South O' the Highway this Week: May 29
Hamptons Piano Man Billy Joel received an honorary doctorate of music from Stony Brook University last Friday. During his ceremony speech, Joel told graduates, “I hope that by now you have found what it is that you love…and I believe this with all my heart: If you are not doing what you love, you are just wasting your time.”
Celebrity DJ Paul Sevigny will run a South Fork offshoot of Paul’s Baby Grand, his Manhattan nightclub, this summer. The seasonal pop-up nightspot, called Paul’s Baby East, will occupy Philippe in East Hampton every Saturday after midnight. Sevigny’s sister, Big Love actress Chloë Sevigny, designed the staff uniforms.
Happy birthday, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps! The Real Housewives of New York City star celebrated her 50th birthday last Saturday at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor. Guests included her children, former Real Housewives stars Jill Zarin and Kelly Bensimon, as well as Nicole Miller, Janna Bullock, Coerte Felske and others.
Water Mill resident Matt Lauer biked 230 miles, from Boston to New York City, for charity last week. The Today show host traveled the North Fork on a chilly, rainy Tuesday, and warmed up with hot chocolate at Macari Vineyards in Mattituck.
Hamptons resident Bob Balaban made his East End directorial debut this week with The New Sincerity at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater. The play, a comedy written by Alena Smith and starring Justine Lupe, Teddy Bergman, Peter Mark Kendall and Elvy Yost, explores love and politics in the modern world. Look for a review in next week’s edition of Dan’s Papers.
Mauro Maccione and the Le Cirque Group and Chef John DeLucie of Bill’s Food and Drink and The Lion, will be front and center at the 11th Annual Hamptons Happening event, a benefit for the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, on Saturday, July 11. Over 30 chefs and caterers will join them. Maria and Kenneth Fishel and family will host at their estate in Bridgehampton. The honorees of the evening will be Marc Leder, Co-CEO Sun Capital Partners and Bobby Zarin, Zarin Fabrics and Real Estate investor. Founding chairpersons, Marion Waxman and Laurie Schaffran remain, joined by Pamela Morgan and Michael Trokel serving as event chairmen. Christine Silverstein, Top Chef contestant, is the chef chairperson and for the fourth year in a row while CBS News Anchor Chris Wragge, will perform as the evening’s emcee.
Hamptons regular Chelsea Clinton will soon add another title to her impressive resume: children’s author. The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has partnered with Penguin Young Readers to write It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going. The book will address issues such as poverty and gender equality in hopes of inspiring children to change the world. All proceeds from the book, which hits shelves September 15, will be donated to charity.
REM Eyewear has introduced a new collection inspired by Shelter Island’s Jonathan Adler. The collection is an assortment of timeless, chic optical, sun and reading eyewear. Drawing inspiration from midcentury design aesthetics and Adler’s love for arts and crafts, the collection features feminine silhouettes, vibrant hue combinations, and the signature JA initials.
Water Mill author Arlene Alda shared stories about growing up in the Bronx and read excerpts from her latest book, Just Kids from the Bronx, at The New York Botanical Garden on Sunday, May 3. With interviews from more than 60 Bronx natives, Just Kids from the Bronx is a collection of vivid oral histories describing childhood in the “Bronx.”
East End artist Audrey Flack is currently showing her exhibit “The Abstract Expressionist Years” through June 6 at Hollis Taggart Galleries on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
Montauk’s blumenfeld + fleming won six platinum and seven gold awards in the 2015 Hermes Creative Awards Competition for their creative excellence in magazine ads, print advertising campaigns, website designs, and logo designs. The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals. There were over 6,000 entries from across the US and 22 other countries.
Filmmaker Joe Lauro hosted what may be the last of his annual blowout parties at “The Pleasure Lounge” on Shelter Island. Both the Lone Sharks and the Hoodoo Loungers tore up the joint, and Sag Harbor puppeteer Liz Joyce presented a command performance of her latest show, Churcus. Lauro’s six-plus acre property, including The Pleasure Lounge and a Louisiana-style plantation house dating to 1912, is currently on the market.
Long Island councilman Bruce Blakeman, who was previously married to Amagansett’s Sir Paul McCartney’s wife Nancy Shevell, married lawyer Segal Magori at the Southampton Historical Museum last weekend. A reception followed at 75 Main. Guests included East Enders Nelson DeMille and Susan Lucci.
Fingers crossed, the rosé won’t run dry this season! Chateau D’Esclans, producers of Hamptons favorite Whispering Angel rosé, has launched a new rosé, Rock Angel, available soon! Winemaker Sacha Lichine and brand ambassador Paul Chevalier were on hand for the release party, which took place early this month at Dockers Waterside Restaurant and Marina in East Quogue.
A memorial event for East Hampton sculptor Bill King was held last Saturday in East Hampton. King died at age 90 in March.