Tonight’s boldfaced parties:
• Blood Diamond screening. MoMA, 11 W. 53rd St., nr. Sixth Ave., 7 p.m. Ed Zwick hosts. Nothing against Ed Zwick, but we were annoyed when his 2003 Tom Cruise vehicle The Last Samurai was on AMC the other day. Get it together, AMC. Turner Classics is running you ragged on the programming, and they don’t have commercials.
• Hot 97 “Thank You NYC” Concert. Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, nr. 44th St., 8 p.m. Ludacris, Jim Jones, Chris Brown, and Akon will perform for a select crowd of contest winners. We knew a guy who worked for a radio station and was in charge of driving the “party van” around to give out prizes. He would park it in front of his apartment on Atlantic Avenue and interview his roommates, who would pretend to be teenagers from Fort Lee or wherever. Then they would keep the prizes. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the party-van guy … truly, growing old is naught but a long, hard ride on the lonely train of disillusionment.
• Juli B Masquerade Ball. The Night Hotel, 132 W. 45th St., nr. Sixth Ave., 6 p.m. Angie Everhart, Oscar de la Renta scheduled to be there. Masks will be provided, which is lame. However, Julib.com, featuring tasteful jazz-standard jamming, is the rare splash-page soundtrack that delights the ears. Call it a draw.
• NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Champion’s Party. Marquee, 289 Tenth Ave., nr. 27th St., 10 p.m. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Amerie, Vanessa Minnillo expected to attend. Amerie and Jeff Gordon … they’re inseparable these days.
Or, check out all our Agenda listings for tonight, selected by New York’s culture editors.
