Dan's Papers - August 3, 2007 - South O' the Highway (and the North too)

On Friday, August 3, the Ferregut Gallery and the Southampton Inn will host 3-D: Dan, Dinner, and Dancing! The informal talk with Mr. Rattiner and four-star poolside BBQ is being held to honor Dan, whose pen and ink drawings are on display at the Southampton Inn.

The 1971 documentary, Blue Water, White Death, that inspired the movie Jaws was screened last weekend at the Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod. The film, directed by the late Peter Gimbel, famous for his scuba diving expeditions off Long Island, debuts on DVD for the first time on July 31st.

Los Angeles actress and forever "Friend" Jennifer Aniston was spotted searching for a Manhattan apartment to call her own. Perhaps she'll be summering on the East End next year.

Last Saturday's Super Saturday event, sponsored by InStyle Magazine and hosted by Kelly Ripa and Donna Karan, brought out some celebrity shoppers looking for deals on designer duds: Rachel Zoe, Elisabeth Hasselback, Lorraine Braco, Judith and Rudolph Giuliani, Mandy Moore, Tinsley Mortimer, Beth Ostrosky, Russell Simmons, Petra Nemcova, and Bernadette Peters were just a handful of the shoppers who helped raise about $3 million for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

Long Island's Lindsay Lohan fell off the horse and back on the bottle last week, charged with D.W.I. and possession of cocaine. Merrick's favorite little sister, Ali Lohan, issued the statement "Lindsay will be fine, she is just going through a rough time right now." But maybe any press really is good press -- the troubled starlet is still set to be the September cover girl for both Maxim and Elle.

Southampton's Paris Hilton can cross "reality star" off her list of current gigs. The current season will be the final one for her show, "The Simple Life." Perhaps this lost job is the reason that Hilton has put her Hollywood Hills home on the market for $4.25 million, almost $3 million more than she bought it for.

Usher did not go through with his marriage to manager Tameka Foster, but he did party in the Hamptons anyway. The two were set to wed at L.A. Reid's East Hampton home on Saturday and even though the wedding was cancelled, the pre-wedding party at Southampton's Stereo by the Shore on Friday night was not. Details on the cancelled nuptials have not yet been released, but both Usher's mother (and former manager) and his uncle, Ben Vereen, were not planning to attend the wedding and were not fans of Foster.

Russell Simmons threw his Art For Life Benefit on Saturday, where Forrest Whitaker and his wife, Keisha, dined alongside Simmons and his new galpal, Porschla Coleman, a former model. Also in attendance were Rocco DiSpirito, Maurice DuBois, Deborah Cox, Petra Nemcova, Ally Sheedy, Nia Long, Chamillionare, Danny Simmons, L.A. Reid, and Rev. Run, all well-dressed and ready to be photographed by Patrick McMullan for New York Magazine. The $1,500 event ticket benefits Simmons' Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, which helps children get involved with the arts. Prime rib and Ben & Jerry's ice cream were served at the dinner.

Heather Graham hosted the Arts for Life Benefit afterparty at Star Room where Jay Z's private chef, Cynthia Sestito, cooked burgers for celebrity partygoers, including handsome "Entourage" star Adrien Grenier. Graham is currently dating Star Room's owner, Charles Ferri.

Budding actress Anne Hathaway dined poolside last weekend at Jerry Della Femina's house for the Cinema Society dinner after a screening in East Hampton of her new film Become Jane, based on the romance of a young Jane Austen. Also in attendance at the dinner were Rachel Zoe, with her parents, who recently sold their East Hampton home to L.A. Reid, Howard Stern & Beth Ostrosky, Donna Karan, Heather Graham, Julia Stiles, Rudy and Judi Giuliani, Tiki Barber, Darren Star, Dick Cavett, Rosanna Scotto, Chuck & Ellen Scarborough, and Miramax President Daniel Bettsek.

The Hampton Social Concert Series at the Ross School continued this past weekend with Dave Matthews. In the crowd listening to the cult-status crooner were Billy and Katie Lee Joel, Lizzie Grubman, Chris Noth, Mandy Moore, Donny and Vanessa Trump, Aida Turturro, Edie Falco, Joan Allen, and writers Jesse Murray and Justin DeMarco. Complimentary BBQ was served as well as coffee gelato.

