Sophie Can’t Get No Satisfaction – But She Tries
Supermodel Sophie Dahl has been wasting no time since her breakup with director Griffin Dunne. It seems the voluptuous Brit has been eyeing two of the cognoscenti’s most sought-after males: Mick Jagger and Vanity Fair honcho Graydon Carter. According to our nightcrawling sources, the leggy blonde was lip-locked with the lascivious rocker on a recent night at a trendy boîte. “They were making out right at the table,” says an observer. “It was quite a scene.” During that same week, another source reports, Dahl found herself on the town with the erudite editor-in-chief. “They arrived with a small group, and I saw them hanging out together,” says our spy. “But Graydon left with Brian McNally.” The Dahl-Carter connection may have formed as early as March, when the pair was spotted at Vanity Fair’s annual Oscar blowout, where Carter boogied with Dahl and she barely left his side. While a rep for the editor declined to comment, all this tongue-wagging about his dating life may be something Carter simply has to get used to now that he’s split from his wife of eighteen years. “It’s just amazing,” says one fashion-world insider. “Right now, all of these women are after Graydon.”
Come Back to the Karaoke, Gisele Bundchen, Gisele Bundchen
Is D.J. Samantha Ronson responsible for ruining the sight of a lifetime? Last week at Moomba, several party boys were smacking their lips in anticipation as they watched Über-model Gisele Bundchen preparing to take the mike at the club’s weekly karaoke party. But the performance was not to be. After spending nearly an hour excitedly picking out songs from a karaoke book with a fellow mannequin, Leo DiCaprio’s best asset suddenly stomped off just minutes before the singing was to commence. According to a witness, Bundchen seemed oblivious to the fact that the karaoke machine never gets switched on before midnight, and the busty Brazilian had grown visibly frustrated as the minutes ticked away. “She was like, ‘What’s going on? Why isn’t it starting?’ ” says the tipster. When the pouty princess finally got up to leave, one alarmed patron immediately ran over to Ronson, begging her to be reasonable. “Can’t you just start it early?” the reveler was heard saying. “You have the hottest woman in the world here wanting to sing, and we want to see it.” Oddly unmoved, Ronson responded, “Karaoke starts at midnight.” The witness adds that the bombshell passed the time by scarfing down an entire basket of French fries. And we’re sure she digested every last one.
Wyclef Jean’s Standing O
For hip-hop sensation Wyclef Jean, a concert’s just not a concert until you’ve got a girl’s legs wrapped around your head. Jean’s performance was just hitting its peak at the birthday party Noel Ashman threw for Arista honcho Jerry Blair at Studio 54 when the singer called out, “This is ladies’ night!” in order to invite his female fans to join him onstage. After dancing with a bevy of beauties for a few minutes, Wyclef announced, “I only want the baddest chick in the house to stay up here.” Only one reveler thought herself bad enough – a petite stunner in skintight jeans and tank top who was soon straddling Jean’s waist as he danced. While songstress Pink, rapper Pras, and the Knicks’ Mark Jackson and Allan Houston looked on, Jean lifted the young woman toward his mouth as she proceeded to embrace his neck with her lower limbs. One witness tells us that Jean “danced with his face between her legs for, like, five full minutes. The crowd went crazy.” And Jean apparently had quite an effect on the baddest chick in the house: She was seen in the ladies’ room minutes later baring her breasts while she washed her tank top in the sink. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Is This the Luckiest Little Socialite in the World?
Even in times of economic downturn, the famous manage to glom more stuff. Excitable society types found their fragile jaws agape when the winner of an $8,000 diamond line bracelet was announced at W magazine’s “Women of Style” party at the Hudson Hotel last week. Although dozens of pencil-thin beauties were given raffle tickets upon entering the event, fortune smiled on the prettiest one of all: Richard Belzer. “I can assure you that there was no fix,” the long-faced Law and Order: Special Victims Unit player told us while hostesses Zoë Cassavetes, Tamara Mellon, China Chow, Jill Kopelman, and Kate Driver amusedly looked on. “But when they told us there was a raffle I knew we’d win – I don’t know why.” Meanwhile, his wife, Harlee McBride, admitted, “A girl can never have enough diamonds,” adding that she was long overdue for a windfall. “The last thing I won was a Thanksgiving turkey from my dry cleaner in 1972.” Ah, but you did win Belzer, now, didn’t you?
