The Orient Express Bar

I love it when things simply fall into place. One day last month when Colin was here from London we were boozing on the west side when we walked by this charming looking bar that resembled a train car. Sure enough it was modeled after the Orient Express. We barged in for a drink but sadly they were not open to the public yet. We met the owner a dream Turkish Andre Balazs looking gentleman, Osman Cakir, got his card and carried on boozing elsewhere.

I pitched the spot to the NYT and they loved it.

Please see the story here and come visit me there this winter where I will be holed up with a divine cocktail and dreams of exotic locales.

Mom and the Girls Second Trip to NYC

What a fun time we had!

Mother brought Danielle and Leah up two years ago and we had a blast so we thought we should do it again. Hope it's an annual event!

Danielle wants to go into the Air Force so we spent Friday at West Point. Besides a slight stutter with a campus officer the rest of the day was lovely. On the way home we made a quick trip to Bear Mountain for a splendid view of the Hudson.

Saturday we had a fun day twirling around town to the Met, The Frick, tea at the Carlyle and of course H&M, twice!

A highlight was South Pacific at Lincoln Center and a night with friends at the Maritime hotel and of course brunch at Melba's.

And as only Frankie and I would do, we introduced the young girls to the wonder gay cinema classic, Paris is Burning! Hope it comes in handy in high school conversations...

My tidbit on CNN

Who would of thunk last week when I was checking my emails at the gym that CNN would send a little note asking to interview me for a story on Harlem.

Cator: Sure! Sounds fun!

CNN: Great can we come up today?

Cator: No problem!

My friend Bob who works at CNN gives me the skinny: They are doing a profile on Charles Rangel and he mentioned that the biggest number of people moving to Harlem are gay white men.

In a meeting an editor asks, "Anyone know a gay white man in Harlem?"

Bob hits a home run....

Now silly Southern me assumes they are coming up for a screen test. This is a documentary for Soledad O'Brien's show after all! When I get a text that they are 10 minutes away I ask, "When is the official shoot?"

CNN: Um, NOW! Be camera ready!

ZOINKS!

Alas, I jump into some J. Crew shorts and a Burkman Brothers button down and stare in the mirror for 5 minutes perfecting my CNN smile.

Rose and Bob arrive and they shoot me on my stoop, walking down the street and pretend waving to neighbors.

Then they start dropping the political questions and I get flustered. Sure I know what's going on with ole Rangel but I thought it was going to be all about me being gay in Harlem. Hello!

But I end up pulling it off I guess. Wish they would of added a couple more of my musings but we can't have it all.

You can see the segment here

I'm at the 2:00 minute mark.

Let me know what you think!

Here's to Harlem!

My Column Debut on The Huffington Post

I am beyond excited to let you all know my first post went up today for my column- A Gentleman's Guide to Life.

Sadly I cannot use 'Colonel Cator Sparks' as my byline since they do not recognize 'Honorable Titles'! But I of course had to include it in my bio.

I will be posting several times a month so be sure to keep a look out.

Thank you all for your support and cocktails!

Love-

The Colonel