New York, May 25 – Avril Lavigne got under MTV’s skin Tuesday while promoting her newly released second album, Under My Skin. Just before her CD release party at Vue bar, the pop star appeared on TRL and brought FCC-shy MTV to a standstill. Breaking for an interview after performing the first of two scheduled songs, TRL VJ Damien Fahey fired her up by asking how she deals with tabloid reports about her, with people judging her without knowing her. “He was just sort of whipping her into a frenzy with his line of questioning", a witness reports. When Lavigne flipped the finger and said, “Yeah, yeah! F**k them!” on live TV, the whole set powered down immediately. “It was, OK, let’s get her off”, our witness said. “They pulled her right off the stage, and that was the end of it.”

New York, May 24 – If you sit on the steps of The Museum of Natural History to catch some sun on Tuesday, and notice how spanking clean everything looks, thank the producers of The Day After Tomorrow. At the premiere of the global warming/ice age-themed film, machines spewed soap bubbles all over Central Park West, soaking attendees and baffling passersby. Ruining their shoes on the sopping white towel of a carpet along with stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid were Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Saarsgard, Al Franken, Ja Rule, Chelsea Clinton and Ian Klaus, and Susan Sarandon, whose daughter Eva Amurri held hands with an unidentified handsome date. We can’t imagine the environmental effects of the dry white gook coating the front of the museum and surrounding trees. We asked a staffer what exactly it was. “Oh, you know. White stuff.”

New York, May 23 – Magical mania struck New York on Sunday with the world premiere of the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Thousands of screaming adolescent (mostly female) fans lined the streets around Radio City Music Hall – so many that the NYPD called in more officers for crowd control. Open All Night felt their pain, so we cut right to the heart of things and asked each of the stars if they’re romantically involved. Our cheat sheet:

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter): Not at the moment, no.
Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley): No, not yet.
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy): I’ve got a girlfriend. Melissa, my girl.
Emma Watson (Hermione Granger): Not at the moment.
Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley): Not right now, no.
James Phelps (Fred Weasley): I do, yeah. Anna.

Knowledge is power. Go ahead and send those fan letters, kids.

Barely able to be heard above the shrieks of fans, these fresh-faced young actors all seemed stunned at the level of adulation. Rupert Grint: “We’re big in London, but this is the biggest.” Daniel Radcliffe: "It’s so great. It’s really gratifying. Fantastic”. Tom Felton: “Phenomenal. Crazy”. James Phelps: “It’s very weird and very cool at the same time.” Phelps was disappointed that his brother Oliver, who plays George Weasley, couldn’t come to New York for the premiere because he has exams on Tuesday. “I’m flying the flag for both of us, but I’m sure he’d appreciate this 500 yards of New York screaming girls".

May 16-22 – Open All Night gave Irishman Bono a lesson in American-style equality in Philadelphia, the birthplace of liberty. After a rally for The One Campaign on Sunday, we asked to photograph the U2 front man with Independence Hall, the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed, in the background. Parks Department officials preferred instead to allow the rocker/humanitarian (and us) into the Liberty Bell Pavilion just across the street, even though it was now closed for the day. When we asked about metal detectors, officials said that wasn’t necessary. A few minutes later, a female Parks executive rescinded, saying no press would be allowed inside, and called it a “first amendment issue”. Having just listened to Bono wax eloquently on the importance of equality, we objected strongly, asking why a celebrity should be granted special access to the Liberty Bell after closing hours without being searched for weapons, when nobody else could. We pointed to Independence Hall and quoted from the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. The Park official asked if we realized that because of our objections, Bono would not be able to see the Liberty Bell. We understood, and when the car pulled up slowly the official waved it on. We mentioned that Bono was welcome to see the bell the next day during regular hours, along with everyone else.

The following evening at the Whitney Museum, most of the guests - including Donald Trump and various fired Apprentice types - had left the Operation Smile 2004 Couture benefit by the time Mariah Carey got there. We'd just left a screening of Shrek 2, where Julie Andrews and Antonio Banderas hosted Melanie Griffith, Susan Sarandon, Joan Rivers, James Gandolfini and William Baldwin. Heather Harlan brought her two children, and, sadly, her husband Tony Randall passed away that same night.

At the Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday, fans screamed, “We love you Martha!” to Martha Stewart, whose TV show has been dropped by many outlets due to her legal troubles. “Oh sure, you say that now!”, she joked.

In Beverly Hills, David Arquette left his pregnant wife Courtney resting at home when he and siblings Alexis, Rosanna and Patricia got together at the Southern California Counseling Center’s City Lights Gala, where their late mother Mardi was honored. David said that they are not expecting twins, haven’t chosen a name and wouldn’t reveal the baby’s sex. He said he thinks it’s sweet that Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple, and his brother Alexis joked that David plans on calling his child Mango. Alexis, often dressed in drag, then broke the news that he is pregnant.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles