Already my mailbox is overflowing with holiday party invitations. How to whittle them down to which will actually be fun and which will be a bloody bore is my big problem. Fear not, I will, in my never-ending quest bring you the last dish on our East End neighbors!

The Piano Man Billy Joel has penned a new tune, but he's not recording it. Instead, he's given it to new up-and-coming 21 year old Long Island performer Cass Dillon. Dillon's version of "Christmas in Fallujah" will debut on iTunes on Dec. 4. Net proceeds from "Christmas in Fallujah" will be donated to Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds specially adapted homes for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe disabilities. Joel is an avid supporter of Homes For Our Troops.

Todd and Carol Rome with Jill and Bobby Zarin in 2006. Photo by PatrickMcMullan.com

Joel said: "I didn't feel I was the person to sing this song. I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier's age. I wanted to help somebody else's career. I've had plenty of hits. I've had plenty of airplay. I've had my time in the sun. I think it's time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience." If you would like to show your support, visit (www.homesforourtroops.org).

The Oscar campaign for Sidney Lumet and the remarkable "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is in full swing and the buzz for Sidney is hot. Big things are already coming for Lumet and the film, including Marisa Tomei's Independent Spirit nomination for Best Supporting Actress. There's also talk from the West Coast of a Lifetime Achievement Award coming to Lumet from the Los Angeles Film Critics.

Carole Rome, the soon-to-be-ex-wife of Bluestar Jets CEO Todd Rome, has a new boyfriend in Florida, Gov. Charles Crist. "They met about four months ago and have been together ever since," my spies said. Carole has been living on Fisher Island since she left Todd in July, and Charlie takes her to Miami Heat games. Crist also rented an estate on Ox Pasture Road in Southampton last August so Carole could be closer to her kids. But Todd isn't upset, telling us he's already living with a woman he met in the Hamptons, Vanessa Brams, one of the chairs of the Diabetes Research Institute. Supposedly the Romes' split over her extravagant spending but my spies claim otherwise. Carole is wasting no time introducing her new beau to her well-heeled circle. She and pals Donald Trump, Jill and Bobby Zarin, Linda Argila and Ed Bulgin are hosting a reception for Charlie at The Atrium in Trump Tower. But if you want to meet the Governor, it'll cost you a cool grand to say hi!

Somehow in between lawyers meetings and romancing Nancy Shevell and Rosanna Arquette, Sir Paul McCartney is recording a new album with his son. The Beatles legend is collaborating with James - his son with late first wife Linda McCartney - on the LP, and says the experience is thrilling. He told Billboard magazine: "I'm actually doing some recording with my son, James. We're making an album together. He's doing it all. He's writing it all. It's sensational. There's nothing set in stone yet - the plan is for me to just do some recording with him. But it's really exciting, I'm really loving it."

The 65-year-old musician also revealed his latest songs have been inspired by his bitter public divorce from Heather Mills. He said: "I think one of the great things is that music is a great healer and it's a great sort of therapy. You work through it with your music. I thank heaven for my music. I feel very, very blessed. People always used to call it a gift, the gift of music, and I think that's very much more and more how I see it. "Whatever happens, I still seem to come out positive and optimistic. I think that's just my character."

Meanwhile, the Eastman family, Linda's sibling and half brothers and sisters, are embroiled in a major squabble over the Eastman family art collection and various other multi-million dollar assets that will make the Astor brouhaha seem like small potatoes. It's going to be very nasty.

Tinsley Mortimer made a rare public appearance with her husband Topper and turned up for the Lia Sophia jewelry preview at Gold Bar along with fellow Hampton socialites including, Fabiola Beracasa, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, and Stacey Bendet. Her pals were more than surprised as Topper usually skips the party circuit and lets Tinsley bask in the spotlight. Maybe he's getting bored watching "Law & Order" re-runs and decided that a night out with his gorgeous wife would be worth the flashing cameras.

