Toronto’s well heeled celebrated The Obamas author Jodi Kantor at Victoria Webster’s Rosedale home
Gabe Gonda, Jodi Kantor and Victoria Webster have a party for The Obamas (Image: Tom Sandler)
Fabulous Rosedale homes are meant for more than just real estate porn and housing Toronto’s aristocracy—they also provide a great backdrop for parties. Toronto Life contributor Victoria Webster and her husband, Gabe Gonda, weekend editor at the Globe and Mail, opened their home Friday evening to New York Times correspondent and The Obamas author Jodi Kantor. Complete with a question-and-answer period, libations and a book signing, this party was a proper toast among friends. Find out what Kantor had to say about Michelle Obama and who took his shoes off (when no one else did) after the jump.
Friends attending the fete included our own editor-in-chief, Sarah Fulford (who had interviewed Kantor at the Toronto Reference Library the night prior), Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda (who removed his shoes), Zoomer’ s Suzanne Boyd, Suzanne Cohon and her CFL-commissioner husband, Mark (the couple live across the street), author John Ralston Saul (he’s also Adrienne Clarkson’ s husband), Victoria Jackman, Ben Mulroney, Nancy Lockhart, Murray Frum and more.
Naturally, they were all there for Kantor, and the intrepid reporter didn’t disappoint. Her book, you see, is not without controversy. Michelle Obama herself cast aspersions on the biography on CBS, though other outlets, including the Washington Post, call the complaints unjustified. For her part, Kantor kept mum on the brouhaha, simply noting that Michelle was more likely reacting to the media’s reaction to the book than to the book itself (her message to Mrs. President: “If she doesn’t want to read the book, she shouldn’t read the book”). Kantor was graceful throughout the Q and A, and she even appeared attentive as we listened to Saul boast that he knew Barack Obama would be president one day after sitting on a panel with him prior to his election. We also overheard Kantor say the best experiences of her tour were Friday night’s party and having her honour defended by Jon Stewart (bless—we love The Daily Show). Of course, party conversation shouldn’t be limited to politics, so we enjoyed listening in as Mulroney commented on gossip columnist Shinan Govani’ s greying five o’clock shadow. Sadly, there were no fist bumps to report.
113539 Obama cookies: coming to a supermarket near you (but not really)(Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-15-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-15.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-15.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-15/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-15 0 0
113540 Jaime Wyatt, head of consulting firm Navigator, and Morgan Stanley Canada CEO Dougal Macdonald (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-14-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-14.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-14.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-14/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-14 0 0
113541 Taylor Thomson and <em>Toronto Life</em> contributor Victoria Webster (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-13-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-13.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-13.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-13/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-13 0 0
113542 The woman of the hour: Jodi Kantor (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-11-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-11.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-11.jpg 624 938 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-11/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-11 0 0
113543 HarperCollins Canada’s Jennifer Lambert, Munk Debates host Rudyard Griffiths, Nancy Lockhart and <em>Globe</em> editor Gabe Gonda (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-webster-9-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-webster-9.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-webster-9.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-9/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-9 0 0
113544 CFL commissioner Mark Cohon and PR firm owner Suzanne Cohon (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-8-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-8.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-At-Victoria-Webster-8.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-8/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-8 0 0
113545 Nancy Lockhart and Jodi Kantor (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster-7-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster-7.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster-7.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-7/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-7 0 0
113546 The checked jacket club is very exclusive. Author John Ralston Saul, financier (and peacock) Joe Schlesinger and philanthropist Murray Frum (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-6-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-6.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-6.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-6/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-6 0 0
113547 Jackman Foundation for the Arts’ Victoria Jackman, Access Storage owner Steve Scott and former derivatives trader Robyn Scott (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-5-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-5.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-5.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-5/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-5 0 0
113548 Francesca Grosso, Steve Paikin and Ben Mulroney <br />
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Ben Mulroney: “Can we talk about why Paikin isn’t wearing shoes right now?” (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-3-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-3.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-3.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-3/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-3 0 0
113549 Gabe Gonda, Jodi Kantor and Victoria Webster (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-2-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-2.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-party-at-victoria-webster-2.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster-2/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster-2 0 0
113550 Colette van den Tillaart and Barbara Macdonald caught discussing their book club. (Image: Tom Sandler) Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em> https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Obama-Party-at-Victoria-Webster.jpg 624 415 [] https://torontolife.com/city/jodi-kantor-the-obamas-party/slide/obama-party-at-victoria-webster/ obama-party-at-victoria-webster 0 0
ONLY THE ROSEDALE RICH WOULD ENTERTAIN SUCH TRASH AS THEY HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO. WHATEVER. I RATHER WATCH PIERS MORGAN INTERVIEW OF THIS DEAD BEAT TRYING TO MAKE A PROFIT OFF A HEAR SAY BOOK.
What’s with the backdrop wall paper. Could’nt afford an artist painter? And frames on top of that. Yeewww!!