Sergio Says! Musings From Marie Claire (and Beyond...)

2012 August 10

Brad’s Party
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It's a music-saturated week for Sergio, righthand-everything (and oodles more) for Marie Claire's Joanna Coles. Not much surprise there...but some drag queen serenades and a casual mag-wide sailing excursion? A little more exotic!

Monday
An office visit from Dragonette, one of my fave electro-pop bands, hailing from Ontario, Canada. (Don’t fret, I’m not abandoning my obsession with Brits! Canada is still a British commonwealth, whatever that means.) Trust me, you’ve heard, hummed, and danced to Dragonette songs. “Hello,” by world-famous DJ Martin Solveig and which features Dragonette, has been played to death for almost two years and is completely inescapable (even Good Morning America plays it every chance they get). The band consists of two guys and a girl—and you need to know them. Their third album, “Bodyparts,” is out in September. In the meantime, check out my interview and get hooked on your fave new workout song, their first single “Let It Go.”

Tuesday
A never-ending night on the town with my BFF Courtney: first, front row at Edison Ballroom for the American debut of England’s incredibly talented Paloma Faith. Paloma is Amy Winehouse, Adele and Marianne Faithfull rolled into one, and “Fall To Grace,” out later this fall, is one of the best albums of the year. She’s one of those mesmerizing performers who’s born for the stage, and who lures you in from the first note. You can’t see Paloma live without falling in love with her. At the show, I spotted my pal, the too-beautiful-for-words Danish singer-songwriter Oh Land with her publicist (and my bud) Joseph Carozza. Oh Land is sporting new rosy pink hair these days, which begged for a Kodak moment with yours truly. Next up: some quality time with my old boss, the producer extraordinaire and X Factor’s fiercest judge Antonio L.A. Reid, who invited me downtown to catch his appearance on Watch What Happens Live!!! You probably already know that tickets are almost impossible to score, since the studio only seats about 15 people. So there I was, hanging with Andy Cohen, Beth Stern, LA Reid, my BFF Courtney, and Epic Records publicist extraordinaire Lauren Ceradini. Oh, did I mention that Honey Badger Guy was bartending that night?! They really do force you to drink there. Within 20 minutes, I was hammered, and doing my own honey badger routine. “Sergio don’t give a sh**!”—but you already knew that.

Wednesday
After a long day of work, I rushed home and planted my butt on the couch in hopes of watching the cutthroat new episode of Big Brother (I may just be the last man in America who watches) when my phone rang. I knew it, there’s always someone who doesn’t want me to have any fun! Ughhh! Of course it had to be the one person I couldn’t resist, my fave fiery redhead, Moda Operandi’s Taylor Tomasi Hill, along with her Moda sidekick Danielle Prescod, who forced me to get off the couch and head down to Brad Goreski’s birthday celebration. An hour later, we sailed past the velvet rope without even checking the guest list (Taylor’s beloved everywhere) and straight into private room upstairs at No. 8, for the party hosted by Kate Spade creative director Deborah Lloyd. Among the fashionistas in attendance: Christina Ricci, Prabal Gurung, Christian Siriano, Alejandro Ingelmo,and Monique Pean. In the middle of the room, a smiling Brad was being serenaded by Hedda Lettuce, one of NYC’s most famous drag performers. A few minutes later Taylor, Danielle, and I made our way over to the birthday cake from Babycakes (Brad is gluten- and dairy-free). Just as I was about to grab a piece, another drag performer, Peppermint Gummybear (no, I am not kidding) stole the spotlight with her rendition of Salt 'n Pepa’s “Whatta Man” and pulled me into her performance. We danced the rest of the night away to lots of eighties, and the queen, Madonna. Brad’s a major fan, but definitely not as big as you know who. (Hey, M, see you in Phillie!)

Thursday
Bon voyage, bitches. Marie Claire’s staff cruise set sail this afternoon. So if you happened to look out your window and spotted a Thurston Howell III cap, that was our uber-nautical Captain JoCo, navigating us into the Hudson for a three-hour tour to celebrate our kick-ass September issue. Have you seen it? Of course you have, 'cause it’s everywhere. While on the boat, I received a tweet from my fave publicist, Madonna’s gatekeeper, Liz Rosenberg, who just happens to be in Saint Petersburg, Russia with Madonna. A few minutes before M took the stage Liz was in the fan pit and wanted to know why I wasn’t there…Yeah, I was wondering the same exact thing! Hurry back and bring my Queen with you!

Friday
Obsessed: “Anything Could Happen”, first single from Ellie Goulding’s sophomore album “Halcyon”; dance floor stomper “She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)” by David Guetta and Sia; dark and trippy “Chained” by The xx; Justin Bieber’s best song and video to date, "As Long As You Love Me" and the smoking hot Laidback Luke remix of Madonna’s brand new single, "Turn Up The Radio," featuring Far East Movement. Catch you all next week, until then follow me on Twitter @SergioKletnoy