Pop culture Archives

New York, October 29-30, 2009 – Backstage at this weekend’s fabulous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concerts, celebrities checked out the swag in the gift lounge. 

Bacardi, the “official spirit” sponsor, was a big hit.  While Steve Van Zandt, Lenny Kravitz and Bruce Springsteen signed commemorative bottles to be auctioned off for charity, Alan Cumming and Billy Joel swigged it straight and Penn Badgley had a Cuba Libre. 

All eyes were on New Moon hottie Chaske Spencer when he stopped at the Cult of Individuality jeans station – everyone was hoping he would drop his pants and try on a pair.  No such luck, but they are sending him a pair of skinny jeans.  Tiny Christian Siriano fits into Anoname women’s jeans. 

Aretha Franklin wished she’d gotten the AMC movie pass a few days earlier – she said she’d just seen the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It at one of their theaters.

Schott NYC outerwear was a hit with Bonnie Raitt, Fergie, David Crosby, Jackson Browne and Ana Ortiz.  Tom Hanks quipped, “Where were you when I was poor?  I have enough money to buy anything in the world, but nothing pleases me more than getting a free coat!”

New York, October 26, 2009 – Hugh Jackman’s biggest regret about hosting the Worldwide Orphans Foundation gala honoring his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness?  His speech was limited to three minutes.  “I could go on for hours about Deb’s work,” the Wolverine star said.  Jackman and his wife are adoptive parents, as is Mary Louise Parker, who came to lend her support to the fundraiser.  The common thread is the organization’s founder, Dr. Jane Aronson, a pediatrician who treats many of the children adopted by these high-profile parents.  WWO is dedicated to transforming the lives of orphaned children around the world in their native countries. 

East Orange, NJ, October 24, 2009 – Our high school was never like this!  Cicely Tyson unveiled the new home for her namesake school for the performing and fine arts in East Orange, NJ on Saturday, with a slew of stars cheering on the ribbon cutting.  Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Tamara Tunie and BeBe Winans took in performances in the new $143 million state-of-the-art facility, where more than 1,000 students are currently enrolled.  New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine even took time out from his contentious reelection campaign to christen the school. 

New York, October 19, 2009 – Donatella Versace sponsored the Whitney Gala for the second year in a row, and we absolutely swooned when she walked in with Jet Li as her date!  Is there a more fabulous couple?  Li explained that the two found common ground while working to aid victims of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China.  “So this time we asked [hundreds of] children to draw a picture, and Versace put the pictures on bags and sells them, and the money comes back to Sichuan to help the children again,” LI explained.  “So we have a long relationship in helping people.”

But the fashion queen and movie king were but two of the A-list names at the gala.  Jennifer Hudson sang for a crowd that included Shakira, Gerard Butler, Mischa Barton, Chuck Close, Jeff Koons and Ellsworth Kelly.  A dance party followed the dinner - Taylor Momsen took a turn in the DJ booth – and as the evening wore on, the guest list swelled. 

Lindsay Lohan swooped in, and spent ten chaotic minutes marching back and forth across the museum lobby, trying to figure out where to check her coat and how to get downstairs to the party on the lower level.  Late in the evening, we realized that the mustachioed gentleman standing near us was none other than 007 himself, Daniel Craig. 

With Luisa Johns

New York, October 10, 2009 – Pedro Almodovar’s film Broken Embraces closed the New York Film Festival on Sunday, but Paper magazine celebrated a day in advance, feting the Spanish director and his star Penelope Cruz at a star-studded dinner Saturday evening at the new eatery Casa Lever. 

None other than Madonna popped in at the party, unannounced.  Fashion designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Cynthia Rowley, Catherine Malandrino, Jeremy Scott and ThreeAsFour’s Gabi, Ange and Adi joined Paper’s Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovitz at the bash.  Debbie Harry, Beth Ditto, Joey Arias, Alison Pill, Jeffrey Deitch, Kenny Scharf and Albert Maysles all sang Happy Birthday to Paper mag’s beloved Mickey Boardman.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, October 7, 2009 – The fall cultural season is heating up.  The American Ballet Theater opened its fall season on Wednesday with live performances followed by a dinner dance at Avery Fisher Hall. Longtime ABT suppoerters Veronica Webb and Iman served as honorary gala chairs, and along with New York’s social and power elite, a smattering of Hollywood types took in the ballet.   Actresses Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis and musician Rufus Wainwright attended, and 23-year-old Emmy Rossum went public with her romance with 45-year-old Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. Go figure.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

Atlantic City, NJ, October 3, 2009 – Mario Lopez turns 36 this week, and he celebrated over the weekend at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa with a cake curiously topped with a photograph of the shirtless birthday boy flaunting his ripped abs.  Gives new meaning to the word “beefcake,” doesn’t it? 

During the festivities, the former Dancing with the Stars contestant kept his shirt on, so only his new lady friend, Courtney Mazza, got to see the famous six pack in the flesh.  She sang “Happy Birthday” to him during dinner at Izakaya, and later the twosome whispered and laughed together at club mur.mur.  Once DJ Samanth Ronson hit the turntables, the couple hit the dance floor. 

New York, August 28, 2009 – The scene late Friday night outside the Lafayette Street building of Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, hours after he was found dead of an apparent overdose inside his apartment.   At around 11:45 PM, the front doors opened, the crowd parted, and amidst the aroma of veal Francaise from a nearby restaurant wafting in the humid night air, AM’s body was wheeled across the wet pavement and into a waiting city morgue truck.

The 36-year-old Philadelphia native survived a plane crash last September in which four people were killed.