June 14, 2009

As I describe in the introduction to Watching the World Change, I was in Manhattan's Times Square when I first became aware that two planes had collided with the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. With that in mind, here’s a link to a piece I wrote for VanityFair.com two weeks ago about the new, traffic-free zone in Times Square, which I believe makes this thoroughfare much safer in terms of security.

Other recent pieces for VanityFair.com include three music reviews: a Steve Martin banjo concert, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Tribute to Blue Note Records on its 70th anniversary, and a typically raucous night at Manhattan’s incomparable Sugar Bar.

PICTURES IN PROVENCE. For friends in France, please note that on July 7, on the opening night of the 40th anniversary of the Arles Photo Festival, Vanity Fair’s director of photography, Susan White, and I will be presenting a parade of classic images from the book Vanity Fair, The Portraits, which traces the magazine’s photographic legacy across 95 years. The projection will take place in the famous Roman-era amphitheater, which seats 2,000. A companion exhibition, “Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs, 1913-2008,” currently on a world tour, opened last week at Australia’s National Portrait Gallery, in Canberra.

AND…A couple of friends have coming out with books lately. One in particular to watch out for is Bruce Tulgan’s latest, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y.