Johnny Depp Is a Really Good TipperPlus, Seth Rogen is back on carbs, Katy Perry really loves pizza, and more need-to-know celebrity information for waiters (and everyone else), in our daily gossip roundup.
Anne Hathaway’s Humiliation Will Go OnThe beloved actress has an interview coming out in the next ‘In Style’ in which she gushes over her disgraced ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri. That, and the rest of today’s gossip in our daily column roundup.
gossipmonger
Busta Rhymes and Rob Schneider Are FriendsThe rapper and ‘Don’t Mess With the Zohan’ star hang at Marquee, Paris Hilton refuses to be photographed for the first time in her life, and Lance Armstrong and his new blonde enjoy their brief happiness, all in our daily roundup of the juice from today’s columns.
company town
Conan O’Brien Reads, But Does Not Give Recipes to, ‘Good Housekeeping’MEDIA
•Yesterday the New York Post reported on Tiger Woods’s new $65 million Hamptons pad. The only problem? He didn’t buy the house. [Radar]
• Good Housekeeping published Conan O’Brien’s stew recipe in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day. Except it wasn’t actually his recipe. “I’ve never cooked anything in my life. I didn’t send this to them; they completely made this up,” he said, then added: “I love this magazine, I’m not mad or anything.” [WWD]
• After a year of bickering, Dow Jones decided it will no longer carry news from the Associated Press. [Reuters]
gossipmonger
Why Does Peter Kalikow Have a $1 Million Ferrari?Billionaire financiers Stephen Schwarzman and Henry Kravis don’t like each other, and refuse to socialize at billionaire financier-type events. Speaking of billionaire financiers, Jeffrey Epstein hired former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr to help defend him against charges that he solicited prostitutes. Tim Gunn claims that he wasn’t allowed to reference Project Runway in his book for fear of being sued by publisher (and Runway co-producer) Weinstein & Co. MTA chairman Peter Kalikow’s $1 million Ferrari sustained $32,000 in damage in transit from Zurich to New York last may. James Gandolfini says we should “shit or get off the pot” regarding Iraq, and wants to reinstate the draft. Some designers are angry that Ralph Lauren is hoarding models for his Saturday show.
intel
Another New York Recording Studio ShuttersHell’s Kitchen’s legendary Sony Studios closed last week, and its remaining contents will be auctioned off on September 10. It’s the latest in a string of big private studio closings (smaller or home recording rooms are now preferred, as they are cheaper and easier for record companies), and some fear it’s the death of a creative tradition that fostered unique collaborations and chemistry. “Walking down the hallways, Mariah Carey would be in one room and Marc Anthony in another,” recalls producer Phil Ramone. “There’s a community side to making music, so it’s a huge loss.” Indeed, former Sony manager Tony Drootin recalls Jay-Z and Beyoncé recording in side-by-side rooms (resulting in his rap on “Crazy in Love”), Michael Jackson stuffing a spare studio room with video games and a Stairmaster, and rappers from Busta Rhymes to Lil’ Kim guesting on each other’s records. When Drootin would leave at 3 a.m., “You’d see all these Bentleys and Lamborghinis on the street outside.”
gossipmonger
This Movie Is Innnsaaane!Danny DeVito is trying to make a movie about Crazy Eddie. One of Lindsay Lohan’s MySpace friends sold online correspondence between Lohan and Samantha Ronson to Star magazine. Philip Roth complained about showing up in “Page Six.” Jane staffers stole a lot of stuff from the fashion closet after learning the mag was folding. Former Jets QB Boomer Esiason may replace Don Imus as WFAN’s early-morning D.J. Gore Vidal is annoyed that Los Angeles Department of Water and Power tore out his solar-power system. Congressman Charlie Rangel is offering $1,000 to anyone who can prove he went on a “date.” Today show contributor Amy Jacobson was fired from her Chicago post after being caught on tape in a bikini at the house of a woman whose disappearance she was covering. Gisele and Tom Brady PDA’d at Palma on Cornelia Street. 50 Cent canoodled with Ciara.
the morning line
Traffic Jam
• The Feds are insistent on their Monday deadline for approval of Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan, the mayor says, and Shelly Silver’s Assembly doesn’t even have plans to reconvene to discuss it. Poor Mike. [NYT]
gossipmonger
Anonygossip Terrifies Hamptons!The society column in The Southampton Press is now anonymously written, and some East Enders are worried. Danielle Steel plans to write a novel based on her ex-husband’s boating incident in France, which left a French doctor dead. Sharon Stone is scheduled to emcee an AIDS benefit at the Dubai International Film Festival, despite the fact that the city has a bad track record on dealing with homosexuals and AIDS victims. Vanessa Minnillo may star in a reality show, though the Lohan knife pictures may be an issue. Peter Beard likes to take Polaroids of topless models. The Olsen twins sold pictures from their 21st-birthday party for $300,000. Paul McCartney performed a surprise show at the HighLine Ballroom with his “almost boy band.” Eli Manning dumped beer on teammate Shaun O’Hara at his 30th-birthday party.
the morning line
Wanna Buy the Freedom Tower?
• Guess what Port Authority is going to do with the Freedom Tower once the construction is over? What every owner of a half-built property dreams of doing: Flip it. By its completion in 2011, the skyscraper may be up for sale, say Spitzer and Corzine. [Metro]
• Meet Mathieu Eugene, the City Council’s newest member and the first Haitian to fill the seat. Eugene won a low-profile, low-turnout special election in Brooklyn after his predecessor, Yvette Clarke, moved on to Congress. [NYP]
• Busta Rhymes, on trial for kicking a fan and beating up a former chauffeur, rejected a deal that would land him in jail for a cred-building six months. The alternative: probation, anger management, and two weeks of lecturing kids about violence. [NYDN]
• In New York, we wage our war on Christmas all year round — and we’re winning it, too. The U.S. Supreme Court washed its hands of the Brooklyn-filed case that challenged the citywide ban on school nativity displays. (Menorahs and Islamic crescents, however, are totally okay). [FoxNews.com]
• And in New Jersey, a similar battle with a techie twist: A public-school history teacher is in hot water after a student taped him proselytizing (“If you reject [Jesus], you belong in hell,” etc.) and saying that dinosaurs were on Noah’s ark. [NYT]
