BLOOMS[BIRTH]DAY BASH

It’s rare that I will post something that seems more appropriate for the gossip pages of a local tabloid, but the Blooms[Birth]Day party held in our house on June 16 will be the exception. Not only was it a fun party, but the honorees—Leopold Bloom, Diane Lewis, and myself—lent a unique atmosphere to the event. Bloom, the Joycean character who lived a lifetime in a single day—June 16—reinventing not only Dublin but also, perhaps, the world thereafter, was commemorated by our guests’ celebratory mood, as well as readings by the gifted actor, Penny Bittone. Penny moved unannounced from room to room, taking devotees of Ulysses with him. Diane, whose birthday it was, surrounded by friends, was in top form. I, whose birthday it wasn’t (but was being belatedly noted) enjoyed Lebanese food and took in the very animated landscape, a hermit briefly out of his lair.

Aleksandra and I are party-givers, it is true, and this was one of our best. For this reason I thought I’d share it with you.

LW

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(above) At the bar (l. to r.) Steven Holl, Aleksandra Wagner, Penny Bittone (background), Chris Mann, LW.

The main room.

At the bar: Michael Sorkin, David Gersten (background), and Steven Holl.

(l. to r.) Peter Schubert, Penny Bittone (reading), Joan Copjec, Steven Holl.

At the bar: (l. to r.) Vladan Nikolic, Anthony Titus, Carl Jacobs and Daniel Meridor (background), Mersiha Veledar.

(l. to r.) Dan Sherer (background), Diane Lewis, Aleksandra Wagner.

Diane Lewis and LW toasting birthdays and Bloomsday.

(l. to r.) Kent Kleinman, Lisa Pincus, Dan Sherer.

At the bar: Mersiha Veledar and James Lowder.

(l. to r.) Victoria Woods, Penny Bittone, Anthony Titus.

The photographs above are by James Ward.