Rocking Pink and Ready to Party
The blink of an eye is rarely enough time to decide whether to pull out my camera when someone passes by on the street. After noticing Jelani de Leon on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on a Friday afternoon in May, we exchanged glances and brief hellos and then went our separate ways. I walked half a block before turning around, seeing her pink knit hat and pale coat in the distance and doubling back to ask her about what she was wearing.
Ms. de Leon, 64 and a property manager of buildings she owns, does not usually dress so vibrantly, she said. But the day we met, she was attending the hip-hop-themed Brooklyn Basement Party at Lincoln Center. 'I wanted to wear something funky,' said Ms. de Leon, who lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. 'I felt the urge to do something bright and different because of the season and the weather, and because I haven't put on any cute clothes in a long time.'
When asked if her ensemble involved anything special or sentimental, Ms. de Leon pointed to her bag. She said it was among the first styles carried at her daughter Kai Avent-deLeon's store, Sincerely Tommy in Bed-Stuy, when it opened in 2014. Ms. de Leon added that before we met, she had run into her daughter, who was surprised by her colorful attire.
'She was like, Wow, I never saw you in so much pink!' Ms. de Leon recalled. 'I thought, Oh my god, it's too much pink, I should go home and change. And I said, Screw it, I'm going out anyway.'
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New York Times
20-05-2025
- New York Times
Rocking Pink and Ready to Party
The blink of an eye is rarely enough time to decide whether to pull out my camera when someone passes by on the street. After noticing Jelani de Leon on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on a Friday afternoon in May, we exchanged glances and brief hellos and then went our separate ways. I walked half a block before turning around, seeing her pink knit hat and pale coat in the distance and doubling back to ask her about what she was wearing. Ms. de Leon, 64 and a property manager of buildings she owns, does not usually dress so vibrantly, she said. But the day we met, she was attending the hip-hop-themed Brooklyn Basement Party at Lincoln Center. 'I wanted to wear something funky,' said Ms. de Leon, who lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. 'I felt the urge to do something bright and different because of the season and the weather, and because I haven't put on any cute clothes in a long time.' When asked if her ensemble involved anything special or sentimental, Ms. de Leon pointed to her bag. She said it was among the first styles carried at her daughter Kai Avent-deLeon's store, Sincerely Tommy in Bed-Stuy, when it opened in 2014. Ms. de Leon added that before we met, she had run into her daughter, who was surprised by her colorful attire. 'She was like, Wow, I never saw you in so much pink!' Ms. de Leon recalled. 'I thought, Oh my god, it's too much pink, I should go home and change. And I said, Screw it, I'm going out anyway.' Tap to see more looks
New York Post
07-05-2025
- New York Post
George Clooney's Casamigos sued for allegedly charging ‘super premium prices' for less than pure agave tequila
George Clooney, or at least his tequila, may not be as smooth as he makes out. The Hollywood star helped make Casamigos the fourth best-selling tequila brand in the world, but it's now the subject of a lawsuit claiming consumers have been paying 'super premium prices' for an inferior quality product. Casamigos and another premium tequila brand, Don Julio, both claim they are made exclusively with 100% Blue Weber agave and retail for $50 to $150 per bottle as a result. Cheaper tequilas, known as 'mixtos,' require only 51% of the sugar in them comes from the agave plant, with the remainder usually ordinary cane sugar. 3 George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Ric Edelman sold Casamigos to Diageo for nearly $1 billion. The new class-action lawsuit against Diageo, the parent company which owns both brands, claims that according to lab tests, a significant amount of the alcohol in Casamigos and Don Julio (who was a real person) is actually from cane sugar, which is much cheaper to produce. The federal suit was filed earlier this week in the Eastern New York division of the US District Court by Avi Pusatezri, a New Yorker who owns a company that teaches mixology, Chaim Mishulovin, and restaurant Sushi Tokyo. The plaintiffs are seeking $5 million each in damages. The case cites a new form of testing that can determine whether tequila has been adulterated with cane sugar. Ironically for tequila enthusiasts, if the lawsuit proves true, it would suggest they have been drinking potentially inferior products without noticing a significant difference. 3 According to a class-action suit, Don Julio may not be from 100% agave as it advertises. Getty Images for Haute Living In a statement, the firm behind the suit, Hagens Berman, told me, 'Diageo marketed its tequila brands as 'luxury' and 'super-premium' and sold them at prices that reflected those promises to consumers. Diageo is one of the biggest companies in this industry, but it's not above the law, and we believe this deception has a real price tag.' The lawsuit is a fresh headache for Diageo after it only recently resolved longstanding disputes with Diddy over his Ciroc vodka and Deleon tequila brands. Although Clooney and business partner Randy Gerber sold Casamigos to British company Diageo for $1 billion in 2017, the deal was staggered over the next ten years and included the pair staying on as brand ambassadors, according to the BBC. The company's website and social media still prominently feature them both and Gerber's wife, Cindy Crawford, has also appeared in promotional pics. 3 George Clooney launched the tequila brand with his co-founder more than a decade ago. Getty Images 'These claims of adulteration are outrageous and categorically false; Don Julio and Casamigos tequilas are crafted from 100% Blue Weber Agave and are in full compliance with the official tequila standard … We look forward to vigorously defending the quality and integrity of our Tequilas in court,' a spokesperson for Diageo said. Clooney did not immediately return a request for comment. This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYC's power players (and those who aspire to be). While the suit is focused on two of Diageo's tequilas, one liquor executive told me the lawsuit could spark a reckoning in the booze industry and, if the testing holds up, spread to other premium brands. 'Anything that erodes trust in the industry isn't good,' he said, noting that many in the younger generation are embracing sobriety or 'California sober' lifestyles (avoiding alcohol and hard drugs, but still smoking weed). The lawsuit also underscores tensions between skilled agave farmers who grow the crops which make the premium product and the corporations which leverage celebrities such as Clooney to market their products and retain most of the profits. Unlike wineries, which typically grow grapes, produce wine, and distribute it, most agave farmers do not control the production or distribution of tequila. On the flip side, the lawsuit should prompt consumers to pay closer attention to what they're drinking and where it comes from.
