This and that 5/14/02 Part 2
Jaime Jeske
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
The In Crowd by Leah Garchik
Dame Edna plans a return
Barry Humphries, who used San Francisco as the launch pad for the Dame
Edna show that wound up on Broadway, said last week that the city seemed
so Edna-friendly that he's going to be back here next year with a new
show, probably at the Curran. Humphries -- so natty in a suit and tie
that one didn't even miss his Dame Edna glasses and boa -- and his wife,
Lizzie (the daughter of poet Stephen Spender), were guests of honor last
week at Mecca, where their pal Denise Hale gave them a dinner.
The hostess and honoree chatted a bit about Bahrain, which Hale recently
visited, coincidentally while hospitable Bahrainis were holding riotous
anti- American demonstrations in the street. She was inside, she said,
and didn't notice. "I don't get along with the masses."
Humphries said that Dame Edna had gone over well in Bahrain, although he
had been warned to keep the show very clean or risk getting fined for
obscenity. (A singer who had held a microphone between his legs was
penalized. ) "But Dame Edna is the type of woman those sheikhs would
like to be married to," he said. "Very clean and wholesome."
"My object," said Humphries, whose Dame Edna show is based on
interaction with the audience, "is never to offend people. You're not
there to drive people away, least of all people who can have your hands
cut off."
He said the worst audience he'd ever had was in Atlantic City, "and
they're so badly dressed," and he had a lot of fun appearing on "Ally
McBeal." "I usually do a solo show, and it was nice being part of a
family."
Before he brings the new show here, he's looking forward to being part
of the Queen's Jubilee celebration on June 3, particularly "to thank the
queen for donating her backyard" for the festivities." As to the local
monarchy scene, "If you're going to San Francisco you've got to see the
royal family," he said, in reference to his regal -- but also
teasable -- hostess. When his show played at the Theatre in the Square
last time, "Denise came practically every night. You just have to
mention her name, and you get a good laugh."
STARTING HERE: Producer Carol Shorenstein Hays, who says her own formal
education didn't include advanced academic work, is going to teach a
course called Stupid Theater at the Yale Graduate School of Theater. The
"Stupid," she said, is a reference to getting things done when
"sensible" bureaucrats say no.
NIGHTS OUT: At a launch party in New York on Thursday for Grace
Magazine, tattooed Mia Tyler (sister of Liv and daughter of Aerosmith's
Steven Tyler) said she was thinking of starting her own band.
The wine sponsor of the event was Napa Valley's Domaine Carneros.
And after BeneFit cosmetics delivered a basket of products to Diana
Krall's hotel before her concert in San Francisco last week, the singer
called to say thanks -- a rarity among those who get freebies -- and to
reciprocate the gesture by bestowing free tickets to her performance.
On Friday night in San Francisco, Carlos Santana sat in on "Black Magic
Woman" with Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green for an extended jam that online
critic Bob Sarles called an "excursion into pure poetry on guitars."
P.S. How cool and totally chic are advanced dental supplies? A TIC spy
who was at the Marina Safeway weekend before last saw couturier John
Galliano -- yes, he answered in the affirmative when she asked the guy
with the bleached goatee and red bandanna around his head if he was
really John Galliano -- shopping for those little spiral toothbrush
thingies one sticks between one's teeth (to free the fois gras
particles).
FINALLY: Cher was so upset last week when Oprah Winfrey surprised her on
air by playing a clip of her eulogizing Sonny Bono that she "had to go
back to her dressing room and reapply her false eyelashes. They had to
stop the show for 45 minutes," an insider told the New York Daily News.
Oprah's representative said it only took five minutes to fix things up.
Pick a Simpsons character
"Mr. Burns. Physically, I most resemble him. We both have terrible
posture.
We're both inbred WASPs with receding hairlines." -- Rock musician Moby
in response to Blender magazine, which asked him with which "Simpsons"
character he most identifies.
Nuggets o' gossip welcomed by Leah Garchik at (415) 777-8426 or lgarchik
at sfchronicle.com.
"The Detroit Free Press"
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
NAMES AND FACES: White Stripes make a hit with the senator
During a recent appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman," Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., and his wife Cindy rubbed shoulders in the green
room with the trendy Detroit rock duo the White Stripes. The experience
did a lot to bolster McCain's rep with his kids. "The White Stripes were
very nice and polite," McCain says in the June issue of Blender. "And
very talented. My teenage kids -- 17, 15 and 13 -- know who the White
Stripes are and like them, so I've been enhanced in their eyes. They're
the first band of their generation that I've met."
