· Catch Reel Big Fish at Irving Plaza
· Have a drink at Ocean's 21 before it becomes simply "Oceans" after getting sued by the 21 Club for the use of "21". (Or have a nostalgic line of blow in the bathroom and re-live the Jay McInerney/Bret Easton Ellis days when the restaurant was still called "Marylou's.")
· Hear artist Richard Phillips lecture at the Guggenheim
· Avoid the hail and wind and watch an Alternate Focus documentary on Channel 56 (6:30 PM).
Send sightings to tips@gawker.com
· Flying back from Paris last night, we were behind Andre Leon Talley in the check-in line. He is very tall—looked over 6'5", wearing a velour tracksuit with his initials monogrammed, several very large pieces of LV luggage to be checked, and some Dior fur bags (t0 be carried on), trying to explain to security about Conde Nast and how he was an editor and had a Conde Nast expense account, and why he didn't have receipts for something. He had to produce a credit card to prove that he worked at Vogue, and the Conde Nast name didn't seem to impress French security. He was very pleasant when my husband (not initially knowing who ALT was), said that he recognized Andre's picture from a window display at Bergdorf. When we landed, his bags were among the first to arrive on the luggage carousel—they had special "priority tags", so his two porters were able to speed him on his way.
· Richie Havens, Saturday morning, JFK airport, catching the 10:30 am Jet Blue flight to West Palm Beach. (Gig that night in Stuart.) Dressed in Jeans, black t, some 45-72 necklaces, bracelets, & rings, trademark long beard. Accompanied by a male and female, as well as a cart with multiple guitars and additional luggage. Frequently approached on the flight. Did not offer us a rendition of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." Nor anything else, for that reason. Brought his own headphones, though don't know if he was listening to his own stereo or watching inflight satellite TV. Approached by numerous passengers, but friendly to all as far as I could see. (In all honesty, while glad to see Havens and point him out to the ten year old, I was more excited by seeing ex-pitcher Jim Palmer in the West Palm airport in March.)
The National Post's Scott Feschuk goes party hopping with Paris Hilton and lives to brag about it. Some highlights:
· Comedian Norm MacDonald repeatedly asks Nicole Richie (Lionel's daughter/friend of Paris) if "she's really black."
· "a small group of male Fox employees stops speculating about how 'awesome' a three-way with Paris and Nicole would be, and starts speculating about whether Paris is wearing any underpants. Consensus: Uh-uh."
· "Paris yells for all to hear: 'I really need to pee!'"
The lady spells trouble [National Post]
An ex-employee of uber-flacks Lizzie Grubman and Peggy Siegel tells all (without the de rigeur half-million dollar book advance.) Ellen Finnigan's commentary on Peggy: "The people she knew no longer knew her, or let on that they did, but because she was such a publicity powerhouse for so many years, her name was still an asset to the company... Krissie [another assistant] would actually tell me some pretty good stories, like the one about Peggy using an enormous sum of client money to buy herself another facelift and the ordeal that ensued. I began to see the innards of the place and was absolutely terrified of Peggy."
All the sweet promises [Handlebars.org]
Blogger Bunsen when to Hollywood and got an intervention by Matt Perry, Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck and Tony Robbinsfor being a starfucker. "'You're a starfucker,' [Perry] said, his eyes immediately breaking our gaze and pointed to the floor. I could hear Affleck sigh, and Robbins momentarily stopped smiling. Drew shifted uncomfortably in my lap, and I had to summon all my powers of imagination to conjure Ellen DeGeneres buttering bread to avoid an embarrassing erection. (Affleck s personal assistant had taken a call and slipped out to another room.)
'Starfucker,' said Affleck, nodding.
'Star-f'er,' said Drew, determined to keep this PG-13.
I started to speak, but Robbins silently placed a huge index finger across my lips."
