In Memoriam…
For everyone, like us, who obsesses over music, fashion, film, literature and all that is considered art – Glenn O’Brien is representative of all we wish to be. He was the embodiment of intelligence and exquisiteness. He was the good looking, twentysomething-year-old from Cleveland who moved to NYC to study filmmaking at Columbia and never left the big apple, eventually becoming a larger than life king of New York with the midas touch for everything he touched turned to cool. He befriended everyone whom you ever wanted to be friends with and worked everywhere you have ever wanted to work at and lived through one of the most exciting decades of the past century. He was charming, witty, stylish and book smart – a contemporary real renaissance man.
He will be remembered for his close relationships with legendary artis, his seminal TV Party show, and the many essays he wrote for numerous magazines, all in an attempt to document a culture he was in love with, a culture that always returned the feeling. Yet, it wasn’t so much that O’Brien always kept his finger on the pulse of a rebellious, romantic moment in time, but more that he was one of the brightest luminaries that gave life to it. For all that he had done and all that he had met, he never changed. Sartorially, he was quite dapper, always dressed in tailored suits and fine shoes. Always interested in being the interviewer and not the interviewee. And his wit never faded. With his passing, along with the many other icons who have passed away recently, New York’s cafe society is slowly dimming, and now it has one less irreplaceable member.
