South O’ the Highway (and the North too)

Emmy Award-nominated actress Aida Turturro, famous for her role as Janice on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” attended the Montauk Friends of Erin cocktail party last Saturday at Gurney’s Inn. Aida will appear on the “American Dream Show” with Ingrid Lemme being filmed at Gurney’s Inn on April 11.

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Tony and Oscar Award-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl and her husband, artist David Geiser, were on hand to applaud their son, Jake, at the Third Annual Hayground School Creative Orchestra Concert. Actor Roy Scheider and his wife, actress and director Brenda Siemer, co-founders of the school, and their son, Christian, an alumnus of the school, were there to watch Molly Scheider perform. Acclaimed composer and conductor Bruce Wolosoff served as Artistic Director. The orchestra performed 37 new compositions by students and teachers in the course of the concert, the culmination of their work with Wolosoff.

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Southampton actor Bobby Abid is studying with Oscar-nominated actress Shirley Knight of “Desperate Housewives” and her daughter, Kaitlin Hopkins. Bobby is being considered to play Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Anna Nicole Smith’s handsome, young Indian doctor, in an upcoming movie about her life.

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Tickets for the 2007 Comedy Club at Bay Street Theatre go on sale April 3 at 11 a.m. Jim Breuer, Voted one of Comedy Central’s “100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time,” kicks off the series on Monday, June 25 at 8 p.m. Other comics in the series include Caroline Rhea, host of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” Louis C.K., writer and producer of The Chris Rock Show, Craig Shoemaker, named “Comedian of the Year” by the American Comedy Awards, Lewis Black, a staple on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and Zach Galifianakis from TV’s “Boston Common.” For tickets, call the Bay Street Theatre Box Office at 631-725-9500 or visit www.baystreet.org.

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Westhampton’s Ann Ligouri, author of A Passion for Golf: Celebrity Musings About the Game, will be hosting The 10th Annual Ann Liguori American Cancer Society Golf Classic on Monday, June 25, at Olde Vine Golf Club in Riverhead. The VIP Outback Steakhouse dinner party will be at Duckwalk Vineyards in Water Mill on Sunday, June 24. The second edition of her book, which comes out in June, will feature interviews with Brett Favre, Celine Dion, Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Yogi Berra, Sugar Ray Leonard, Pete Sampras, Amy Grant, Joe Pesci and Kevin Costner. Ann was recently featured on the cover of Distinction Magazine.

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Bruce Littlefield, who wrote the HarperCollins book Garage Sale America in the Hamptons, will be on the “Today” show on May 26.

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New York State Supreme Court Judge Ed Burke is screening for the Southampton Town Justice Seat. Ed spent seven years as Southampton Town Judge and seven years in the Riverhead Supreme Court.

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Kevin Moley of Coram, the brother of Dan’s Papers Advertising Sales Director Kathy Rae, was recently inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame. Moley is famous for his ten-round fight against Wilifred Benitez. The induction ceremony will take place on November 8 at the Venetian in Garfield, New Jersey.

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Dan’s Papers cartoonist and cover artist, Michael Paraskevas, will be showing his most recent, large-scale Acrylic paintings at the Hampton Road Gallery from April 5 until April 21. An opening reception will be held on April 7 from six to eight p.m.

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Jeff Pennington, of Pennington Flowers on Hampton Road in Southampton, has just been named one of the top six floral designers in New York, and will be participating in the Macy’s Annual Flower Show in Herald Square. The theme this year is Exotic Flowers. Designers will share floral design knowledge along with demonstrations in two-day rotations. Pennington is scheduled for April 11 and 12.

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Russell Simmons, Dr. Benjamin Chavis and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) decided not to participate in the press conference on April 2 that was held by Czar Entertainment and Jimmy Henchman’s mother, Cynthia Reed. HSAN is impartial and will not take sides in this dispute. Russell Simmons and Dr. Chavis hope the issues between Tony Yayo and Jimmy Henchman and Czar Entertainment will be resolved peacefully and as soon as possible.

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Congressman Tim Bishop and the East End Arts Council are inviting local high school artists to submit their work to the 26th Annual Congressional Art Competition. Artists’ work will be displayed at the Middle County Public Library in Selden from April 13-29. One artist from each congressional district will have his or her artwork displayed in a yearlong exhibit at the United States Capitol and will receive three airline tickets, courtesy of Southwest Airlines, to travel to the exhibition. To enter, contact the East End Arts Council at 631-727-0900, or via email at gallery@eastendarts.org.

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On April 9 and 23, local Hamptons weavers Pamela Topham and Jack Lenor Larsen will be illustrating the connection between weavers and composers at the Thalia Theatre Symphony Space in New York City. Composers Philip Glass, Libby Larsen, Tobias Picker, Cornelius Dufallo, Kenji Bunch, Judith Shatin, Laura Kaminsky and Victoria Bond will all be there. For tickets, call 212-864-1414.

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Dan’s Papers They Made The Movie Here Film Festival kicks off their second season this year with Blood and Sand, the 1922 classic that established Rudolph Valentino as a star, on April 21 at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. Admission and refreshments are complementary.

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As part of its “School Day Performances” series, the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center presents Amelia Earhart: First Lady of Flight, performed by the Seem-To-Be Players of Kansas on Tuesday, April 17 at 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. For more information or to request tickets, call Cheryl Wheeler at 631-288-2350, ext. 102.

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On April 14, artist and architect John Diebboll will present his Art of the Piano drawings at East End Books. The Art of the Piano is an exhibition of artwork from his drawings of piano-playing celebrities such as Hamptons piano-man Billy Joel, Marian McPartland and Thelonious Monk.

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On Saturday, April 28, Windswept Hair Salon of Water Mill will sponsor a benefit at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, to raise funds to help the Zingarelli family of Bridgehampton, who are facing exorbitant medical expenses as they fight to save their daughter, Mia Bella Zingarelli, who was born seven weeks ago with a rare, life-threatening metabolic syndrome. For more information, please contact Diana Aceti at 631-255-9489, or Windswept Hair Salon at 631-726-6410.

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The Garden Conservancy has announced the dates for their annual Open Days Garden Celebration. The Garden Tours will take place on April 28 in East Hampton and Wainscott, May 5 in Cutchogue, May 20 in Remsenburg, June 10 in St. James, June 23 in East Hampton, July 14 in Cutchogue, Mattituck, and Southold, and July 15 in East Hampton and Montauk. For more information, please call the Garden Conservancy at 888-842-2442 or visit www.opendaysprogram.org

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