February 3-5 – The United Nations is going Hollywood. Godfather of soul James Brown, who had obviously seen his hairdresser since his recent arrest for wife-abuse, performed at a U.N. press conference announcing the second annual World Peace Music Awards in Hanoi, Vietnam. When U.N. officials opened the floor to questions, and nobody asked any, we timidly raised an arm and in a “please-sir-I-want-some-more” voice, asked if he’d play another song. Brown said, “I can do that”, and played Sex Machine. James, we saved you from embarrassing questions about your arrest!

A couple of days later, Drew Barrymore was the first artist to be named “A friend of the U.N.” at a press conference to launch “Artists for the U.N.”, an initiative enrolling artists and others in support of U.N. peacekeeping efforts. (There were lots of speeches, and we stopped paying attention.)

Speaking of Hanoi, Jane Fonda was honored at a V-Day party at Barney’s. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women, and one of its founders is Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues.