out and about
Added: May 15, 2008, 10:04 am	Share    Print    Email

The Big Weekend is coming! Already the phone lines at the hot new clubs and most desired dining destinations are burning up with entreaties to get on the guest list and snag a Saturday night table at 8 p.m. - on the patio no less. No surprise to me after watching a guaranteed Saturday night reservation for July and August at Nick & Toni's fetch $18,000 at last year's Great Chefs Dinner auction. And that's before you even get a roll! Dinner is extra! Nonetheless, you can be sure that the veteran celeb watering holes like N&T's, Della Femina, and new on-the-scene spots with great culinary wizardry track records like Jeffrey Chodorow's Kobe Club and Peter Dunlop's OSO are going to be packed that weekend.

Linda and Jeffrey Chodorow at Bridgehampton Polo this past summer.

Sure to be a new hotspot is Michael Wudyka's latest venture - a new music café on North Sea Road in Southampton in the space that housed Tugboat's North Sea House. Slated to be called Regular's, it will serve up comfort food, live music, and free wireless Internet access (although I don't see any one toting around a laptop to clubs, thank goodness, those pesky Blackberries are annoying enough). Michael, who owns the Enclave Inn chain and is partners with Mitchell Kriegman in the Wainscott Studios, knows everybody so expect this place to rock until the wee hours.

Former 'King of Clubs' Charles Ferri is moving on and taking his Star Room franchise to other parts - Dubai for sure - and a yet to be announced Caribbean Island. With him goes his new Star Vodka and of course the beauteous Heather Graham. Meanwhile, Alison Becker has moved on but not quite so far as Charles. She has packed up her kitchen gear in Bridgehampton and moved her restaurant, Alison, into the Maidstone Arms Inn on East Hampton's Main Street overlooking the pond and now getting all polished up for the summer onslaught.

As always, the club scene is once again a veritable game of musical chairs with New York's top promoters switching around and up and down the South Fork. Unik Ernest and Michael Satsky already seem to have a lock on the nightlife landscape with a unique feature at their new East Hampton nightclub Lily Pond - a solution for summer traffic jams in the Hamptons. Their Lily Pond nightclub will feature a helicopter landing pad a mile away. Word is the club mavens spent $500,000 on renovations. PR guru Jonathan Cheban is also, as they say in Hollywood, "attached to the project" so you can bet the place will be flooded with his fabulous friends like gorgeous socialite Stella Keitel (daughter of Lorraine Bracco and Harvey Keitel) and Russian heiress Anna Anisimova. This is definitely where I'll be sipping champagne this summer.

Famous for being famous Kim Kardashian is hosting her own "White Party" at the White House in Hampton Bays on May 25. This party is bound to get deliciously out of hand if she brings her sisters along for the ride. Wonder if sweetie Reggie Bush will be part of the entourage?

The Big Grab
Looks like The Dolans won the big grab for Newsday beating out Rupert Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman and already raising some eyebrows. Cablevision Systems' acquisition of Newsday could spell trouble for the paper's sports desk.

Madison Square Garden, its Chairman Jim Dolan, and its professional basketball team already have some major communications problems viewing the press as the enemy especially with local sports reporters, who have been extremely critical of the company's failings, especially when it comes to the New York Knicks. Starting in July, when the Long Island-based newspaper is expected to be acquired by Cablevision, the paper's basketball and hockey writers will be covering its parent-company's pet teams. Should be interesting to see what is written and what gets hidden under the carpet.

Carole and Earle Mack at opening night for the New York City Ballet.

The Big Give
Social scenester Earle Mack the real-estate magnate and philanthropist who chaired the New York State Council on the Arts under former Gov. George Pataki, has endowed the newly named Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University, his alma mater, with $15 million. Plus, he mandated that another $15 million in new appropriations be contributed by Drexel and other donors, bringing the total to $30 million. Talk about matching gifts.

The Big News In Small Bites
Candice Bergen is shooting "Bride Wars" with Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Johnston of "3rd Rock From The Sun" fame, and the wildly funny Casey Wilson. The romantic comedy focuses on two best friends who become rivals when they scheduled their respective weddings on the same day.

Fashion designer and red carpet regular, Tory Burch who used to date Lance Armstrong is now seeing Lyor Cohen, the Israeli-born chief of Warner Music Group who got his start at the Def Jam label and used to live on Avenue A. Burch showed off her new beau a few weeks ago when she brought him to Richard Dupont's art exhibition at Lever House.

