New York Notebook | 19 November 2011

When Keith Richards stepped up onto the stage at the Norman Mailer Gala at the Mandarin Oriental in New York last Tuesday, to collect the Autobiography Award from a bumptious Bill Clinton, he appeared to be almost speechless. Words eventually came, though, if a little tentatively: ‘I’m not usually fazed by stuff,’ said Keith, almost humbly, glancing at the ex-president, ‘but I’m fazed by this.’ It was difficult to tell who had the most star-power; the great and the good took out their mobiles to take snaps of Clinton, while Keef charmed everyone with his unintentional impression of Bill Deedes. Two months ago, when we honoured Keith at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards at the Opera House in London, the room was equally dumbstruck, and as he was given his award by Johnny Depp and Tom Stoppard, 500 people stood up as one. However, one thing I know for sure, having spent a year organising for Keith to attend the Mailer Gala, I can honestly say that it’s a lot easier to host a party in London than it is one happening 3,500 miles away.

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Watching Jay-Z and Kanye West walk out onto the stage at Madison Square Gardens the night before was like seeing two prizefighters enter the ring. Even though both had deliberately dressed down for the occasion (I like it better when they succumb to fluorescent jodhpurs and Tom Ford suits), they looked ridiculously starry, and received the kind of welcome that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor may have done in the same venue 50 years ago. It was an extraordinary evening, as they performed at opposite ends of the auditorium, spurring each other on, almost like Ali and Frazier. Jay-Z (or Jay-Zed, as a colleague’s mother insists on calling him) is the most charismatic of the two, while watching him perform ‘Empire State of Mind’ is the modern-day equivalent of seeing Sinatra sing ‘New York New York’.