Philly Chit Chat

PhillyChitChatter Tuesday March 29, 2011 (Happy Birthday to my brother Ray):

The Ritz-Carlton lounge in Philadelphia was rocking Saturday midnight as Travis Barker, and Lil Wayne’s posse were kicking it after the concert. Barker had opened for Lil Wayne and posed for photos with fans in the lobby. The kitchen was closed by Chef Jen Carroll sent out a buffet of cheese steaks that had been left over from a charity event earlier in the evening. Later the posse minus Lil Wayne went to Lil Pete’s for breakfast. He retired to his room. Nicki Minaj was also staying at the hotel, but the shy Nicki slipped in the side door and headed directly to her room. Remember when she was here in the Fall at Sigma Sound and confiscated all the fans cell phones during her appearance so no one would take a photo.

The rest did them both well because the next night at the Nassau Colliseum concert she gave him a wild lap dance worthy of any of the girls at Delilah’s. (Anyone wanna start a rumor? New Couple Alert!)

On Sunday Top Cheftestant Jennifer Carroll headed to NYC for a week of Finale Top Cheftastic events before the live finale on March 30. I can’t wait to see the Jen interview and the fall out of her being kicked off the show early on when she defended her dish and basically dressed down the judges. (Above with To Cheftestant Mike Isabella posing with that trophy. This is worse than sextexting Jen. Taken from Isabella’ FB page.)

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Saturday night at the new Greek Restaurant Opa, 1311 Sansom St,

Also in the mix was former Seton Hall teammate Charles Manga. Dalembert and his party sat in the back corner banquette at Opa. They dined on octopus (one of my fav dishes there), gyro sliders and calamari. For main courses they shared rabbit and whole fish. Desert: baklava for the table.

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No gamble here: Friday and Saturday Janet Jackson brought her “Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour” to Borgata for two sold-out Event Center performances over the weekend. The pop icon performed her number one hit “The Pleasure Principle,” from the album “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814,” which she dedicated to the city of Atlantic City, NJ: “I have such an amazing time when I am in Atlantic City. It is a pleasure to come back to this unique destination with my Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour. That is why ‘The Pleasure Principle’ was a perfect choice to dedicate to Atlantic City,” said Janet. Mario Lopez also checked out the Janet Jackson show after having dinner at Bobby Flay’s. He and Bobby just worked on a special for the Food Network. My tipster tells me it might be about Latin flavor. Certainly not a stretch for Latin lover Mario. Also at the Steakhouse was Chris Manzo of son of Caroline Manzo from the Real Housewives of NJ, and at another table sports radio personality for WIP-AM 610 Howard Eskin. While at Miss Jackson’s concert the actor tweeted throughout the show, saying “She’s singing to me, I know it” and “She still is awesome!!!” and “She just blew me a kiss.” Looks like Mario got front row seats too. (Mario Lopez twitpic) After the concert he headed over to mur.mur to host a party. Never to be outdone, MIXX was jam packed on Saturday night to witness Jermaine Dupri and Sky Nellor spin together with a very special surprise performance by Busta Rhymes who ignited the MIXX crowd performing his smash hits “Ante Up,” “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See,” and “Pass the Courvoisier, Part II.”

No word on whether Janet stopped by to see her former fiance, but no doubt she was banging her head literally saying what a small world it is considering they were playing just floors apart.
Joey Fatone was seen in the crowd around 3am after leaving the casino floor and bumping into my tipster. Fatone will be in the Philly area next week to film his new movie “Mancation”. Originally he was slated to film in Center City on Wednesday with Charlie Sheen’s Goddess Bree, but now the filming is being done in Cinnaminson, NJ.
(pixs provided by Borgata)
(Thanks to my tipster & the Borgata for this story.)Last Sunday I took a flight home from Atlanta to Philly and Sheree from Real Housewives Atlanta was on it. I snapped this very (very) poor grade phone pic of her at baggage claim at PHL before she was taken off in a town car. I tried to get to chat with her but she was speedy quick! Thanks to my tipster. I wonder what Sheree was doing in town?

