Music Makes the People Come Together
Just because D.J. Junior Vasquez provided the music at Madonna’s official after-party following her Las Vegas concert last Saturday, don’t think that their longstanding feud has ended. Once joined at the hip – Vasquez’s classic remix work for Madonna includes “Like a Prayer,” “Bedtime Story,” and “Secret” – the songstress and the D.J. reportedly haven’t spoken in five years, ever since he released a song called “If Madonna Calls” that included snippets of the Material Girl’s voice recorded on his answering machine. But last weekend’s party doesn’t mean they’ve kissed and made up. “The parties may be sanctioned by Madonna’s label, but that’s really it,” Madonna’s rep told us. “Madonna is not involved in the selection of the D.J.’s in any of these events.” Organizers were a bit nervous about suggesting Vasquez, but they forged ahead as soon as Ingrid Casares, Madonna’s best buddy and a co-host of the party, gave them the go-ahead. “It’s very exciting,” a source close to Vasquez tells us. “He misses working with her.” In fact, the source says, Vasquez remixed vocals taken from Madonna’s HBO-televised concert to play at the party. He plans to hand over a copy to Casares with hopes she’ll pass it on to Madonna. Reps for Casares and Vasquez declined to comment.
Paul McCartney Keeps His Ears Peeled
Paul McCartney was looking for trouble at the Amagansett Farmers Market during his recent holiday on the East End. While shopping for fresh corn with his fiancée, Heather Mills, the former Beatle noticed a sign on the bin warning customers not to peel the corn. “You can’t very well buy it without looking at it first,” McCartney said as he peeled back an ear. “That doesn’t make sense.” Then, after seeing a fellow shucker reject pieces she had peeled, he cracked, “Quit throwing your corn back on the pile.” Turning to the cashiers, he shouted in mock horror, “Hey, there’s a lady over here who’s unpeeling her corn, and it’s not pretty!”
VH1’s Hatchet Job
The hairy glass eyeball Jeff Koons designed as the trophy for last year’s VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards will look awfully tame compared with the one artist Tom Sachs has created for this year’s ceremony, airing on October 23. We’re the first to show you the strange award, featuring an ax with a dangling crystal – and the explanation is even stranger. “The ax versus the crystal is a half-baked analogy between rock and roll – that is, your saxophone or guitar is your ax – and glamour, which is the crystal,” says Sachs, the same artist who got Mary Boone arrested two years ago after he handed out live ammunition during a show at her gallery. “The award is a sculpture, and I always thought it was important to have a sculpture at home to be able to bludgeon your spouse to death. And it’s really important to have an ax around – you know, for chopping … chopping stuff up.” A rep for Vogue cracked, “Luckily, Tom isn’t up for an award.” VH1 execs are happy with it. “They loved it,” says a rep. They must have, given the other option. Says Sachs: “I was going to do a design with swastikas and syringes but thought it wouldn’t be appropriate for television audiences.”
East Hampton Gives Plimpton the Boot
Meter maids and parking-lot attendants, beware! George Plimpton is on the loose. After parking at the Bank of New York on Main Street and shopping with his two young children in East Hampton, the Paris Review editor returned to his rented Chevy Metro to find it had been booted. Plimpton insists he didn’t realize it was a private lot. “There was a sign,” he admits, “but it was hidden behind bushes, and I couldn’t see it.” Plimpton concedes that he went a little ballistic when an agent for CET, the private parking-enforcement company guarding the lot, informed him he’d have to cough up $217 to have the car released. “I went into what is known as road rage,” says Plimpton. “I kicked the sign, you know, just gave it a good whack, and told the guy to take the car. I wasn’t going to pay the fine.” Eventually, the irate editor caved in and shelled out: “I mean, there goes my Bush tax rebate.”