Kudos to East Hampton's Alec Baldwin and Sag Harbor's Jon Stewart for their Emmy nominations, for "30 Rock" and "The Daily Show," respectively. They will be joined by Emmy veterans and fellow Hamptonites Lorraine Braco and Edie Falco, who picked up nominations for "The Sopranos." Perhaps they will all take the Ambassador Class Jitney together.

The Clintons' upcoming weekend in the Hamptons might be the most anticipated event/s of the summer -- during their multi-benefit run beginning this Friday and ending Sunday, around $1 million are expected to be earned for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The Townline BBQ in Sagaponack has finally opened its doors for eagerly awaiting patrons, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Christy Turlington, and Ed Burns. Food connoisseur Ina Garten, better known as The Barefoot Contessa, stopped by to sample the chili and fried cherry pie.

Clever restaurateur Alison Becker Hurt of the celebrity-approved Alison Restaurant in Bridgehampton (which has recently seen the likes of Scarlett Johannson, Ed Burns, Julianne Moore, and Betsey Johnson) has just launched Alison To Go, an eco-friendly tote bag delivering gourmet lunches and dinners to hungry people on the beach or the Luxury Liner. The bags can also be picked up at the Bridgehampton eatery, when one can't score a table inside.

The newly svelte Star Jones, a regular Hamptons partygoer, has confessed that her recent, dramatic weight loss is the result of gastric bypass surgery. The Star says she gradually went from "full-figured" to "morbidly obese" and now, apparently, to thin.

BookHamptonites were thrilled to hear some more of Harry Potter's story via Web chat with J.K. Rowling this past Monday. Spoiler Alert -- Rowling said that The Deathly Hallows was partially inspired by Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale." She also stated that she believes the world was a happier place after the death of Voldemort where Harry became an Auror, Ginny became a professional Quidditch player and then Quidditch reporter, Ron joined his brother at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Hermoine promoted magical creature rights.

P. J. Monte, son of Paul Monte, the CEO of the famous Gurney's Inn in Montauk, launched his fashion line last Friday at a show sponsored by Hamptons Vodka, Hamptons Style, and Hamptons Water. The clothing, designed by the dapper eighteen-year-old, is called DonFashions and looks like the duds of the classiest little ladies' man from 1960s Queens.

The president of the global Seven Stars and Stripes Award company, a highly-regarded award-giving organization with an office in the Hamptons, appointed Long Island native Barry Kay as the company's new Executive Vice President. Seven Stars and Stripes hospitality and luxury product awards are recognized worldwide as a prestigious recognition of excellence in hotels, restaurants, airlines, and luxury products. On their advisory board serve Trustees of the Culinary Institute of America, Les Amis d`Escoffier Society, The French Culinary Institute, The Toques Blanches International, National Geographic Traveler, and Word Hampton's Steve Haweeli as well as many others.

East End designers Alice + Olivia presented the second week of the Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge. In attendance for the sporting event were Vanessa and Donald Trump Jr., Brent Bolthouse, Catherine Morairty, Jean-Luc Kleefield, and a bevy of other important Hamptons barons.

Project GreenHouse Hamptons got some celebrity support last Friday, with Lorraine Bracco hosting a private dinner for 40 guests to benefit the Riverkeeper foundation and "Entourage" star Adrien Grenier hosting a charity poker game and party for the charity organization Charity: Water on Saturday. The proceeds of both organizations help preserve the Hudson River as well as fund freshwater wells and basic sanitation in impoverished Africa.

Mystic Knights of the Loom, a film by local mother and son team Michael and Betty Paraskevas, has been selected to be screened at the L.A. Shorts Film Festival from September 5th -- 16th in L.A. The film is about two of Paraskevas-created Cheap Show puppets, whose other films can be found on . Perhaps Mystic Knights of the Loom will make its next stop at the Hamptons Film Festival.

On August 5, Dan's Papers will host the ever-popular beach Kite Fly at Sagg Main Beach in Sagaponack from 5-7 p.m. Along with prizes for all the best, most beautiful, funkiest, scariest, ugliest and tiniest kites, there will also be jugglers, caricaturists and even a visit from "Sesame Street's" Elmo and the one and only Dan Rattiner. For more information, contact Joan at (631) 537-0500, ext. 218 or via email at joan@danspapers.com. Let's go fly a kite!