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09/26/2005: "Fans"

Walking around doing things today I passed by the Four Seasons Hotel. I had done an excellent job avoiding Yorkville during the Film Festival, so it seemed safe to go back. I forgot the Rolling Stones are in town for their show at the Skydome. There were a whole bunch of people gathered around the car exit of the hotel. A limo left, and people waved. Then somebody motioned to the other side of the building, where more people were gathered. I guess a Stone was over on that side - the picture above is of some of the people moving around the building. It was all quite unremarkable. The Four Seasons does a good job of keeping the parts of their hotel where the stars will walk outside to the waiting limo's private. They don't have to cross a public sidewalk. It makes for an ugly streetscape though -- poor Avenue Road, Starstruck into a shitty walk. It's the price we pay I guess for being a very important city. I guess this is why the Stars don't stay at the King Edward, which seems more fitting. At least John and Yoko stayed there.

On the other side of the building is a Starbucks. It was reported to me today by an unnamed source/English Professor who was there last week that the Four Seasons asked the Starbucks to postpone their post TIFF renovation until after the Stones were gone because "they love that Starbucks". I once got an Americano there, and checked if there was Wifi. No Wifi but the Americano was the usual kind.

I suppose if you're going to stand around the exit of a hotel, doing it for the Rolling Stones is as good as it gets, because at least they're real stars, with some kind of mythology attached to them. I avoided Yorkville this year because when I wandered by the Holt Renfrew/Vanity Fair party last year, all the stars I accidentally saw were half-ass. Well, half-ass enough that I didn't recognize them, and I relied on the screams of folks nearby (I google one of the names they yelled to check -- though I forget her name again-- low and behold, she was a star).

Then I continued on home. My foot sort of hurt all day long. When I got home I found a shard of glass stuck in it. That was weird, but it's out now, and everything seems ok.