Adrian Grenier Banged Bongos in BrooklynPlus: Victoria Beckham does the robot dance, Jamie-Lynn Sigler plays ping-pong, and other expressions of celebrity joy, in today’s gossip roundup.
Cruise, Demi, and Portman at the WHCA DinnerVal Kilmer’s not really running for governor of New Mexico, Christopher Hitches said a kind of iffy thing about Wanda Sykes, and Elizabeth Banks is allergic to French pollen. And more dish from Washington’s prom on Saturday night.
P. Diddy’s Mom Knows Her Way Around a Stripper PoleThe Scores girls have nothing on Janice Combs. Plus, Helen Mirren, Peggy Noonan, and Joe Scarborough confess to drug use; and more unlikely tidbits, in our daily New York gossip roundup.
Cancer Has Not Impaired Patrick Swayze’s JudgementPatrick Swayze passed on playing a gay cheerleading coach in Fired Up for “creative reasons,” not because he’s sick. The script for Saturday’s Inner Circle show at the Hilton had to be overhauled in light of Spitzergate. Tom Brady made a rare post–Super Bowl public appearance with Gisele at the opening of the Zegna store on Fifth Avenue. Anne Hathaway bought five bottles of absinthe and borrowed an absinthe fountain from a restaurant for a party she was hosting with her boyfriend Raffaello Folllieri. ABC may cancel Rachael Ray’s show because of poor ratings. Padma Lakshmi and Salman Rushdie shared an “uncomfortable silence” after being seated six feet apart from one another at a Cinema Society screening.
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Hilary Swank Put Her Boob on Someone’s HeadKelly Ripa said she’s going to check out occasional Live With Regis and Kelly co-host Damien Fahey’s band tonight at the Cutting Room. Hilary Swank accidentally put her boob on P.S. I Love You co-star Bob Balaban’s head when she hugged him as he was having lunch. Robin
Quivers’s boyfriend, comic Jim Florentine, joked at Caroline’s that he’s not sure why she’s dating him because he’s “a loser.” The Olsen twins, Bob Saget, and John Stamos had a Full House reunion at the Bowery Hotel bar on Wednesday. Michael Jordan, ex-Knick Charles Oakley, and Ahmad Rashad hung out at Buddakan and then Socialista. Black Crowe Chris Robinson got six figures to play a half-hour set for a Wall Street firm at Arena.
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City Free of ‘Sex and the City’ Movie! …For NowMets pitcher John Maine asked an attractive clubgoer at Touch if he could try on her black dress in the bathroom. Sex and the City wrapped up shooting in New York with a party at the Royalton Hotel. Bill Clinton swapped seats with Oscar de la Renta so he could sit next to Penélope Cruz instead of Anna Wintour at the Spanish Institute Gold Medal Gala. Lame duck Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is annoyed that his name wasn’t included in a recent Post article about 2009 gubernatorial contenders. Tommy Hilfiger made $8.5 million when he sold the East Hampton home he bought a year and a half ago for $26.5 million. Bobby Cannavale dropped his 47-year-old girlfriend for 22-year-old Alison Pill. Fans of Law & Order: SVU are annoyed that Richard Belzer doesn’t have as much screen time as he once did.
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Catherine Z-J Gets the ‘No Way’ From Rob MarshallCatherine Zeta-Jones won’t star in the movie adaptation of Broadway musical Nine because the director wouldn’t beef up her role. Eight staffers have left CBS’ The Early Show because they can’t stand working with hotheaded senior exec producer Shelley Ross. Paris Hilton thinks the guys in New York are “so much better” than the ones in L.A. Since divorcing his wife, George Soros has been hanging out with young girls in their twenties at his home in Southampton. Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad and ex-socialite (and ex-wife of Jets owner Woody Johnson) Sale Johnson may be getting married today. Anna Wintour controlled the seating arrangements at the $50,000-a-table 7th on Sale event at the Lexington Armory. (Speaking of Anna, Tim Burton says that Johnny Depp based the haircut of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on hers.)
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Clinton’s Party Guru Also Likes LadiesBill Clinton buddy Amed Kahn threw a party at Tenjune for Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s son that consisted of 30 models and five guys. Greenhouse, New York’s first-ever “green” nightclub, gets an eco-preview tonight in Paris. Tory Burch and Lance Armstrong amicably broke up because they lived too far apart from one another. Sean Penn, John McEnroe, and Lance Armstrong hung out at the Soho House bar. Artist Geoffrey Raymond’s latest Wall Street–inspired work depicts Maria Bartiromo as the Virgin Mary. The New York City Partnership power breakfast caused so much commotion outside the American Express headquarters that many CEOs had to walk a few blocks just to get in. Alex Rodriguez and his wife are expecting another kid.