Life is a vast golden web
Life is good for "Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire, 26, the ninth-grade
dropout who said his life changed with the opening of the blockbuster
movie. He just bought a $3.7 million, 5,000 square-foot mansion in
Beverly Hills, Calif.
He shouldn't have trouble floating a mortgage. Maguire reportedly earned
$4 million for "Spider-Man" and was guaranteed an additional $23 million
to reprise the role in two sequels. Meanwhile, Time magazine also
reports that he and Nicole Kidman are a couple. "We're friends," he
confirmed. What a guy.
H.G. Wells war never ends
Here we go again. Tom Cruise has announced plans to produce a new film
version of the H.G. Wells alien-invasion saga "The War of the Worlds."
Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner have partnered with Paramount
Pictures to make the film about Martians who obliterate Earth's human
defenses only to succumb to the planet's viruses.
The tale was most memorably told by Orson Welles in his 1938 radio
broadcast that panicked the nation.
Pop stars trying again?
Oh joy -- gossip Liz Smith reports pop stars Britney Spears and Justin
Timberlake are making nicey-nicey again after a big break-up.
From the Popbitch message board
Grace Jones - Rider for Purple in the Park:
1. 5 CRATES of Cristal backstage
2. 5 x first class aeroplane tickets from wherever she is in the world
beforehand
3. 5 grams of cocaine backstage
4. A group of suites at The Lansborough with unlimited room service for
the duration
(Posted by pauline, Tue 14 May 15:09)
lovely lady, filthy tools
glitterkitty's wee gail porter story reminds me of the little known fact
that fay ripley's handbag always contains a little silver corkscrew
given to her by 'a very close friend' , unremarkable until you take a
closer look and discover that it is very subtly (no really) modelled on
male genitalia replete with a cock stem and testicular pushy downy bits
(technical term).
(Posted by bishibashi, Tue 14 May 10:16)
"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Tuesday Peach Buzz
By RICHARD L. ELDREDGE
Overscene
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown (left), along with pal and former
Atlanta Brave Otis Nixon and assorted kids, bowling at Brunswick
Peachtree Lanes in Roswell on Saturday. At one point, Brown gave Houston
a piggyback ride across the alley. On Monday, the pop music couple was
spotted lunching at The Palm in Buckhead (they split clams oreganato),
sitting front and center at the bar. Houston wore a basic black sundress
while Brown opted for a yellow linen suit. They joked around with the
bartenders and happily spoke to everyone who approached them. Houston
was also seen sampling selections from a pack of smokes.
Marino meets McCartney
Dave Marino, morning DJ and Beatles expert at classic rock station Z93,
faced a dilemma Sunday when he found out he was going to interview Paul
McCartney live on the air before the former Beatle's concert at Philips
Arena.
"What do you ask someone who's been asked everything before?" Marino
says. They ended up talking about 9/11 and McCartney's latest album
"Driving Rain." The only two topics McCartney wouldn't address were
McCartney's late wife Linda and George Harrison, says Chris Dunham,
Marino's producer, who schmoozed the McCartney brass for two months to
nab the interview. "He was disarming, very approachable," Marino notes.
"Some celebrities have an attitude. He didn't." Marino was so excited,
he even called his mom to break the news. "Nobody can take this away
from me," he says. "How can you top that?"
'Life' live update
Aside from one ultra-noticeable camera maneuver (an attempt on a zoom
shot gave us whiplash) and a little overacting, the live debut of "One
Life to Live" went seamlessly Monday. The actress of the day was Kassie
DePaiva as Blair, who had to cry continuously through her scenes when
she realized her shifty husband, Todd, lied to her about the death of
their baby. Runner-up was Ilene Kristen, who as the boozy Roxy had to
snap gum through her scenes and guzzled a vodka and tonic. Soap vet
Linda Dano, meanwhile, flubbed a line, improvised and kept going while
actor David Fumero, in his role of hottie artist Cristian Vega, had the
quick-change assignment of the day. He went from being supposedly naked
in a Las Vegas hotel room bed to being fully clothed and in a casino
interacting with a Cher impersonator in mere seconds. "Life" goes live
through Friday.
Jaime