London in New York

My mailbox, like that of many, was a little less full with Hallmark Greeting cards this holiday season. A sign of the times?  An indicator that I am less loved that so many may have forgotten my address? More likely it is perhaps an indicator that as result of the economic crisis many of my fellow citizens are  a tad more introspective, caught up dealing with real life issues relating to work, business, savings and the security of their investments, health care and in some cases basic survival.  This holiday season I too found myself wondering about the meaning of Christmas.  On Christmas Eve I took a walk by myself through St. Patrick’s Cathedral, came home, prepared myself a home cooked meal and watched midnight mass on television. Over the weekend, I spent some time alone seeking spiritual guidance and perspective leading me to consult the works of Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and even Tony Robbins.

Perhaps for the fotunate few, things are perfect, but I doubt that to be the case for many, including those who I care about very deeply and have shed some tears for over the last couple of years. You know who you are and I love you, always, unconditionally.  To those of you who feel me and what I am saying, let us all try to remember that in uncertain and challenging times, it is important and perhaps even imperative to remember that “SURVIVING IS SUCCEEDING”.  Our ability to muster the fortitude to navigate troubled waters in uncertain times is itself success.  Surely, you must know that no matter what your situation, no matter how broken is your spirit, there is always someone less fortunate, especially if you even have access to a computer to read this blog.

Furthermore, having the love and support of friends, family and a special someone is truly all that really matters. If you have that you are in fact richer than most.  So please while I do not purport to be Tony Robbins (even though I recommend his books), never ever discount that fact.  Trust me, it took falling on my face, feeling sorry for myself less than a decade ago, crashing and burning in nearly every aspect of my life, personal, professional and financial to be stripped of it all and left with nothing but an overdue cell phone, the clothes on my back and a dufflebag to realize that I had been living a largely fictional material life caught up with stuff that was irrelevant. Only then, going through my journey of the dark night of the soul where frankly I even considered ending it all, that a stronger, more realistic persona was able to emerge.  Hence my friends, know that I am no better, no smarter or stronger than any of you.  Within many of you lays a greatness which you have yet to unleash on the world. If and when you want to, you can unleash the power within. Life is a journey which is a veritable marathon even if it times it feels like a never ending series of sprints in which someone always seems to be finishing an inch or a yard ahead of us.  Nevertheless, demand more of yourself, not less of yourself, create a plan of action and begin to execute it.  But also be kind to yourself each and every day you are above ground on this planet engaged in the game of life.  Love who and what you are even while you seek to improve upon the blessings our maker has bestowed on you.

Ultimate success is grounded in a firm grasp of reality. We often tend to forget and undervalue that which grounds and sustain us.  In these times, you must be your own best friend, cheerleader and self help guru. Look within, be thankful for what you have and work, work hard always, to secure the fortress which is your life.  As cliche as it may sound, go take a look at the classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart to remind yourselves that getting caught up in drama or feeling sorry for yourself, what you do not have or whatever opportunities you may have missed is a waste of time.  So, while our society goes through a rather profound structural change and restructuring, remember that this is also a good time to re-assess your outlook about what is ultimately important in your own life, to find your purpose and  to prepare yourself for a new era, after the long 1990’s hangover, without guilt for what you may have failed to achieve in boom times. Ask not what material gifts you got this holiday season, but ask did you hug someone, did someone smile at you and tell you that they love you?  If you have not received enough love, trying reaching out and giving some to someone else for in giving love you enrich your own sense of self and spread hope. Now that is what is truly rich.

God bless each and every one of you who somehow find your way to this page.

That Rachel Uchitel and any of the other mistresses who have emerged to claim sexual liaison’s with the adulterous Tiger Woods proves only that in America we have evolved to the point that The Scarlet Letter (See: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne) has been replaced with a $$$ symbol. A veritable checkbook morality prevails allowing us to have scandal without shame.  People no longer get what they deserve as much as they get what they can concoct to manufacture a pay day. From prostitution to blackmail with legal representation, the best that money can buy,  a profound pragmatism is now the primary motivating factor for many of us, even once nice college girls,  whether or not we have a deep dark past as inspiration for a corrupted morality that leaves the father of one’s deceased fiance killed in the 9/11 attacks to tell the N.Y. Daily News that “she is a stranger to me now.”

Who am I to condemn Rachel Uchitel for basically exercising the morality that our culture provides justification and support for? Is it not the American way? The fairy tale has changed. Now little girls dream of growing up, meeting a rich married man, making him her sugar daddy in exchange for sexual favors and then blackmailing him so that she can extort sufficient funds to buy a condo, add to her Gucci Shoe collection and spend the winter months in the Carribean.  Why are we surprised, especially in  uncertain times where many who are operating with more restricted cash flow target those at a higher level on the human food chain because they sit on top of mountains of cash? These girls make Ashley Dupre look like a model citizen.

One may wish to consider whether Rachel ‘Man-Crazy’ Uchitel’s devolution into GFE Entrepreneurialism which has made her the new Sasha Grey,  may be the result of some of her experiences with the key men in her life including, that (a) her father died over what appeared to be a drug assisted suicide, (b) she lost her fiancé, James Andrew O’Grady, a bond trader for Sandler O’Neill & Partners who was caught in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th (c) her first marriage to financier Steven Ehrenkranz ended rather abruptly in divorce after just four months, or (d) her broken soul found comfort in the arms of a childhood friend in the nightlife industry who helped turn her on and turn her out to a new way of life as a VIP Hostess?  And while it is not as if the entire blame for the corrupted morality of Rachel Uchitel can fall entirely on nightlife empressario Jason Strauss and his partners,  is the morality of those running the nightlife industry in Las Vegas, the Hamptons and Club Row in Manhattan any different than had she landed on the doorstep of a pimp?  Are the attractive women lured into the role of Rachel Uchitel encouraged to do whatever it takes, passed around like hors d’oeuvres to their celebrity clients?  Or perhaps the right people just find each other to pimp and ho together for the greater good of their respective financial betterment.

UPDATE: Whether or not the Hoochie-tel will speak regarding Tiger Woods was  the question of the day on Thursday.  As picked up on The Huffington Post: “TMZ has reported that Uchitel and Tiger Woods spoke on the phone last night “for approximately a half hour” and that no payout was offered. But the report adds that “we have no knowledge one way or the other” if an offer has been made since then.”  Radaronline reported that the reason for the cancellation of the press conference wherein Uchitel was slated to admit the affair was that her lawyer Gloria Allred is in talks with Tiger Woods’ representatives about a $1 million dollar bribe to keep Uchitel from selling her story. Today’s rumor is that there is alot more than a $1 million payout on the table to silence Uchitel, due likely to the volume of personal and private information she has pertaining to Tiger Woods’ lifestyle, that according to the NY Daily News and sources who spoke to TMZ mader her “scared for her safety”.  One can only conclude from all the media reports is that that Rachel Uchitel is one smooth operator who learned something about how to cater to servicing the needs of her upscale clients and was likely far more than a mistress and more likely an enabler of Woods’ drug-fueled deviant lifestyle. If that is the case, this is likely to be a serious negotation for a rather substantial 7 figure payout since anything that could lead to putting further cracks in the multi billion dollar Tiger Woods economy will have wide reaching ramifications  to all those who prosper at the trough of his success.

TRUTH ABOUT RACHEL: Will America ever really know the truth about the party girl who is Rachel Uchitel and her “ex-friends” who, as Rachel states were a couple of prostitutes, who revealed her “secret relationship” with Tiger Woods to the National Enquirer?  One can only wonder whether Tiger Woods was targeted and set up by rogue elements in the Nightlife Industry in New York City, working in collaboration with Rachel Uchitel or sponsors? One has to ask because this is a woman who has played her hand smoothly thus far without looking at all like a deer in the headlights. From the outset this has the look and feel of a rather well orchestrated media show designed to extract a seven figure payout from a billion dollar celebrity athlete, not that I feel sorry for him. It is a truly foolish man who is rich, powerful, successful and married who whores around and does not think any of his paramours will give up details in exchange for cash.

