NiC Magazine | Feb-Mar 2015 | Barbra Streisand

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streisand

By Richard Pérez-Feria

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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INSIDE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

Big Stories

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The Last Superstar

Barbra Streisand, the best-selling female recording artist in history, is back on top.

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

14

Made In The USA

We rank our 20 greatest sports legends who are now 50+. Let the debate begin.

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

24

The 5 Best Reasons To Get A Reverse Mortgage Right Now

Here’s a question: When are you planning to pull the trigger on a reverse mortgage?

BY BUCK WARGO

28

The Storyteller

Kevin Sessums, the longtime Vanity Fair celebrity chronicler, has a new can’t-put-down memoir.

More

4 FUNNY 5 HOME 6 EDITOR 44 GORGEOUS 48 GENTLEMAN 50 GET OFF MY LAWN

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

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Northern California: America’s Vineyard

From trendy Napa to sexy Sonoma, please come thirsty to all points north of San Francisco.

BY ABBY TEGNELIA

THE DETAILS

Barbra Streisand. Photo by Craig D. Simpson. (right) Streisand with Kris Kristofferson during A Star Is Born. Photo by Francesco Scavullo/Warner Bros.

Both photos from Streisand: In The Camera Eye (ABRAMS, 2014).

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“I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped or my name changed.

That is very gratifying to me.”

— Barbra Streisand, page 8

NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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FUNNY 5 JOKES TO MAKE YOU THE HIT OF THE PARTY IN THE HANDS OF THESE COMEDIC GENIUSES, THESE ARE SERIOUSLY HILARIOUS ONE-LINERS.

“I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized that the other day inside my fort.”

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 Volume II, Number 1

Richard Pérez-Feria Vice President, Editor in Chief

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Chief Executive Officer, Publisher Advertising Director Jeremy Buttke Production Director Warren Baskin ©2015 Complete Senior, Inc. All rights reserved.

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STEVEN WRIGHT “I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.”

SAM KINISON “I don’t worry about terrorism. I was married for two years.”

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BOB NEWHART “I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down’.”

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EDITOR LONGING FOR THE CUBA OF MY DREAMS WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA ANNOUNCED THE MOMENTOUS CHANGE TO END THE HALF-CENTURY US/CUBA STANDOFF, THE REVERBERATIONS CAME FAST AND CUT DEEP.

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA MI FAMILIA How Fidel Castro impacted my family is real and tangible—it’s heartbreaking every day.

was besieged in an instant. The moment President Obama announced to the world the momentous change he’s implementing regarding normalizing relations between the US and Cuba, my phone went nuts—texts, calls, emails, tweets, Facebook messages, Google alerts— all of it, all at once.

For those who know me even a little, you know two things to be true: I’m pretty damn proud of being Cuban; and I’m pretty damn obsessed with US politics.

So it only stands to reason when the biggest news in more than half a century involving Cuba and American politics is happening in real time, a lot of people would automatically reach out to me. The thing was, I wasn’t quite ready to discuss it. I am now.

First, a little context: I was born in Boston to trailblazing Cuban parents who fled the atrocities Fidel Castro inflicted on their homeland. Thanks to my parents, grandmothers and other relatives, I grew up speaking Spanish, listening to Cuba’s salsa queen, Celia Cruz, on the stereo, memorizing the Cuban national anthem, learning about José Martí, Cuba’s answer to George Washington.

I also ate Cuban food (lechón, yuca), spoke rapid-fire Spanish (as all Cubans seem to do), immersed myself in Cuban culture (dominoes) and though I am undeniably

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and proudly American, even today, when I close my eyes, I smile, kiss, love and dream in Cuban. I. Am. Cuban.

Here’s the shocker: I’ve never actually set foot on the island because of the unspeakable horrors Castro has been carrying out with a ferocious relentlessness that somehow seems to be largely lost on my otherwise educated, politically-savvy American friends. They all have a way of making me feel petty or overly dramatic when they ask me, half-smirking, “Has Castro really been that bad?” Yes. A million times, yes. And if at a minimum you don’t recognize that undeniable fact, you might as well stop reading this right now. Let me be unequivocally clear: Fidel Castro is a despot, a dictator, a fraud who sacrificed the well-being and freedom of his people for his own grab at power—the oldest story in world politics. Fidel Castro is a liar. Fidel Castro is a coward. Fidel Castro is a monster.

But, here’s the rub—the joy I felt in my heart when the President said that the US and Cuba were working towards establishing diplomatic relations after more than 55 years of geopolitical paralysis was—and remains—real inside of me. So very real. I do believe that the time has come for the Cuban people to get to know us. This wasn’t a conclusion I reached easily or without considerable painful introspection. How Castro impacted my family— and so many thousands of other families unwillingly

Can you imagine never setting foot in the country you’re from? driven from their homes in search of opportunities formerly available to all Cubans—is tangible and heartbreaking every single day in most Cubans’ lives.

When I lived in Los Angeles, many of my successful Persian friends told me how completely they related to my family’s experience as they, too, fled their beloved Iran when the religious extremist Ayatollah Khomeini seized power. Useful tip: If you haven’t lived through something like this—displacing of your entire family to a foreign land—take extra care before declaring your opinions to those of us who have.

Over the years, and as an editor in chief of numerous magazines, I’ve been given several opportunities to visit Cuba in an official “cultural exchange” capacity. Out of respect for my parents, aunts/uncles and friends’ relatives and the gargantuan hardships they’ve endured because of Castro, I always flatly said, “No.” When I was the top editor at Time Inc.’s People en Español, the largest magazine for Hispanics in the US, I, again, was offered a weeklong trip to the mysterious nation I longed to see. Though I was extremely tempted to accept, I sadly declined once again.

I would always joke that I’d surely cause “an international incident” if Castro came within earshot of me.

The other issue, as the editor of an important magazine and a semi-public figure in the Hispanic community working at the country’s largest magazine company that was then owned by the nation’s largest entertainment conglomerate (Time Warner), if I actually had gone to Cuba the reaction by many (mostly) older Cubans in Miami would’ve been explosive and toxic, with threats of boycotts for Time Warner and even the real possibility of violence for “promoting Castro’s propaganda” by me visiting Cuba. This was potentially a highly charged situation and I wasn’t interested in lighting the fuse.

When I told my mother, Addy, a former university professor and longtime pharmacist, about the offer to visit Cuba and how I, once again, turned it down in part respecting her wishes, she sat straight up in her chair and said a most unexpected thing: “My wishes? Oh no, sweetie! You must go to Cuba and soon—before the Holiday Inn gets there! You have to experience Havana when it’s bathed in its beautiful pink light right before

the fading sun washes over the city. You have to go and breathe the air from the Cuba I remember, the Cuba you were taught to love.” I sat there speechless—and sad.

Can you imagine never setting foot in the country you’re from? What if Bruce Springsteen sang so passionately about New Jersey only as an idea in his head and heart as my dear friend Gloria Estefan has had to do about Cuba for so many decades? This issue is a tough one for all Cubans, but I have concluded what I believe is best for the Cuban people and for everyone in the US is more openness, not less; more dialogue, not less; more contact, not less.

Cubans—both there and here—are an ambitious, gregarious, happy people. We love to tell fantastical stories with exaggerated embellishments that enthrall and mystify our friends and foes alike. We love, laugh and play hard, but also take pride in our unrivaled ambition and work ethic. It’s about time to bridge the genuinely tragic 90-mile divide that exists between all Cubans. Imagine how powerful, how epic the coming together of one culture in two lands would be.

I’m not a Pollyanna, and I’m quite aware of the strength and certain logic in the opposing viewpoint, particularly for older Cubans. But here’s my question to them: How much longer are you willing to wait the Castros out? This nonsensical policy has been the law of the land longer than I’ve been alive. It’s time to stop. And it’s time to come together. Not for Castro—to hell with him and his brother—but for my amazing homeland I have never seen but wept for the entirety of my life, and for the country in which I was born, a place I’m so proud to hail from.

So, here’s my hope today: The time has come to tell a new fantastical story, one that begins in a magical place called Havana bathed in a mystical pink light. Make no mistake, I will breathe that Cuban air and I will proudly return to my home in America to regale my friends with the stories I experienced. How could I not?

The Cuba of my dreams will soon become my reality.

Only then will I be free. Cuba libre—how sweet, indeed.

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NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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QUEEN BARBRA

According to Billboard, “Barbra Streisand is the only recording artist in history to have a number one album release in six consecutive decades. Streisand is the best-selling recording artist in history.”

CRAIG D. SIMPSON/STREISAND: IN THE CAMERA EYE (ABRAMS, 2014)

the

last

Superstar AFTER A MIND-BLOWING, HISTORIC CAREER THAT SPANS MORE THAN SIX DECADES, HOW DOES BARBRA STREISAND STILL END UP ON TOP?

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

O

h, dear—I’m not wearing the right shoes for this!” were the first words Barbra Streisand ever said to me.

