自从三月份开业以来，尼克•琼斯(Nick Jones)创办的苏荷馆(Soho House)已经迅速成为了洛杉矶的热门去处。它现在不仅成为英国游客和英裔居民们的天堂，更是好莱坞那些拥有古铜色肌肤的社会名流们聚会的时尚之地。是的，他们在这里聚会，狂欢。
周三晚上，埃尔顿•约翰(Elton John)与音乐人里昂•拉塞尔(Leon Russell)在好莱坞Palladium剧院（那里看起来既有未来感又很怀旧）的音乐会结束后，我在苏荷馆为埃尔顿•约翰主办了一个派对。与我们一同狂欢的有《广告狂人》(Mad Men)男星乔•汉姆(Jon Hamm)、本尼西奥•德•托罗(Benicio Del Toro)、斯蒂芬•弗雷(Stephen Fry)、休•劳瑞(Hugh Laurie)、布雷特•伊斯顿•埃利斯(Bret Easton Ellis)、绿日乐队(Green Day)、莎朗•奥斯本(Sharon Osbourne)、来福士•温莱特(Rufus Wainwright)、罗伯特•德尼罗(Robert De Niro)的女儿德瑞娜(Drena)、兄弟演唱组(Bros)成员马特•高斯(Matt Goss)、《威尔与格蕾丝》(Will and Grace)主演艾瑞克•麦科马克(Eric McCormack)、凯瑟琳•詹金斯(Katherine Jenkins)、明妮•德瑞弗(Minnie Driver)、安迪•沃霍尔(Andy Warhol)的前任助手切莉•瓦尼拉(Cherry Vanilla)、以及传奇制作人T•伯恩•波奈特(T-Bone Burnett)——埃尔顿与里昂新发行的这张成绩出色的专辑The Union就是由他操刀完成的。
这已经是GQ杂志与埃尔顿及其伴侣大卫•弗尼斯(David Furnish)在洛杉矶举办的第七次聚会了。GQ最初是想借此平台向音乐和娱乐行业示好，但最终却都变成了一年一度的狂欢痛饮派对。
我喜欢这样的好莱坞派对，因为你永远不会知道究竟谁将现身。站在20层楼上俯视洛杉矶，看着城市灯光闪耀，谜一般的法国时尚设计师艾迪•斯理曼(Hedi Slimane)位于房间一角，Ant and Dec组合在房间另一角，一切都显得那么不真实。汉姆不仅仅是目前荧屏上最炙手可热的家伙，他进屋的时候更是全场的焦点。汉姆和我照了相（我知道，他走运了），闪光灯闪过后，我对他耳语道：“我们把照片发表在GQ上之时，你的头发会出现在我的头上。”
两周前，我们在纽约Cipriani 42nd Street出席了为诺曼梅勒中心作家村(Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony)举办的慈善晚宴。晚宴上，我们的团队颁发了英国版GQ的首个学生写作奖——获奖者是海伦•马登(Helen Madden)，65岁，是两个孩子的母亲。那次活动与这次活动有明显的不同。在曼哈顿，晚上10点25分活动一结束，所有人离场，登上他们的豪华轿车回家。而在洛杉矶，人们狂欢至下半夜时分，同样不仅仅是英国人如此。
美国中期选举开始时我人在加利福利亚，在这儿你就能明白为何许多人认为奥巴马将遭遇一记迎头痛击。旧金山（还有圣巴巴拉）的街道上满是推着购物车的无家可归之人，车里装着他们好不容易才从垃圾桶中捡来的肮脏破布和食物。那感觉就仿佛身处某部末世浩劫科幻电影中：流浪汉们在荒原上游荡，寻找着食物和庇护所。
根据旧金山公共卫生处统计，去年，仅26位无家可归者死在街道上。虽然相比20世纪90年代平均每年死亡100多人的情况，这已经是很大的进步，但这仍旧是一个令人震惊的数字。而旧金山居民已对此习以为常了。一天早上，我们正在餐馆内排队购买早餐，一位流浪汉推开餐馆门，礼貌地说了声“不好意思”，便拿走了某人碟子里剩下的一堆法式炸薯条。没人对此大惊小怪。加州某些地区的失业率已经攀升至17％，全州负债约200亿美元。加州从本质上有点类似法国：持续终身的最高达离职时工资90％的法定养老金，加上顽固的公会，已经使政府巨额赤字缠身。
前加州长杰里•布朗(Jerry Brown)在选举中重新夺回了州长职位，但他能否带来改变呢？对了，由于选举期间通过了有争议的L提案(Proposition L)，现在早上7点至晚上11点间坐在人行道上已属于违法行为。也就是说，只要流浪汉们在高峰时段能醒过来并动起来，市民们就知足了。
对于奥巴马在中期选举第二天的演讲，左派人士对我表示，他们认为奥巴马的道歉诚意不足；右派人士则认为，他不情不愿地承认，自己错误判断了美国人民。而我这样的中立派认为，他给人的印象是底气不足，充满悔悟和焦躁的情绪。
