“Callas” being opera singer Maria Callas, and “Lenny” referring to Bernstein, the who’s-who title of writer and artist John Gruen’s Callas Kissed Me…Lenny Too! only hints at the star power within his chronicle of a life spent at the top of the New York art scene. Gruen, who was the chief art critic for New York, culture reporter for the New York Times, and an arts columnist for Vogue, counted Willem de Kooning, Judy Garland, Jasper Johns, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Rauschenberg among his friends. His book tells of a childhood escape from Nazi Germany to Iowa, where he took art classes to impress a pretty girl who later became his wife, artist Jane Wilson. After writing 15 books about artists, dancers, and other creative minds, Gruen turned to an autobiography, which addresses fraught parental relationships and his sexuality in between tales of Warhol Superstars and run-ins with Salvador Dalí. Gruen speaks at 7 p.m. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW. $20. (202) 639-1770. —Maura Judkis