And I fell in love, as I knew I would.

Exactly ten years ago I was one of two “civilians” invited to One&Only Palmilla, the luxury resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, to help surprise John Travolta for his 50th birthday with a weekend-long celebration with megawatt co-hosts Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise and Barbra Streisand leading the celebrity-filled festivities. The resort welcomed Tony

NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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STREISAND: IN THE CAMERA EYE, (ABRAMS, 2014)

Bennett, Sean Penn, Meg Ryan, Robin Williams, Sylvester Stallone (whom I overheard ask a bartender “How do you say ‘tequila’ in Spanish?”), Kirstie Alley, Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole, Gayle King (the best airplane companion and dance partner), Carly Simon, Cal Ripken, Jr., Buzz Aldrin, Laura Dern, Forest Whitaker and on and on and on—an impossibly dense galaxy of superstars—and me. It was quite the weekend.

At the culmination of the remarkable activities was an all-star concert (Tony Bennett, José Feliciano, Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole, Patti Austin), but the highlight of the weekend was a heartfelt “happy birthday” serenade from Streisand, who did the honors from her seat at the head table. I remember looking around and seeing the overwhelming joy on all of those famous faces as Barbra sang sweetly. Her voice was perfection (yes, like buttah) and Travolta’s overtly emotional and tearful reaction gave everyone else license to get a bit verklempt as well. It was a very Hollywood moment—perhaps THE Hollywood moment—and it was epically unforgettable.

As the concert wrapped, dance music blasted and no one seemed ready for this night to end, including Oprah, Cruise and the birthday boy. As Streisand and her dapper husband, actor James Brolin, stood up, they were encouraged to join in and so they did. As Streisand turned around, I was right in front of her dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” and

SHE’S STILL HERE

It will take more than a pretty voice and marketing savvy to become Barbra Streisand’s successor. A lot more.

friends Natalie Cole, James Ingram, Quincy Jones, Kenny “Babyface” Edmunds, Donna Summer and her husband, Bruce Sudano to an impromptu stand around the piano sing-along. Q and Babyface sat side-by-side at the piano

“Calling Barbra Streisand ‘superstar’ falls way short. Sh we have ever seen—ever,” Donna Summer said for a glorious 90 seconds or so, the most famous, the most talented, the most intoxicating human being any of us in that room full of stars had ever seen was dancing with me, a Cuban kid from the suburbs of Miami. Oh, yeah, it was a very good weekend, indeed.

A few months later, I found myself in the presence of another vocally gifted icon, my all-time favorite singer, Donna Summer, at a very intimate, late-night gathering in the stunning home of Denise Rich on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Rich, who’s an accomplished songwriter, invited

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as the stars took turns singing different Beatles classics.

We had a good time that night.

Later that evening I had the chance to curl up on the sofa and speak with Summer for hours to culminate yet another head exploding highlight of my life. She told me all about working with Streisand when they recorded their chart-topping, diva anthem, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).” Summer smiled ear-to-ear recalling the details of the recording session. Summer told me that it was Streisand’s son, Jason, who made his mom say yes to do

the song because Summer was his favorite singer, a sentiment I certainly relate to. But, then, Donna Summer said this: “Richard, I don’t think anyone will ever quite understand the overwhelming talent, the breath control, the power, the genius that makes Barbra, Barbra. People can call her a legend or a superstar and all of that, but it somehow falls way short. What Barbra Streisand represents is simply the very best we have ever seen. Ever.”

With another huge smile, Summer then tells me how she fell off a stool in the recording studio as the new friends tried to keep up with each other, note for note, on the vocally-challenging song. When Summer stumbled to the ground laughing, Streisand smiled at her as if to say, “At least I didn’t fall!” Summer said she loved every second of it. I believed her.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Barbra Streisand lately as—incredibly—the legend is once again in the thick of today’s conversation of current pop culture (more on that in a moment). Here’s where I’ll happily go out on a limb: Barbra Streisand is the world’s last superstar still with us who’s not only a great singer, talented actress, ground-breaking director, passionate activist, generous philanthropist, but

e’s simply the very best of the legend.

PLATINUM STANDARD

From People to Partners, Streisand has had a staggering 33 albums reach the Top 10 on Billboard’s Album Chart, the only female artist to ever achieve that milestone.

NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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who’s also aware, curious, awake right now in this decade and who’s not merely resting on her jaw-dropping successes she’s achieved. In short, Barbra Streisand still matters.

For the uniniated, Streisand is the only artist in history to receive an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (the coveted EGOT), but also a Directors Guild Of America, Golden Globe, National Medal Of Arts, Peabody, France’s Légion d’honneur, the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honors designation. Oh, but there’s more. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Funny Girl and for Best Original Song for “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born. She was also nominated for Best Actress for The Way We Were and as a director, Streisand’s three films have received 14 Oscar nominations. The Brooklyn native has also won ten Grammy Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legends Award.

Partners, her most recent album that was released in 2014, is Streisand’s 33rd album to make it into the Top 10 on Billboard’s US charts. She’s the only female artist to achieve that milestone (tying with Frank Sinatra and trailing only the Rolling Stones).

But Partners did a lot more than that.

Here’s how Billboard heralded the

historic news: “It’s official, Barbra Streisand’s Partners has entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one, making her the only recording artist in history to have a number one release in six consecutive decades. Streisand is the best-selling female recording artist in history.

She is the only woman to make the All-Time Top 10 Best Selling Artists list. She also now has the longest span of number one albums in history: 50 years. She first landed at the top of the chart in 1964 with People.”

But what makes Streisand the last superstar is that she has outlived the other two supernovas of her generation—Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor.

Only Sinatra, Taylor and Streisand have captivated the world so completely in unprecedented fashion.

We cared about all of the intimate details of Sinatra’s, Taylor’s and Streisand’s lives—and all three had the talent to back up the fascination. They had legit chops. And the world couldn’t get enough.

Though Tony Bennett is currently enjoying a late in life career boost from his impressive collaboration with the incredibly talented Lady Gaga, and Bennett is undeniably a master of musical interpretation, he’s never been a true vocal powerhouse, certainly not in the Streisand conversation. Other stars that get

HOLLYWOOD, WITH A SCHMEAR

Unforgettable scenes from four of Streisand’s iconic movie performances: Funny Girl, Hello, Dolly!, The Prince Of Tides and (top) The Owl And The Pussycat.

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ALL PHOTOS FROM: FROM STREISAND: IN THE CAMERA EYE, ABRAMS, 2014; (from top) COLUMBIA PICTURES: THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT, PRINCE OF TIDES. TWENTIETH-CENTURY FOX: HELLO DOLLY. COLUMBIA PICTURES: FUNNY GIRL. (opposite page) DAVID DREW ZINGG/LOOK MAGAZINE; FROM STREISAND: IN THE CAMERA EYE, ABRAMS, 2014

Streisand never changed her appearance. She wanted t

o be sexy, sure, but on her terms—the ultimate feminist.

some votes for legitimate heir apparent status to eventually (maybe) assume Streisand’s mantle—Madonna, Beyoncé, Jennifer López—all incredible divas to be sure, but all have a long way to go before they receive the universal praise for so many aspects of a full creative life. The singing, yes; but the acting, the directing, the activism, the humanity: It takes more than a pretty voice and marketing savvy to become Barbra Streisand’s successor. A lot more.

When I first started to really pay attention to Streisand when I was a kid it was during her curly-haired, rock ‘n’ roll phase of “Stoney End” and A Star Is Born. But it wasn’t until I discovered the treasure trove that the 1960s Streisand held—particularly Funny Girl with the three incredible anthems “People,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade” and “My Man”—that I knew I was to become a Streisand devotee for the entirety of my life.

Interestingly, I’ve always noticed a recurring theme in her many movies that at first bothered me, but I’ve come to look forward to as if I was the only one who ever made the connection. I felt it was a sort of Streisand’s and my

personal link via celluloid. In role after role (and I believe I’ve seen all of her films), Streisand’s characters have to be pursued romantically, reminded how beautiful they are, how much they’re desired sexually. Though these attributes could be true of any leading lady in the history of Hollywood, there’s something a bit more pronounced, edgier, less nuanced about the beauty-affirming declarations Streisand’s characters require. Here’s what I think: Since her mother never nurtured or coddled the young Streisand or even told her she was “pretty,” (something every mother should be required by law to tell all of their children), Streisand sought aesthetic affirmation elsewhere. I would, too.

But here’s the thing I find truly fascinating: Even in her pursuit to be the object of desire, Streisand never changed her appearance (her nose belongs in the Smithsonian, it’s such a national treasure) displaying THE WAY SHE WAS James Spada’s gorgeous a strength of character and tome, Streisand: In The intestinal fortitude that would Camera Eye (ABRAMS, 2014), is a must for serve her well as she battled any true devotee. the naysayers and bullies in her passionate pursuits. She wanted to be sexy, sure, but on her terms—the ultimate feminist. She was courageous in her convictions, but human, with understandable insecurities after all. I loved her even more for it.

