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. 

New York, August 20, 2009 – J.C. Penney just opened its first Manhattan location and already the retailer has perked up the dull summer party scene with a celebration of its “I Heart Ronson” line by Charlotte Ronson.  And indeed there was much Ronson love at the bash: mom Ann Dexter-Jones and half-siblings Annabelle and Alexander Dexter-Jones were all in the house, and the designer’s musical siblings took care of the evening’s entertainment – Samantha Ronson manned the turntables and Mark Ronson presented a performance by UK band The Rumble Strips, whose record he just produced.  The entire family put up a united front in avoiding all talk about Samantha’s on again/off again relationship with Lindsay Lohan, who never showed up at the party.

However, Mischa Barton caused a paparazzi stampede when she showed up unannounced with her Beautiful Life costar Ashley Madekwe.  And as she danced and socialized, we overheard many people comment on how healthy Mischa looks, despite her recent stint in rehab.  Mischa’s ex, Cisco Adler was there, as was Hilary Duff, Sophia Bush, Eva Amurri and rock n’ roll spawn Sean Lennon and Zoe Kravitz. 

Samantha Ronson photo: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, August 19, 2009 – Anna Wintour hosted the premiere of The September Issue, R.J. Cutler’s documentary about the making of the biggest issue of Vogue magazine in history.  (Of course, that was the September 2007 issue, and not the current one, when magazines are suffering double-digit advertising declines.) 

Sienna Miller, who has been a no-show at numerous recent events in NYC, was the cover girl, and finally made an appearance for the premiere.  Renee Zellweger, in town for her own premiere the previous day, attended.  Rapper/fashion designer/perfumer/actor Sean Combs has apparently not embraced recessionary frugality, arriving at MoMA in a flashy Lamborghini. 

Fashion designers including Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Zac Posen and Cynthia Rowley, several of whom also appear in the film, attended the premiere. 

Another screening will take place in the Hamptons on Saturday, and Ms. Wintour will appear on the David Letterman show on August 24 to promote the movie, which opens in theaters in New York on August 28. 

Additional photos by Joy E. Scheller

New York, August 17, 1009 –Quentin Tarantino hosted the umpteenth screening of his differently-spelled movie Inglourious Basterds in NYC on Monday, courtesy of the Cinema Society and Hugo Boss.  Despite the crushing heat, Tarantino was exuberant, giving an expletive-laced introduction to the film, and later chatted up well-wishers and reporters. 

Star Diane Kruger said she was ready for Tarantino’s legendary hyper directing style.  “I expected him to be like that, because when you watch his movies there’s that underlying sense of joy of making movies, and it’s crazy,” Kruger said.  “But he can also be incredibly sensitive,” she added.  Co-star Melanie Laurent calls the auteur “very passionate.”

The Basterds specialize in scalping Nazis, Apache-style, but Eli Roth’s character has his own skill set.  “My specialty was the baseball bat,” Roth explained.  “I was a really good scalper, but I left the scalping to the boys.”  One of his boys was Brad Pitt, who could not join his cast mates at the New York screening.

Tarantino’s energy hasn’t flagged – with the movie opening on Friday, he next promoted the movie in Chicago, and he’ll bring it to Nashville on Thursday.