Forbidden Sacramental Wine and Madonna of the Hamptons

Katherine Mangu-Ward | May 28, 2008

The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, and fancy galleries in the Hamptons are debuting photo exhibits featuring Madonna half-naked with a riding crop. Ah, spring.

And what would go better with the aforementioned photo than a glass of vino and a cheese tray? Absolutely nothing, thought 67-year-old Vered Gallery owner Ruth Kalb. The East Hampton police thought otherwise, dropping in for a routine inspection, liquor confiscation, and a good handcuffing. (No, not by Madonna.)

"It's going to take a lot more than that for me to stop doing what I'm doing," [gallery owner Ruth Kalb] told The New York Post.

Like everyone's favorite Mennonite raw milk rebel, Kalb could have gotten a permit, but didn't, and doesn't think she has anything to apologize for.

There a nice snooty weekend home Jets and Sharks aspect to the story as well, with the Southampton cops talking trash about the East Hampton cops' overreaction.

Read more under the New York Postalicious headline "Booze & Hisses."

Via reason contributor Todd Seavey, who writes that this is the kind of incident that "should just cut across ideological divides and unite everyone not simply in thinking 'That sounds excessive' but in thinking 'Government is complete bullshit, and we were not born to be slaves to these uniform-wearing goons.'"

Comments

The Wine Commonsewer|5.28.08 @ 11:03AM|#

Yes government is bullshit and five bucks says that Kalb would be just fine with the idea that the local MBZ dealer must have permits and licenses and okays from Consumer Affairs. Bet she's okay with unannounced visits to her fave eatery by the Health Dept as well.

Besides, anybody that displays photos of Madonna half naked ought to be jailed. :-)

Elemenope|5.28.08 @ 11:09AM|#

There a nice snooty weekend home Jets and Sharks aspect to the story as well, with the Southampton cops talking trash about the East Hampton cops' overreaction.

When *cops* call you jack-booted thugs, chances are...

Rimfax|5.28.08 @ 11:12AM|#

I'm sure that Bob Barr will tell us all about how this woman deserves none of this coverage because she's no hero and she served wine in violation of our democratically passed laws and that we should just leave the process to do it's thing. (No, I'm not still raw over my disagreement with Ayn "champ" Randian. Why do you ask?)

|5.28.08 @ 11:16AM|#

I think most people are in the "It's a little excessive, but she was breaking the law" camp.

|5.28.08 @ 11:21AM|#

Unjust law is no law at all.

LarryA|5.28.08 @ 11:26AM|#

But if you don't make these artsy galleries get a license before they serve alcohol, pretty soon people will be coming in with guns, and smoking tobacco, and...

Slippery slope, people. Slippery slope!

|5.28.08 @ 11:34AM|#

OMG
I went to an art gallery that had wine and cheese too, and I bet they didn't have a license either. Am I an accessory to a crime?

BakedPenguin|5.28.08 @ 11:35AM|#

Where do we get our permits for the First Amendment, anyway?

|5.28.08 @ 11:37AM|#

Can I just say that I'm a little creeped out by Madonna's back in that picture? It looks a little too much like an anatomy textbook illustration to me.

|5.28.08 @ 11:37AM|#

Besides, anybody that displays photos of Madonna half naked ought to be jailed. :-)

Not when she's looking like a smokin' sexy fitness machine like in that pic.

Mike Laursen|5.28.08 @ 11:47AM|#

I went to an art gallery that had wine and cheese too, and I bet they didn't have a license either. Am I an accessory to a crime?

It depends. How good are you at looking victimized?

Quibble|5.28.08 @ 12:07PM|#

No, I'm not still raw over my disagreement with Ayn "champ" Randian. Why do you ask?

Stop being a whiny crybaby and get behind whatever loathsome creep your elite LP leadership tells you to support. How else will you ever be free?

Nose|5.28.08 @ 12:13PM|#

When those two bike cops first approached Kalb's gallery, they were chased away, he said

Chased away by an art gallery crowd? East Hampton should start looking for some better jackbooted thugs.

|5.28.08 @ 12:19PM|#

Chased away by an art gallery crowd? East Hampton should start looking for some better jackbooted thugs.

I dunno... that Kalb woman looks pretty creepy. If you're on a bike, and that thing comes after you, yelling... yeesh.

|5.28.08 @ 1:10PM|#

How many Hamptons are there, anyway?

Yes government is bullshit and five bucks says that Kalb would be just fine with the idea that the local MBZ dealer must have permits and licenses and okays from Consumer Affairs. Bet she's okay with unannounced visits to her fave eatery by the Health Dept as well.

I'm sure that's the crux of the matter, right there. Snob towns are usually the most over-regulated.

Franklin Harris|5.28.08 @ 1:28PM|#

East Hampton should start looking for some better jackbooted thugs.

Doesn't Madonna's own fashion sense kinda favor jackboots?

|5.28.08 @ 2:07PM|#

OMG! What a horrible liberal progressive Kalb is! She might try to fool us with trendy galleries and "nude art", but we know better. She is a dangerous rebel. Day it's wine without a permit, but tomorrow it will be non-organic arugula, and the day after transfat donuts.

The Wine Commonsewer|5.28.08 @ 3:28PM|#

Not when she's looking like a smokin' sexy fitness machine like in that pic.

You can have my share of Madonna. Don't say I never gave ya nothin'

:-)

DJ Voton|5.28.08 @ 7:07PM|#

I dunno... that Kalb woman looks pretty creepy.
I think she looks pretty damn good for 67.