But oh what a treat was The Observer in for this year!

Rebecca Romijin wins for classiest act. Her delicate and smiley stroll in a flowery Marchesa gown was dignified, yet warm. The mother of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps walked, and stopped to smooch her golden son watching from the audience. Debbie Phelps received plenty of applause, as many noted her having championed nutritional and health initiatives on a local level. Aisha Tyler’s spin on the dance floor proved that the woman doesn’t age (of course her stunning Badgley Mischka has to take some credit). Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive was cooperative, but a bit sheepish… then again she did sport a killer Jason Wu scarlet number down the runway.

But what fun is class? To balance out our spectrum, we had Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stranger, who a few pounds lighter, working her magic in Marc Bower. And where to begin with La La Anthony? The editor beside the Observer cocked her head and muttered, “That’s what you get when you put 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag!” (Perhaps La La's Rachel Roy was a bit too body-hugging, but what’s wrong when a girl’s got curves? She looked foxy… We still love you La La!)

Two catwalkers took the "Fall Collection" season name a little too literally: Rose McGowen thought she had it all in her Donna Karan Collection, until she nearly took out an entire section of the front row after getting caught in her hems. And Christie Brinkley unleashed her inner diva as she strutted onto the catwalk, before she tripped over her billowy Pamella Rolland full-length and nearly ate shit! (In her defense, she never really was a runway model…)

They say to save the best for last and songstress, Gloria Estefan, who closed the collection in a tasteful Narciso Rodriguez (up-do and all), certainly WOW-ed; but Chaka Khan in a rouge, leopard print Chris March dress! Need we say more? Epic!

From left, T-Bone Burnett, John Turturro, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. (Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Universal Studios Home Entertainment).

White Russians were flowing by the pre-made bottle at last night's Lebowski Fest at the Hammerstein Ballroom on 34th Street.

"I'm not sure why we are even offering a full bar," the bartender told The Observer. As we took our creamy libations from her, an unshaven man donning a bathrobe, jellies and sunglasses pushed by us and ordered three more. “'Scuse me dude.”

On the “red carpet” – actually a number of the rugs depicted in the film, stitched together along the length of the entrance – we had been approached by a pair of middle-aged men in life-size bowling-pin costumes: Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, co-founders of Lebowski Fest and authors of the book, I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You.

“We played in a really bad band and instead of practicing we would just quote lines from The Big Lebowski,” Mr. Russell said, recalling the inspiration for their first Lebowski-themed bowling party. “We thought ten of our friends would show up and we had like 150 people come out. Next thing you know, twelve hundred people are there.”

This was the first time the cast has reunited since the release of the movie in 1998. The event (minus stars) traditionally features a bowling party, costume contest, and a screening, but for this year’s simultaneous release of the limited-edition Blu-Ray version of The Big Lebowski and Jeff Bridges’ self-titled solo album, Universal partnered with Messrs. Shuffitt and Russell to bring the original cast together for the event.

Tickets for this year’s festival sold out in 48 hours, “quicker than any other event at the Hammerstein,” Mr. Russell announced to the room. “Take that, David Bowie!”

Spying John Goodman break free from the plethora of cameramen at the other end of the carpet, The Observer caught him before he entered the venue. We asked if, like his character, he was armed. “Yeah, I am,” Mr. Goodman said casually, a crazed look in his eye, before he broke into a hearty laugh.

Other actors took on roles not their own: "I'll suck your cock for a thousand dollars" Julianne Moore told us, recalling Tara Reid's line as her favorite from the movie. She was then mauled by a number of reporters eager to know what Maude named the Lebowski lovechild.

As T-Bone Burnett, Jeff Bridges’ music producer and the music archivist for The Big Lebowksi, gloated about Mr. Bridges’ new album, a work he described as “a beautiful, beautiful record,” a procession of emergency vehicles roared down 34th street, temporary deafening us both. “Rick Perry!” Mr. Burnett yelled over the din. “Rick Perry is coming to the screening!”

Later, following a cast Q&A marked by the more intoxicated members of the audience yelling lines from the movie before the cast even had a chance to speak (Steve Buscemi shouted “Shut the fuck up!” more than once), The Observer picked our way over to Jeff Dowd, the original "Dude" and the Coen brothers' inspiration for the movie.

What message did Mr. Dowd have for aspiring Dudes?

"Are you fucking ready for this?" he asked, posing for a picture with a couple who had been to Lebowski Fest more times than they could count.

"Get as close as you possibly can to one woman," he began, while shaking hands and posing for a few more pictures. "Intimacy is everything."

He meant what he said, putting his arm around us, and pulling us in uncomfortably close. He hiked his leg up on the chair in front of us and gazed out over the crowd. “The Dude is the holy fool, like the King’s jester. He is the one guy who can tell the truth without getting his head cut-off,” he paused, looked us straight in the eye, and said: “We need to use that power to create the future.”

Observer man Dan D'Addario was on-hand, and you can take a bite out of the roast with him on our Culture page.

(Mr. Trump is the father-in-law of Observer publisher Jared Kushner.)

realestate@observer.com

The event is being organized by Arthur Leopold, whose letter to donors is here:

Dear Politically Active Friend,

On Friday, June 22nd, I will be hosting the largest fundraising event thus far in the 2008 election! Senator Obama will be in New York, energizing the city that never sleeps at the Hammerstein Ballroom with you and fellow Generation Barack Obama supporters! This is YOUR chance to meet the Senator and hear him speak. We are also expecting live music, comedy, and an incredible evening!

