Esquire November 2014

PAGE 124 THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE … is Penélope Cruz. But first, the bullfights. BY CHRIS JONES PAGE 118 WHAT I'VE LEARNED: TONY BENNETT "I'm eighty-eight—I have an awful lot to learn." INTERVIEWED BY CAL FUSSMAN PAGE 162 ESQUIRE STYLE Four up-and-coming directors show off the best new topcoats for winter—and how to wear them. PAGE 136 OUR LIVES ARE HELL What has gone wrong? A candid conversation with 90 members of Congress. BY MARK WARREN PAGE 143 HOW TO FIX IT We convened four legendary congressional leaders—the Commission to Fix Congress—and charged them to come up with a plan. BY RICHARD DORMENT PAGE 150 IF NOT HILLARY, WHO? The problem for Democrats. BY CHARLES P. PIERCE PAGE 156 AIKEN FOR CONGRESS "The minute I sing, I'm a punchline.…

Taylor Swift Raab meets the singer-songwriter for breakfast in downtown Manhattan a few days before her massive-hit single "Shake It Off" is released. She's coming from a promotional photo shoot for it, and after breakfast she'll head to L. A. to rehearse for the Video Music Awards later this afternoon. Her publicity manager and two bodyguards are seated at a table nearby. For Swift: scrambled eggs, no coffee. SCOTT RAAB: It's 8:30 A.M. and you've already been working for two hours? TAYLOR SWIFT: We were at the Empire State Buildingbecause we're shooting for the livestream on Monday. There will be a wide helicopter camera shot on the Empire State Building, and I will be up on the top platform waving. It's so exciting to unveil who you've been for the…

Books Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin By David Ritz The first time I heard Aretha Franklin, I was 15 years old. "Respect" was the song. This was in 1967, in Cleveland, where the hippest AM radio came out of Windsor, Ontario, by way of Detroit—CKLW: 50,000 clear-channel watts of light and love. Soul music. I had been listening, but I'd never heard anything like her voice. Nobody had: There was nothing like it. "Respect" was Otis Redding's song until Aretha took it and owned it. I didn't know jack shit about its roots—didn't know Berry Gordy from Bear Bryant—but I had a soul, and I felt the furious, purifying joy wrought by her immortal voice. That nectar did not come easy. David Ritz's new biography of Franklin, Respect (Little,…

Even if you like to drink cocktails, you can live a long, happy life without knowing how to mix them. That's why God gave us bartenders after all. But if you want to mix your own drinks, it's better to learn how to do it well than to cowboy it and hope things turn out okay. It helps that the techniques are easy: What makes top bartenders great isn't that they're better at mixing drinks but that they're better at mixing people—at managing crowds and so forth. But you don't have to worry about that, and after making a few drinks using these techniques, you won't have to worry about mixing drinks, either. Twist It isn't mere garnish. For manhattans, martinis, and their ilk, it's an integral part of the…

I said, "Waiter, I asked for a-ROMATIC duck." ABOUT THE JOKESTER: grew up running track in Zimbabwe. Now the 36-year-old actress and playwright runs from (and occasionally at) zombies as Michonne on AMC's The Walking Dead (now in its fifth season). Playing the "walker" slayer, she has inspired a devoted fan base—at least four Walking Dead enthusiasts have gotten Michonne tattoos, which Gurira charitably describes as "great likenesses." Good thing she approves, because if her badass alter ego is any indication, this is not a woman to mess with. Even Michonne's katana—which Gurira calls "pretty girl"—gets a little edgy around her. "She definitely fears me," Gurira says. "But I make sure to treat her like a lady." Advice we recommend you apply to sword and swordswoman. —R. J. VOGT Esquire…

I'm surprised that you're only now hearing of poppers, because they really are your father's designer drug. Oh, yes, your dad was legendary on them. Poppers belong to a class of chemicals called alkyl nitrites, which are renowned for angina and meat preservation. They are sold legally in the U. S. as video-head cleaners, for those dirty video heads you've been meaning to clean, and shipped in discreet packaging that doesn't have Rush, Ram, Blue Boy, or any other brand name written on it. Effects of the drug include relaxation of the blood vessels and anus, elevated heart rate, and, according to alkyl-nitrites expert Ronald W. Wood, "dilation of your peripheral vasculature." (And if you've ever had your peripheral vasculature dilated, you know what he means.) Wood also speaks of…