Consider that Rachel has a reputation for insisting that get compensated fair value for her services for wrangling a celebrity clientele to all the venues that she has represented in Las Vegas, the Hamptons and New York City. Not that is any surprise as the pimps who created and used her likely tried to under pay the Princess for ”turning her out” but make no mistake this is a hustler who has a sense of her value, experience dealing with difficult men and knows how to get paid. She is also a media savvy professional woman who formerly worked at Bloomberg and comes from a somewhat prominent family well versed in the machinications of media and society. So really why the shock that Rachel lied? Her hiring of Gloria Allred was to extract a pay out because bottom line who will hire, in the future, someone to manage their celebrity clientele who has prior experience looking for blackmail money from the celebrities she is coddling?  Consider the very real possibility that the girls who allegedly “sold out” and “lied” about Rachel Uchitel’s relationship with Tiger Woods to the National Enquirer in were instead playing a scripted role to position or set up Rachel to play the role she is in.  Simply put, this is a girl is well versed in playing the players. Uchitel claimed that tabloid sources are selling fake stories and has called one of the girls a “trainwreck” who “is just looking for a payday because she is a fucking hooker.”

THE NEW FEMINISM?: A long time ago in a land far away, once upon a time in America, bitches (excuse my french) who “allegedly” messed around with married men would hide in the shadows with a certain degree of shame at being caught. No more Scarlet Letter’s. NOW they fly to L.A., hire “Feminist” Superlawyer Gloria Allred, get an agent and spend all of their time denying the affair to the media that they court, while behind the scenes you know they are looking for and angling for a check and to GET PAID either from the married man and his empire, Hollyweird or a publishing house.

It is the oldest trade in the book. Why complicate it?  Last I checked when you phuck for $$$ we called it something else. Although truthfully the idiots who cheat on their wives and mess with these women, whether you meet them at nightclubs, upscale strip clubs or in the multitude of websites where wealthy men post looking for young women and women post looking for sugar daddy’s or millionaires are every bit as much a cliche as the married men they mess with, even if they have gotten a more sophisticated angle to turn tricks than straight up Sex Workers or Professional Escorts.  And if you have not learned already, when you are going to engage in the oldest practice known to man: “Prostitution” then simply get the financial stuff out of the way upfront. And guys you should learn, you will either pay her now or you will pay her, your wife, your lawyers and representatives and media professionals later. When you are rich and famous and are looking to maintain a veil of secrecy to your indiscrete behavior then you best make sure that your mistress or mistresses are maintained better than a publishing house, movie studio or tabloid could provide them for details about her relations with you. These women know that they cannot trust you entirely. Only a woman who is truly ignorant would not be able to comprehend that a man who lies to the woman who recently bore his children is not likely to be 100% truthful with them. Hence that makes you even more vulnerable ultimately than them.  Although you may be sponsored by NIKE who’s motto is “Just Do It” maybe you ought to have in your entourage someone who will remind you how much you have at stake so you DON’T JUST DO IT.

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX WORK & PLAY FOR PAY: So while some serious women fought with every ounce of their will for equality including the right to vote, equal pay et. al etc.,  even while being humiliated, demonized and even jailed for doing so and called all sorts of names, today “Working Girls” turning tricks in nightclubs who are every bit as guilty as the dirty boys that come in looking for them and are tempted to cheat on their wives, have found feminism into some convenient ruberic to defend themselves. Only thing is that, my understanding is that SEX WORKERS work under a slightly different system. So in the end, let’s be clear, truly that is what you are, a consensual sex worker and not a victim unless perhaps as a result of being goaded into prostitution to accomodate a propriertor’s celebrity clientele.  You may still have some rights, the right to be paid a fair value for the service you provide. I do not care if you come from a good family, went to college, worked in the media, but once you get “turned out” by the nightlife industry and proprietors who made you a VIP Hostess to corral the afflluent, it does not make what you do any more sophisticated. There are plenty of working girls who speak 5 languages, have a masters degree and are even authors in their own right. So “Shake & Bake” and say that you made it with him. Sure you can get paid for servicing him but we need to have a greater discussion with full disclosure about the market value of your services.  In this era of transactional romance, Porn Stars with lots of experience  who deliver the “PSE” are known to get up to $5,000 per hour from their johns, women who are full time models begin at $1,500. College students, models and even some underfunded professional working women suffering from that famous Italian disease called “defundsalo” hunt for Sugar Daddys on Craigslist and in Millionaire Matchmaking websites.

