Party's over!

August 25-31, 2005
Political Notebook by Mary F. Patel
Philadelphia City Paper
http://citypaper.net/articles/current/polnote.shtml

The Party's Over

Media types attending last Thursday's Media Bistro party at Marathon Grill were stunned when host Bobbi Booker announced her resignation. Booker, a journalist, blogger, radio personality and literary consultant, has hosted Media Bistro events around town for the past two years.
That night, Bistro foundress Laurel Touby came down from New York and mingled with guests while the journos drank, kibitzed and listened to local novelist Meredith Broussard. After Broussard finished reading from her soon-to-be-released book The Encyclopedia of Exes, Touby introduced Booker as a former Inquirer reporter instead of a former Tribune reporter. Booker corrected her, thanked everyone for coming and then said she would no longer be hosting Bistro.
Questions of "Did she just quit? What was that about?" buzzed through the room.
Booker told Touby that she no longer wanted to be affiliated with such a "moronic" individual who exhibited such a lack of leadership. The relationship turned sour last May when Booker said Touby and her staff arranged for New York literary agent Larry Weissman to be a speaker and to bring along the three Philadelphia magazine writers — Sasha Issenberg, Jason Fagone and Benjamin Wallace — for whom he secured book deals. (Booker said Touby never told her of those plans). The Weissman appearance never happened, but Booker felt slighted that Touby was trying to micromanage. Booker also claimed Touby wouldn't give her a budget for the events.
"I spent a lot of time, for free, looking for venues for these events," said Booker. "The New York office has an event planner to help them. I am always looking for a deal, some comp drinks, food, to make folks happy."
The kicker for Booker was when Touby flubbed her bio.
"I was crying after what she said to me," said Touby from Los Angeles, claiming she messed up the introduction because she was nervous. "I respect Bobbi and I just don't understand what happened. I am sorry about Larry, I just forgot to tell Bobbi, but I thought it would be a good event for Philly. And, if she needed help in finding a venue, we would have helped but we thought she enjoyed doing it."
Touby is a savvy businesswoman who began Media Bistro in 1993 in New York as a way for journalists to gather. Her Media Bistro Web site is a large marketplace for jobs, news and classes. With parties in numerous cities, Touby says she attends close to 200 events a year. (Hosts in each city work for free.)
Touby, who says the Web site is "not a job board," has a no-networking policy at her parties, which sounds odd. (Why else do they go?)
The outgoing Booker has expanded the Philly Bistro scene and has recruited a cadre of minority journalists and guests, such as noted writer Touré. While Booker said she plans to continue hosting her own gatherings, Touby is looking for a new Philly host and plans to bring Weissman here in October, "even if I have to host it myself."