John Corbett Gets Singled Out
If you happen to be one of those ladies who swoon over John Corbett – especially since he shed major poundage and buffed up his physique – now’s your chance. Corbett, who plays Carrie Bradshaw’s furniture-making, bar-owner fiancé, Aidan Shaw, on Sex and the City, and his girlfriend, Joe Dirt starlet Brittany Daniel, have broken up after just three months together. Corbett was recently overheard during a dinner in Los Angeles (he was out west promoting his upcoming movie, Serendipity) telling friends that Daniel called it quits because of their age difference. He’s 39. She’s 25. “He didn’t seem too crushed,” our spy reports. “He said he expected it.”
The Seagull: Don’t Wait For the Video
The Seagull won’t be coming to a Broadway theater near you, but it’s already out on video. There’s just one catch: Chances are you won’t be able to watch it. When the cast and crew were told on August 24 that the Mike Nichols-directed play – starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, and John Goodman – would not be heading for Broadway because of scheduling conflicts, they were also informed that that night’s performance would be filmed for the Lincoln Center Film and Tape Archive. Unfortunately for those who spent a night on line in Central Park but never snagged a ticket, only theater professionals and college students working on specific projects related to the Chekhov play will be permitted to watch the tape. And don’t even think of trying to bluff your way in. An archive spokesperson explained to us that there’s a strict screening process involving student-I.D. checks and even calls to references to make sure you’re not just another desperate fan.
Jeff Klein, the Heartbreak Hotelier
It looks like Jeff Klein is on his way to becoming the Tom Jones of the hotel business. After the recent spate of publicity promoting the young socialite and his new venture, the City Club Hotel on West 44th Street, he’s been bombarded with fan mail from female admirers. “They say things like, ‘I feel like I know you’ or ‘I want to get to know you better,’ ” a source close to Klein tells us. One gal sent along a note that read, “It’s so hard to meet a nice Jewish boy who is successful and handsome and single who is from a good family.” Another letter contained a pair of black, leopard-print underwear. “This was a big pair of underwear,” says the source. “Jeff could wear it as a skirt.” Klein declined to comment, but, for the record, he’s off-limits. He and his banker boyfriend have been together for three years.
Ford’s Expedition: Finding a New Home
It seems Harrison Ford is on the hunt for a bachelor pad. We hear that just days before his wife of eighteen years, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, filed for divorce, the actor was looking at townhouses in the East Seventies. Ford and Mathison have been living apart since October, when he moved out of the Central Park West apartment they shared with their two children. They also own an L.A. mansion and an 800-acre spread in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Dogged Pursuit of Fashion
Susanne Bartsch may want to leave her dog home the next time she goes out. The professional party girl walked into SWA in Wainscott at about midnight recently with a small dog under her arm. At first bouncers thought the pooch was some sort of fashion accessory, but once they realized it was alive, they informed her that pets weren’t covered under the nightclub’s insurance policy. “She was furious,” an onlooker reports. “She walked outand never came back.” Bartsch downplayed the incident: “One of the bouncers was really bossy, but then he apologized.” SWA owners confirmed the no-pets rule, but declined to comment on Bartsch.
CLUB WED Congrats to Anita Sarko. The downtown doyenne and her younger beau, 25-year-old Albanian freedom fighter turned actor Erzen Krivca, got hitched in City Hall on August 24 with Village Voice columnist Michael Musto as the ring bearer and flower girl. The couple met two years ago at a Studio 54 party for the Pet Shop Boys, and Krivca proposed during the recent premiere party for O at the Park. Sarko tells us they spent their wedding night at a Maxwell concert, and “we’ve been honeymooning in our apartment ever since.”
BREAKING NEWS Meg Ryan may love shopping in East Hampton, but it’s not like everything she buys she actually wants. A source tells us the actress recently broke a $175 plate at one store when she was pulling out her credit card to buy something else. “She very nicely insisted that she pay for it,” a spy tells us.
MEMBERS ONLY Now that Noel Ashman is finished with the Todd Oldham redesign of TriBeCa hot spot Veruka, the nightlife impresario is getting ready for his next venture. Ashman tells us he plans to open a members-only club, like Amy Sacco’s Bungalow 8. Except not only will members have to be invited, they’ll also be asked to pay a fee. Ashman’s still deciding between two potential downtown locations for the new space, which he hopes to open in about six months.
With Catherine Townsend and Aric Chen.