Committee Member Bill Diem Basks In The StarlightEager to meet a 1940s existentialist icon turned grande dame of la chanson française up-close, a group of AAPA members gathered Oct. 28 in an ideal Left Bank setting: the plush red velvet-armchaired Empire-style bar of L’Hôtel on the rue des Beaux-Arts (where the Association celebrated its 100th anniversary in December 2007). Our guest? Juliette Gréco. About to embark on a tour of Japan, Gréco confirmed that she had been “living in the present for six decades.” Topics of discussion ranged from memory lane descriptions of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and nods to absent friends – including Jean-Paul Sartre and Miles Davis – to the current controversy surrounding Roman Polanski. Paris arts correspondents will be keen to pitch festive stories focusing on her December 14 concert at the Versailles Opera.