So what is the essence of Barbra Streisand? What makes her Barbra Streisand? She just wants it more than anyone else. As she told The New York Times, “People kept asking me, ‘How can you hold a note so long?’ I never thought about it. I held it because I wanted to.”

Boom! That’s confidence, people. That’s real talent.

That’s why there will never be another Barbra Streisand.

And that’s why, ladies and gentlemen, Barbra Streisand’s the very last superstar. Like buttah.

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NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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Made In The

USA

NiC Ranks The Greatest Former Athletes 50 + DEBATING WHO’S THE GREATEST AT ANY SPORT IS A TRADITION AS OLD AS TIME ITSELF. WILLIE MAYS OR MICKEY MANTLE? MICHAEL JORDAN OR LEBRON JAMES? CHRIS EVERT OR MARTINA NAVRATILOVA? MUHAMMAD ALI OR JOE FRAZIER? WELL, WE’RE HERE TO CLEAR UP SOME OF THE CONFUSION. WHAT FOLLOWS IS NIC’S RANKING OF THE 20 GREATEST AMERICAN ATHLETES WHO ARE NOW 50+.

LET’S GET THIS DEBATE STARTED, SHALL WE?

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

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NiC JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015

1

MUHAMMAD ALI

Sport Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Century” is nothing less than the most iconic American athlete of all time. Ali’s sheer will to win in the ring was only matched by his neverbefore-seen magnetism that television cameras couldn’t get enough of. The very best.

NiC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

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23 (tie)

CHRIS EVERT MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

The sheer epicness of the greatest rivalry in sports history is even more mindblowing because of the number of times they played each other (80). They reached heights they would have never achieved if their rival didn’t push them to the brink.

MICHAEL JORDAN

In the pantheon that is team sports—who, exactly, didn’t want to be like Mike? Perhaps the world’s first planet-wide megastar, MJ simply played the game a lot better than it had ever been played before.

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45

JACK NICKLAUS

Not only is Tiger Woods (and everyone else) chasing The Golden Bear’s golf records (18 majors), Nicklaus has HEATHER LOCKLEAR also managed to maintain (left) Bucking conventional a gentlemanly elegance wisdom in a short Michael suited for the sport Kors sparkling perfectly stunner, the he dominated for decades. eternally youthful actress made a winning sartorial PETE ROSE statement at the 2002 Golden GlobesThe red greatest carpet. athlete/biggest bonehead combo platter this country has ever seen, KIM CATTRALL Roseexactly may have done a lot Pretty in pink isn’t stupid/illegal things, but consistent withofher Sex And he also happens to be the The City character Samantha Jones, but the purest blondebaseball player that sport hasspin ever seen. We bombshell made heads miss Awards. you, Charlie Hustle. at the 2004 Emmy

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DOROTHY HAMILL

It’s easy to dismiss Hamill’s accomplishment—a single gold medal ice skating performance in the 1976 Innsbruck (Austria) Winter Olympics—but her personality, her determination and, yes, her hairstyle became national treasures overnight. She’s been the sport’s goodwill ambassador ever since.

HENRY AARON

In our estimation, the greatest home run hitter in the history of baseball, Aaron had to silently endure racist, dangerous threats from an ignorant public as he chased down Babe Ruth’s historic all-time lead in round-trippers. Hank Aaron is class personified.

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8

(tie)

EARVIN ‘MAGIC’ JOHNSON LARRY BIRD Peanut butter and jelly.

Batman and Robin. Tom and Jerry. Magic and Bird are as inseparable in discussing greatest athletes of all time for largely the same reasons as Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are also together. Bird made Magic zig while Magic made Bird zag. Either way, it was something special to see.

NiC FEBRUARY-MARCH 2015

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DAN MARINO

How could an NFL quarterback who never managed to win the Super Bowl be so high on this particular list? Have you not seen Dan Marino throw a football? The accuracy. The speed of release. The pocket presence. Marino taught a master class every Sunday in Miami for decades.

GREG LOUGANIS

Let’s forget all of the other (and massive) non-diving extracurricular factors that Greg Louganis had to contend with silently, just what he managed to do in the Olympics make him this country’s greatest Speedoclad athlete by a country mile.

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MARIO ANDRETTI

Whenever I took a corner too fast in my Jaguar convertible, my passenger would invariably shriek and scream, “Who do you think you are, Mario Andretti?!” I wish. Andretti didn’t become the gold standard easily, but become the gold standard he did.

NANCY LÓPEZ

It’s easy to forget how dominant—we’re talking Tiger Woods in his prime dominant—López was for season after season on the LPGA tour. Affable and kind, she was also beloved by her competitors, perhaps her greatest achievement in her celebrated career.

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CHRIS CHELIOS

Who? For the casual sports fan, Chris Chelios may not be a familiar name, but for those of us who live and breathe team sports, Chelios is a stud on hockey skates.

No one was tougher. No one (almost) played longer. No one wanted to get in Chelios’ face. “The Terminator” on ice.

ERIC HEIDEN

Though this could get awkward quick, no one who witnessed his dominant performance in speed skating in the Winter Olympics will ever forget Eric Heiden’s massive thighs bulging in yellow Spandex. This guy was a stud and America loved every moment of his reign.

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JOHN MCENROE

It’s easy to forget how damn great McEnroe in his prime was because of all of his “YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!” bluster. No one played tennis quite like Johnny Mac and it drove his chief rivals Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl nuts. It probably still does.

‘SUGAR’ RAY LEOANRD

After Muhammad Ali set the bar so high for excellence in the ring and colorful pomposity outside the ring, it was a welcome surprise to discover the sweetness, the affability of such a menacing boxer in Sugar Ray Leonard. He’d knock his opponent on his ass, but help him up just as easily.

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ARNOLD PALMER

How popular is this living legend of the gentleman’s sport of golf? They even named the iced tea/ lemonade drink after him.

Ask any real old timer who follows golf and he (or she) will wax poetic on Arnold Palmer’s true greatness.

DIANA NYAD

How’s this for awesome? At 64, Nyad became the only person (male or female) to ever swim from Havana to Key West without the aid of a shark cage, 110 miles in all. At 64. Any questions?

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JIMMY CONNORS

Connors’ career was pretty epic and hall of fame-worthy before his fabled run to the semifinals of the US Open in 1991 when he was nearly 40 years old. Those two weeks were something out of a fairy tale, every match more impossible than the one prior.

It was, arguably, the greatest string of matches ever seen by an American athlete.

CARL LEWIS

How is it possible to win nine Olympic gold medals and be indisputably the greatest track & field American athlete of all time and, somehow, be so unheralded and underrated?

We want to fix that by his inclusion here. Carl Lewis was the bomb.

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5 REVERSE MORTGAGE THE

BEST

REASONS TO GET A

RIGHT NOW

WHY ARE YOU STILL SO HESITANT TO PULL THE TRIGGER ON A REVERSE MORTGAGE THAT WILL BENEFIT YOU IN UNDENIABLE WAYS?

I

BY BUCK WARGO

love lists—doesn’t everybody? Well, here are the five best reasons to get a reverse mortgage right now.

And, yes, we’re all worried about our retirement. Some of us have taken steps for years to prepare ourselves by setting aside money in our 401(k) and other investments. Some of us are still behind where we want to be and are anxious about what it means for our security and lifestyle once we quit working. Many will keep working to make up for their lack of retirement savings and opt to wait and take their Social Security benefits and let them grow. But many of us have an ace in the hole to turn to help fill in the gaps of our retirement and help us envision the dreams that we have once we stop working: A reverse mortgage.

With a reverse mortgage, homeowners 62 and older

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receive a loan backed by the equity in their homes. The lender isn’t repaid until the person is no longer living in the home or dies. Homeowners can get a lump sum in the beginning and draw out more later. They can also have a line of credit from which to draw as needed.

The reason to pursue a reverse mortgage is for the home’s equity since there’s no longer any more assetbased lending ever since the mortgage crash and change in rules. Home equity loans are a product of the past.

Today, they’re income-based loans and as our income goes down, it becomes tougher to qualify for loans. You don’t have the ability to access all that equity you have saved over the years, which was the whole point of buying the house—that ability to access the equity in an emergency in your retirement. Those days are essentially over.

Before turning 62, there’s no longer the easy ability to

CRITICAL CARE

Reverse mortgages are becoming more critical in retirement planning because it allows you to maintain your home and lifestyle, and make money from it.

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The reason to pursue a reverse mortgage is for the hom draw from the equity in your house other than selling it.

That’s why reverse mortgages are becoming more critical in retirement planning because it allows you to maintain your home and lifestyle, and make money from it.

There are plenty of reasons to secure a reverse mortgage. People can use them to buy a second home.

Some may choose to retire early. Others may want to start a business. They give some people a chance to travel or do their bucket lists before they get too old. For many others, it’s the money in the bank/peace of mind option that’s attractive to them.

