July 18-24 – The Broadway hit musical Hairspray opened in Los Angeles starring Marissa Jaret Winokur, who originated the role of Tracy on Broadway. Ricki Lake, Tracy in the 1988 movie version, turned out for the opening night, along with David Hyde Pierce, John Stamos, Lisa Loeb, Jennifer Tilly, and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Doris Roberts. Entertaining as Hairspray is, the most wonderfully John Waters-esque thing about the L.A. opening was the string of whatever-happened-to guests – Jason Alexander, Jo Anne Worley(!), Donna Mills, Cloris Leachman and, best of all, Pia Zadora(!!!).

In New York, on the same night as the premiere of super-bomb Catwoman, Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Ron Livingston and Kathy Bates trundled along a red carpet for their romantic comedy Little Black Book. Tim Robbins, Laura Harring, David Blaine, Barbara Walters, and Carson Kressley all peeked inside that black book. One guest who would’ve fit right into the Hairspray crowd was Peggy Lipton, of the late ‘60s TV series Mod Squad.

Jessica Siimpson’s younger sister Ashlee released a CD titled Autobiography, and made sure we all heard about it with a publicity blitzkrieg across America. Ashlee started in New York, appearing on Letterman and MTV’s Total Request Live, signed copies at Virgin MegaStore and tossed a party at PM in the Meatpacking District. Then she swept L.A. with in-store appearances at Tower Records and Virgin, and a visit with Ryan Seacrest. We’re sure we missed some stops on Ashlee’s promotional tour, but, you know, we’re trying not to stalk.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles