Gossip Central

Mike Wallace is Here: Remembering a Real Journalist

Many who grew up watching 60 Minutes regularly will find Avi Belkin’s documentary, Mike Wallace is Here, a trip down memory lane. And still, this fresh look at a premiere television show, and career we thought we knew, offers many surprises. Wallace worked his charm and good looks on commercials, and other odd acting jobs. When he first came on board for this great show, known for superb reporting, his colleagues thought he would not be rigorous enough. He proved them wrong. And at a recent special screening at the Whitby Hotel, with 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Croft attending, as well as a stellar group of documentarians, Barbara Kopple, Karen Goodman, Katherina Otto-Bernstein, the consensus was, here was a serious journalist, and an impressive, entertaining look at an esteemed part of American culture by an Israeli filmmaker.

Julian Schnabel’s Sculpture and other Delights at LongHouse Reserve

Two white sculptures stood grandly erect on a corridor of green, stately gentlemen greeting guests for the annual summer benefit at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton. In plaster over burlap, the work by the artist/ filmmaker/ sculptor Julian Schnabel fit the earthy yet well-groomed site, a home to art by Yoko Ono and Buckminster Fuller. Schnabel was to be honored that evening, along with fashion designer Donna Karan. At cocktails, Schnabel’s family, his wife Louise Kugelberg, and sons Vito, Cy, and Olmo Schnabel circled Julian as Hal Willner, Zac Posen, Laurie Anderson, and Benjamin-Sainte Clementine gathered and kibitzed before the celebration. Laurie would perform that evening, and Julian brought Ben to perform too, at a dinner hosted by Jack Lenor Larsen. Ralph Gibson, Florence Fabricant, Fern Mallis, and many others wore rose for the occasion, themed la vie en rose.

Hamptons Journal: Mercedes Ruehl at Bay Street, Dancers for Good at Guild Hall, The Antiques & Design Show at Mulford Farm

Oh for the days when “Trigger” was simply the name of Roy Rogers’ horse. In Safe Space, a new play by Alan Fox and under Jack O’Brien’s deft direction, in its final performances at Bay Street Theater, “trigger” is that plucked from the headlines buzzword for inciting a sensitivity—any psychological, cultural, relevant sore spot-- it is safe to say, that boggles the imagination. You just want to scream, “get over it,” as Jenny, an Asian American student at the fictive Alman College, in the name of a student activist group, tries to get a black instructor fired for giving an assignment that, in her trigger-speak, justifies slavery. Huh?

Hamptons Journal: Allman Betts Band at Guild Hall, Tony Oursler, Joel Grey at the Bay Street Theater Gala

Two decades ago, the legendary Allman Brothers Band swept through the Hamptons landing at Montauk’s Deep Hollow Ranch for an unforgettable outdoor concert, the audience poised on haystacks when the crowd wasn’t whooping it up to the great music. It was huge! On Saturday night, their kids, led by Devon Allman and Duane Betts, showed off their talents at Guild Hall. The genes don’t lie. Yes, the concert was part of Guild Hall’s popular guitar series; the rockers gave that big concert feeling inside the intimate East Hampton arts venue, where dancing in the aisles for the “Eat a Peach” classic, “Blue Skies” was irrepressible.

And the thrill of Nashville-based JD Simo joining them for “Purple Rain!” His trio opened the set, bringing down the house with “Mind Trouble,” and his cover of Joe Cocker’s “[High With] A Little Help From My Friends:” “What would you do if I sang out of tune?” he crooned. Trust me, he doesn’t.