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Damn You, John StosselAt Live Earth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John Stossel continued their public feud over global warming. Ron Perelman and Gina Gershon are hanging out on Perelman’s yacht off the coast of Italy, but they may not be dating. Eliot Spitzer and Charles Schumer are weekend telephone buddies. Former Bronx congressman Mario Biaggi no longer holds a grudge against Rudy Giuliani, even though Giuliani successfully prosecuted him for bribery twenty years ago. Al D’Amato is happy he’s going to be a father again. Mel Gibson bought a $39.5 million estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. NBC accidentally featured Katie Couric in a Today-show promo. Hillary Clinton is hosting three Hamptons fund-raisers the first weekend of August.
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Gore and Sting, BFFAl Gore hung out at Sting’s apartment on Central Park West after the Live Earth concert. Roger Clemens got his hair highlighted for $120 at the Pierre Michel Salon. Jane Pratt feels vindicated now that Jane magazine has folded. Newly IPO’d billionaire Stephen Schwarzman and his wife dined at Club 55 in St. Tropez. A movie starring Alec Baldwin is set to hit theaters, even though he doesn’t want it released because he thinks it’s so bad it’s “unrecognizable.” Jon Bon Jovi took a helicopter to Ron Perelman’s party in the Hamptons. Teri Hatcher acted like a diva at Eva Longoria’s wedding. A clubgoer caught Paris Hilton smoking pot.
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Scalia Digs TortureSupreme Court justice Antonin Scalia is, not surprisingly, a fan of Jack Bauer’s 24 torture techniques. Mark Green is set to join Al D’Amato and Ed Koch on NY1’s Inside City Hall program. Jeanine Pirro is set to star in a Judge Judy–esque show. Ellen Barkin and Ralph Fiennes have been canoodling. Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury gave $300 to a homeless man. The Olsen twins trekked to Atlantic City for a Bob Dylan concert. The late Kurt Vonnegut has a role in an upcoming DVD. A gay former CBS News producer filed a $10 million discrimination suit against his former employer because he felt the network didn’t want his gay-bashing in St. Maarten to be publicized. Aussie golfer Greg Norman and his ex-wife-to-be have finally come to (undisclosed) terms on how to split up his $500 million fortune. Patti LaBelle didn’t need a mike to wow a Carnegie Hall audience.
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Happily Eva AfterOK! magazine paid more than $2 million for the rights to Eva Longoria’s wedding photos, much to the chagrin of People. Lily Allen was so drunk during a performance she referred to hostess Tinsley Mortimer as “Ashley Winksdale,” which, actually, is kind of awesome. Courtney Love has been licensing Kurt Cobain’s likeness for a bunch of lame products. (Certainly Al Pacino wouldn’t approve.) The Queen of England uses e-mail and has an iPod. Rachel Roy and Damon Dash got into a public spat at Dash’s club Socialista. Ryan Cabrera and Riley Keough — she’s Elvis’s granddaughter — are on the outs. Renée Zellweger might be dating an agent at CAA.
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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.
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Brit Bares It in Meatpacking BarBritney Spears changed out of her dress and into a bikini at One Little West 12th. Beyoncé is jealous of Jennifer Hudson. The New Republic is going bi-weekly but is not cutting any staff. Chelsea club BED was set to be closed for renovation, and the fatal brawl there earlier this month isn’t helping matters. Ian Schrager’s Chinese restaurant at the Gramercy Park Hotel is back on but will be helmed by a Japanese chef. Zac Posen kicked socialite Arden Wohl out of his Fashion Week after-party because she didn’t come to his show or wear his clothes to the after-party. Paris Hilton is jealous of fellow sex-tape star Kim Kardashian.
in other news
The ‘New York’ Guide to Where Not to Get Sick
So the big Pataki-pushed plan to overhaul the New York State health-care system is out, and the first order of business is to close nine hospitals statewide — five of them in the city. The doomed hospitals are St. Vincent’s Midtown and Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan, Victory Memorial in Brooklyn, Parkway Hospital in Queens, and Westchester Square Medical Center in the Bronx. They’re all plotted on the (somewhat squished) subway map above, so if you live near any of those red Xs, you might want to start taking your vitamins. (Those two Xs in midtown, we must say, make us pleased the company provided flu shots. Thanks, Bruce!)
Code Blue for Hosps [NYDN]
Best Hospitals 2006 [NYM]