I went to Hollywood and all I got was this lousy intervention [Bob from Accounting]
· Comedian Bill Maher on Vanity Fair's George Wayne: "I'm a little scared. I think George's hand is on my lap." The Daily News reports, "Indeed it was." George on Bill: "I think Bill is cute, and I'm in the market for a rich husband ...or at least a gorgeous sugar daddy." [NY Daily News]
· The Post reports that "Before he'd have sex with a fan, [rock legend Chuck Berry] insist she strip and pose for a photo with him, smiling with their arms around each other." The Post suggests that LA Laker Kobe Bryant (recently charged with sexual assault) do the same thing. [Page Six]
· Designer Randolph Duke gets denied admission to Hamptons hot spot Jeff and Eddy's for being unfashionably dressed. [Page Six]
· REHAB just re-opened after being padlocked by the city because customers were found (gasp!) dancing. [Page Six]
· Ex-Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos is said to be threatened by the success of his wife Ali Wentworth's CBS talk show. [Page Six]
· LA Special Hilton Sisters Sighting: "Sighted, Sunday 5pm: Nicky Hilton—possessed of shopping bags, camoflage skirt, & confused sneer—walking with random other blonde (also camoflaged) on 2nd Street in Santa Monica (the antiseptic Soho of LA). Unclear whether confusion was caused by process of walking in LA, or perhaps just by walking."
· Friday at LaGuardia airport, Continental's terminal C: Who is that littlec man with the anti-grav hair and the cool black glasses? Why, it's Daniel Libeskind waiting to get through the metal detector! He's wearing a sort of loose, wrinkly, unstructured black jacket with a (probably required by law) American-flag pin.... But interesting: He's holding a U.S. passport. Did everyone but me know he's a citizen of this fine country? Another question: Why is he traveling alone? Don t people making hundreds of dollars an hour just for thinking about architecture always travel with an entourage? One security guard, after Libeskind gets through without anyone discovering his secret bombmaking equipment: 'That guy looks familiar.' Other TSA agent: 'Yeah, he's been in the paper a lot.'"
The NYT reports that 20-somethings are enjoying an extended adolescence they didn't have a generation ago. No one has to admit they're a grown up until they hit thirty. This is a big relief to me. I was beginning to get concerned that I was quickly approaching the point at which "but I'm young and stupid!" was no longer a valid excuse based on empirical evidence contradicting the former. Now I suppose it's good for another five years. [Also: LES blogger Lockhart Steele is using the very convenient NYT article to shill his book (co-authored by the famous Jonathan Van Gieson), which is designed specifically for people turning 30, as indicated by the big "30" on the dust jacket.]
Smiling through the 30s, a birthday once apocalyptic [NYT]
Regarding the Lincoln Center post below and while I'm thinking about it: I don't mind giving away tickets, etc. to Gawker readers, as I assume they might want an opportunity to get free stuff. That said, it's not necessarily an endorsement.
· Ex-editor Howell Raines hasn't been reading the NYT since he left. [Page Six]
· The Post reports that "Neil Simon, 76, is a candidate for kidney transplant, according to the buzz at Via Oreta restaurant on First Avenue, and his older brother Danny has offered to donate one of his." [NY Post]
· Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler (he of last week's Gawker stalker sightings) when intercepted by a fan with a camera in front of Cafe Habana, the Daily News reports, "took her camera. He's shouting at her, and grabs her by the wrist, saying, 'Let's see how you like it.' The rocker then said, 'You're going to stand there until I tell you not to.' The girl is standing there completely humiliated, and he's taking pictures and pictures, and all the bystanders were laughing their a— off." [NY Daily News]
Sometimes the celebrities make my job so much easier. Case in pointParis Hilton, on Wal-mart: "I went to Wal-Mart for the first time. I always thought they sold wallpaper. I didn t realize it has everything. You can get anything you want there for really, really cheap." I mean, really. What can I possibly add to that?
Intelligencer [NY Mag]
The New Yorker's Ben McGrath interviews the creator of "Pieces (of Ass)," the new play at Theater 80 on St. Mark's that explores the angst of being a hot chick. Since his actresses are all "hot chicks," they have the typical "hot chick" problems themselves: "Like, I'll suggest 'Why don t you try a different pair of pants?' and then they start to cry. The insecurities come out, you know? On any given day, three of them are fighting with their boyfriends,' he continued. Then he raised his voice an octave and mimicked a whine: 'I can t work today.'"