She runs a multi-million dollar fashion enterprise and is raising six kids but that hasn't slowed down Tory Burch one bit. She has been criss-crossing the country making personal appearances at her recently launched free-standing store in Chicago and Dallas. Coming up next is a Las Vegas showcase for her signature flats, bags, and dresses. Since breaking up with Lance Armstrong, she's been sighted dating a couple of Hollywood powerhouses - Paramount Pictures chief Brad Grey and TV producer Tom Werner. But pals are pooh-poohing anything serious as neither of these guys is going to give up his control of a major chunk of the Hollywood entertainment cartel to move back East with Tory & Co. If you recall, that was exactly the reason for her split with Lance who tried the Hamptons life and soon peddled himself miles away.

Talking movies, I hear that nightlife impresario Noel Ashman is producing a film on New York nightlife. Don't know if he has a clue about making movies but he sure does know the nightlife scene. Noel's expertise in the club world goes back to Studio 54 days and continues with his celebrity haven The Plumm.

Send them back to Drivers Ed! That's the buzz on the nightlife circuit where red carpet accidents have been happening with increasing frequency. Last week Calvin Klein, arriving for a tony fashion event, was rearended while waiting to disembark for his turn with the paparazzi when his chauffeur driven car was bumped from behind. An indignant Calvin got out to give the offending driver a piece of his mind only to discover that it was old pal Donna Karan who was behind the wheel!

Then days ago while Mayor Bloomberg was being dropped off at the Gotham Awards, his driver nearly ran over actor Joe Pantoliano and Creative Coalition director Robin Bronk. When Joey Pants saw the passenger was His Honor, he immediately started crying, "oh, my neck, my neck".

Neither of the two was injured but it did provide a big laugh for celebrity oglers.

Friends, family and former colleagues are praying for Steve Florio, the former chairman of Conde Nast Publishing Company who took early retirement after suffering a heart attack and having cardiac surgery eight years ago. Steve started his second act career with the opening of his very popular Italian restaurant Tutto di Giorno in Sag Harbor. Florio, whose brother, Tom Florio, is the publisher of Vogue, has been in the hospital since he suffered another heart attack two weeks ago. I've been told his family is expecting a full recovery.

More on the restaurant beat - Eric Lemonides, who owns Almond and Almondito, closed Almondito our favorite Karaoke spot where we all got to publicly humiliate ourselves each week. But don't you worry. Eric's got something else up his sleeves. The doors will soon reopen - only this time with Northern Italian flair and a new name - yet another spin on the Almond franchise – Almoncello. He promises to keep the tradition of these great restaurants alive with authentic food and drinks.

The sprawling Southampton estate of the late Howard Gittis is hitting the market at $59 million. Included on the approximately 14-acre spread on Ox Pasture Road is a seven-bedroom main house of just under 16,000 square feet along with a caretaker's residence, two pools and a tennis court. Gittis, who served under Ronald Perelman as vice chairman of his holding company, died in September at his Manhattan home. Wait until the Wall Street bonuses land on desks and you'll see a flock of helicopters zipping over the estate section.

It's been several years and several million dollars in the making but finally filmmaker Paul Hasegawa-Overacker's, documentary, "Guest of Cindy Sherman", an ode to his ex-girlfriend artist East Hampton's Cindy Sherman has been completed. "Guest of Cindy Sherman" chronicles Hasegawa-Overacker's role as her non-celebrity boyfriend and includes interviews with Carol Kane, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Molly Ringwald, Eric Bogosian, Julian Schnabel, Eric Fischl, and John Waters. Known professionally as Paul H-O, the filmmaker was inspired by an incident at a dinner party when he threw a fit after being seated far away from his beloved, with a place card reading, "Guest of Cindy Sherman." In the movie, Elton John's husband, David Furnish, describes a similar incident when he once persuaded John to move Uma Thurman so Furnish could sit at his table. Oh, I'd be thrilled to be "Guest of Elton John" even if they sat me in the kitchen!