November
17 Bernie Katz's "Soho Society" shows up Hollywood

London's Groucho Club sounds like the Factory, Little Nell's and the Copacabana rolled into one. And yet the UK film business largely sucks; meanwhile, Hollywood rolls merrily along while making do with, what, Villa? If it's a cosmic joke, the punchline is "Soho Society," a new book written by Bernie Katz (that's him, as painted by Triana de Lamo Terry). Imagine Amy Sacco dishing for 140 pages during the heyday of Bungalow 8 and you get the idea. Although that's hard to imagine, since the chapters have names like "Seduction Of The Straight Man," "Interview With A Rent Boy" and "No 1 Door Whore."

Variety editor Steven Gaydos, who spent five years in London, brought the book to my attention, writing: "It's all the more impressive an accomplishment as Katz is no literary poseur but rather a self-described low-life, as evidenced by his intro to the book in which he recounts the fateful day in his youth when his father's "life ended somewhat abruptly with a bullet in his head... never one to miss an opportunity, I sashayed over to his wardrobe and navigated my way across the sea of footwear to his black Pierre Cardin alligator-skin shoes, which I'd secretly always had my eye on." Yeesh. Gaydos adds: "The health freaks here can't condone the kind of alcohol consumption that goes on there." I'll bet. And: "I miss it more than words can say." Yeah, I can see that, too.

The book's illustrated with original artworks by Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, John Maybury and Sam Taylor-Wood, all of which will be on exhibit November 26-December 2 at London's Lazarides Gallery, with an auction hosted by Stephen Fry to follow.

All of which sounds fabulous and only serves to remind me that none of this info does me any damn good. Anyway, if you're similarly masochistic, here's the book.