Skin deep [New Yorker]
Blogger Choire Sicha, checking off organ donor boxes on the back of his New York driver's license offers, in the event of his untimely demise, to leave his hair to Rudy Giuliani: "I'd like to leave my luxurious Gentile hair to Mr. Rudy Giuliani. His fascistic iron grip on morals and mores while Mayor left him no time to evolve beyond the crudest of ratty comb-overs. From beyond the grave, I could give him the one power he could never seize from the poor, infirm, and darkly-skinned: the power of not looking like a cracked-out wildebeest." Choire also generously offers to leave me his liver, which I'll probably be needing sooner rather than later. [Choire: you can just mail it to 356 West 40th St.]
I was inspired yesterday to finally become an organ donor [ChoireSicha]
The Village Voice's Tricia Romano reports that music promoter Larry Tee, who catalyzed, if not started, the Williamsburg electroclash craze with his "Berliniamsburg" parties at Luxx, is hanging up his ironic Members Only jacket and calling it a synthesizer-and-legwarmer free night. It's like the 80s are over all over again. Ah, well. It was funny while it lasted.
It's over [Village Voice]
Mayor Mike wants city election procedures revised so that he's no longer forced to refer to himself as a Republican in public. He's lobbying for nonpartisan elections, which, in many places that have implemented them, mean forbidding candidates from listing party affiliation on their ballots. Guess this would mean the respective political machineries can't just pay people to pull one lever in the voting booth anymore.
Mayor details plan to revise city elections [NYT]
· Record execs complaining about music industry mogul Clive Davis: "Clive sticks his nose in everything...disrupts the office...He leaves voice mails in the middle of the night saying, 'Hold everything. I have an idea.'...Never stays on schedule: 'Change this, change that. Hold that thought. I will get back to you.' We're always off schedule." [NY Daily News]
· Giuliani for governor in 2006? [Page Six]
· The Post says the Hamptons have "gone gay." [Page Six]
· Barbra Streisand's refusing to give money to the Lieberman campaign because he once commented that Hollywood "debases American values." [Page Six]
A reader writes, "I work in the conde building, and there's something weird going on on the top floor of the old NYTimes building, right across the street. It's
a great space, and you can see right into it because there are no blinds or anything. It used to be totally empty, but a few weeks back someone started laying down what looks to be a white rocklike substance and planting little trees. It's like someone went in and created a zen rock garden, but made of salt. Every once in a while, someone will come along and tend to the little trees and sweep the ground. I can't tell if they're tidying up or rearranging the stuff on the ground or what. It's all a little perplexing. Have you heard anything about what's going on over there? It must be some art installation or something, right? If I had a digicam here I'd send you pics, maybe I can rustle something up later." I think there are a number of possibilities here: (1) Conde Nast Publisher Si Newhouse's decorator (James Truman?) has decided to provide employees with a little ambience by buying up all the space on the top floor of the old Times building (expensed to petty cash) and planting peaceful little trees, so that every time you look out the window, you'll feel a little zen. (2) Cremaster 6? (3) You have uncovered the secret compound from which I spy on Conde Nast, my salt-and-trees camouflage notwithstanding. (Damn you.) (4) I said "Baltic frieze," not "salt and trees"! (5) You're being Punk'd? [UPDATE: We may have found the culprit.]
· DaSilvano, last night: Graydon Carter, very tan and with perfectly flipped hair, dining with two female companions. Rupert Murdoch entering with Roger Ailes (FoxNews). Ronald Perlman, greeting both tables, then dining at a different table. All followed by Steven Tyler, who at first looked liked was denied a table, then appeared magically at a 2 top outside - dining with a youngish looking blonde female companion.
· Spotted: Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), walking alone, talking on his cell phone. When: [yesterday] (1:45pm) Where: Walking on 57th St.(& 7 Ave., by Pick-a-Bagel), crossing towards Cafe Europa and then continuing down 57th. Wearing: Light colored jeans, black tank top, light-cyclamen shirt tied around waist, black leather bag. Occurrence: Two girls walking past him, in the opposite direction: "You rock!". His answer: "Thank you". Impression: Unassuming, polite, and just way shorter than what I thought (almost my height 5'6").
· [yesterday] 1:30pm: I just saw Stephen Tyler, sans entourage, walking down West 57th St. between 7th and Broadway. He was talking at a modest volume on his cell phone and looking like...well, Stephen Tyler.
