well, I dont really care. It was incredibly boring writing that stuff. One of them was my columns. Capitalism, pretty old-fashioned, too. LEBOWITZ: It may just be the offers Ive had, but generally, I think theres just more to say no to. I would stand in front of the class and report on a book I had made up. A childrens book, Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam and Tulip, came out in 1986. But all the rest of them were, including Jeb Bush. Theres too much distance. This is America, what is the culture? But they didnt have any long-term plan in mind. Or acceptance or understanding. And then, that machine is waiting for you, just humming uh-huh, yes?. Light? LEBOWITZ: I think one manifestation of integrity is holding a grudge. So should I win the lottery, I will have that type of library. People ask me, Arent you interested in what theyre thinking? And people are constantly telling me, whether they are friends who feel sorry for me, because I cant find a place to live, or real estate agents, You cant afford an apartment the size you need with this many books. There are a lot of funny people around, and a lot of writers too, but somehow the combination of great humor and great writing has become an exceedingly rare commodity in the modern world. There was a sink in the bathroom. FRAN LEBOWITZ: The blood pressure or the air pressure? Fran Lebowitz, who is featured "Pretend It's a City" on Netflix. Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson on Antigua in 1949. And Orson Welles agrees Behind him comes Fran Lebowitz, flustered from whatever is going on in the street. Your friends who dont write will not stay on the phone with you, because they have other real things they want to do. 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