It Happens This Week
• Billy Graham’s Queens revival
• ‘Bewitched’!
• Cézanne and Pissarro at MoMA
• ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ with Lindsay Lohan
• ‘Rize’: Yes, it’s krump time . . and gay pride!
• Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson hit Yogi Berra Stadium
• Cyclones vs. Staten Island Yankees
Surprise! It’s aChappelle Show
Stands up in New York while Comedy Central standoff continues.
After fleeing his hit Comedy Central series for South Africa two months ago, Dave Chappelle’s back. And he wants to emphasize again that he’s not really crazy. Shortly before a sold-out 10:30 P.M. show at Gotham Comedy Club on June 10, “he just walked through the door,” says Chris Mazzilli, the owner, who got a call from his manager telling him, “I just want you to know Dave’s here, asking, ‘Do you mind if I do some time?’ ” The emcee told the audience, “The next one I’m bringing up wasn’t scheduled, but he’s just back from his worldwide tour in South Africa,” and the crowd “went mental,” says one observer. Chappelle did a half-hour show, talking about his non-craziness and Iraq. It went so well, he did another gig at 12:30. But he didn’t say whether he was going to continue the TV show. “He was funny as ever,” says Mazzilli, who’s opening a new club on West 23rd Street—the better to serve such drop-bys as Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Chappelle, who opened the current room in 1996.
Danger: Falling Paparazzo
Gyllenhaal safe inside.
Though paparazzo Steve Sands wasn’t endangering any celebrities’ lives at the launch for Hollywould’s new fashion line at the Maurice Villency store last Tuesday, he was being rather annoying. After being denied entrance by clipboard-holder Diana Kashan of Dan Klores Communications, Sands slipped in the vestibule, then lay there shouting, “Call the police! Call an ambulance! I’m going to sue.” Store owner Eric Villency rushed to the scene. “He was kind of moaning,” says Villency. “And one of the security guys was like, ‘Steve, you do this at every party we do. Just get up.’ ” Sands, for the record, claims he has never “slipped” before, “though other people’s memories may be better than mine.” Villency says he coaxed Sands outside and asked, “ ‘Well, what’s going to make you happy?’ At the end of the day, he settled out of court for a gift bag.” (Sands has, however, had his lawyer contact Kashan.) Meanwhile, inside the store, Maggie Gyllenhaal, by far the biggest star there, was blissfully unaware of the fracas—though busy fending off other overly aggressive fans, including one who told her, “I just saw Secretary on HBO on Demand. Great fucking tits.” “He’d better be a homo,” the actress muttered.
—Jada Yuan
Not EasyBeing Green
Robert Caro roasts the wannabe A.G. at his own fund-raiser.
LBJ biographer Robert Caro isn’t known for his after-dinner schtick, but he got laughs last week by poking fun at Mark Green’s taste for attention-seeking theatrics. At a Green-for-attorney-general fund-raiser at the Hilton, Caro recalled Green’s 1967 internship for Senator Jacob Javits. Green, then 22, circulated an anti–Vietnam War petition, which he planned to give to Johnson. Until a not-so-antiwar intern leaked it. “Mark’s mother got upset because the Chicago Tribune called him one of the ten most radical students of his generation,” Caro said as E. L. Doctorow, Tony Kushner, and Kathleen Turner chuckled. Johnson canceled his annual speech to interns “because of Mark,” Caro concluded. “Mark really has been getting people angry all his adult political career.”
—Greg Sargent
Gay or …Catfight?
Details goes after GQ.
Every month, Details magazine publishes an insightful charticle called “Gay or …,” which explores the stylistic overlap between a gay man and, for example, an Asian man (that one got the office picketed). In the June/July issue, the vaguely gay magazine’s straight editor, Dan Peres, takes aim at GQ’s Jim Nelson, who is actually gay. Titled “Gay or Men’s Magazine Editor?” it includes such details as “Tapered Black Laceup Shoes: ‘Did they come untied again? Looks like the intern is going back under the desk.’ ” Peres insists, through a spokesperson, that “it’s a composite of the front row at the men’s shows in Milan, based on a number of editors, myself included.” But staffers at both magazines say it’s pretty clear. “Oh, it’s Jim,” says a source who knows both men. “Look at the hair and elfin effect.” The source claims that Peres long planned to use Nelson on the page. Nelson, whose magazine is also owned by Si Newhouse, says, “I haven’t seen it, but apparently I’ve been outed as a stereotype.”
—J.Y.
Mark Your Calendars:Hillaryhampton
Preps for beachfront landing.
Hillary’s heading to the Hamptons for a big August fund-raising trip—and rich East Enders are besieging her aides with hosting offers. So they’re scrambling to please the many patrons who want their impeccable lawns trod on by backers like Alan Patricof and Lisa Perry. “She’ll end up doing cocktails at one mansion, dinner at another, and a pajama party,” says one Dem. But loyal Clintonistas Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel (he was Bill’s ambassador to Slovakia) won first prize: the dinner, set for August 5.
—G.S.
Mole Sashimi!
Nieporent goes Mexicanin Tribeca.
Just because Drew Nieporent is opening Nobu on 57th Street doesn’t mean that he’s abandoning Tribeca. The restaurateur has teamed up with Paladar chef Aaron Sanchez to open a Mexican place later this month in the space that once housed Layla on West Broadway. Sanchez, a Food Network personality, was chosen as one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People,” ostensibly making the restaurant—to be called Centrico—all the more appetizing.
—Beth Landman
EDITED BY CARL SWANSON