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| ELTON JOHN FALLS IN LOVE AGAIN – WITH AMERICA Blog |
Last week's election helped Elton John strike a patriotic note at a fundraiser for his AIDS charity in New York City Tuesday night.
"I'm so proud to be in this country. So proud to be a part of something so incredibly moving, and touching," Sir Elton, 61, said from the stage to a packed crowd at Cipriani Wall Street.
"Last week's election demonstrated to me why I fell in love with America in the first place. More importantly, it demonstrated to everybody across this planet that America is a good place now." Citing recent reports showing significant increases in the number of new AIDS cases in America – especially among African-Americans – the entertainer went on to praise President-elect Barack Obama for including the development of a National AIDS Strategy in his vision for the country.
Calls for Strategy"I mean, after all these years, isn't it about time the United States developed a National AIDS Strategy?" said John to the appreciative crowd. In all, the event raised $2 million for the Elton John AIDS Foundation
Not that the evening was entirely serious. At one point John offered not to remove his clothes onstage – if someone would donate $1 million.
During a live auction, one bidder paid $50,000 for lunch with CNN's Anderson Cooper. And after a soulful performance of "Midnight Train to Georgia," Gladys Knight invited John to join her on stage for a rarely performed duet of their '80s hit, "That's What Friends Are For."
Relying on a cheat-sheet to remember the lyrics, both delivered a rousing rendition, trading the words "keep smiling" for the sentiment of the night: "keep giving."
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| COUPLES WATCH: NAOMI & LIEV, NICK & MARIAH Blog |
• Naomi Watts, stepping out for a night at the theater with Liev Schreiber. The parents-to-be (again) attended the opening of Broadway's Speed-the-Plow at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
• Mariah Carey, sharing a musical reunion with husband Nick Cannon at the Delano Hotel in Miami after spending the evening apart. The couple had fun singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and "were so cute," an onlooker tells us. Cannon had been working for the night – deejaying at a BlackBerry party at hot spot Prive – while Carey and her small entourage enjoyed their time off, sipping pinot grigio at The Florida Room inside the Delano.
• Ryan Phillippe and girlfriend Abbie Cornish, sharing a romantic dinner at Nobu Los Angeles. The couple sat tucked away and, according to a fellow diner, were "very low-key," though Phillippe "seemed very doting." Across the restaurant, Victoria and David Beckham dined with a small group of friends.
• Lauren Conrad, arriving at Teddy's inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel hand-in-hand with Kyle Howard. The pair strolled to their back table at their favorite L.A. haunt after midnight, and weren't hiding their PDA. They were constantly holding hands as they danced and mingled with their friends. Later, the two ventured out to the smoking patio where they held hands some more and even kissed a little in between conversations with the Hills star's girlfriends.
• A very pregnant Lisa Bonet, brunching at Axe in Venice Beach, Calif., with boyfriend Jason Momoa and their 15-month-old daughter, Lola. Wearing a flowing white dress and floppy black hat, Bonet had the pancakes (as did her beau) at a corner table while Lola stayed in her stroller next to Dad. The Life on Mars star looked relaxed and radiant.
• Elton John, celebrating husband David Furnish's birthday at Las Vegas's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's pool. The pair partied at the Palapa hut with celeb pals including Gina Gershon, and when the party ended, the revelers left the hotel, piling into private buses and limos.
• Johnathon Schaech, celebrating the release of his horror film Quarantine at TAO Las Vegas with the movie's producers and girlfriend Jana Kramer, who had just arrived from Los Angeles. The group sat by the restaurant's signature buddha statue, and enjoyed their dinner before heading upstairs to continue their festivities.
• Chelsea Handler, hanging close to boyfriend Ted Harbert at the GREEN FOR GOOD Women's Health cocktail party by the pool at L.A.'s Sunset Tower Hotel. The comedian was hosting the event (along with Lake Bell), and happily chatted with her boyfriend and some female friends, gossiping and laughing over cocktails. Harbert brought his girlfriend drinks from the bar and stood next to her all night.
• By ALEXIS CHIU, JENNIFER GARCIA, MARK GRAY, BRETT MALEC and LINDA MARXFriday's Caught in the Act >
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| LILY ALLEN: I'M STILL 'FRIENDS' WITH ELTON JOHN Blog |
Lily Allen spoke out Friday about her spat with Elton John at a London awards show Tuesday night.
"Elton John and I are friends," the pop star writes in a new entry on her MySpace blog.
The online posting refers to an incident when an apparently tipsy Allen clashed with John at the GQ Men of the Year awards ceremony, which the pair co-presented on Sept. 2.
As Allen, 23, introduced a segment as a "very special point in the evening," John, 61, said, "What, you are going to have another drink?"Allen shot back, "F--- off Elton, I'm 40 years younger than you." (Click here to see the R-rated footage on YouTube.)
On her blog, Allen also denies that she was disgracefully drunk, claiming that she did nothing wrong by taking advantage of the free booze.
"I'm not defending my drunkeness because i don't need to, i'm 23 it was an awards ceremony i drank the free champagne, how awful of me," she writes.
She also blames the media for over-hyping the supposed feud.
"Trying to create a feud on the other hand, and trying to make me out as being some rude little girl with a drink problem is just unfair," she says. "Elton and I exchanged jokes and there were no hard feelings at all, in fact neither of us gave it a second thought."
The singer is currently waiting for her second studio album to be released. In the meantime, she adds that she'll be staying indoors all weekend to avoid the paparazzi.
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| LILY ALLEN: "ELTON JOHN AND I ARE FRIENDS" Blog |
Lily Allen claims her expletive-ridden spat with Elton John this week was blown out of proportion.
"Elton John and I are friends," she blogs on her MySpace page. "I was honored when Elton asked me to present the GQ awards with him this year in association with Elton's AIDS foundation. Not only was it for a good cause, but who would say no to Elton?"
But the singer raised eyebrows after she appeared intoxicated onstage and got into a heated verbal exchange with the singer. ("F*** off, Elton, I'm 40 years younger than you," Allen snapped after he criticized her drinking.)
"I'm not defending my drunkenness because I don't need to," Allen writes. "I'm 23. It was an awards ceremony, I drank the free champagne - how awful of me."
But she says "trying to create a feud .... and trying to make me out as being some rude little girl with a drink[ing] problem is just unfair.
"Elton and I exchanged jokes and there were no hard feelings at all," she continues. "Neither of us gave it a second thought."
(She also said she was just "winding Alfie up" when she called her brother's girlfriend Jaime Winstone "my very soon-to-be sister-in-law.")
"I've been made to feel like a bad friend and an embarrassment to my fans and the people who support me," Allen says before signing off. "I shouldn't have to defend myself when I've done nothing wrong."
Usmagazine
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| ELTON JOHN AND LILY ALLEN CLASH AT AWARDS SHOW Blog |
A visibly tipsy Lily Allen got into a profanity-laced verbal spat with Elton John onstage as the two hosted the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London Tuesday night.
As Allen introduced a segment as a "very special point in the evening," according to the The Times of London, John questioned: "What, you are going to have another drink?"
In front of an audience that included Gordon Ramsey, producer Mark Ronson (brother of Samantha) and London mayor Boris Johnson, the 23-year-old pop star shot back, "F--- off Elton, I'm 40 years younger than you. I have my whole life ahead of me." To which the 61-year-old John replied, "I could still snort you under the table."
Allen followed the exchange with a crude ad lib when 82-year-old Tony Bennett was presented with the night's Inspiration Award. As John introduced Bennett, pointing out his age, Allen broke in, declaring: "I'll still [have sex with] him."
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| LILY ALLEN, ELTON JOHN CATFIGHT ONSTAGE Blog |
Don't expect Lilly Allen and Elton John to share a duet any time soon.
The singers got into a heated verbal scuffle at Tuesday's GQ Men of the Year Awards in London, The Times of London reports.
Distressed that Allen, 23, was sipping champagne and slurring her words alongside him onstage, John, 61, sniped: "What, you are going to have another drink?"
"F*** off Elton, I'm 40 years younger than you, I have my whole life ahead of me," Allen shot back in front of an audience that include Gordon Ramsay, Thandie Newton and Elle MacPherson.
“I could still snort you under the table,” John fired back.
Allen's shot back, “F*** off. I don't know what you are talking about.”
See another famous diva fight.
That wasn't Allen's only war of words that night.
While introducing her brother Alfie's girlfriend Jaime Winstone, she called her "my very soon-to-be sister-in-law."
Tell Us: Who would win in a fight — Lily or Elton?
Usmagazine
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| DREW LACHEY TO HOST BROADWAY SEASON KICKOFF Blog |
Drew Lachey will play host to some 50,000 fans expected flock into Times Square on Sept. 14 to kick off the new Broadway season that will find Katie Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe and Haley Joel Osment coming to the Great White Way.
The second-season Dancing with the Stars champ, currently appearing in the Tony-winning musical spoof Monty Python's Spamalot, will be joined by other stars for the free Broadway on Broadway 2008 concert, according to the event's organizers, the Broadway League and the Times Square Alliance, and its presenter, Continental Airlines.
"I am delighted to be a part of the Broadway community and I love this great city," Lachey, who previously costarred in the New York production of Rent, said in a statement. "I look forward to showing the Broadway fans from New York and around the world just what we have to offer." Besides numbers from his own show, Lachey will introduce performances from the upcoming productions A Tale of Two Cities, Elton John's Billy Elliott and 13, about a New York teen forced to move to Indiana when his parents divorce.
Cast members from such established shows as Avenue Q, Grease, Gypsy, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde, Mamma Mia! and Wicked will also strut their stuff – all in anticipation of the gala's grand finale: a "shower" of confetti, stretching from 43rd to 47th Streets, which will be closed to traffic.
"It is an honor to be hosting this year's "Broadway on Broadway"]," says Lachey.
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| CAUGHT IN THE ACT! Blog |
• A chic Charlize Theron, sitting in the front row before a screening of boyfriend Stuart Townsend's political movie Battle in Seattle, showing at Denver's Starz FilmCenter as part of the events surrounding the Democratic National Convention. There with Townsend, who directed the flick about the riots during the World Trade Organization talks, Theron – who also stars in it – spoke on a panel with labor organizers who were directly involved with the event. The film was introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
• Jennifer Lopez, hosting a luncheon for Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund at the Denver Art Museum. The actress posed for pictures in her two-piece pink suit on a bridge between the old and new portions of the museum. Lopez also waved to a handful of fans before hopping into her limo and speeding away.
• Ashley Judd, sharing a quick word with President Bill Clinton backstage at the Pepsi Center following Hillary Clinton's keynote speech.
• Anne Hathaway, making friends with
actress-singer Zooey Deschanel at a Going Green reception
benefiting the arts advocacy organization Creative Coalition. After
laughing through interviews, the two ran into La Rumba Restaurant where they
chatted with Ellen Burstyn over ice water. Soon, though, talk
turned to music. "I think a great campaign song, Elton John would write it,"
Hathaway, who also sings, told us. But what about her new friend? "Zooey
Deschanel [would] help out on the vocals and the tambourine, and
maybe Madonna [would do] a dance." And Hathaway's job? "I'd
just be cheering and enjoying it," she said.
Anne Hathaway Photo by: Christopher Peterson / BuzzFoto
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| MADONNA'S PRE-SHOW RITUAL: A MASSAGE, FACIAL AND FREE WEIGHTS! Blog |
As her Sticky and Sweet tour kicks into high gear, Madonna is in "great spirits," her rep, Liz Rosenberg, tells PEOPLE.
And why shouldn't she be? At the second stop of her European leg, the pop icon was cheered on by famous fans Bono and Elton John in Nice, France, on Tuesday night. (It would seem that her feud with John – who accused her of lip-synching in 2004 – is officially ancient history.)
As the singer gets into the groove of her 51-date world tour, her priorities are simple: "Making sure the show is perfect – and taking care of her kids and her husband," says her rep.
And even though she recently celebrated her 50th birthday, Madonna has no plans to retire any time soon. "The harder Madonna works the happier she is," says Rosenberg, a longtime friend. "Because she was a dancer, that's why. It's practice, practice, practice."
Behind the ScenesBackstage, the atmosphere is peaceful and family-oriented, with a kids play room next to the singer's dressing room. On her opening night in Cardiff, Wales, "She had a massage and a facial – things are very quiet," says the rep.
Before each show, she spends an hour in hair and makeup, then performs some vocal exercises. Next, she warms up with some form of exercise, "probably some free weights."
Daughter Lourdes, 11, will often watch her mom from the wings. "She is quite casual about it, she can take it or leave it," says Rosenberg. "She's comfortable with the dancers. She talks to all of them."
Lola (as she's known to friends and family) might have a superstar for a mom, but she's no spoilt brat. "She's very grounded," swears the rep, who fondly remembers the girl as a makeup obsessed 2-year-old. "I think Madonna has done a really good job."
And despite the recent rumors of marital woe, the singer's husband, director Guy Ritchie, "absolutely" supports his wife from backstage. "Guy understood who he was marrying and they have a whole separate life [away from the spotlight]," she insists. "They are completely fine."
• Reporting by DANA KENNEDY
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