Below are the five definitive reasons to get a reverse mortgage right now.

SECOND HOME Many are taking the equity from a reverse mortgage to buy a second home, either one they vacation in or rent out and bring in $2,000 to $3,000 a month that they add to their retirement income.

In one example, a couple with no retirement savings and no income stream selling their home for about $600,000, took half that amount and invested it and other half to buy a four plex. They would use a reverse mortgage to pay for the remainder of the four plex. They had funds to fix up one of the units for themselves as part of a strategy to downsize. Their other three units were rented out to generate income that would supplement their Social Security benefits. That’s an example of a couple completely changing their life by using a reverse mortgage.

It doesn’t have to be used for downsizing.

It could be that home next to the golf course or that condo in Hawaii that can be also used for rental income. If you live in New York City, doesn’t the sound of a place in Florida to escape the harsh winter sound appealing?

When you can use cash from the proceeds of the reverse mortgage to pay for the second home, you don’t have to worry about mortgage payments any longer and if you want, you can draw income from it when you’re not in Florida. That property will even appreciate and give you more to benefit from in the future.

It doesn’t even have to be a second home or a condo.

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Some may choose to spend it on a boat or whatever else their retirement dream is. Simply, a reverse mortgage is a vehicle to help you realize your dreams if you haven’t properly planned for it.

RETIRE EARLY When we turn 62 and have a several thousand dollar a month mortgage payment, we can opt for a reverse mortgage and take that mortgage payment we’ve been making and put into a retirement account and take proceeds from the reverse mortgage to pay the bills. That allows the 401(k) and other investments to keep growing for several years. You’re better off leveraging the equity in your home and keeping the retirement savings in place because that’s earning more money.

Many older Americans have $100,000 and $125,000 in retirement income and that’s not enough to live in once they stop working. Eliminating your mortgage payment at 62—even if you owed another 10 to 15 years on your home—is going to jumpstart any additional retirement savings. If you work until you’re 70 (as many people are choosing to do these days), that results in the best of both worlds. You get to keep your house, eliminate your mortgage payment and take that money to build your retirement savings that can last 10 to 20 years after you stop working. If you have plenty in savings, you can stop working 10 years earlier because you planned.

You’re a step ahead of others who lost money because of the stock market crash and didn’t plan for retirement.

NEW CAREER Anybody that’s tried to obtain a regular business loan from a bank knows how difficult it has been to get one since the Great Recession. The same is true for many opting for Small Business Administration loans—even for people who have a business with cash flow.

It’s hard to start a business unless you have a lot of capital in the bank. If someone opts for a reverse mortgage and takes out $150,000 to $200,000 in equity, they can parlay that into buying or starting their own business.

e’s equity—home equity loans are a product of the past.

Not everyone has the aptitude to start a business, but if you do, it’s a smart way to take that small amount of money and turn into a long-term income stream and asset that eventually you can sell. That $150,000 over ten years can be turned into more than $1 million in income for the savvy business owner.

By using the reverse mortgage as a business loan to yourself, you don’t have to pay that loan back, so your cost of capital is lower than the competition down the street.

Potentially, you can be cheaper than your competition.

Again, it’s not an option for everybody because a lot of people go out of business.

But for those who want to proceed, they know the biggest challenge is coming up with that initial capital. In the beginning, the need for cash is greater than the cash flow. When most business are started out of pocket, that’s a huge advantage.

TRAVEL Travel of any kind isn’t an option for people who haven’t planned for retirement. Taking care of daily expenses and needs is what’s most important. But for some older Americans who have enough money stashed away for their retirement needs, they may choose a reverse mortgage to travel to places they’ve never been or address other wants on their bucket list.

Many people when they’re too old to travel or otherwise hampered by poor health, often look fondly about the trips they took with their grandchildren, spouses and friends.

Those are some of the greatest memories of their lives.

Whether it’s a trip around the world or a jaunt to some European or Asian capitals, many people want to go but don’t want to touch their investment income for that purpose because it’s expensive to do so. The equity in your home isn’t earning a return and it’s a perfect place to tap for beautiful memories.

PEACE OF MIND Peace of mind is one universal pursuit most of us strive to achieve every day. The ability to not have to worry and

have contingencies in place. The reverse mortgage is such a realistic vehicle for a lot of people.

It’s a line of credit that grows over time and is always available to you when you need it. You may not need it, but it’s there if something happens.

Let’s say we get Alzheimer’s or have a stroke and need assisted living. That’s the worst time in your life to worry about how you’re able to pay for it. You have so much going on, and everybody is stressed. You don’t want to make financial decision in a crisis.

T

he reverse mortgage is a line of credit you can leverage when other unexpected financial hardships occur. It may only be a car engine blowing up or is damaged in some way and you need a new car.

It’s very inexpensive money from which to draw because there’s no monthly payment being paid and none lost to the stock market by not keeping it invested. No one wants to sell assets at a low point when you bought it high.

The peace of mind could simply be downsizing or paying for many years in an assisted living facility. Many people aren’t prepared for elderly care.

Leverage is why we bought the house, especially if some of us didn’t plan for retirement, as we should have done. If you’re not leveraging it, that equity has no value.

Not everyone understands what a reverse mortgage actually is and there is a lot of misinformation out there, even in otherwise reputable and reliable media sources.

Some think the name means you have to give your house back. You don’t. Maybe the Australian term of an opposite mortgage explains it better.

It’s your house in which you can enjoy the appreciation it has built over the years. It’s only a mortgage that has the most flexible repayment terms there are. You can keep on making your mortgage payments for now, but you know if you lose your job, you have a major health emergency or you have to stop making payments on your home, you aren’t in danger of going into foreclosure.

Click here for more NiC stories:

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THE

Story

Teller FROM HIS DECADES-LONG PERCH AT VANITY FAIR AND TO HIS CURRENT ROLE AS EDITOR OF FOURTWONINE, KEVIN SESSUMS IS A CELEBRITY CHRONICLER LIKE NO OTHER. TRUST US.

K

BY RICHARD PÉREZ-FERIA

evin Sessums may just be the absolute best person on the planet to take as a companion to an event—any event—be it a fancy Broadway premiere, your sister’s wedding or a seedy afterhours bar. Of this, I’m quite sure. And since I’ve been close friends with Sessums for nearly three decades starting in the me-me-me ’80s that was New York City, the fact that he also happens to be the single best magazine celebrity interviewer this country has ever seen is a fascinating curiosity for me, someone who also happens to swim in that particular pond.

I first met Sessums through a mutual friend (a coworker of mine at Esquire) when I had just graduated from college and Sessums was the executive editor at Interview, Andy Warhol’s oversized magazine and the unofficial bible of all that was cool in pop culture. We hit it off immediately.

We’re both keen social observers (though Sessums is an outand-out introvert compared to my more gregarious approach), we’re both exceedingly clever with words and puns and, most

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OUT OF THE FOG

Being editor takes “responsibility,” Sessums says, here in San Francisco.

TOP GUNS “The Vanity Fair Oscar parties seemed like a prom filled with all the high school kids who maybe didn’t have a good time at their own proms and were making up for it now as adults,” Sessums says of the magazine’s legendary annual celebrity gathering.

Here, Sessums is flanked by (from left) Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jim Carrey, Lauren Holly, Tom Cruise and Cruise’s producing partner, Paula Wagner.

DAFFYD JONES/VANITY FAIR

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importantly, we share a biting, merciless sense of humor.

No one is spared in our sphere, least of all each other.

I was instantly drawn to the Mississippi native’s (everso-slight) Southern lilt his voice revealed but, mostly, I marveled at how self-deprecating someone in his position appeared to be. Media has always reigned in Manhattan and being the top editor at Interview, then later the undisputed king and principal celebrity cover story writer for Tina Brown’s revitalized fame temple, Vanity Fair, made Sessums unstoppable for a very, very long time. He was breathing rarefied Hollywood air. And deservedly so.

To read any of Sessums’ hundreds of celebrity profiles he’s done over the many years I’ve been reading celebrity profiles (his work has appeared in Allure, Playboy, Elle, elevate, Marie Claire and many more), reveals something curious: Sessums is just as important a player in his stories as the famous subject he’s writing about. It’s a ballsy, precocious approach to be sure, but the fact that I buy

a magazine expecting to read a long cover story on, say, Julia Roberts, and instead I’m treated to Sessums’ own impressions of how Julia Roberts treated him, is not only unusual, but unprecedented. The reader ends up—impossibly—caring for Sessums (and his opinions) in disproportionate ways. How Roberts or Tom Cruise or Bette Midler or Madonna or Matthew McConaughey or Barbra Streisand or Johnny Depp or any other star treats Sessums is all there for the world to see in his brilliant, conversational, potty-mouth prose. I couldn’t get enough. And I wasn’t alone in that sentiment.

