Governor David Paterson turns 55 today. Cher is 63. Newsweek editor Jon Meacham is turning 40. NBC chief legal correspondent Dan Abrams is turning 43. Busta Rhymes is 37. The Food Network's Ted Allen is 44. Interior designer Stephen Sills turns 58. Joe Cocker is 65. Ron Reagan, the son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, is 51. Former Yankee David Wells turns 46. And Cindy McCain is turning 55 today.
• Paris Hilton's reps have been asking event planners in Cannes for $100,000 appearance fees. Sadly, Paris isn't having much luck getting them to go along since, well, "it's not 2002." [P6]
• Sarah Jessica Parker says she's worried about the health of the surrogate mom carrying her twins, since tabloid reporters have been harassing the poor girl and trying to hack into her computer. [People, LAT]
• A documentary about Amy Winehouse is reportedly in the works. Should be entertaining! [People]
• Katie Holmes showed up with Suri at last night's American Idol finale. This is good news since it means Tom finally let her out of the house. [Us]
• Mayor Bloomberg will be joined at City Hall tomorrow by Anna Wintour, Vera Wang, and Macy's chief Terry Lundgren to announce an event called Fashion's Night Out. As part of the Sept. 10 extravaganza, stores across town will stay open until midnight and host parties that will—gasp!—be open to the public. [NYT]
• Anna has a busy day tomorrow. In addition to the City Hall thing, she'll also be at Columbia to attend Bee Shaffer's graduation. [Fashionologie]
• The fashion, parties, and sheer stupidity you're missing at the Cannes Film Festival at the moment. [NYT, WWD]
• Michelle wore an Alaïa dress and Thakoon jacket to last night's ABT gala. [AP]
• You may want to try haggling the next time you're at Lord & Taylor. [NYM]
• Burberry backed away from its signature plaid a few years ago over concerns it was way too overexposed. But now they're bringing it back. [WSJ]
• Victoria Beckham is a big fan of the Birkin bag. She has 100 of them. [P6]
• Water Taxi Beach opens at the South Street Seaport this weekend. [GS]
• Danny Meyer has decided against bidding on Tavern on the Green's lease. But Seth Greenberg and Dean Poll are still in the running. [NYP]
• Alan Richman's list of "the 25 best pizzas you'll ever eat" is online. [GQ]
• A drug racket that served up Ecstasy, Special K, and GHB to clubgoers at places like Pacha and Mansion has been broken up by the cops. [NYDN]
• A look around The Brooklyn Star, Joaquin Baca's new restaurant. [Eater]
• An amusing chat with Chris Santos, chef/owner of Stanton Social. [Decider]
• Be on alert: Starbucks biggest marketing campaign ever is underway. [NYT]
Were you aware that an eleventh-grader is running for New York City Council? It's not a joke nor is it part of an elaborate reality TV prank (although the eleventh-grader in question did catch an early break when he appeared on Ice-T's Rap School back when he was an eighth-grader.) Dodge Landesman really is hoping to win, and he's already lined up support from restaurateur Danny Meyer and actress Julianne Moore, according to The New Yorker's Ben McGrath. (This is probably a good moment to mention that his dad is mega-producer Rocco Landesman, one of the most powerful men on Broadway, and, as of last week, President Obama's choice to lead the NEA.) Dodge will only be on the ballot for voters who live in the second district, which encompasses Kips Bay, Gramercy, and part of the Lower East Side. (Until he moves on to higher office, at least.) But even if you can't vote for him, you should still head over to The New Yorker website to see this video of him in action. Words alone cannot begin to explain. [New Yorker]
The Hamptons real estate market really sucks at the moment, as you may have heard. According to stats guru Jonathan Miller, the number of unsold homes on the East End rose 15 percent during the first quarter while the median price of a house dropped 23.5 percent compared to a year earlier. One brokerage firm reports that sales of Hamptons homes have plunged by 67 percent during the first three months of 2009. But Michael Daly, the founder of North Haven's True North Realty, is keeping it all in perspective:
St. David's isn't the only private school in the city closing on account of swine flu. Horace Mann is closing for the rest of the week and will reopen after Memorial Day. Not that any of the kids there actually have the virus. But as anxious, obsessive Horace Mann students will no doubt appreciate, the school just wants to play it really, really safe. [Bloomberg]
It was more than year and a half ago that Paramount chief Brad Grey was served with divorce papers by his wife of 25 years, Jill Grey. The case finally wrapped up last week when the two sides reached a settlement. Just how much Jill walked away with wasn't disclosed in the court docs. Judging by her signature, though, it's safe to assume she did just fine. [TMZ]
A downtown magazine is looking for you. Provided, that is, you've been in a coma for the past year, you just woke up, but you haven't had the time to catch up on the news yet. Per the casting call notice:
• How are things going at the Cannes Film Festival? It depends on who you talk to. The Journal says it's been "conspicuously less frenzied" and business has been "slow." The Hollywood Reporter says it's beating expectations and "doomsayers" have been "proven wrong." Take your pick. [WSJ, THR]
• NBC is dropping Medium and My Name Is Earl for the fall, but bringing back Chuck. It's also renewed Law & Order for a 20th season. [NYT, AP, NYT]
• What can you expect on ABC this fall? More Dancing With the Stars. [THR]
• CBS is ditching Without A Trace, but has renewed Numb3rs. [EW]
• Time Warner Cable is dropping HDNet and HDNet Movies as May 31. [MC]
The big topic of discussion at the Brooke Astor trial today: dog poop. Was there really feces on the floor of Astor's apartment? Was her son, Anthony Marshall, somehow responsible? Or was one of Astor's many housekeepers to blame? And will the jury get to hear this vital piece of info? Apparently not. "It would seem to me the transient conditions of the apartment—I would include in that dog feces—would be a problem of the staff," the judge said today. [NYDN]
Former Lehman chief Dick Fuld may have been willing to hand over his luxe Florida home to his wife for $100, but he's looking for a little bit more from the sale of his Park Avenue apartment. Fuld purchased the 6,200-square-foot co-op at 640 Park in 2006 for $21 million. Now rumor has it he's looking to exit the building and has tapped Kathryn Steinberg of Edward Lee Cave to handle the sale. And he'd like to make a eight-figure profit on the deal, too.
