The Music Plays On

Tuesday. I went to a fashion-y party for the US launch of a Brazilian clothing line called Colcci. Few of us there had ever heard of the brand, and fewer had any idea how to pronounce it. What attracted everyone to the party was the host, Gisele Bundchen. Gisele stayed perched upstairs on a couch near the DJ. The DJ was Christian Langdon, from Arckid, aka bandmate and brother of Royston Langdon, the former lead singer of Spacehog and current husband of Liv Tyler. He’s cute, and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He sat next to me at a dinner recently and is the kind of guy who would dramatically fall down in the middle of the street just to get a laugh.

Despite the free cocktails – martinis that were a mix of Pravda vodka, coconut water and lime – and passed food from tuna tartar to sliders, the crowd seemed somewhat bored, myself included. The only other celebrity in attendance was James Blunt who sat in the same spot all night with a friend. It was the day his album, “All the Lost Souls” was released so I asked him the significance of the year 1973, the name of his first single. James said, “I met a very close friend at a club called Pacha in Ibiza and the club was opened in 1973, so I named the song 1973.” A few minutes later, after James left, I thought about his response and realized that he could quite possibly be talking about a friend of mine as well. I met a gorgeous girl in LA, she a friend of a friend, we were all having dinner and James had joined us. He didn’t make any attempt to hide his affection for her. Too bad for him that she had and still has a boyfriend. Later she told me, “We met a while back in Ibiza.” If I’d remembered that then I would have asked if it was about her. I’ve learned that this is called, 'esprit d'escalier,' a French expression that translates to 'the wit of the staircase', and usually refers to the perfect witty response you think up after the conversation has ended.

Wednesday night: I was invited to a private listening party for the Counting Crows in an intimate studio environment. The band introduced the album and then we read the lyrics as six songs were played. The band's fifth album, and their first in five years, is set to drop Nov. 6 and is tentatively titled, "Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings." I hear the first single will be a radio-friendly number called "Cowboy."

Thursday: I'm heading to VH1's Save the Music Gala in five. Jon Bon Jovi and John Mayer are performing!