As St. Martin’s Press readies to release Sessums’ expertly written second memoir, I Left It On The Mountain his first was the best-selling and achingly beautiful childhood tome, Mississippi Sissy—it strikes me as odd that the entire country doesn’t know my friend’s name. It may be too easy to compare Sessums with other literary superstars who happened to be Southern gay men who also happened to chronicle and be surrounded by the most famous people of their day (Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams), but it’s also true. Sessums is a sort of Truman Capote/Tennessee Williams hybrid, a dishy cocktail by anyone’s standards.

But in this blink and you’re old news social media bullet train we’re all on, reading a Kevin Sessums story remains the closest I feel to experiencing my buddy curled up on my sofa whispering fantastical bon mots from his latest celebrity encounter.

Kevin Sessums is a storyteller. The best I’ve ever known.

Sessums and I also share the fact that we’ve both

Sessums is a Truman Capote a dishy cocktail by

FAME GAME

Boldfaced names and buddies James Franco, Jared and Shannon Leto and Courtney Love give Sessums some sugar.

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magazine editors in chief, two related, but vastly different roles (think of it as the architect and the landscaper of a house; same house, different jobs). Currently, Sessums is the EIC at FourTwoNine magazine in San Francisco, a stunning, pop-meets-culture-meets-words publication that has Sessums’ unmistakable touch on every perfectly executed page. Editing Sessums’ writing—something I’ve had the privilege to do fairly regularly for decades—is both thrilling and fraught with danger. A tightrope I must admit

I enjoy more than I should.

I was founding editor in chief of POZ, a groundbreaking magazine about living with HIV that just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and Sessums was tasked with interviewing Ty Goldwater (Ross), the Republican firebrand’s grandson, as Ty revealed for the first time in POZ not only that he was gay, but living with HIV. It was a huge exclusive for a new publication out of the gate and Sessums’ own

/Tennessee Williams hybrid, anyone’s standards. notoriety would give the story additional gravitas to help propel the fledgling magazine (the accomplished celebrity photographer, Greg Gorman, also agreed to shoot the strking, graphic cover).

When Sessums turned in his first draft of the piece, I read it through and felt nothing—absolutely nothing.

It was a competent, by-the-book magazine profile and I was more than confused. Where was the Kevin Sessums I expected? Where was the humor, the ego, the

BONFIRE OF THE VANITY

Some of Sessums’ numerous Vanity Fair cover stories include Matthew McConaughey, Heath Ledger, Cher, Emma Thompson, Renee Zellweger, Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron and Madonna.

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“A great interview is like a love affair and a marriage all to write the story and that’s where th circular prose landing in that sweet spot I expected—no, demanded—from every profile that man writes? So I called him out and he admitted to committing something that is as grave an offense between subject and interviewer as there is in the magazine business: Sessums and Goldwater had sex. Damn.

If I had been the editor in chief at, say, Vanity Fair, I would have absolutely killed the story on the spot—no question about it. If the writer sleeps with the subject, the story is killed. Magazines 101. But since I was the editor at POZ, a magazine specifically targeting people living with HIV, and navigating head-on the powerful realities of sex, suffering, mortality, fear, I implored Sessums to re-write the story revealing everything. I asked him to “leave it all on the page.” The story Kevin Sessums wrote remains one of my proudest achievements in my career and all I did was

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

Sessums’ second memoir, I Left It On The Mountain, is a scorching and fascinating tale of celebrity disclosures and confronting personal demons. It’s a must read. The acclaimed Mississippi Sissy is the author’s first memoir.

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just let it happen. His tale was nervy, silly, heartbreaking, joyous, sexy and, ultimately, it was the scorching truth. I challenge you to read a better, more revelatory magazine story this or any other year.

POZ was a media sensation from the premiere issue due to no small part to Sessums’ emotionally honest cover story and it got me thinking how different the magazine landscape—particularly when discussing the celebrity feature—has become. Long gone is the era of spending days (or even many hours) with a famous person to get the real story. Today, if you’re able to get the celebrity at all, it’s usually within earshot of a publicist who cuts you off at the mere hint of an interesting question.

But through all of the changes Sessums has experienced in his celebrated career and truly remarkable life—his latest book I Left It On The Mountain—is an absolute mustread—I still think of that first meeting oh so many years ago when I met my slightly older brother from another mother, this Kevin Sessums from Mississippi, and I knew then we’d be friends forever. I was right.

This is worth repeating: Kevin Sessums is the singlebest magazine celebrity interviewer this country has ever seen. Not everyone may know that fact, but now you do.

Go buy his book and let a master storyteller tell you his story, one of the greatest you’ll ever know.

Kevin, reading so many of your celebrity interviews for decades now, I suspect we have a similar approach to asking the famous questions: We just ask what we want to know. Fair?

To quote Jimmy Carter, “Life isn’t fair.” But this is as fair as it gets, I guess. God, Richard—have we already lost everybody by my quoting Jimmy Carter at the beginning of this interview? [Laughs] Let’s talk about your career. Tell me about your first

rolled into one. Then you sit down in front of the computer he divorce occurs—an amicable one.” paying journalism job? Was it really thrilling?

I feel like you’re interviewing Belle Watling now. [Laughs] Which celebrities have tried to seduce you (or at least heavily flirted with you) hoping for a positive piece?

I would hope their flirting with me had nothing to do with the story. All interviews are about seductions. The subject is seducing the writer and the writer is allowing himself or herself to be seduced—which is the ultimate seduction.

I’ve often said a great interview is like a love affair and a marriage all rolled into one. Then you sit down in front of the computer to write the story and that’s where the divorce occurs—an amicable one. You get to share custody of the story that results.

If you had to sleep with one celebrity, who would it be?

“Had” to? That’s a bit different than “want” to. If I had to? Hmmm. Chris Rock. I’d like to stick a tampon up his ass but without the hot sauce. You’d have to have seen his most recent film Top Five to understand that, I guess.

Or maybe I’d tell him it was going to be a tampon and surprise him with my Top Extra Three. [Laughs] The once proud art of conducting a celebrity interview seems to be gone forever. What was once a week-long assignment living with the celebrity is now 15 minutes with the publicist overseeing every question. Are you glad you started your career experiencing the golden age of the celebrity journalist?

I still have never had a publicist oversee an interview. I go in and ask anything I want. If a publicist has tried to shape a piece beforehand, I’ll listen to the demands and then honor them by going into the interview and telling the celebrity that I have been asked not to ask certain questions but that doesn’t preclude me from writing about the subjects to which those questions pertain. Almost

every time the person will tell me to go ahead and ask the questions. But you’re right. We once had a few days to get to know a subject that resulted in a much better piece. To go back to your earlier question—there was more time for that seduction to take place. Now I say that you’re actually lucky to get an hour between a bowel movement and a Botox injection. [Laughs] Kevin, here’s a question for you. Who’s the best celebrity interviewer working right now?

I’m still working! [Laughs] I think I’m pretty good. I’m humble about a lot of things in my life. Indeed, I’ve been humbled by life as this next book of mine, I Left It On The Mountain, attests. You can’t get any more humble than not being able to take care of your dogs and having to foster them and being homeless and only eating one meal a day because that’s all you can afford because you’ve been stupid enough to become addicted to sticking needles filled with meth in your arm. But I long ago stopped having false modesty about the work I do when I interview people. I’m good at it. Others? I like Alex Witchel a lot when she works in the genre. Jonathan Van Meter. I just read a great story on Laura Hillenbrand in The New York Times Magazine by Wil S. Hylton but he’s more a journalist with varied interest than just writing profiles. In fact, coming back to being humbled as opposed to false modesty. I don’t really consider myself a journalist. I’m a writer who understands narrative and who has a facility for interviewing people because I’m not intimidated by fame whatsoever. But a journalist? I just don’t think of myself as one. I hold that to a higher standard. I hold journalists in higher regard than the job I do. As I’ve told you in the past, Richard, I ultimately consider myself a truck driver. I have a very blue-collar attitude about my day job. I haul glamorous cargo, haul it to deadline, dump it out and get back behind the wheel of that truck.

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“For a long while, Vanity Fair was a family to me.

But then you have to realize your work life is not your family. Your work life is where you do your job.”

What was the absolute best question you ever asked a subject you were profiling?

I tend to block out the good moments, too.

Kevin, here’s another parallel question I know you’re so fond of [Laughs]. Vanity Fair, your home for so many years, was the best place to work because…

They paid their truck drivers well. And your phone calls were returned. And, for a long while, it was a family to me. It was where I found a sense of belonging. But then you finally have to realize your work life is not your family.

Your work life is where you do your job. We don’t live in the world of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But I do tend to miss those people and that life at times. I was just in New York and went up to the offices—it’s the last days there for [Vanity Fair parent company] Condé Nast on Times Square before it moves downtown—and it was rather bittersweet on lots of levels; but really lovely, too. And [Vanity Fair Editor in Chief] Graydon [Carter] was gracious enough to invite me to the Oscar party last year. That sure brought back lots of memories of all the other ones I used to go to when I worked there. It still seemed like a prom filled with all the high school kids who maybe didn’t have a good time at their own proms and were making up for it now as adults. I include myself in that. Hell, I never even went to my prom! [Laughs]

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Vanity Fair was the worst place to work because...

I fell out of favor for a variety of reasons. It made me sad.

And sadness is a hard place in which to live.

If you could dictate what the next 20 years of your career look like—without regard to money and logic—what would you be doing?

Writing books. And, at the end of each day, handing a few well-written pages to someone I love that would tell me the truth about them.

Tell me the difference between being a magazine editor in chief and a celebrity interviewer.

Responsibility.

Change one moment from your life.

Two. When each of my parents died within one year of each other when I was seven and eight years old. That double echo still bounces about in the canyon of my life.

What brings you peace?

Walking my dogs. Waiting for a good sentence and that precise moment it arrives. Nothing beats the arrival of a good sentence. Maybe the arrival of a good man—but I’m still waiting for that. [Laughs] Who was the one celebrity you always wanted to interview and never did?

If they’re alive, there’s always a chance I will. There’s always hope, Richard. Always. [Laughs] Click here for more NiC stories:

MATT EDGE

What was the absolute worst question you ever asked a subject you were profiling?

If I had ever asked them what was the worst thing they had ever asked someone that would have been the worst question. [Laughs] In other words, I have no idea. I tend to block out bad moments. And move on.

FAIR SENTENCE

“What brings me peace?

Waiting for a good sentence and that precise moment it arrives. Nothing beats the arrival of a good sentence.”

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Vineyard SO YOU’RE NEW TO WINE COUNTRY? IT’S NEVER BEEN MORE ACCESSIBLE—FROM SCENIC DOWNTOWN NAPA TO OFF-THE-BEATEN SECTIONS OF SONOMA, TO THE WINERIES OF LIVERMORE THAT CAN BE REACHED BY TRAIN— THE TIME TO GO IS NOW.

BY ABBY TEGNELIA

hen I lived in New York City after college, “wine country” seemed like an exotic, intimidating locale that I would never have the opportunity to explore. My impression couldn’t have been more off! Many years later, I live so close to Napa and Sonoma that I go about twice a month—and have explored wineries and tasting rooms all over California. What I love about it is that it offers something for everyone.

Whether you’re a newbie wine connoisseur or an aficionado looking for new

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LIVERMORE WINERY

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BOTTEGA

NEWTON VINEYARD ST. HELENA, CA

There’s much rivalry between those who love Napa and those places to explore, I bet this wine country extravaganza has something for you.

Let’s start with Napa; since as the most famous name of California wine country, it’s a great place to begin our adventure. There’s much rivalry between those who love Napa and those who swing Sonoma. I’m here to tell you that you can like both. And with all the talk of getting off the beaten path (we’ll get there), I thought it’d be fun to start with the classics. First-time visitors to the area should start with a leisurely drive up Highway 29. Most of the wineries along that stretch don’t require reservations, and all the big names are there: Robert Mondavi, Domaine Chandon, Cakebread and Beringer. Just drive from Napa all the way to its northernmost town of Calistoga (you’ll know you’re there when you spot the castle, Castello di Amarosa—you can’t miss it), jumping out for tastings and tours as you see fit.

After you’ve gotten the lay of the land, you’re ready for some additional don’t-miss classics. Start with Napa’s PlumpJack, known for its complex cabernet sauvignon.

The popular spot dates back to the 1800s and sits squarely in the famous Oakville Appelation (home to Opus One, Screaming Eagle and Joseph Phelps). Other famous names

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include Caymus, in Rutherford, Charles Krug in St. Helena and Chateau Montelena, which famously beat French wines in the competition made famous in the movie Bottle Shock. It’s way north in Calistoga, so save some time for the drive. (Reservations are recommended for all of these properties.) Finally, driving the Silverado Trail is a must— head for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and go from there.

One important movement in wine country is the rise in eco-friendly practices and sustainability. Benziger Family Winery (three generations of Benziger run the biz), in Sonoma, was a pioneer and still leads in organic and biodynamic farming. Its tours focus on the land, getting visitors out into the vineyards to learn about the soil and growing practices before hitting the tasting room.

Also in Sonoma: Hamel Family Wines, a new destination winery organically farmed by two generations of the Hamel family. Activities include touring the caves, private dining and taking in the spectacular views of Sonoma Valley. Other popular wineries committed to sustainability include Napa’s Cade Estate, which boasts stunning views of the valley and Clif Family Farm, which uses organically grown grapes, recycled materials and a lighter glass. It runs an awesome tasting room called Velo in St. Helena.

FRANK WENTE, WENTE VINEYARDS TK TK

ERNEST WENTE

CASTELLO DE AMAROSSA, CALISTOGA, CA

who swing Sonoma. I’m here to tell you that you can like both.

Some of Napa’s luxury properties are green as well.

Yountville’s intimate Bardessono is considered by many as the ultimate eco-friendly resort and is one of only 3 LEEDcertified platinum hotels in the country. Farther north, in rural Calistoga, Calistoga Ranch, whose general manager is nicknamed “Mother Nature,” is built into the trees and recycles all of its water.

People often ask me about drinking and driving in wine country. Livermore, in the Tri-Valley east of San Francisco, is the only wine region that is reachable by train from the city, so it’s a great day trip for those who don’t want to deal with a car—guests often have a limo waiting at the train station. Wente Vineyards is the biggest and most famous—make time for lunch at its gorgeous restaurant (and don’t skip its famous lamb pastrami). Another favorite is McGrail Vineyards—it has a stunning patio on which to savor your vino. I’ve also taken a few really cool small group tastings in a luxury van or limo with Beau Wine Tours, which offers both boutique and name brand allday options. (On a

recent boutique winery tour, I had an amazing day with a young honeymooning couple and two sassy sisters from Texas.) Napa also has an active über presence now, and I’ve always wanted to hop onboard the Wine Train, which I’ve heard is excellent for beginners—plus, there are often specials associated with the downtown hotels. Staying in downtown Napa, which has exploded in recent years, is actually strategic for many reasons.LUNA First,VINEYARDS there are loads (two dozen, give or take) of tasting room options.

Getaway Adventures bike tours offers a lovely excursion to the beautiful and inviting Luna Vineyards, one of my very favorites, just outside of town. I love to bring its Italian wines home, when I can drag myself away from the gorgeous Tuscan patio. The Embassy Suites offers roomy accommodations and are just a ten-minute walk to the closest tasting rooms. Or stay at River Terrace Inn or the spectacular Westin Verasa, where an enormous salt-water hot tub awaits to help you sweat out any over-indulgence.

In addition to the tasting rooms, it’s also a quick walk to yummy restaurants such as locals’ favorites ABC Bakery and Norman Rose Tavern, family-friendly Azzurro Pizzeria, Oenotri’s sinful Italian and Turkish hot spot Tarla Grill. No designated driver needed! And don’t get me started on

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LIVERMORE, CA IN THE TRI-VALLEY

Livermore, in the Tri-Valley east of San Francisco, is the Oxbow Market. I go every single time I’m in Napa, even if I also still dream about the grilled acorn-fed pork shoulder it’s only a day trip. Hog Island oysters, C Casa’s delicious loin, ricotta gnocchi “pillows” with old hen salsa and a Latin fare (I’m partial to its breakfast), Ca Momi’s sinfully potato ravioli filled with spinach ricotta, farm yard egg delicious pizzas and cheese plates from Oxobw Cheese & yolk and truffle sage brown butter. Trust me—go now.

Wine Merchant, all under the same roof? Who can resist?

Speaking of good eats, a few wineries offer unbelievable Speaking of food, it’s no secret that some of the best in food and wine pairings. One fun option is the Royal the country is now served in Napa and Sonoma. Yountville Tasting at Castello di Amorosa, with the high-energy especially has become the most famous foodie hot spot. The French Laundry is SILVERADO RESORT CLIFF FAMILY every bit as special as you’ve read—many people swear that a dinner at Thomas Keller’s institution is the best meal of their life. He also owns the more casual Ad Hoc (so good), Bouchon and Bouchon Bakery.

Needless to say, Chef Keller is revered in that neck of the woods. You also can’t go wrong at Jeanty (I love sitting at the bustling bar) or Redd, which has a delicious brunch. One of my favorite meals this year was at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega.

The antipasti was out of this world, and included house-cured prosciutto Tuscan PINE RIDGE LIVERMORE salumi and melt-in-your-mouth cheeses.

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LUNA VINEYARDS IN NAPA, CA

only wine region that is reachable by train from the city.

Mary Davidek. She takes you on a tour of the eccentric castle before settling in at a magnificent Tuscan table for a delicious and fun tasting of cheeses, homemade Italian fare and loads of wine. Also big is B Cellars, which this year moved from Calistoga to Oakville. The new digs include an interactive demonstration kitchen, and an incredible food and wine pairing is on offer.

