Enough with these celebrities! Let’s talk about me.
My name is Andrew Sardone and I’VE been boldfaced by Shinan Govani.
It happened two years ago after the Powerball. The National Post scene columnist and author of the new novel Bold Face Names referred to me and my boyfriend as an “off kilter power couple” in his roundup of the fundraiser.
It was embarrassingly exhilarating to be mentioned but not because the whatever-that means reference satisfied some fame-starved ego or made me look important to the sorts of people who put together their invite lists based on Govani’s seen-about-town roll call.
My heart skipped a beat because he could have said something mean. Not malicious-mean but delicious-mean. A superficial wound that would stress out anyone’s sense of social currency but not keep you from glad-handing Govani the next time you see him out on the circuit.
That’s the spirit of the book which launched last night with a cing-thirty-a-sept-thirty in the Holt Renfrew Café on Bloor. It’s full of Toronto-centric and not-so-blind items (a scandal plagued hair stylist named Dou a publicist called Daisy Emerson who is better at promoting herself than her clients night spots And/Or and D Loft) and broader pop cultural references because, presumably, Govani and Harper Collins would like to sell some books outside of the 416.
The big question when you trade in gossip and reputations is will anyone show up at your book launch?
Of course they will, the they being the media types (Zoomer’s Suzanne Boyd, acting FASHION magazine editor Bernadette Morra), people about town (original glitter girl Cathy Bratty and new society wranglers Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley), publicists (TIFF gatekeepers Natasha Koifman and Ann Layton) and partners in dish (Star’s Evan Matthew and the Posts’ Amoryn Engel) who keep his Scene columns buzzing.
I was glad I congratulated Govani on his book at Saturday night’s Men Who Stare at Goats party. At Holts, there was a line of well wishers out the door waiting to deliver their kudos as the man of the hour stood on an eight foot tall black and white floor decal of his own face.
I was sad to miss the opportunity to ask Govani if he was serving mini Caesar salads at the party. His favourite garlicky greens have almost a chapter devoted to them early in the novel and the one piece of scene covering advice I took away from Boldface Names was to always prepare a clever way to greet the guest of honour.[rssbreak]
