• First Britney Spears' guests whispered behind her back about how she looked "vacant" and "out of it" at her big birthday party. Then the singer's ex Kevin Federline told People that Spears' craziness had him "concerned with my children," whose well-being he felt compelled to fight for via custody battle when Spears "went behind my back" and filed for divorce, leaving him "completely blindsided." Finally, her first husband was thrown in jail.

The New York iteration of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its opening last night with a party in the new SoHo space. Attendees like Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and Theodora Richards (left) mingled with Taylor Momsen, Molly Sims, Matthew Modine, Ciara, David Foote, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Liz Lange, and Ryan Locke, listened to performances by Debbie Harry and Dave Mason, and inked their names on a plywood wall. [Paper, Wireimage, PMc, GoaG]

Former MSNBC host-turned PR employer of media people Dan Abrams has sent us a response to our coverage of his project, in which we pointed out that being a journalist and a corporate consultant at the same time is a conflict of interest. You can judge it for yourself, but we should note that, 1: If media reporters gave free passes to all friends and/ or former colleagues, media reporting would be even worse than it is now, and 2: Like we said, we're not allowed to sell out until after we've been laid off. Permanently. Here's his full note:

Former MSNBC host Dan Abrams is a popular guy, because it's been rumored that he has jobs to give out. Abrams, you'll recall, is starting a ridiculous, conflict-of-interest-riddled PR firm that will distinguish itself by selling corporate clients (or just moguls) the advice of current journalists, bloggers, and other media types. The Observer spoke to Abrams, and he says he's gotten 650 applications already—"the bulk of whom are freelance journalists, people who are writing books and individuals who have recently been laid off or walked away from jobs in the media industry." Are we missing something here? The whole reason that people got upset about Abrams' business plan in the first place is that he says he's going to offer the consulting services of current, not former, media people. Former journalists work for damn near every PR firm in America. That's nothing new. Here's Abrams' offended quote today:

Former MSNBC guy Dan Abrams seems to have noticed that his plan to start a PR firm made up of actively employed members of the media who will sell their consulting services to corporate clients is causing some uproar among people who believe that it would be a blatant conflict of interest for any journalist to be part of it. Which should include you, and anyone else who doesn't think members of the media should take outside pay for PR work. Abrams and his cohort in the project, former HuffPo media critic Rachel Sklar, offered long defenses of the idea to Daily Intel. Let's do some critical analysis, shall we?

♦ Time Inc. is slashing another 250 jobs. [NYP]
♦ CNN is spending a fortune on fancy-shmancy technology and new talent, but it's making a mint, too: The network is recording double-digit profit growth for the fifth straight year. [NYO]
♦ Dan Abrams is starting some sort of research firm/expert network/PR agency now that he's been replaced by Rachel Maddow at MSNBC. His first client is Ron Perelman. [NYT]
♦ 60 Minutes has been the most-watched program in the nation for the last two weeks, believe it or not. [NYT]

So, former MSNBC guy Dan Abrams is starting a "consulting" firm full of random media people to give advice to rich corporate clients about how to handle media-related issues. Do you know what that's called? It's called a PR firm. But this PR firm would never call itself that, because that would make the media people it employs sound corrupt. The thing is, this firm's business plan is so annoying that the rest of the media (us) is going to cover its clients even harder to make up for it. For example! Abrams' first client is billionaire Ron Perelman. Now why would Ron Perelman need to worry about his reputation?

Last year the SEC and New York attorney general's office opened investigations related to a novel business: a company that hired as "consultants" moonlighting workers with access to proprietary information of interest to hedge funds. Ethical questions will also be asked about the network of insider media consultants Dan Abrams has assembled after Rachel Maddow took the Elle Macpherson-dater's MSNBC slot. With advisors like former Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller, ex-Huffington Post writer Rachel Sklar and Lockhart Steele, once of Gawker Media, Abrams Research is meant to be simply a "mock jury of bloggers, TV personalities and newspaper or magazine editors," the Wall Street Journal reports. But it could get so much more thorny than that.

• Apparently Courtney Love said something about being suicidal amid her 60 (!!) blog posts Sunday but she also said her mood was "pirate" (good, right??) and that "ebaz and mj dresses saved my life." Also putting on a dress made her feel pretty. Also: "Dada, circus."