A favorite indulgence of mine is staying in one of the quaint cottages that are sprinkled throughout Napa.

Silverado Resort & Spa is somewhat of an institution, and is great for couples. The well-known classic golf course just hosted the Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour; Relax afterwards at the spa, which offers both hard-core sports massage and a golf ball massage that uses the ball to work on knots. Nearby, The Cottages of Napa deliver a breakfast basket of Bouchon Bakery treats. And up in Calistoga, the Cottages of Grove Inn are so close to the town’s geyser you can see the steam when it goes off Now that you’re basking in your own little cottage, and you’ve made your way through some tasting rooms and classic wineries, let’s push the envelope. Not that any of these wouldn’t be fabulous for beginners, but they’re usually not a first-timer’s immediate choice. I recently

went to Newton Vineyard, which blew me away. It’s on a private estate whose neighbors limit tours to once a day, so it’s a real treat to go. The gardens are spectacular, like Alice In Wonderland, and we did a tasting on top of Spring Mountain. The stunning Pine Ridge Vineyards has a fabulous tasting at a glittery table in its caves, and there’s also a gorgeous patio for private tastings. The nearby Robinson Family Vineyards, is a charming small-lot, familyrun winery that allows just one tasting at a time (make a reservation). One of my favorite varietals from California is pinot noir—specifically those from Russian River Valley of Sonoma. Healdsburg, home to that valley and Dry Creek and Alexander, is centered on a 19th Century plaza that’s absolutely adorable. Head to Jordan Winery, in Alexander Valley, which is simply stunning. Focused on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, the winery’s estate boasts a spectacular chateau with unforgettable views of the vineyards and gardens. Take a tour and then relax over a wine and cheese pairing.

Who’s coming with me?

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GORGEOUS

THE TRANSFORMERS

This year technology has super-charged our pro-gorgeous regimen into something we can actually see transform before us.

IT’S WINTER: TIME TO GIVE AGING LOOKS THE DEEP FREEZE WINTER IS THE BEST TIME TO PEEL AND REVEAL AND SCIENCE HAS ALLOWED US TO SKIN-REWIND TOPICALLY, GRADUALLY AND WITHOUT DOWN TIME. IT COULDN’T BE A BETTER TIME TO BE PRO-GORGEOUS, GRACEFULLY.

BY MARCO MEDRANO

T

he anti-aging battle is never ending, so let’s get to it. New from SOTHYS is Cosmetceutique Rx,

a clinical skincare line designed to provide intensive results immediately via active hydroxyl acid complexes and potent antioxidants in each treatment bottle. This four-piece dynamo is a perfect complement to a SOTHYS in-spa Glysalac Professional Peel or as an effective at-home regimen. Glysalac Skin Preparer is

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a deep acting (but gentle) treatment cleanser with glycolic and salicylic acid, effectively clearing your canvas for the penetration of the remaining three leave-on serums: Glysalac Dermobooster increases micro-exfoliation and cell renewal for smooth, radiant

skin; Retinol Dermobooster is a skin regenerator that nurses aging or sun damaged skin back to a vibrant tone; while Ultra-C Dermobooster repairs hyper-pigmentation (age spots or scars created by breaks in the skin exposed to light). As an added exfoliator three times a week (an annual volcano blemish left a mark), I used from another SOTHYS protocol Micro Gel Peeling that is very unique in its refining action, transforming itself from crystal-gel to oil, then a milk. The Cosmetceutique Rx pack is a really great way to laser-focus a skin recovery.

Let’s take clear and smooth to the next level.

Tria Beauty’s FDA-cleared at home Laser Precision and Laser 4X Hair Removal provide permanent hair removal for most hair/skin types after several repeat sessions. “Tria Hair Removal Lasers are the only athome hair removal devices featuring diode lasers, which disables the hair follicle by targeting the melanin at the root without damaging the surrounding skin.” Offering a 90-day guarantee, it’s worth finding out if waxing, plucking and shaving may be a time consuming task you no longer have to endure.

Clarins has always been a favorite for many and provides luxury with value. So I ran out of Extra-Firming Tightening Lift Botanical Serum which can lift your belly-button to your bust if pushed up long enough! Then I was introduced to a whole new super-strength lineup and a stellar option for aging skin, Shaping Facial Lift Total V Contouring Serum which refines facial contours, defines cheekbones and visibly “lifts” the jawline— focusing on puffy, excess skin. Perfect for all of us! Clarins Shaping Facial Lit Wrap is a really terrific weekly or event-night treatment. Double Serum Complete Age Control Concentrate, although not brand new, has been refortified and is now offered as a 1.6 ounce “luxury size.”

This dual-chamber all-in-one powerhouse serum packs more than 20 pure plant extracts and potent molecules that reactivate skin’s vital functions that minimize pores,

even tone, unwrinkle and lift. I used the Vital Light Serum at night under Extra Firming Night cream from their “Rejuvenating” line. One of my all-time favorite skincare “medicines” is Anti Eau Body Treatment Oil that can be added to a bath, but best applied on a damp body. This fast absorbing, non-staining, energizing wellness oil feels amazing on my throbbing feet and legs with its Hazelnut Oil, Broom, Geranium and Marjoram extracts. Clarins really makes one being pro-gorgeous feel, yes, pampered.

How do you spell decadent effectiveness? sisleyparis. I’ve met my share of beauty fanatic diehards, so when a 30-year-old woman with flawless skin told me at a recent party she finally resolved herself to “just sucking it up” and using Sisley for across the board results, I knew I had to revisit the brand. I saw her point. Selected for its strength, resistance and durability, their Black Rose Precious Face Oil is anti-age skin nutrition, cultivated directly from the Bulgarian Black Rose and contains avocado, plus large doses of Omega 3 and 6—and more.

And why the complementary Black Rose Cream Mask is a fan favorite for “instant youth” for dense hydration and plumping. Yes, please. Rye and rare dill extracts counteract mature sagging and restoration of facial features via Global Firming Serum. As a double-duty botanical cure, watercress and lemongrass form a silky, pearlized gel for an even illumination (brightening), plus

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GORGEOUS one heck of a super lift with Radiant Immediate Lift.

And for a serious cult fave (and now mine), Ecological Compound is a terrific daily emulsion comprised of five naturally-occurring vitamins and heavy doses of plant compounds that soothe, brighten and protect from air, smoke and pollution while providing a botanically-matte finish—all in a 4.2 ounce pump! When there’s no time to think, this is “the one.”

I’ve always been impressed with Clinique for its effective simplicity. Clinique was also one of the first to tout “non-comedogenic” (non-clogging). I’ve always told eye-sensitive people that their eye gel-creams (especially for daytime contact lens wearers) are rich, yet won’t cloud or tear the eyes. Celebrating its “Happy Nude Year,” Clinique’s makeup for 2015 has beautifully modernized “nude” as no longer boring or disappearing. Clinique

has reshaped the industry nudes with low-level skin tones that emit high-impact pearlization while remaining matte. For instance: The slightly deeper nude shades of Quickliner For Lips makes the Long Last Soft Matte Lipstick pop (really nice) with its slightly suede texture—then you can match or enhance with Long Last Glosswear.

Touching Clinique’s Wear Everywhere Neutrals “All About Shadow” eye collection, which houses an eight-pan color tray in five shade groups

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made me want to paint eyes! Really subdued luxury, with enough “pop” in each. Also brand new is the hot button re-sculpting Repairwear Sculpting Night Cream. Clinique’s Repairwear technology is a winner of nearly 100 global beauty awards and this enhanced nighttime lifting formula promises neck, cheekbone and jawline contouring and sculpting with continued use via collagen recharging while you sleep. Firming I could see and feel.

This winter I’m loving Matrix’s ExquisiteOil collection of shampoos, conditioners and, most importantly, hair oils.

I have really wavy, dry-ish hair and have been applying creams and emollients most my life in order to make my hair silkier and more elastic. Aside from the media buzz, I’ve never been able to use Argan oil as a stand alone, having to apply a cream-serum over that (I got the “shine” and the “conditioning,” but never “the look” with Argan). Enter ExquisiteOil with three leave-in hair styling healers that really deliver with Tahitian Monoi and Moringa oil blends—Protective Treatment, Softening Treatment and Strengthening Treatment. The latter being a real remedy, infused with Polynesian Tamanu Oil that can be applied right before your conditioner, without rinsing, for a more luxurious and noticeable conditioning. TIP: Widetooth comb-through after applying both and don’t over-rinse. Exquisite. Oil. I’ve excitedly got a jumpstart on the above.

So believe me when I say that each new year ushers in hope. But in 2015, technology has super-charged our pro-gorgeous regimen into something we can actually see transform before us. That’s very exciting. And isn’t what feeling beautiful all about actually feeling beautiful?

