Out There :: Palo Alto Pampering

The Clement Hotel Palo Alto generously invited Out There and our bosom buddy Pepi for an overnight stay in the luxurious six-star hotel down the peninsula. It was OT's first time overnighting in an "all-inclusive luxury" property, which included a personal concierge and meals prepared in an open kitchen served in our choice of the dining room, the outdoor terrace, the privacy of our suite, or in a cabana on the rooftop pool deck that overlooks Stanford University campus. Although we were aware there were other guests around, the Clement's sense of privacy, peace and quiet was quite extraordinary. We could get used to it.

With both living room and bedroom, our suite was bigger than either OT's or Pepi's place. Its curated amenities include Matouk linens, Frette towels and robes, 65" Samsung IPTVs, and a Nespresso Vertuoline coffee machine, sleek. The big bathroom boasts two sinks, a TV built into the mirror, a soaking tub, rainhead shower, and Toto Washlet toilet with heated seat. Pepi enjoyed exploring all of the settings on the high-tech Japanese loo. "Ooo, try this one!"

At dinner, we split four enticing appetizers: Poke Nachos (marinated raw Ahi, avocado, cilantro, Serrano, wakame, Sriracha aioli, wontons), Lamb Tartare (raw Australian lamb, mint, garlic, Dijon, crostini and cornichon), baked Oysters Rockefeller with sauteed spinach, roasted garlic, bacon, Parmesan and panko, and Foie Gras Torchon (Stevia leaves, fig puree, toasted brioche bread). For OT, the Ricotta cheese, roasted red pepper-stuffed chicken breast with potato gratin and sauteed greens, for Pepi, the bone-in Rib Eye. Dessert was chocolate molten lava cake for P., and apple pie for OT, both topped with Tin Pot vanilla bean ice cream. Yummy all around.

At bedtime we left our shoes outside our door, and at 8 a.m. the next morning there they were, OT's black English leather zip-up boots (zzip! zzip!) and Pepi's blue-gray and black leather lace-ups, both shined to a fare-thee-well and gleaming. We wondered, did the night staff marvel at what stylish gentlemen must be slumbering above, in the luxurious suite? (Clement Palo Alto, 711 El Camino Real,?Palo Alto, CA.)

Sauntering around Palo Alto, we showed Pepi the site of our long-ago stint as waiter in a charming French restaurant. Monique's was a power-lunch spot across from Palo Alto City Hall. As a teenage girl its venerable proprietess Monique had been a heroine of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation, running communiques behind enemy lines. She also made a mean cream of broccoli soup. So inspiring to remember her example as dark forces close in again.

Candyass Connects

Last week there we were at the opening of Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show, the first career survey and solo museum show devoted to the NY-based artist also known as Candyass, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The exhibition shows 350 artworks from 1987 to the present: paintings, manufactured multiples, works on paper, archival material, and fabric works. Remarks from the artist and museum staff were preceded by a brief spirited performance by the Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy , who sang a few ditties and confided that after her much older husband the Count died, she converted to "Yoo-daism," thus now considers herself a "Yoo-ess." We say welcome to the tribe, Countess, we like your style. Great to see Bay Area art-world types turn out for Candyass. To drop a few names, we saw Kevin Killian, Wayne Smith, Glen Helfand and Sura Wood, among many others. See this week's Fine Arts review.

After the opening we were off to a screening of director Pablo Larrain's Neruda, the true story of iconic poet Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco), most famous communist with a public profile in post-WWII Chile. When Chile went fascist, Neruda was forced underground, putting a tenacious police inspector (tiny, hot Gael Garc'a Bernal) on his trail. In Europe, the legend of the poet hounded by the policeman grew, and artists led by Pablo Picasso clamored for Neruda's freedom.

Neruda became a symbol for liberty personal as well as literary. Larrain's film reminded OT that poets, so-called "legislators of the world," are our first bulwarks against fascism. Important to remember in these days of billionaire kleptocrats, white supremacists, war-mongering generals, and the complacent politicians who enable them.

Another timely film about a towering political/literary figure opens this week. Out and proud gay writer James Baldwin told the story of race in modern America in his great novels, plays and essays. Press materials for I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia Pictures) inform, "In 1979, Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

"At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of his manuscript. In this new documentary, filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book Baldwin never finished. The result is an up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and flood of rich archival material." Sounds like a compelling and necessary film. Mainstream media often leaves out that Baldwin was gay, so much a part of his genius and courage.