GIRLFRIEND ENTREPRENEURS & THE JAP GFE:  So what value do we put on the head of a nice Jewish American Princess who turns her tricks, as a veritable Girlfriend Entrepreneur (or perhaps better stated: “GirlFriendtrEpreneur“), serves as a part time madam arranging other liaisons while providing bottle service? That would seem to be a new category unless it is a subcategory under GFE–The Girlfriend Experience.  I know that we add at least a 15-20% gratuity and for parties of 8 or more I believe we add 25% gratuity.  Rachel Uchitel is emblematic of a culture of narcissistic Me Generation women who pursue the pleasure principle with an unspeakable degree of hedonistic indulgence and entitlement in ones own personal utility with no moral accountability and then feel entitled to an additional pay day for agreeing to keep the transactional romance private.  So you say, that  “A Playa’s Gotta Play”—I feel you babe, I don’t hate the player or the game,  just tell me how we as a society go about placing a value on your service, the JAP GFE,  and whether we can we can pay upfront or only on the back end.  Now the last question, are you subject to any penalties? Changes in the oldest game in the book may require some adjustments to our valuation models.

Epilogue: I apologize for the inference herein that Ms. Uchitel as “The JAPPY Hooker” is essentially a prostitute or working girl turned out by her “friends” in the Nightlife Industry and hope that the prostitutes that I offended with that remark will forgive me.

Rachel Uchitel, a Zelig-esque like character who has a reputation for getting around is most well known for serving as the VIP HOstess for upscale nightspots in LasVegas, Hamptons and Manhattan, burst on to the national media scene with the National Enquirer story linking her romantically to Tiger Woods.  It is has been rumored that the story becoming national news is what led to Tiger’s wife flipping her lid, chasing him with a golf club causing Tiger Woods to crash his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and tree on his Windermere Estate, even if others do not know “What was Tiger Woods thinking?” While Tiger and his army of lawyers are hunkered down refusing to disclose any details and otherwise giving the silent treatment about the accident to local police, Ms. Uchitel, a New York resident who has denied any romantic involvement with the Nike sponsored, IMG represented international sports icon and  billion dollar property, on Sunday left New York City and landed at LAX in Los Angeles to seek the counsel of famed celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.  She has granted interviews to the NY Post and is rumored to have agreed to be interviewed by the Today Show. An interesting development indeed, especially for someone who allegedly has had no romantic involvement with IMG’s top property.

So, while claiming to want to be left alone, out of the spotlight and denying any involvement with Mr. Woods one is left to wonder why the rush to Los Angeles? You do not live in NYC where we have lots of attorneys and fly to LA and hire celebrity attorney Gloria Allred if you are not looking for something.  Perhaps a 7 figure pay out for not using what you know about Tiger to slash at Tiger Woods’ squeaky clean image and unsettle or put a crack in the billion dollar empire or his carefully crafted image.  No doubt, some powerful forces, including his representatives at IMG and an army of lawyers are working to protect Tiger Woods, his brand and the value of his empire.

The natural question is was she offered a settlement already to keep her silence and to continue to deny not just the affair but any actual relationship? Is she merely out there playing a scripted role for Team Woods? See her mom’s comments invoking 9/11 tragedy and Rachel’s loss of her fiance in the Twin Towers in Newsday: “Asked about tabloid reports that her daughter was romantically involved with Tiger Woods, Uchitel said she did not know whether the allegation was  true. “ We have purposefully avoided that conversation,” she said.

You still think you are dealing with a deer in the headlights and not a sophisticated diva playing her cards right?  This thus begs the question, does  she have information which if disclosed could be injurious to his personal reputation? Does she want something more? Have folks pressured or threatened her with harm in any way if she goes public with details of the affair? Or does she realize that perhaps Tiger does not intend on living up to or following through on whatever representations that he may have made to her in their alleged affair? Maybe she was truly blindsided by the public disclosure and merely seeking to protect her reputation? Inquiring minds want to know.

Call me cynical but if the alleged affair is true, as many believe to be the case, I doubt that Rachel was Tiger’s only 19th hole.  Likewise, you will excuse me for observing that Rachel Uchitel hardly looks like a victim or a deer in the headlights. Her manner resembles that of a hustler and not of a drama queen in distress, which is good for her if she is dealing with Tiger’s power brokers at IMG.  Instead Rachel Uchitel has that look Charlie Sheen had in Wall Street when he “Just Bagged The Elephant” Ms. Uchitel appears to be a woman on a mission, with a recognition that with all of her Star-schmoozing, she has finally hit pay dirt. And I suspect that Gloria Allred will keep Uchitel in the spotlight as a reminder to Team Woods that there will be a price to pay should they choose to diss this New Yorker.   She does not have the look of anyone who will settle for being a discarded piece of ass.  Rachel Uchitel is  gonna get paid so long as the dam does not bust open with another woman (oops too late!) or say stories of Tiger partying with call girls and escorts in other locales across America and if that should happen, her story would be one of many and the spin machine would spend more time and money snuffing out the bimbo eruptions with a media campaign rather than individual payouts, again unless because of her access  to him she could corroborate any stories. The club connection will assure that this story will remain in the headlines and bring about the end of Tiger Woods as the invulnerable icon, as the related publicity surrounding the matter is good for the owners and reps of the  venues where the bombshell hostess rubbed elbows with elite celebrities, including Tiger Woods. It will help cement their brands, build on the legend and add to the lure for members of the proletariat, inducing further patronage.

The problem is that is that celebrities and citizens of a certain social standing and affluence hold their privacy paramount and nightclubs are like Satan’s backdoor in encouraging decadent and indulgent behavior but they also seek press coverage for their celebrity patronage in the tabloids. Hence, if you want a certain aspect of your character or lifestyle to remain private, the VIP area of Marquee, Griffin or nightclubs in general in New York City is not where you want to engage in tabloid worthy conduct. If you are a major local celebrity who spends a great deal of money regularly, your conduct may not hit The National Enquirer, Page Six or TMZ but otherwise you are at risk.  And that is not something that a VIP hostess will ever tell you.

Call it whatever you want but Rachel Uchitel,  is clearly now in it to GET PAID, even if Tiger Woods may have been into it to GET LAID. That is why you get a V.I.P. “HO”-stess.  In the end servicing the bottles pays better than pushing bottle service.  In fairness to Rachel being sexy and beautiful and schmoozing the rich and powerful is basically her job. How Rachel handless her time in the spotlight, however, will indicate whether the powerful can trust her in the future to handle, service and cater to their affluent clientele from a position of trust.  The more credible she is in holding off and refusing to expose that which she learned in confidence about any of her upscale clients will enhance her profile.  In that regard it will be interesting to see the how her representatives build her personal legend including her wealthy background, her mom’s Palm Beach socialite status and her being a granddaughter of the nightlife impresario, Maurice Uchitel who ran the legendary El Morocco Nightclub (which my parents frequented).  The Party girl with a flair for drama best reign it in as it appears that those leveraging off her now for publicity have their own aims and businesses in mind rather than necessarily protecting her brand. There is always the risk she will become a pawn in someone else’s chess game, if she is not already and this is not part of some well orchestrated shakedown (i.e., blackmail) of an extremely wealthy celebrity athlete by rogue elements within  New York City’s Nightlife industry, which is is run by some rather curious characters.  Perhaps that is the reason why Nick Cannon was recently quoted at IAC’s Notional Launch event as saying: “I do not go to nightclubs without my wife” .  Mark my words, in the end, Rachel Uchitel will either get paid a 7 figure sum from Team Tiger Woods (if she has not already)  or Harper Collins, unless she is one of a trough full of Tiger Woods bimbos.