Debi Mazar, "Out to Sea" and Dead Teen Idols
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#1 “Those were the reasons and that was New York”
Remember the idea of the quirky, possibly magic New Yorker? That eccentric weirdo who was down for whatever, totally cosmopolitan and unlike anybody else anywhere else? Think Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan or those pictures of Tama Janowitz you’d see flipping through a Tina Brown-era Vanity Fair and think “Man, that’s a lot of hair.” Lou Reed or Jean-Michel Basquiat to Nora Ephron; they always didn’t need to be born and bred in Manhattan (Lou was a Long Island guy, Jean-Michel grew up in Brooklyn, Nora immigrated from Los Angeles but they fit in perfectly there, they were New Yorkers). I grew up during a boom time for the cool, eccentric New Yorker trope, I’d say starting in the early 1980s and lasting all the way until shows like Friends and then Sex and the City. (Note: I’m not bashing SATC, I’m a big fan. Friends, not so much. Although Chandler’s vests are very inspirational and I might write about them soon.) The ‘90s ushered in New Yorkers as quirky, but a little more normal. I mean, Jerry Seinfeld is considered the normcore god, so it makes sense. Kramer acts as his eccentric counterweight, George and Elaine are in the middle. Eccentric neutral, if you will. But for people looking in before that time, those of us who maybe knew New York but couldn’t claim it as our home, there were plenty of touchstones, these almost fairytale-like people that seemed larger than life, they were probably way too cool to ever associate with you or anybody you knew.
Born in Queens, Debi Mazar is the archetypal ‘80s New York type who tried a few things out before they got noticed. She did Madonna’s makeup in one for the “Everybody” video, dated Paul Reubens and is something of a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” of the downtown NYC scene in the early-80s. Just check her out dancing at the start of the single episode of Graffiti Rock in 1984.
Oh yeah, she’s also an actress who was in Goodfellas and also Entourage. You know her when you see her. She’s been in a lot of films you’ve probably seen, but I find people are unfamiliar with her by name. A shame, to be sure, but the thing I enjoy of Debi’s the most these days is her Instagram account. You get old-school cool shots:
Memories:
And now that she’s back there, lots of shots of her life in Italy:
And, of course, this:
I’m not sure how long Instagram will stay relevant the way social media comes and goes. I’ve already heard people in their early-20s tell me that’s what their parents use or it’s not cool, and that TikTok is that app they pay the most attention to. And to be honest, I’m sort of fine with that. Instagram has really made the horror that is the influencer into a much bigger thing than it needs to be. Mostly people without substance whose main talents tend to be looking good and having a war story to tell about going to Fyre Fest. There are a number of exceptions, of course; I go on Instagram to see everything from baby pics (yes, I enjoy seeing your cute kids) to style stuff, but the influencer side of the app turns me off. I think there’s something in my brain that just shuts off when somebody saying “Instagram influencer” or “YouTube celebrity.” But what I think keeps me coming back to Instagram and scrolling through posts is that one shot from a famous person like Mazar or Patti Smith, Martha Stewart, Shaq or somebody I’ve watched from a distance for most of my life just goofing off or showing what they’re reading. Mazar is my favorite these days, but I’m hoping if people keep caring to utilize Instagram in the years to come that there will be others. If not, I’ll probably migrate to whatever the new piece of technology that collects our personal info is and engage in my mindless scrolling there. But over the last few months especially, the whole “Celebrities: they’re just like us” thing has been a balm.
#2 “Out to sea”
Steven Bannon getting arrested by the post office on a Chinese billionaire’s yacht that was just hanging out in the Long Island Sound after telling people he was “at sea,” but he was really just hiding is the feel good story of the week, maybe the month and, hell, possibly the year.
The thing about Bannon is that if he wasn’t real and wasn’t responsible for so much of the horrible stuff happening in our country right now, if he didn’t help push for a culture war that I think our country is deeply engaged in right now, then he would make a terrific fictional character, one that I have little doubt writers will use for inspiration a lot in the coming years.
I mean, think about it: guy grows up in a “blue-collar, Irish Catholic, pro-Kennedy, pro-union family of Democrats,” then gets really into Reagan because he despises Carter so much. Becomes an investment banker at Goldman Sachs after a stint in the military. He helps bankroll movies and shows like Seinfeld, goes on to make a bunch of right-wing documentaries and eventually helps in the creation of Breitbart News. There’s enough there for some sort of character you could describe as Dickensian, Faustian or both, but then you throw in all the even weirder stuff like his hot tub filled with acid in his alleged South Florida “porn and meth house,” and I’m pretty sure Harmony Korine wrote this guy into existence.
I find Bannon just interesting enough. Not so much that I’ll watch the doc Errol Morris did on him, but I can keep a safe enough distance and say that of all the batshit weirdness going on in our country right now, he is sort of the living approximation of everything that’s wrong. He’s bad and evil and bad and evil tend to make the best characters. I just wish it all wasn’t real. If he was in a movie, that would be fine. But he’s not, and look where we’re at.
So that’s probably why I found his arrest so entertaining. I’m not usually a schadenfreude kind of guy, and I try not to take much pleasure in the possibility of anybody going to prison given how messed up our incarceration system is, but every now and then I’ll make an exception. I’d be fine with Bannon spending the rest of his gross life in a cell.
The justice system being what it is, I’m guessing that won’t happen, but at least we’ll always have the courtroom drawings of Bannon in his mask with his hair flowing, as well as the judge that bears a striking resemblance Frank Vincent in Goodfellas. You look at this image and you can just hear the guy saying to Bannon "Go get your shine box.”

Wow. I just dedicated too many word to Steve Bannon and I think I need to go up on the roof and hose myself off or something. I feel gross. I need to pivot quickly and mention that this is in no way about Bannon, and instead it is about my appreciation for the work of the woman who did that courtroom drawing, Jane Rosenberg. When there isn’t a pandemic, I’m just a simple museum goer, and I’m sure people who know more about art would probably say no, no, no, to this, but I can’t help but look at that and think of Matisse or David Hockney. It’s really lovely.
And, the thing is, it isn’t her first. It also maybe isn’t her best because Rosenberg is the person the courts call for the big cases in New York City.
John Gotti? Check.

Rev. Al? Yup!

Woody and Mia? Of course!

You want Martha Stewart? She’s got you covered.

And someday when there’s a retrospective of her work at MoMA, this will be the centerpiece: Martin Shkreli.

The images of Bannon sent me down a little wormhole and showed me I’m truly not alone in my appreciation of her work. But there have been times, like in 2015, she had to apologize for not getting it right in the eyes of fans. In 2015, her sketch of Tom Brady angered Patriots nation because New England fans love to kvetch even though they’ve won 10,000 Super Bowls, and became a viral sensation. Her work was criticized so much that Rosenberg had to apologize.
“I’m getting bad criticism that I made him look like Lurch,” she told the Times. “And obviously I apologize to Tom Brady for not making him as good-looking as he is.”
#3 You can’t kill yr idols if they’re already dead
River Phoenix would have turned 50 this week. There’s something so odd about realizing the doomed teen idol from your childhood would have been a milestone age like that. I wish I had my copy of Last Night at the Viper Room by Gavin Edwards around to read today. The book is about the “life and death of River Phoenix,” but is really a snapshot of a really fascinating time in Hollywood history when Gen. X started to take over. It’s centered around the life and death of Phoenix, but it’s also about Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Keanu and an entire generation of young stars with great hair trying to make a dent in the movies. There could probably be an entire season of You Must Remember This dedicated to it, but until there is, I’d suggest reading the book sometime.