A little Philly Chit Chatter to kick the week off:

I hear the Travel Channel was back in town on Thursday to film a few scenes at the Eastern State Penitentiary. Filming took place at midnight, boo!!

Nikki Minaj visited The Pool After Dark at Harrah’s Resort Saturday night and celebrated her BFF’s Ashley’s birthday. Guess Ashley goes by one name. Did you hear that Lindsay Lohan wants to do the same a la Cher and Madonna. Shortly she’s just going to be known by a number when she returns to Alcatraz.

Grammy Award winning singer songwriter John Legend will be performing at this years Steppingstone Scholars Gala at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday, May 7. The honoree is Board Chair Connie Williams.

Friday there will be a “situation” at Parx Casino on April Fools Day with one of television’s biggest reality stars as long as he stays away from the fried foods and comedy. Did you see his stint on Comedy Centrals roast to Donald Trump, he was booed off the stage. Michael “the Situation” Sorrention, of MTV’s Jersey Shore fame, will be at the Bensalem gaming house on April 1 after 9 p.m., after walking the Red Carpet, which is near the front door, he’ll then party with the general public at 10 in Club 360 inside the casino. (Some info from this piece was taken from Source)
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Saturday I tore myself away from a horror show at home or as most people call it doing taxes, to head out to the Oyster House shucking contest. I love oysters, but really had no idea of the skill that went in to opening them, and now that I have seen it in person it’s down right dangerous. I’m sure more shuckers have lost digits than your typical Sunday morning bagel slicer.
The Judges: Arthur Etchells, PhillyMag.com Foobooz, Drew Lazor from City Paper, Jamie Shanker from Midtown Lunch Oysters were judge on several things including presentation, the way they were cut.
There was a 3 rounds of professional shuckers, then it was narrowed to the winner of each to be in the shuck off to determine the overall winner. After each round
the left over oysters were passed around to the hungry fans

The Battle between Drew, Gordon and Amin.
The Tension

The Shucking
The Win

Amin from Oyster House won. Some people were surprised because he is such a shucker perfectionist, taking his time to prepare the oyster and sensitive about the presentation. (Why yes I did get that photo above while holding my video camera in my other hand.)
Then it was on to the amateur. Arthur tells me that he had 911 dialed into his phone just in case more than an oyster went flying. I think I missed a shuckster round while Danya came over to chat.

The final round was what I tweeted as the Hunkster Shucksters. See video for the hunkiest shuckster to win, can you guess which one? The folks around me were just oggling about his muscles and skill rowing when he went to U of P. Then the guy next to me was doing play by play, the video is worth a watch just for his dialog.

The skilled sculler was 3rd overall of the amateurs as he didn’t know he was supposed to cut the oysters.

Michelle Cassidy and Jamie Shanker. Michelle is in charge of Philly Yelpers.
The guy on the right, top amateur Shucker, and his friends
Drew Lazor, Jackie Baik, Michelle Flissek, Scott Case and Jillian Brainerd. Welcome back stateside Jackie, who was away for a year in Italy studying. Now she has to make some decisions about careers. I’m in the same boat. Scott works for DiBruno’s and tells me that this week the DiBruno’s in Ardmore opens. Love that place.
Jackie Baik and Michelle Flissek were stylin’ in. Jackie’s sporting her new slippers, er shoes from Italy. Michelle is leopard legging it.
Party on dudes

Visionary Award for Fashion Additionally, Philadelphia native couture designer Ralph Rucci will be present to receive the Visionary Award for Fashion. http://www.pifa.org/fashion

(I’m working with PIFA on this event. I think it’s going to be great. Lots of local designers, and students from the area colleges. It’s always spectacular.)

