Bill's night on the town

Last night, Bill was hitting all the hot spots. He started out the evening praising Billie Jean King in a ceremony before the final women's tennis match at the Billie Jean King Cup in Madison Square Garden. He introduced King as the person who "has probably done more than anyone in the world to empower women and educate men." Nice one, Bill!

Then he headed over to the New York Academy of Art's annual Tribeca Ball. Apparently, it was downright shocking to everyone else at the ball when later in the evening, the former president walked in the door.

“I just finished a thing at Madison Square Garden with Billie Jean King and I got invited by Eileen Guggenheim and I had some time, so I thought I’d swing by afterwards,” was how Clinton put it.

He also gave a mouthful to a New York Magazine writer, Jada Yuam. They asked the president if he himself had any artistic talents. “Most people would say no,” he said and laughed.

“But I’m very interested. I’ve been reading a lot about people who took up painting in later life. Hillary and I actually have two paintings at home from Tony Bennett, who is a good friend. Winston Churchill was a very good painter. Did you know that? Eisenhower, too — but not as good as Churchill. So I’ve been making a list of all the things I want to do now that I’m full-time philanthropy, and painting is one of them. I just haven’t started yet.”

At that point, a crowd of people swarmed upon Clinton, who of course, shook hands, took photos and basked in the attention. Within minutes, though, he began to make his exit before he turned back to chat a bit more about art.

I could just imagine this! He said, “You know, in all my years of interviews, no one has asked me about my artistic skills. They saved all my doodles from the White House. I do know that," he added. "I used to doodle during all the White House meetings and someone thought they were worth saving. Maybe they weren’t bad!”

He was asked whether this interest in painting meant he was hoping to follow in other Churchillian footsteps. “I don’t know about that,” Clinton laughed.

“No. See, they’ve now learned that one of the best ways to stave off Alzheimer’s is to do new things. Studies are showing that you can form new neural networks into your 70s as long as you do something new. So if I were a nuclear physicist, the best way for me to keep from losing my memory is not to work on five physics equations a day, but to learn beginning Spanish! I promised Hillary I’d make a list of all the new things I could do. Painting is one of them.”

Apparently Hillary doesn't want Bill losing his memory! Anything else on the list, he was again asked? “Learn Spanish.” Me amo Bill Clinton! :)

Wow, what a great night! I would of just loved to be in that gallery!

Other famous faces in attendance were Justin Timberlake, Leiv Schriber, Jason Wu, and André Balazs. But really... does any man compare to Bill Clinton? I don't think so.

Also, I second everything Yuan said in her NY Mag article. Bill Clinton is magic. When I met him for the first time, he sauntered over to me like a cougar. I was paralyzed for minutes. Than man is ridiculous!