I read, I hear

Toronto party prince Shinan Govani, the National Post's gossip columnist, gets the boldface treatment in this month's Toronto Life. The delightfully bitchy Gerald Hannon was the perfect pick to write this profile. (I added the links.)

Finally, hired in 2000 by then National Post editor Ken Whyte to deliver a scene column. Fired in 2001, when the Post shed most of its interesting writers. Hired back after, as he puts it, “Whyte came to his senses.” Began with three columns a week; now delivers five. The real kick-start to the column as a must-read came from a very public feud with writer Russell Smith in July 2001. Shinan wrote up a fetish-themed party for the launch of the S&M magazine Whiplash (scroll down), describing Smith as “dressed in wallpapered-on leather pants—offering ample evidence he’s making good use of his gym membership,” and adding that “the writer led ‘friend’ Krista around by a long, dangling leash.” Smith, who thought of himself as part of Govani’s friendship circle and therefore immune to unauthorized revelations, took exception and e-mailed his displeasure. The subsequent exchange ended up in the pages of Frank magazine. “I was a nobody columnist and he a member of the establishment,” Govani says today. “That feud established me in a way—people talked about it for years.” The affair seems to rankle still—on both sides. Govani, who can be cleverly mean but never vicious, describes Smith as “an ogre, with a brittle ego at work,” and says that Smith elbowed him in the back when the two met accidentally in the washroom of a downtown club. Smith does not remember any such incident, won’t talk about Shinan (“that’s what he wants most in the world—to be talked about”), and refers me to a scene in the movie Casablanca in which Peter Lorre says to Bogart, “You despise me, don’t you,” and Bogie comes back with, “If I gave you any thought I probably would.”

Anyway, it's a lonely life apparently being a society columnist. Hey, Shinan! Wanna come over for a BBQ? I'll serve up some dish neither of us can use.

Comments

[sooey]

russell smith completely forgot about laura petrie in his column dissing capri pants. i don't mean to be harsh, but he's dead to me now.

[estragon]

Govani and Smith deserve to be locked in a perpetual Greco-Roman wrestling clench. Sooner or later, they'll fuse and become Siamese twins.

I still want to know who that was on the piano with Shinan. An avid pianist, I'm sure.

[Big G]

Although I've never met SG, for some reason he really gets on my nerves.

I always though "real" gossip coloumnists had some (well at least faux) aristocratic tendencies.
Usually they would comment on the "elite" from a high horse, not the dollar store.

I dunno, maybe I'm getting old...

[sooey]

my oldest thinks shinan is great. and she's a pop culture afficianado. i don't care about entertainment news - jeannie beker is as far as i go, and she's all style now - so it's all lost on me.

[stephen.reeves]

Ok , I am lost, I don't know who any of these people are. am I no longer cool.?

[Elvid]

Stephen, I don't think that you're any less cool by not knowing anything about those guys.
Maybe cooler,not knowing who they are...

Hey Stephen,

Don't worry about not knowing who Govani and Smith are... it's not as though they have any relevance on Canadian journalism, or if they'll be remembered five years from now.

[Imethisguy]

So. I am all confused. Which of those two was Leah MacLarens BF?

[Greg Soucie]

Just started reading Smith's "Muriella Pent" a few days ago. Only 50 or 60 pages in currently, but the writing is very impressive. Highly recommended.

Also! Completely off topic but amusing is the fact that on his website, Russell also advertises his sartorial consulting skills. For 65 bucks an hour, he'll take you shopping! In all honesty, if I had a few grand to blow on new suits, I'd do it. Say what you want about him, the man is a snappy dresser.

[Joan Tintor]

Looks like I may have to shell out for the Tory-hating TO Life this month. And I'm already obliged to buy all the September fashion mags. Dang.

Good Casablanca reference. Even better is the bit in the Fountainhead where Toohey says to Howard Roark "Why don't you tell me what you think of me?" Roark replies "I don't."

[sooey]

gee... ayn rand - copycat at large...

[Elvid]

Toronto Life has a pretty fawning article about Oliva Chow. Worth looking at for the picture of Jack Layton in 1985. In those days, he looked like a rising young insurance agent in Bobcaygen.

[Justin]

I've had a Globe subscription for years and never once have I read Russell Smith column. I live on Queen St. W, toured with an internationally aclaimed indie band and in the arts field so it's not like I don't get him. Though maybe I'd read him if I was a 55-year-old CEO from Newmarket.
As for Govani, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten home from a night of Film Fest parties - stumbled into my house - only to find him stuck to the bottom of my shoe.

[Flea]

Gawd Justin, it is like you could read my mind.

[Jiminy C at the other daughters]

"Anyway, it's a lonely life apparently being a society columnist."
He should become a media columnist - much better class of society - right?