Chicago Tribune
18-03-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Highland Park Players performing Hunchback of Notre Dame musical in concert
Victor Hugo's novel about the deformed bell ringer Quasimodo, who longs for the beautiful Esmeralda, found new life in the 1999 musical, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' by Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics). Highland Park Players is producing a concert version of that expansive tale, March 28-30, at McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3424 Illinois Rd., Wilmette. Connor Giles, who directed last year's stunning production of 'Ragtime in Concert,' directs 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Concert.' He is working with a cast of 24, an 18-piece orchestra, and a 33-voice choir. 'The thing that I really love about doing a production in a concert format is that it really forces us to focus on the story itself, focus on the music, the dialogue—and really get to the heart of the story and not rely on all of the bells and whistles that a traditional production might incorporate,' Giles said. The director is a long-time fan of the 'Hunchback' story. 'I am a '90s kid through and through so I grew up on the (1996) Disney movie,' he said. 'It was a film that I absolutely loved as a child. I had not experienced it in quite some time so getting to revisit it — not only the original film but also the musical version onstage in this new way — has been really exciting now as an adult.' For the role of Quasimodo Giles cast Andres DeLeon of Plainfield. 'His vocal ability is so strong,' the director said. 'All of the Quasimodo material is quite difficult and he's really able to execute it at such a high level. That allowed us the opportunity to focus on the character work. He's been such a pleasure to work with.' DeLeon said that his character is experiencing everything for the first time in this show. 'He just wants to be happy,' DeLeon said. 'For a lot of his life, he's had to trust Frollo, his protector.' Quasimodo has to believe that Frollo has his best interests at heart and that his protector is accurately describing the world that exists outside of Quasimodo's tower, the actor indicated. The bellringer has to learn that 'He can make a choice for himself,' DeLeon related. 'He can trust himself.' The biggest challenge of the role for DeLeon is the physicality, he reported. That includes focusing on 'the way he moves' and also the way that the character communicates because he has lost some of his hearing from living in the belltower. DeLeon noted that this is his first principal role — and a large one. He said that he is enjoying the opportunity to create a complete character for himself. To prepare for this part, DeLeon listened to an audiobook of the Victor Hugo novel. He already knew the Disney film. When you watch the movie, the performer said, you realize that Quasimodo 'has to find joy. He has to create his own happiness when he's alone.' Naperville native Rachel Carreras plays Esmeralda. 'Rachel came in and blew us all away with her vocal ability,' Giles said. 'And working through some of the acting portions of her audition, she found a great balance of honoring the source material and still giving us that Disney princess-like character but also finding a lot of strength, a lot of vulnerability, a lot of power in how she's interpreting Esmeralda.' Carreras said that 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' has always been one of her favorite movies and that Esmeralda is her dream role. 'This is my sixth time being called back for this role,' she said. 'I finally get to play it. I am very honored.' The actor described Esmeralda as 'a fighter for the people. She is a justice-seeker. She is kind, she is empathetic, and she's also not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She's so strong, so resilient. She's an incredible character.' Supporting her people makes her happy, Carreras said. Frollo is her constant obstacle in that goal. Carreras said that she relates strongly to her character because she also 'always wants to love people and meet them where they're at and not have judgment.' Director Giles observed that the story of The Hunchback 'couldn't be more relevant today, even though it takes place many, many, many years ago. It really explores that idea of otherness and what it means to be an 'other.' Everyone will be able to identify with a piece of the story in some way.' Actor Carreras concurred, saying, 'The story could have been written this morning. It is so relevant to what we're going through every day in America. Why is there so much hate just for being different?' Performances of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Concert' are 7:30 p.m. March 28-29 and 2 p.m. March 29-30. Tickets are $33-$48. For reservations, visit