奥巴马通过了有关医改及华尔街监管的历史性议案，帮助汽车工业摆脱了困境，并且遵守了美军从伊拉克撤退的时间表。但是他仍然发现，几乎不可能与足够多的民众产生共鸣。由于许多经济问题是在乔治•布什(George W Bush)任期内产生的，人们实际上是在评判奥巴马改善这些问题的能力。但是他没能做好这一工作。
我开着一辆车身庞大的奔驰AMG——那种可以像在电脑游戏里一样飚车的车型，在洛杉矶周围疾驰：一路驶过汉考克公园(Hancock Park)、阿波特金尼(Abbot Kinney)，然后穿过银湖(Silverlake)，越过山坡来到位于Valley的艾斯尼(Encino)。现在，如果你住在这儿，尤其是如果你在电影公司工作的话，时尚的做法就是：离开艾斯尼这个乡下荒原，因为只有那些不够聪明而没能住到贝弗利山(Beverly Hills)、贝尔埃尔(Bel Air)、霍姆比山(Holmby Hills)或西好莱坞(West Hollywood )的人才会觉得这里相当不错。简直是胡说八道！我有朋友住在艾斯尼，他们的花园有威尔士的花园那么大，花园中的房子跟柴郡的房子一样大，而且进城只需20分钟。是的，大卫•哈塞尔霍夫(David Hasselhof)就住在对面。但是，你不可能拥有一切，即便是在洛杉矶。
作为埃尔顿•约翰长期的歌曲创作搭档，同时也是The Union的另一位作曲者，伯尼•陶品(Bernie Taupin)也在洛杉矶举办派对。巧合的是，当我一周前结束休假从旧金山驾车出发时，我在路上听的正是陶品的作品。当我走进Big Sur山上自己的小屋时，广播里播放的正是陶品的节目American Roots。十分钟后，我躺在门廊上的钢制热水浴缸里，看着日落，品着美味的红葡萄酒，听陶品介绍公麋杰克逊(Bull Moose Jackson)的 “My Big Ten Inch”。这就是加利福尼亚带给你的：颓废与自然同在。
（迪伦•琼斯是《GQ》杂志英国版主编）
译者/功文
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001036299
Since its opening in March, Nick Jones’ Soho House has quickly become the go-to place in Los Angeles. Not only a haven for visiting or resident Brits, it’s now the hip place for Hollywood’s bronzed beau monde to hang. Well, hang and partay.
I was there on Wednesday night, to host a party for Elton John, following his concert with singer-songwriter Leon Russell at the Hollywood Palladium (a venue that manages to look futuristic and nostalgic at the same time). And partay we did, with Mad Men star Jon Hamm, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Bret Easton Ellis, Green Day, Sharon Osbourne, Rufus Wainwright, Robert De Niro’s daughter Drena, Matt Goss of Bros, Eric McCormack of Will and Grace, Katherine Jenkins, Minnie Driver, former Andy Warhol acolyte Cherry Vanilla and legendary producer T-Bone Burnett, the man who twiddled the knobs on The Union, Elton and Leon’s remarkable new album.
This was the seventh Los Angeles party GQ has done with Elton and his partner David Furnish; the initial idea was to use it as a way of ingratiating ourselves with the music and show business industries but it’s turned into an annual bacchanal.