Michael Klein gives up his Inqlings Column:Thank you Michael Klein, Phila Inquirer, for publishing my photos for the past 4 years. It was an honor working with you and you have helped me spread the word about so many great charities in Philadelphia as well as fun events & people. I am grateful that you were my mentor and friend for these past years; And who wouldn’t dream of being published in the paper every week, it was a thrill to me, (& to mom). I will miss working with you. I know you are all hungry for info on what Mike is going to do next, but you will have to read his column in the Inquirer which is on newsstands right now, and of course will be delivered to my doorstep tomorrow.
With a heavy heart, HughE (I remain PhillyChitChat.com covering Charities, Events, Gossip, Celebs, Tidbits and the people of Philly everyday.)

Last night
I had a whirlwind night of events. It’s hard for me to say no especially when the events are filled with so many colorful people to shoot. I shot the above going from event #1 to event #2. They were fairly lined up from Curtis Center, the Loews Hotel, Kokopelli, Table 31 and finally Whisper. I walked so I got some good exercise and enjoyed beautiful Philadelphia.
Thom Cardwell is ready for his close up, but he doesn’t have to do much preparation as he’s always been in the spotlight either for being the director of Philadelphia Cinefest, which kicks off on April 7 (same night as the PIFA Gala) and runs until April 14, or founding some organization that helps others, and recently as a writer/producer of a few movies the last one starring Wendie Malick and Jon Lindstrom which debut at Cinefest 2010. Robert Norton from Vitamin Water captures Thom with the sponsor product Vitamin Water. Rob tells me there are a few new flavors I need to try, and one has caffeine in it. You know how I need my caffeine.
Philadelphia Cinefest Josh Goldblum, the new artistic director of Philadelphia CineFest, Joan Bressler, Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO) and Managing Director Steven Saturn. Tonight’s food was provided by Opa, the new Greek restaurant on Sansom Street near 13th.
It was a fairly packed house at the Press/Media kick off party hosted by Dive at the Curtis Center. Above the crowd listens to Megan R Smith, Brownstone PR welcome the guests. On the right is Sharon Pinkenson, Executive director of the GPFO. Sharon came in holding a script. I said is that the rumored Brad Pitt script, she just smiled. To her right is In Bed With Butch, Butch Cordova himself. Butch tells me his DVD of the calendar shoot has been picked up by Breaking Glass Pictures and will be released in April. Also spotted was Philadelphia Museum of Art film expert Michael McGonigle, Michael Brownstein, Andrew Greenblatt, Philadelphia Film Festival executive director (yes I hear fences have been mended after the Philadelphia Film Festival broke off from the mother ship over creative differences a few years back and support for both film festivals. NYC has 2 major film festivals and I think we can all get along.) and Mark Brodzill of Scrapple TV, which reminds me The Reading Terminal is having their Scrapple Festival tomorrow starting at 10AM. Scrapple is right up there with Cheesesteaks as a uniquely Philly staple. Don’t ask me what’s in it?Then I ran over to Loews to check out Strangefruit fall presentation with Kristin Haskins Simms. Kristin as you may recall was on “Project Runway” Season 8 and has consistently produced innovating collections since that time. I know that if Robert Palmer broke out with Simply Irresistible, the girls would break out their guitars and start dancing.
Fashion forward with Adam Josephs & Cicily Tynan’s BFF ABC6 FYI’s Niki Haskins, ABC6’s weather person Shirleen Allicot and Melissa Magee. Shirleen new to Philly & ABC6 tells me that she loves all the Garces restaurants, but looks forward to checking out Barbuzzo, Bindi and my favorite The Corner.
As I raced out the door I ran into Michelle Boyles, SouthPhillyFashionista, honey badger Brett Coppol Advertising peep for Metro Newspaper, and Alle McClellan Manager of Brand Partnerships at Rue La La Philadelphia. The the race to Kokopelli to attend the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center‘s Friendster was on. It was now 7:45PM and that event was over at 8:30PM
but this window stopped me dead in my tracks as it was just a mess of NCAA, St Paddy’s Day and McCormick & Schmick’s had no shame in putting their name on it. OK on my way…
to the Kokopelli to support the CCTC’s friendster, which was a networking event in support of the child advocacy program. The CCTC gang: Ilena Helwig, COO, Jaime Pearlstine, Steve Walters, Johanna Torres, Stephanie Weir and Tony Valdés Steve Walters and his partner created these cool displays for the event. I hear they only spent $12 for all 6 vases as they had some jewels lying around the house. I bet they create fabulous Halloween costumes.
Aly Green, Silencia PR takes some home for a souvenir. On the left is Barri Lewis also of Silencia PR. Silencia represents Kokopelli and had approached CCTC with the idea of having a Friendster. Laura Krebbs on the right, is with Cashman & Assocs. Their firm has represented CCTC and their annual gala for years. The gala “The Roundup” is coming up on June 3 at the Loews Hotel. You’ll remember it’s the gala that is a cowboy theme and has a mechanical bull. It’s a fun time.
Talking about round up, I had the bison sliders at Kokopelli. Only $9, it’s a deal and delicious.
Random girls on the street that said “Hey you’re PhillyChitChat!” Guess what I try and take those shots and put them on as a priority: Rachel Branson and Cindy Clark leaving table 31. They love ladies night. Then I headed into Table 31 for Uri Jacobson’s birthday party. I knew it would be a good time.
and I was right. Uri is a man about town, I don’t know too many people who have as much fun and can move among different social groups as he does, of course the social groups are usually made up of a lot of beautiful women, so it’s a charmed life. President & CEO at Bare Feet Shoes when Uri is not working hard at the biz, he’s enjoying all that life has to offer, he’s extremely generous to his family and friends and I’ve never seen him without a smile. Happy Birthday Uri!! (pictured with Elizabeth Moskus)
OK well these boys lead a pretty charmed life to with their exotic travel, boats, brews & babes: Tony, Ron & ChadBrittany Buschel, Alexander Hankin and Ilana Waber
BFF’s Jared and Dara Lazaroff and Jill and Tal Jacobson are all going to be parents in the Fall. Congratulations to this duo who are as thick as thieves. So close you would think they purposely planned their pregnancies, so close that if one had a boy and the other had a girl they would fall in love in and get married someday to their parents delight. Mazol Tov!!
The Whisper Crew: Brett Milstein, Drew Milstein, Steve Tuttleman, Alex Sharps, and Cary Friedlander
Jwoww doesn’t like to smile, what’s up with that girl?
Jwoww and Lauren Milstein. I love the tiara on the girl on the right
Note the girl is only taking a photo of Arthur Kade and Jwowws boyfriend Roger Matthews, even though Jenny Farley is posed for her close up
Amanda Segal & friend. Now this doesn’t apply to Amanda as she doesn’t have FB or do Twitter. I so appreciate all of my readers and your support. I am so sorry if I do not recognize you even if you are a FB friend. Seriously I am bad with names, but if I had met you before or emailed me I bet if you told me your name I could recall the instances. I have story recall, but bad facial recall. It’s always so sad to me when I see the disappointment in your eyes when I can’t remember who you are. Maria Spano (Life & Style Magazine) and her bff Andrea I want to say. I didn’t really carry my note pad inside the club too. Maria currently lives in the dog eat dog of NYC and is planning to move back home to the tame and peaceful Philadelphia. She’s going to need therapy to get used to the crickets, as I did.
Jwoww recalling those days when she could dance on the dance floor without the stares of strangers. Hangs on tight to her boyfriend from her youth, who has now resurfaced a few years later and who told me that there will be a ring in her future.
Love, love, love these girls. They are styling it. It was their first time to Whisper they told me. They’ll be back tonight THEY LOVED IT they scream, ouch.
Serious tools. Sorry if you didn’t make the blog today. I will put all the pixs that didn’t make it in my online album this weekend for your enjoyment and for purchase if you desire. Tonight’s Jolly’s Piano bar opens at the Academy House. I’ll be there around 9PM, hope to see you then.

