DINNER WITH THE OLIGARCHS

For God knows what reason, the stretch of land that runs up the hill from Denniston Ford to – where in 1801 a Montgomery Palatine developer by the name of Johannes Miller planned his city of the shining future on a hill- now has become Oligarch Row. Going back a couple of centuries, as the Newburgh/Cochecton investor (Miller) poured money into the old Indian trail that would become Rt. 17K and B, two brothers beat him to the punch, laying out the village of Monticello. Miller’s Settlement would never come to fruition, leaving my church (The Glen Wild Methodist/Episcopal Church aka CLGM) the center piece of a beautiful, forgotten, backwater. Listing the oligarchs from the valley up the hill we have Diamond Dave, Denniston Hill Foundation, GNJohn, Julie Merry-too and my neighbors RNButch and Jin-L. Last night Shewho and I were invited over to dine at the manor house. Also, in attendance were one of my lawyers SVegs, and wife Dolly. Jin-L laid out a great spread of booze, finger food and ox tail stew. Jin-L is Cuban. It rocked! Finding ourselves amongst the oligarchs, Shewho and I did our best figuring out the right fork to use and attempted not to embarrass ourselves amongst the neighborhood elites. We were going along great until, somehow, the subject of Puffy P. Diddy Combs came up. For some reason Diddy’s recent troubles of creepoid S&M parties, underage sex trafficking and general mayhem and abuse had escaped my radar. Have you seen the video of Diddy beating the shit out of some poor girl in the hallway? I hadn’t. I’m a sucker for 1st hand historical information of any sort. Turned out Jin-L had just that. As a young Miami hottie she ran in the Diddy circle. In fact, she told a story of introducing RNButch to Puffy in a packed Miami club. I’m envisioning the scene in Scarface, right before the shooting starts. Jin-L had never witnessed a "freak off" or a case of spent baby oil. No lube job. Nothing but gentlemanly behavior from the Puffer, she said. She never went to a Diddy Party that wasn't completely genteel- white or black. Or maybe, like Dave Chapell, Puffy recognised a little "snitch energy" in Jin-L, and never considered inviting her. Either way, Jin-L feels for the poor guy, now languishing in a NY jail. Crimes of the oligarchy run the gamut. In the end, the dinner was really fun. Good food. Good company. Good eye medicine. I’m no capitalist, but I know plenty of them. I try not to be too judgey. “Keep an open mind.” As Bird always says. Puffy? Who knows how fucked up this guy is, was, or will be. Like dogs, I try to take oligarchs on a “one on one” basis. “As bad as R. Kelly?” I asked. “WORSE!” everyone chimed in unison. Oh well. Flan for desert. Muy bueno!