On the Sudden Seeming Ubiquity of Bill Clinton
Is it our imagination, or has Bill Clinton been a busy little bee lately — or, at least, a busy little potential First Husband? In eight recent days, he schmoozed, posed for pictures, and occasionally gave speeches at four different high-visibility charity events. The last time he’d attended a gossip-column-worthy event in town was in January, for his good friend Terry McAuliffe’s book party. This latest burst started a week ago Monday, when he came to the Food Bank for New York City’s “Can-Do Awards” at Pier 60, wandering in late from a Hillary fund-raiser at Pier 94 with Chelsea, who wore a Hillary campaign button. He introduced U2’s the Edge, who was being honored, and then he fake-admonished Jimmy Fallon, who had just sung a ditty called “Car Wash for Peace,” for withholding a plan that could have broken the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. The room exploded, and the Food Bank’s coffers hit a record high.
intel
Dining By Design, in Style and for Charity
Dining By Design, an annual charity thingie that plops society types down to dine among phantasmagoric table settings, is a reliable showcase of ingenuity with a serious tranny undercurrent (John Waters did a table once; Amanda Lepore was a table once). This year, DBD’s tenth, there was a palpable sense of overdrive in the West Chelsea event space: Most table designers were piling on feathers, antlers, holograms, lenticulars, fruit hats, and drag queens with corporate-sponsored abandon. On the tamer end, Ralph Lauren erected a mosquito-netted gazebo. Disney’s table recalled, curiously, a boardroom. Nautica went with the oh-my-God-we’re-on-a-yacht theme. In a slight faux pas, the Cole&Garrett and Lexus tables used the exact same chairs.
in other news
So This Is Christmas, and What Have You Done?For those wanting to take their holiday giving beyond the doorman’s tip, the Morning News has put together a great holiday charity guide with some very unique and deserving organizations who’ll be happy to receive your last-minute stab at saving the world. Even if you gave at the office, go over and take a look.
Of course, according to an article they’re currently running, the Morning News kids also sent their intern to go to the Christmas-tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Charity begins at home, guys.
Morning Edition [Morning News]
intel
Broadway Cares, But ‘The Color Purple’ Cares MostYesterday endeth the giving season on Broadway. Every year since 1988, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has asked the theater world to spend six weeks raising funds for the charity — hence all those post-ovation pleas for donations — and shows’ casts compete to raise the most dough. This year’s big winner was The Color Purple, which brought in $194,500 of the almost $3 million total. How do casts try to wring more money from their audiences? By offering for sale or auction all manner of services and tchotchkes. In 2003, most notably, Hugh Jackman, then in Boy From Oz, and Harvey Fierstein, then in Hairspray, faced off for the most coveted trinket: Jackman auctioned off his autographed, sweaty towel after each performance, while Fierstein promised to record an outgoing message for his highest bidder. (Jackman triumphed, bringing in more than $3 million.)
Who was this year’s big draw?
