As a Way of Being in the World, to Be Cool Is to Be a Fascinating Asshole

Cool seems to be a phenomenon located mainly between the end of Hitler’s war and the beginning of Kurt Cobain’s band.

Ah, Glenn O’Brien, requiescat in pace. Any eulogy for a man such as he was will inevitably go astray if it begins, “perhaps best known for” -- what? O’Brien went to Catholic school, then Georgetown, then film school at Columbia. He was the first editor at Andy Warhol’s Interview. There was a screenplay here and a television show there, a decade of columns for ArtForum. He wrote for High Times and Rolling Stone; he did…