Monday night was All Star Bowling night at Lucky Strikes Lanes and Lounge in Center City, and even though 76er guard Andre Iguodala was the host the real stars were the 20 kids from Urban Promise, a New Jersey-based school equipping children and teens with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth and leadership. The event brought out 150+ guests including Iguodala’s teammates Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, along with Eagles tight end Cornelius Ingram.
T’Yiona Price, TatyanNobles and Enyce Nelson were feted by Stars Within Reach, 76er guard Andre Iguodala, and the Andre Iguodala Youth Foundation hosted ‘Bowling for Promise’ – a kick-off to a 10-day statewide initiative to increase awareness and monetary support for educational programs for underserved children living in urban areas and children living with autism. Titled “A Race for Promise’, and running until Thursday, March 31, the campaign consists of a fun ‘face off’ between Iguodala and teammate Jrue Holiday, in which they both encourage fans to visit the Stars Within Reach website and make a donation – Iguodala on behalf of underserved children living in urban areas and Holiday on behalf of children living with autism.
Stars Within Reach challenged Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday to an ultimate a Race for Promise. Iguodala made a promise to help support the students at Urban Promise, a school based in Camden, NJ. Jrue Holiday made a promise to help children impacted by autism.

I was just fascinated by this and stared at it for a while
Miss Pennsylvania Andrea Helfrich ends her reign Saturday night. It been an amazing experience she told me, and very rewarding when she was able to lend her support to the various charity organizations like Stars Within Reach?
Eagles tight end Cornelius Ingram, Jackiem Wright, Reggie Barry
Peter Breslow, PJ and Andre Iguodala
Mike Ginder, Christine Casile, Jian Chen, Jessica Kerhner, Alex Smith, Kate High, Rebecca Ofsharick, Jessica Deangelo, and Michelle Conron
Daiyon, Daiquan and Denise Lowman
Asmiet, Kendall Hurns and Andre Iguodala,
Jericka Duncan and Kharisma McIlwaine
Getting their game face on. Cory Townes , Shaheed Rucker of ChangeMakers Org. & Curran J of KingsRuleTogether.com Andre Iguodala
Julia Bruckner and Tim Gustafson
Christal Watson, Kylee Pickens
Linda Vertlieb, Andre Iguodala, Nick and Sophia Vertlieb. The ‘face-off’ itself is a 4 minute video featuring Iguodala and Holiday engaging in 4 challenges and, after coming to a 2-2 tie, their final competition is to raise the most money on behalf of their respective causes. The first person to reach 500 individual donations wins. At the culmination of the face-off, three donors will be selected to win a prize from Iguodala, with the grand prize being a private lunch party with five friends, hosted by Stars Within Reach and Iguodala. The contest can be viewed by visiting: www.starswithinreach.org
Tarissa Iriarte, Felisha Harris, Nichole Badger and I am the Founder & Executive Director of Stars Within Reach, Inc., Megan R. Smith of Brownstone PR and VP of Development for Stars Within Reach, and Florcy Morrisette, Owner & Curator at Vivant Art Collection – Art Gallery
SUPPORT Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday by clicking here , and help make the kids of today all stars everyday.