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GENTLEMAN GUYS, IT’S TIME TO STEP UP YOUR GAME YES, STYLISH GENTLEMEN CAN BECOME BOYS—LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

BY MARCO MEDRANO

MAN UP

Don’t be intimidated by men’s grooming products’ packaging, marketing and pricing.

inter doesn’t have to be staid or sluggish because this is also the time to help Santa out just in case he forgot something on your extra special wish list. Well, we’re here to help. Now’s the time gentlemen can become boys, stylishly.

How’s that mug in the mirror looking? OK, even though I’m a skincare snob, I always try to vary my skincare suggestions for the manliest of gentlemen. While I’ve embraced resistance from some, others can’t get enough of results-oriented products. Here’s the thing: Don’t be intimidated by some men’s grooming and skincare products’ packaging, marketing and

pricing. It may not look like something your beer-drinking buddies would approve of, but it works. So, in the nicest way possible, I implore you to get the hell over it. You’ll thank me (as will your favorite snuggle partner).

So when I revisited Jack Black, I was excited to see how assertive their regimens had become, but also how much anti-aging science was being offered at such great value. And although Jack Black’s “Best Beard” promotion with the New York Jets has passed, their sports-centric affiliation is just another reason to get on board the grooming train. Especially as they now offer ways to rewind some visible years.

Before bedtime I dove into my Jack Black, going straight for the big guns. Face Buff with Vitamin C and Menthol proved refreshing and gently gritty, enough to lift a beard and polish skin. Next, I went for the two or three times a week treatment, DIY Power Peel MultiAcid Resurfacing Pads, which only take a minute while providing big rewards in the long run (age spots, pores, dullness and lines). Get it! Protein Booster Skin Serum with peptides and antioxidants was next. Light and rich.

Headline: Facial serum is one of the secret weapons many men are missing out on. Because I aggressed with the peel pads I decided to add another layer of comfort, MP-10 Nourishing Oil. Not only is this winner quickly absorbable and non-clogging, it has multiple uses as a

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GENTLEMAN

beard oil, pre-shave and hair groom. Acids? Scrubs? Yes, with no irritation. But decided to go all the way with Dry Erase Ultra-Calming Face Cream, which is a rich, nongreasy soother. I highly recommend their website or allowing their customer service to expand your anti-aging department. I actually woke up to a smoother, brighter me. Jack Black’s targeted options will impress you. I know that because it impressed me, the toughest of critics.

As modern as we’ve become with a deluge of computers, gadgets and tablets, luckily, Mont Blanc realizes sometimes we just like to write the old-fashioned way. Penmanship has become stale and indecipherable for many as we rely on digital typing more each day. The StarWalker Extreme Steel Screenwriter performs double duty, transforming the writing pen into a pen-like touchscreen tip that allows you to draw, sketch or write on iPads via their free app.

Let’s be honest. Video games are no longer for kids. And with digital screens getting wider than our cars and technology making the experience more 3-D and hyper real—well…wanna race? While many of the game titles are too nimble-quick for my hands, many of the racing titles are quite forgiving and much more enjoyable and less frustrating. Built for Sony PlayStation (PS2 & PS3), will not only take you back, it will thrust you forward with its solid-feeling components and reverberating technology as you downshift in sync with its weighty pedal and leather steering wheel. G27 is invigorating enough to take the couch potato out of your indoor activity. It’s quite a ride.

So, guys, it’s time we put our best face forward, smell amazing, maintain our digital penmanship and challenge a buddy to a virtual drag race. And that’s how we step up our game. Who’s ready?

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GENTLEMAN NEXT LEVEL FRAGRANCE: VETIVER

F

ragrance for men can be touchy, but Vetiver scent, historically, holds a place in our refined man arsenal and is often packaged and customized to reflect a certain state of mind and elegance. I bought my first bottle of Guerlain Vetiver as a teenager, marking it as an event in adulthood—a turning point on how life should be. Elevated. Subdued. Lush. It somehow brought me closer to a life I would imagine was meant for the more fortunate. Extravagant? Yes; but fresh and manly. So when I set out to research newer Vetiver collections, I stumbled upon Serge Lutens at Barneys New York—Serge Lutens is a true fragrance house that was considered boutique chic long before the trend. I dabbed a singular dot of their Vetiver Oriental on each wrist and I was instantly transcended with its deep, fresh and sophisticated notes.

Nothing stood out as too much, but the scent was alive. I felt very individual and invisibly opulent. I kept smelling myself—I had to have it! Their branded “exclusive bottles” form a bell jar and are works of modern art in itself. Discover them and find another you.

One of my favorite go-to fragrances is actually an oil; Le Labo’s Santal 33 perfume oil is off topic, but I must explain. As I’ve grown out of my Hollywood hippie phase of dropping patchouli on my wrists (used as a base under my favorite fragrances to be different) I was in awe of their amazingly unique

scent on its own. But it really amplifies anything you wear over it. Just. A. Drop. Their brand’s numbered and hand-made-as-you-order philosophy has a lot of couture aspects, including personalization and scents only available in certain cities. But what I really love is their Vetiver 46.

I just sprayed it to remind myself of its hippieheir decadence. (A happy place, LOL). And it comes in oil, as a splash, spray, pocket-sized solid (a dapper pocket locket) or as refillable travel bottles. Le Labo is simple and exclusive, but definitely identity-forming as a memorable scent they won’t soon forget—even if they want to. LOL FragranceNet.com is a terrific online retailer known for their huge selection and pricing, including many out-of-date items retailers expire after the seasons pass. I found many deluxe brand options I didn’t even know existed, such as Chopard’s exclusive Noble Vetiver (can’t love more).

Having a free account adds to savings and incentives—and makes gift giving that much easier.

Primarily comprised of woody freshness, Vetiver is generally lemongrass and citronella at its base, having served well as a great daytime scent. Lately, couturier brands have added their own feelings of expression to the zippy cleanliness of the fragrance with hues of patchouli, leather, tobacco, orange vert, spices and oud wood in varying amounts.

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IN SEARCH OF… WHEN THE INTERNET OUTSMARTS ITSELF LOOKING SOMETHING UP USING AN INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE SHOULDN’T BE THIS DIFFICULT—OR HUMOROUS.

BY MARIO QUIRCE

L

ike many of you, I search online for most everything. I’m also a do-it-yourselfer, because these days handymen charge nearly as much for their services as a Park Avenue plastic surgeon—a price point with which I’m well acquainted.

My mini project required drilling a hole in concrete block, which I was advised required either a “hammer” drill or an “impact” drill. They both sounded intimidating and powerful. But what was the difference? And which was best for my task? Employees at Home Depot and Lowe’s gave me conflicting advise. But I was certain the Internet would clear it all up, so I typed on the search engine: “What is the difference between . . .” but before I could finish typing “a hammer drill and an impact drill,” the search engine tried to nudge me in the right direction.

The first suggestion was “What is the difference between peanut butter and jelly”. Not only was that not what I was looking for but now I was filled with angst that there are people out there who do not know the difference between those two. I was under the impression that the difference between PB and J was covered in first semester kindergarten. If the search engine had spit back “what’s the difference between jelly and jam” or “marmalade and preserves” I’d feel a whole lot better that our public school system was doing its job.

I admit I was using a lesser-known, search engine called DuckDuckGo, rather then the ubiquitous Google, not just because I like to spread the wealth around, but also because I heard the Duck offers more privacy and doesn’t track you online. I’ve even heard Google can activate your webcam remotely. I’m not taking any chances, which is part of the reason that when compelled to search Google, I do so fully dressed, whereas with DDG,

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I feel relaxed enough to search in my underwear.

Next, I tried “Why can’t I use a regular drill on concrete”, but after I typed to type “Why can’t I . . .” the search suggested “Why can’t I breathe whenever I think about you” and “Why can’t I lose weight.” Again, not what I was looking for, but at least I felt empowered that I had more knowledge than others on the Internet, as I already had the answer to both of those questions: “Because you are a drama queen;” and “because you eat too much,” respectively. For a moment, I fantasized about starting my on Q&A site and making a billion bucks.

Properly attired, and with a sticky note over my laptop’s lens, I decided to type in the same query on Google. The suggestions I got as soon as I typed “Why can’t I . . .” included “Why can’t I grow a beard” and “Why can’t I own a Canadian.” Apparently, the search engine of search engines wasn’t doing any better than El Pato. It did give me more material for my upcoming website, where I shall answer those two queries: “Because you failed to take the correct testosterone dosage;” and “Because there are not enough Canadians to go around.” Obviously, the demands of 1.3 billion Chinese and 1.2 billion Indians would gobble up the entire supply of 35 million Canadians within minutes, and leave the rest of the world wanting. Best we leave them up there in the frozen north to produce Maple syrup and provide adults with pole-dancing entertainment in establishments from Montreal to Vancouver.

Google your own questions, and if you find any that stump you, send them to me. The database for my new project is growing as fast as Larry Page’s bank account.

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