To: Our Father Which art in Politics: Thank you for dumping Weiner and Spitzer. Now, about our mayoral Rockettes:
De Blasio to me: “Chirlane was nervous first time meeting the most important people in my life — my two sisters, who stayed hesitant, and my liberal Democrat opinionated mother, who’d never stop talking — but I gave her courage. After the wedding, everyone galloped into closeness.
“Because my wife found me, I have to tell you my life is protected. She hands cut-up fruit to me in a car when I’m spending all afternoon out.”
Son Dante the TV star “cares about politics.” Daughter Chiara distributed ‘Vote for my daddy’ leaflets. Both know what it’s like to live in a fishbowl.”
Lhota to me: “I did my screwing up when I was in Harvard getting my MBA. Drank, had my fun. And, a little, stole newspapers thrown at neighbors’ doors, which I read neatly then replaced. Probably they wondered where the coffee stains came from.
“Also, I cooked every night for six guys. I shopped at Safeway, made spaghetti, stew, chili, mac ’n’ cheese.”
About his blue rubber band: “In 2005, I was diagnosed with lymphoma. Seven months of treatments. I’m now clean. Friends made me wear this when I went for chemo. Now I always wear it. It says, ‘Fear nothing.’
Lady is a champ
Trying to drown long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad’s Cuba-to-Florida, 110-mile splash, 22 squawkers sat down with the champion yesterday. To them she explained her 5 mph speed was “a perfect storm. Because I caught a wave.”
She produced data: the GPS tracker that was on her, weather and Google reports, navigator’s logbook, etc.
Diana: “I was lucky. I’m 64, I came out of a 30-year retirement. But I did it. I never gave up my dream.”
Designer has ‘Ballet Babe’ for a muse
Fashion Week. Zang Toi produced elegant Loro Piana silks, twills, tweeds, wools, organzas, gazar and hand-loomed cashmere.
His “Ballet Babe” collection labeled outfits “leotard, tights, Ballet Bow, Ballerina, Sleeping Beauty, Scenic Backdrop.”
Cory Stearns, American Ballet Theater’s principal dancer, doubled as Zang Toi’s muse.
Geeks with cellphones photographed each breathtaking design, so who needs fashion magazines? A freaky male invitee wore shorts plus a raccoon jacket. Some needy lady, desperate to be noticed, pranced about the 80-degree night in a fox shrug.
Spanish reporter: “Latinas want tight, glitzy, short.” Tokyo retailer: “I here because Japanese lady wear dresses.” Fashion Week is theater for the absurd.
Buzz brews here
Kindly note I was first looooong ago to report newly elected Manhattan Beep Gale Brewer would run . . . Jim Parsons of “The Big BangTheory”: “When I first played Sheldon, I struggled with his over-talkative pronunciation. Now, six seasons later, I don’t panic anymore.” .. . Lena Dunham: “Not that there’s not enough women parts in TV shows, it’s that not enough women are in position to create those parts.”
Syria looks bleak:
My Syrian friends: “Relatives in Aleppo say the light at the end of the tunnel is gone. No town anymore. No businesses. Our first cousin, a doctor, once owned everything around him. Now no water, no electricity, no home. They don’t understand what’s happening to them. They have no information coming in. We’re more informed than they. And they call the White House ‘Oz.’ Obama? ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ ”
Madison and 51st. Overheard. Gent, 45ish, in neat blue suit: “Brooklyn’s getting so expensive, people are moving back to Manhattan.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.