Media-Whore D'Oevres



$2? (image via papermag)

"Blackjack, coconut-battered shrimp, Glenmorangie and Chopin vodka pouring out every which way brought the sweetest society types out for the John Allen’s-hosted 'A Night in New Orleans' benefit ... PAPER favorites filled the room. Scampering around were handsome Luigi Tadini, Nicole Romano, Levin Rambin, Countess LuAnn Nadeau de Lesseps, Phillip Bloch, Susan Shin and Gustavo Arango. Olivia Palermo whispered '$2.00' when I asked her about her Mondrian-like dress (maybe ‘70s Yves St. Laurent?) that she picked up at a West Palm Beach Salvation Army for two bucks ..."

"Southampton’s former bad boy of tennis John McEnroe was front and center to applaud wife Patty Smyth and her band Scandal at the Alzheimer Association’s Rita Hayworth Gala last week. The evening was dedicated to the memory of Claudia Cohen a longtime supporter of the event who died earlier this year of cancer. When a video was played showing Cohen speaking movingly at a previous event, many in the crowd were brought to tears, including her former husband, Ronald Perelman and their daughter Samantha, and the evening’s hostess Princess Yasmin Aga Khan." (Hamptons)

"Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, sat down with a large group of reporters Thursday morning for a status report on the presidential campaign. "We are taking absolutely nothing for granted," he said soberly. Everything else Penn said during the hour-long session pointed to a campaign that feels increasingly confident of its position. Penn's appearance at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast came about 12 hours after Barack Obama joined Jay Leno in Burbank for the Tonight Show. Asked by his host about how the campaign was going, Obama invoked one of the more embarrassing moments of the Bush presidency to tweak the Democratic frontrunner. 'Hillary,' he said, 'is not the first person in Washington to declare 'Mission Accomplished' a little too soon.'" (CBSNews)


"NBC’s exclusive interview with Senator Larry Craig in a prime time special, 'Matt Lauer Reports,' attracted just 5.7 million viewers in the 8 p.m. time slot Tuesday, according to Nielsen’s estimates. Among adults 18 to 49, it finished in a tie for last place in the hour with the CW’s 'Beauty and the Geek.'" (NYT)

''A few minutes after 11 p.m. last night, two uniformed caterers were shuffling quietly around Pam Gale’s corner apartment on the 26th floor of Trump’s One Central Park West. Carefully laying out platters of glistening sashimi, buckets of ice and neat little clusters of booze bottles, the servers were preparing for the arrival of musician Danny Federici, who had just finished playing the keys and accordion with Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden. No stranger to performing live, Mr. Federici, 57, has been a part of the E Street Band since its founding in 1972.The after-party was being hosted by the keyboardist’s wife, Chelsea gallery owner Maya Stendhal, who was holding court in Donna Karan near a massive jukebox with the lights of Columbus Circle and Central Park South twinkling behind her." (Observer)

"Former Sen. John Edwards has stepped up his criticism of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton this week, aiming it about her character and truthfulness as well as her substantive policies. This represents a marked change for Edwards, who, even though he has been the attack dog among the top-tier candidates, has gone after her mainly on the question of electability (as he is doing again this week, on a four-day electability tour)." (WashPo)

"The Hamptons man, Kelsey Grammer, who is a noted Hamptons celebrity for owning a large house in Sagaponack and a frequenter of parties and the Bridgehampton Starbucks, has put up his home on the market after just having it for three years for 16.1 million. Sources tell us that he has at the most spent a total of two months of actual staying at the home during the summer months since it was built in 2005. He purchased the house new in 2005 with wife, Camille, for $8.5 million and it was built by the Farrel Building Company (also known for building Giuliani’s house). No word on why he’s selling it, but it certainly can’t be because he’s tired of it." (DansHamptons)