The Ghost of Rudy Giuliani
While we don’t know whether Rudy Giuliani’s upcoming autobiography will detail his extramarital affair with Judith Nathan, we do have a good idea who’ll be writing it for him. William Novak, the high-octane ghostwriter behind the autobiographies of Nancy Reagan and Lee Iacocca, is in negotiations with Tina Brown’s Talk/Miramax Books to help Hizzoner pen his own life story. As far as finding an editor for what is sure to be a free-wheeling joyride through paradise, the company is in talks with Brown’s own hubby, Harry Evans, to oversee Rudy’s tome. Now can we talk about who’s going to deal with his combover in the author photo?
Gwyn and Madonna: Space Hogs
Some yoga enthusiasts are having trouble getting their shanti at SoHo’s Patanjali Yoga Shala, where we hear Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow have been breathing heavily for months. Although one employee we spoke with insists she’s never even seen the duo, regulars at the yoga space report that the bosom buddies have been enjoying a disproportionate share of attention from the teachers. Naturally, those left out of the spotlight are none too happy. “Everybody needs their positions adjusted,” says one frequent body twister, “and it’s disconcerting to see the instructors fawning over the celebs.” Ah, the bitterness of being ignored. We’re sure it’s something Carlos Leon can relate to.
Topless Mama Makes It Big
If you want to live large in the art world, try pissing off Rudy Giuliani. We hear photographer Renée Cox – whose self-portrayal as a nude black female Jesus in Yo Mama’s Last Supper helped provoke the mayor’s formation of his new decency commission – is preparing to sign on with the highly respectable Robert Miller Gallery, which also represents Bruce Weber, Edward Ruscha, and the estate of Lee Krasner. A source close to the artist tells us that the gallery had already shown interest in the buxom fan of Christ before the Brooklyn Museum controversy, but that no fewer than five other gallerists suddenly came banging on her door after the scandal erupted, forcing Robert Miller to make its move. The gallery had no comment, but according to our tipster, Cox’s first show in the Chelsea space will be sometime this fall and will portray “a real housewife dealing with erotica in the family.” Think she’ll pose as Donna Hanover?
Next: Baywatch Does Proof
After a steady gig on Baywatch and several in-the-flesh appearances in Playboy, Carmen Electra, it appears, is looking to class-up her career. Electra (born Tara Leigh Patrick) is apparently ready to dazzle the Great White Way, but not with anything too out of character: We hear she’s up for one of the scantily clad vixen roles in the musical Chicago (perhaps the part of Velma recently vacated by Bebe Neuwirth?). Acknowledges Electra’s rep: “Carmen is in conversations with the show about a part, although we don’t know which one.” A Broadway insider confirms that the star will be auditioning soon. What, you mean the producers weren’t convinced by her music videos?
The Secret Inside a Boxer’s Shorts
When Marco Antonio Barrera knocked the smug out of Prince Naseem Hamed in Las Vegas last week, the gloved one was equipped with a good-luck charm provided by Roc-A-Fella Records honcho Damon Dash. Before handing Hamed the first beating of his 35-1 career, Barrera asked Dash to have his Roc-a-Wear clothing line create a special pair of silver-and-navy boxing trunks with the name of his recently deceased mother, Tapia, emblazoned across the back. Dash, meanwhile, is working hard to peddle his influence even further – now the mogul is also a film producer. The tentatively titled Paid in Full recently wrapped shooting and will be distributed by Dimension Films. Dash tells us the movie is an eighties period piece inspired by growing up around the likes of notorious Harlem drug kingpin Albert “Alpo” Martinez. “They were the big guys in my neighborhood,” says Dash. “I remember how everyone used to talk about them and want to be around them.” While Dash is “not sure” when Dimension will release his flick, Martinez – who’s serving a life sentence for seven murders – will probably have to wait for it to show up on cable.
POWER TIES: Kidada Jones is taking the long road to commitment. The twentysomething daughter of superproducer Quincy Jones is engaged … to be engaged. A source close to the lovely actress-model tells us she recently received a gold “promise” ring from her boyfriend, Jeff Nash, who works at Fred Segal in L.A., with the implication that it would be replaced by an official engagement bauble in the not-too-distant future. Jones’s last love came to a tragic end in 1996, when her then-fiancé, Tupac Shakur, was murdered in Las Vegas… . In other nuptial news, paint-splattered art-world celeb Damian Loeb got engaged last Saturday night to Vogue scribe and fellow quirky Brit Plum Sykes. The wedding – where you’ll undoubtedly find Loeb pal Moby’s shiny pate among society’s jet set – is on September 8 in Yorkshire, so start currying favor for an invitation now.
Additional reporting by Aric Chen and Seth A. Gladstone.
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