Ezra Merkin, the money manager who plowed more than $2.4 billion of his clients' cash into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, will now need to find a new occupation to keep him busy. He's agreed to turn over his three hedge funds to a liquidator at the "request" of Andrew Cuomo. As you may recall, the attorney general filed suit against the disgraced financier last month; Merkin is also contending with suits by about half a dozen of his investors, including Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who lost $15 million, and NYU, which lost $24 million in Merkin's Ariel hedge fund. On a more positive note, Merkin remains the frontrunner to take over as president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue when the board convenes tomorrow! And if he decides to leave finance and go into journalism, he has a fantastic connection to help him get a foot in the door. Plus the Post has a new photo of him wearing a super-cool hat, so he's got that going for him, too, which is nice. [NYT]
Anne Hathaway walking downtown with boyfriend Adam Shulman ... Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel holding hands on the street ... Christian Bale getting out of an SUV in Midtown ... Rihanna leaving a recording studio in Chelsea ... Michelle Williams walking in Brooklyn with mom Carla and daughter Matilda ... Josh Hartnett picking something out of his teeth on a Soho sidewalk ... Eliza Dushku walking in Midtown ... Rick Fox leaving his hotel ... Naomi Watts walking to the set of Fair Game in the meatpacking district ... Simon Baker talking on his cell phone ... Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt sitting in a limo outside their hotel ... and Kiefer Sutherland waving to photographers.
These are difficult times for the LeRoy clan, the family that controls Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The 20-year lease on the fabled restaurant expires at the end of the year and Jennifer Oz LeRoy, the daughter of the late restaurant impresario Warner LeRoy, has been fighting to hold on to the venue. (More than 100 other parties have expressed interest in taking over the lease, although several of the biggest names—such as Danny Meyer—have since dropped out.) Now the LeRoy family has another headache to contend with.
• Guy Metcalfe, co-head of Morgan Stanley's real estate investment banking group, has finally unloaded his second-floor apartment at 15 CPW, which he purchased for $9.35 million in October and re-listed for $16.5 million a mere two weeks later. Metcalfe was forced to drop the price twice before eventually going into contract to sell the apartment in February. Now it's a done deal: The 3,822-square-foot pad has sold for $11 million. [Cityfile]
• Former UBS executive Ramesh Singh is willing to do just about anything to part ways with his duplex at 823 Park Avenue. He just chopped the price for the fourth time since putting it on the market last August, three months after he and wife Farida Khan paid $20 million for the 7,234-square-foot spread. The apartment, which started off at $24.75 million and was dropped to $21.75 million in October, was lowered to $19.95 million in February and then to $16.750 million in March. It's now priced at $14.5 million, or $5.5 million less than the couple paid for it. Ouch indeed. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
Swine flu has landed on the Upper East Side. At least that's what health officials are suspecting after St. David's, the private, all-boys school on East 89th Street, reported that 12 percent of the student body had suddenly fallen ill. None of the kids have actually tested positive for the virus yet. But the school has decided to suspend classes as a precaution. So either swine flu has been traveling up and down the hallways of St. David's in recent weeks (but not to nearby Sacred Heart, with which St. David's shares a gym). Or the boys have come up with the smartest idea ever to guarantee themselves a really long weekend just as the weather starts to get really nice. If you spot lots more high schoolers in the Hamptons this weekend, presumably you'll have your answer. [WSS, NYP]
Author, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron turns 68 today. PBS NewsHour host Jim Lehrer is 75. British model Lily Cole is 21. Oxygen co-founder Gerry Laybourne is turning 62. Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett is turning turns 33. Pete Townshend of The Who is 64. And Grace Jones celebrates her 61st birthday today.
• Alex Rodriguez has a new, more age-appropriate celeb to spend his lonely nights with. The Yankee was spotted with Kate Hudson at a UES restaurant and outside 15 Central Park West, the apartment building where he rents. And they seem happy, too, which may be because she doesn't force him to wake up early on Saturday mornings to attend Kabbalah classes. [P6]
• Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow are reportedly butting heads on the set of Iron Man 2. Gwynnie is supposedly mad that Scarlett's been "hogging the limelight" and demanding too much attention from the crew. [Sun]
• It looks like Mel Gibson's new girlfriend is pregnant, after all. [MSNBC, P6]
• Estée Lauder CEO William Lauder and his wife Karen have split up. [P6]
• Penelope Cruz missed a scheduled appearance with Harvey Weinstein in Cannes this week because of food poisoning, although Harvey says she's expected to recover in time for the premiere of their new movie tonight. [Us]