♦ Is Kate Hudson trying to steal Alex Rodriguez away from Madonna? She was spotted with her "arms completely wrapped around" him at a party in Miami this weekend. But she might just be trying to steal Jason Statham away from his girlfriend, since the two were seen downing dirty martinis together. [NYDN, P6]
♦ A PETA activist pelted Lindsay Lohan with a bag of flour at an event in Paris on Saturday. Sam Ronson responded by dissing the activist on MySpace: "My dog is far more civilized than that person." [People]
♦ Kanye West was arrested in London on Friday after an altercation with a photographer. Now he's suggesting the entire episode was "bogus," and has upset some Brits by comparing himself to Princess Di. [People, The Sun]
♦ Sarah Palin may collect a $7 million advance if she writes a book. [MSNBC]

Lucky hosted its fifth annual "Lucky Shops" last night inside the Metropolitan Pavilion. Lucky editor Kim France and publisher Gina Sanders welcomed Leighton Meester, Jessica Szohr, Georgina Chapman, Katrina Bowden, Alexandra Richards, Charlotte Ronson, Thalia, Beverly Johnson, Ginny Barber, and Michaela McManus, who all did a little shopping to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation. [The Daily, PMc, Wireimage]

New York magazine expanded on the legend of MSNBC hotshot Rachel Maddow, revealing her further as a sharp scholar ("I still send students to [her] thesis as a model," says a Stanford professor), unabashed bleeding heart (spending nights "worrying about nuclear proliferation and the Fourth Amendment ") and refreshingly down-to-earth television personality ("There is nothing funnier than a fart"). It also broke the news that the Rachel Maddow Show host now, at long last, owns a television! But then the profile reminded us Maddow got her slot at the expense of a guy in a long-running feud with her advocate Keith Olbermann:

Dylan Lauren celebrated the re-launch of Dylan's Candy Bar on Monday night with a bash at her Third Avenue store. In addition to siblings Andrew and David and mom Ricky, guests included Woody Allen and Soon-Yi (with their kids), Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and wife Vanessa Trump, Lauren Bush, Dan Abrams, Olivia Palermo, Katie Lee Joel, Rachel Roy, Fabiola Beracasa, Stacey Bendet, Eric Villency, Jamee Gregory, Bettina Zilkha, Amy Sacco, Thom Filicia, Dori Cooperman, Ingrid Sischy, Dave Zinczenko, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Karen Duffy, Kira Plastinina, Jason Biggs, Tyson Beckford, and fraudster Tatiana Boncompagni. [PMc, NYO, Wireimage, GoaG]

Ah, how quickly they forget. Dan Abrams' show on MSNBC has only been off the air for a week, but it's already been long enough for Ralph Nader to forget his name. [TVNewser]

Last night was Dan Abrams' final show on MSNBC following the decision earlier this week to cancel his Verdict and replace him with Rachel Maddow. It was a bit awkward—especially when Abrams suggests that viewers not write him off completely since he's had three MSNBC shows come and go in the past five years—but inviting fellow cancelled MSNBC host Tucker Carlson to join him during the last few minutes was a nice touch. A clip after the jump.

After frequent guest and guest-host appearances on Keith Olbermann's left-leaning Countdown, political commentator Rachel Maddow will get her own MSNBC show as everyone predicted, replacing Dan Abrams' Verdict 9 pm weeknights. The Times' Brian Stelter writes that "Ms. Maddow will almost certainly be a closer ideological fit with Mr. Olbermann's," reinforcing our earlier point that, despite its protestations, MSNBC will inevitably become basically the Fox News of the left as it moves to hold on to the young viewers Olbermann has attracted. Judging by the comments attached to Stelter's blog post, this should be a popular decision. Maddow, at least, is un-Fox-like in one way: She hasn't been afraid to smack down her MSNBC colleagues. After the jump, no fewer than three videos of Maddow doing so, with Joe Scarborough, Chris Matthews and Pat Buchanan.

As we suspected a few weeks ago, Dan Abrams' show on MSNBC has been cancelled. Taking over will be (delightful!) Rachel Maddow. [NYT]

1) Eric Villency and Kimberly Guilfoyle threw a cocktail party on Saturday evening at their house in Bridgehampton, where Richard Johnson, Dan Abrams, Dave Zinczenko, Geraldo Rivera and Erica Levy, Scott Currie, Rob Wiesenthal, Alina Cho, and Gigi Stone mingled. [Huffington Post/Pmc]

1) Miguel Forbes took a cruise to Sag Harbor aboard the family-owned Highlander, along with Alejandro Santo Domingo, Dan Abrams, Dave Zinczenko and Melissa Milne, Elle Macpherson, Stella Keitel, Craig Spitzer, Fabian Basabe, Sessa Von Richthofen (pictured, right) and Richard Johnson. [NYSD/PMc]

1) At Rita Schrager's Southampton garden, Lara Shriftman and Elizabeth Harrison's new book Party Confidential: New Etiquette for Fabulous Entertaining was feted by Dan Abrams, Dave Zinczenko, Jill Stuart, Woody Johnson, Radu, George Wayne, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Alina Cho, and Elana Waksal, who in keeping the party's Western theme donned bandanas and Stetsons and tried their luck on a bucking bronco. [FWD/NYSD]