I love Hollywood parties like these, as you never really know who’s going to turn up, and it all seemed rather surreal to be standing, 20-odd floors above LA, looking out over the twinkling city lights, in a room with enigmatic French fashion designer Hedi Slimane in one corner, and Ant and Dec in another. Hamm is not only the hottest guy on television at the moment, he’s the man everyone stares at when he enters a room. Hamm and I had our photograph taken (I know, lucky him), and as the flash went off, I whispered in his ear, “By the time we publish this in GQ, your hair is going to be on my head.”
Two weeks earlier, we had been in New York for a benefit gala at Cipriani 42nd Street for the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony. We were there as a team to present British GQ’s first student writing award (the winner was Helen Madden, a 65-year-old mother of two), and the difference between that event and this was pointed. In Manhattan, as soon as the event ended at 10.25pm, everyone shot off, got into their limos and went home. In Los Angeles, people were partying into the wee small hours, and not just the Brits either.
The mid-term elections took place while I was in California, and you could see why many here thought Obama was going to get a rather bloody nose. The streets of San Francisco – and those of Santa Barbara – were full of homeless people pushing shopping trolleys full of dirty rags and food painstakingly picked out of rubbish bins. It was like being in one of those post-apocalyptic science-fiction films where vagrants wander the wasteland looking for food and shelter.
According to the San Francisco Public Health Department, only 26 homeless people died on the streets last year. While this is an improvement on the 1990s, when there were on average more than 100 deaths every year among the homeless here, it is still a shocking number. It is also something San Franciscans have got used to. As we were standing in line at a diner one morning, queuing to have breakfast, a tramp pushed open the door, politely said, “Excuse me,” and then grabbed a pile of French fries that had been left on someone’s plate. No one flinched. Unemployment in some parts of California has risen to 17 per cent and the state’s debt is something like $20bn. Basically California is a bit like France, with an enormous deficit caused by state pensions of up to 90 per cent of final salary until death, coupled with intractable unions.
Former governor Jerry Brown got his old job back in the elections but will he make any difference? Well, as the controversial Proposition L was passed in the elections, it’s now illegal to sit on the pavements between the hours of 7am and 11pm. This suggests that everyone’s OK with homelessness as long as the vagrants wake up and move along by rush hour.
As for Obama’s speech the day after the mid-terms, those on the left told me they thought he was weak for apologising, those on the right thought he was weak for grudgingly admitting he’d misjudged the American people, and those like me in the middle thought he came across as rather a feeble mixture of contrition and petulance.
Obama has passed historic bills on healthcare and Wall Street regulation, bailed out the car industry, and stuck to his timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. But he has still found it nigh impossible to resonate with enough of the populace. And while many of the problems in the economy were created on George W Bush’s watch, all Obama is really being judged on is his ability to improve it. Which he hasn’t.
I was driving a huge Mercedes AMG – the sort that overtakes cars as though it were in a computer game – and spent a lot of time whizzing around LA, over to Hancock Park, down to Abbot Kinney, across to Silverlake, and over the hills to Encino, in the Valley. Now, if you live here, especially if you work in the movies, then it’s fashionable to dismiss Encino as a suburban desert, good enough only for those not smart enough to live in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills or West Hollywood. What rubbish. My friends in Encino have a house the size of Cheshire, in a garden the size of Wales, and it only takes them 20 minutes to get into the city. Yes, they do have David Hasselhoff living opposite but you can’t have everything, not even in Los Angeles.
Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s long-time song-writing partner and another contributor to The Union, was also partying in LA. And ironically it was Taupin I was listening to as I started my drive down from San Francisco a week earlier, where I’d been on a family holiday. As I walked into my cabin way up in the mountains in Big Sur, it was Taupin’s American Roots radio show that was being piped into the room. Ten minutes later I was lying in the steel hot tub on the porch, watching the sun set, sipping a rather fine Cabernet, and listening to Taupin introduce Bull Moose Jackson’s “My Big Ten Inch”. That’s California for you: decadence and nature in equal measure.
Dylan Jones is the editor of GQ magazine
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