Three cheers for Harper Collins president Jane Friedman who is starting down the Green Highway. A longtime publishing institution faithfully mailed at least twice a year to thousands of stores and libraries for about as long as the industry has existed, the paper catalog may be on its way out. HarperCollins announced Monday that it was planning to make its listings of upcoming releases available only online, calling the current system both economically and environmentally indefensible.

"I think we are overdue. We produce thousands and thousands of catalogs, many of which go right into the waste baskets," said Jane. The switch would likely begin by summer 2009. "It's such a waste of paper and so inefficient." Ever the pacesetter, expect Random House and the other big guns to follow Jane's lead and perhaps save thousands of forests

The late Roy Scheider's final movie will be completed with the help of a special-effects team. Roy was just one scene away from finishing the revenge thriller "Iron Cross" when he tragically died Feb. 10 of myeloma. The casting director is working with top Hollywood make-up artist and prosthetic latex mask-maker Louis Lazzara, a friend of the iconic actor. Louis, who adored Roy, said he'll create a perfect replica of Scheider's face and ensure the final scene can be completed with the use of a stand-in actor. Louis told me this at the memorial for Roy this weekend where he cracked up the audience with his stories.

Lyor Cohen and Tory Burch at the Costume Institute Gala at the Met in NYC.

Producer Beverly Camhe always has something interesting up her silken sleeves. The savvy vet of many hit films is in talks with literary agents Marianne Strong and Jason Allen Ashlock about a documentary on Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the DC madam who committed suicide last week rather than go to jail. They have also commissioned legendary biographer C. David Heymann and Gerry Visco to pen a book looking inside the sex industry, with Palfrey as the touchstone.

Everything's comin' up roses for Quogue's Arthur Laurents. The well respected playwright and director saw his revival of "Gypsy" - which he wrote some 50 years ago - scoop seven Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Musical, a Best Director nod for him and Best Actress for diva Patti Lupone.

While there's lots of rejoicing on the Great White Way, the hottest story along Broadway is that Bravo TV is talking to playwright Tricia Walsh Smith, the estranged wife of theater mogul Phillip Smith about joining the cast of "The Real Housewives of New York", and giving Countess Luann, Jill, Alex, Bethenny and Ramona something to really dish about. Tricia has been posting YouTube videos railing against her estranged husband's attempts to kick her out of their Park Avenue apartment. She's even threatened to move into a tent! As they say at Bravo, "watch what happens!"

We'll be seeing lots more of our favorite East End couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. I hear that they are going to take some time for themselves and their family (possibly working on an addition?) after all the hoopla surrounding "Sex and the City: The Movie" is finally over next month and now that Matthew's film "Finding Amanda" has premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. They'll leave their Greenwich Village townhouse and come back to the East End to unwind and maybe even squeeze in a trip to Ireland to introduce their little boy to some members of the Broderick clan.

Also, now that his show "Back to You" has sadly not been renewed, Kelsey Grammer is sure to be making the party rounds this season with his gorgeous wife Camille. A beach boy at heart - he was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and raised on the beaches of New Jersey and Florida - hopefully we'll see his clan playing in the local sand.

You'll also be seeing TV exec Joe La Polla all around the villages. The seasoned television pro who counts major programming posts at Discovery Channel and A&E has taken over the reigns at Plum TV. You can be sure that there will be some major programming additions from this whiz, who helped put Discovery on the map with creative and innovative programs. Welcome aboard Joe!

More news about the tube - my dear girlfriend Rene Syler, who was so unceremoniously dumped last year by CBS, has, like the bright penny she is, turned up again on the small screen. She's now the host of Parents TV. You go girl!

Poor David Lauren, son of designer Ralph Lauren, was not invited to the first daughter's wedding to Henry Hager, reportedly because he hasn't asked for his long-time squeeze Lauren Bush's hand in marriage. So, while the Bush's were in Texas Friday night, the fashion heir was spotted at Greenwich eatery L'Escale for his sister Dylan's birthday, chatting up Greenwich magazine staffer Jennifer Danzi, who gave David her number. David said he'll be in Bedford for polo matches this summer and would like to see her.

Seen Around the Villages
Looks like everyone loves TJ Maxx in Bridgehampton. Recently Judith Giuliani was spotted helping Rudy shop for pants at the sale rack. Glad to see even the Mayor likes a bargain. Later that day Joy Behar dropped by and peeked around the housewares department. Is she redecorating?

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Photos by PatrickMcMullan.com