UPFRONT BY BRAVO MEDIA REDEFINES INDUSTRY STANDARD ON MARCH 30TH WITH STAR-STUDDED EVENTS IN NY, LA AND CHICAGO

Simultaneous Presentations Feature Live Cut-Ins From Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi in LA, Gail Simmons in Chicago And Bravo’s Andy Cohen in NY During “Top Chef All-Stars” Finale Special “Watch What Happens Live: Top Chef Finale” hosted by Cohen to Feature First Interview with “Top Chef All-Stars” Winner and Fan Favorite, March 30 at 11 p.m. ET/PTNEW YORK – March 22, 2011 – On March 30th, Bravo will redefine the upfront, an annual event for advertisers that has historically been viewed as a trade only affair. As part of the network’s efforts to set new benchmarks across all platforms, Bravo Media today announced plans to host simultaneous presentations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago hosted and attended by Bravo talent that combine the expected upfront fare with a mix of live ‘Bravolebrity’ cut-ins during the network’s broadcast of the “Top Chef All-Stars” finale on Wednesday, March 30th. This unprecedented initiative will – for the very first time – allow home viewers a glimpse into this “invitation only” advertising soiree while providing the clients attending the events, the opportunity to mix and mingle with Bravolebrities and be part of the “Top Chef All-Stars” finale broadcast via the live cut-ins. Additionally, host of “Watch What Happens: Live,” Andy Cohen will host both the New York dinner party with live cut-ins from the Big Apple and a special “Watch What Happens Live: Top Chef Finale” immediately following the finale; while “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi will be in Los Angeles and “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons will anchor in Chicago. Live cut-ins from Lakshmi, Simmons and Cohen will begin airing in the re-broadcast of the penultimate episode in the 9 p.m. ET/PT hour leading up to and throughout the 10 p.m. ET/PT finale. “We wanted to create a brand new and uniquely interactive experience both for the viewer at home and our advertising partners centered around our signature franchise ‘Top Chef,’” said Frances Berwick, President Bravo Media. “This interactive evening extends the Bravo experience into the viewers’ homes allowing them to engage with their favorite chef’testants, while simultaneously giving our clients the unique opportunity to be part of ‘Top Chef All-Stars’ finale history.” Susan Malfa, Senior Vice President of Ad Sales, Bravo Media and Oxygen Media, added: “When advertising partners come to us, they expect a distinct brand experience for their clients. This watercooler event underscores how we deliver on that promise and will give attendees real insight into how the Emmy Award winning Top Chef franchise and all our network content, can be uniquely designed for customers needs. This is integration on a whole new level.”Adding another level to the Upfront experience, guests of the live finale viewing parties will be treated to interactive elements and will be served dishes as seen on the finale of the “Top Chef All-Stars” broadcast. In New York, the menu will be prepared by the finalists themselves; and in Los Angeles and Chicago, guests will also enjoy the same recipes served throughout the finale. Guests and fans will be able to follow the action with the Bravo Now app, which gives users a ticket to our exclusive coast-to-coast Top Chef finale viewing parties, allowing them to follow the conversation and check in on party guests, ‘Bravolebrities’ in attendance and fellow “Top Chef” fans with Bravo’s Tweet Tracker.For access inside the party, fans can visit BravoTV.com for a seat at the exclusive “Top Chef All-Stars” finale viewing parties, letting fans share in the festivities with @Bravotv’s Tweet Tracker and go behind-the-scenes with exclusive photos and fun facts from the set of the finale. And after the winner’s announced, users can also find out exactly how our All-Star champ was selected with an exclusive Extended Judges’ Table video and a sit down interview with the winner Viewers will hear Tom Colicchio, Lakshmi and Simmons’ unfiltered thoughts on the finale in their blogs. Have a beef with the winning chef? Settle that score with a Tweet Battle, debating with your friends, and letting other fans cast their votes. And for users that disagree with the outcome, they can crown their own champ with BravoTV.com’s “Virtual Top Chef” that features all 18 chef’testants from the current “Top Chef All-Stars” season. Fans began by choosing their favorite chef’testant, then earned points and trophies by completing actions and activities on BravoTV.com. The chef’testant whose team has the most points come season’s end will be honored with the “Virtual Top Chef title” and $5,000.The star-studded night continues at 11 p.m. ET/PT as Cohen interviews the winning chef live in a half-hour post-finale “Watch What Happens: Live” special. Other guests on the show include the “All Stars” runner-up, “Top Chef” talent from all three cities as well as other Bravolebrities at the finale parties. For the first time, the Fan Favorite for the “Top Chef All-Stars” season will be announced live during the special – awarding the fan-chosen chef a prize of $10,000. Viewers will be able to vote for their favorite chef from March 2 through March 24 via text message, Twitter, on BravoTV.com, and from their mobile phones at m.BravoTV.com. “Top Chef All-Stars” is produced by the Emmy Award-winning Magical Elves. Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz serve as executive producers. “Watch What Happens Live” is produced by Embassy Row for Bravo. Michael Davies serves as executive producer.Bravo is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBCUniversal cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BravoPR.