Tickets start at $100 for general seating, $250 for preferred seating, and $500 for a private reception with Senator Obama prior to the event as well 

as preferred seating.



The event promises to be absolutely amazing and I truly hope that you can join me and countless other New York Obama supporters on June 22nd!



The only way to purchase tickets is by using the following link:



 https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/gbonyc



Also, I ask you to please put my name down as referring/encouraging you to attend the event so I can take care of you at the door and better reach my 

own fundraising goal as a host

 to the

event!

After purchasing a ticket, please print the receipt that you will receive via email and bring it to the event.

Also, please forward this invite to your email list or anyone that may be interested in attending! Let's pack the house!

United as one, we can change modern day politics! See you then!

But Eliot Spitzer, meanwhile, continues in his incumbent-like ability to raise money on a different scale. For his December 7 gala at the Sheraton (with afterparty at the Hammerstein Ballroom, of course) his aides expect to beat Governor Pataki's 2002 record of $5.1 million in a single event.

The fest and the furious: If we've learned one thing, it's that March is just one big, sopping-wet film festival , with cinéastes lurching around in black overcoats and spooking the civilians …. Midtown, at the Scandinavia House , a series of recent Danish movies ( uh-oh ) begins with Bænken (The Bench ). The plot: Dipsomaniac gets a second chance when his disaffected daughter moves into his housing project. Bring your own smorgasbord in a crackly brown sack. Downtown, it's that old familiar brigade of black-rimmed glasses at the Underground Film Festival , which is opening with Horns and Halos , a documentary about J.H. Hatfield , the man who wrote that disputatious biography of George W. Bush , Fortunate Son , but was then revealed to be an objectionable fellow himself (he once tried to hire a hit man to kill a boss); he eventually overdosed. Festival director Ed Halter said he received a whopping number of "politically charged" submissions this year. "I think it has to do with unemployment," he said. "I should also note that although I'm stressing the political aspects, we have lots of apolitical fun as well-soft-core, sleazy films from the 70's . We've often been described as the 'sexiest film festival' in New York. There are parties every night. It's a very downtown and Brooklyn type of crowd . The problem with festivals in New York is if you announce the parties publicly, people end up going to the parties and not the movies." Well, not if you announce the parties will be filled with a "downtown type of crowd."

[Danish film festival, Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, 6:30 p.m., 779-3587; New York Underground Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, tickets go on sale at noon, www.nyuff.com for schedule.]

More proof this Starbucks- guzzling , PalmPilot-pecking, StairMastering, type-A town is taking some time to "mellow out" : A big exhibit about … tea … opens today at the Japan Society and the Asia Society, with lectures, sippings and a swarm of single people in their 40's wearing hiking boots (the gals) and big fuzzy shawls (the fellas) . Meanwhile, those who can't stand that much serenity slap on a few fistfuls of makeup and attend VH1's party at the Hammerstein Ballroom in honor of the 10th anniversary of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. Whom you'll bop heads with: Revlon poobah Ronald Perelman , titian-haired actress Julianne Moore and 1990's "folksy" pop star Sheryl Crow , the rock version of Jennifer Aniston .

[The Way of Tea, Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, 11 a.m., 832-1155, and the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, 11 a.m., 288-6400; National Breast Cancer Coalition party, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, 6 p.m., 685-4300.]

Thursday 7th

Two ways to warm up for the Oscars , coming in two weeks: 1) Opening night of a revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible , starring Liam Neeson (the poor man's Ralph Fiennes) and Laura Linney (the poor man's Meryl Streep) . Question to ponder: Is there a Crucible curse? Look what happened to once-promising thespians Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis after they did the 1996 movie version : She became a gamine shoplifter , he a reclusive Soho house husband married to the aforementioned dramaturge's daughter , herself a newly published novelist … 2) Cross-dressing Aussie Mel Gibson , whom we're sure feels totally fine about being superseded by surly Russell Crowe , is honored at the Waldorf by the American Museum of the Moving Image. Who will be test-driving shimmery evening wear: Glenn Close, Goldie Hawn and Jodie Foster!

[ The Crucible , Virginia Theatre, 245 West 52nd Street, 7:30 p.m., 239-6200; American Museum of the Moving Image salute, Grand Ballroom, Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Avenue, 6 p.m., 245-6570.]

Logjam of lady novelists on the Upper East Side! The baby-sitters take on the babe ! At the Lenox Hill Bookstore, pulchritudinous authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus read from The Nanny Diaries , their agreeable, jointly written romanàclef based on their experiences as Silk Stocking au pairs . Meanwhile, a mere seven blocks north , in someone's sumptuous East Side apartment, former Late Show with David Letterman writer and J.Crew model look-alike Jill A. Davis , above, is celebrated for her new novel, Girls' Poker Night , amid a moist, uneasy clump of guests from NBC and Random House . Joan Didion , who's been handing out book blurbs like free breath mints lately, calls Girls' Poker Night "blithe, engaging, off-the-wall funny," while wizened oenophile Jay McInerney says that it is "every man's worst nightmare." You be the judge with this bonus lewd excerpt! "It's five A.M. and he is inside me and he's moving and then he says, so quietly in my ear, 'Oh sweetie. Oh-sweetie.'"

[ Nanny Diaries reading, Lenox Hill Bookstore, Lexington Avenue at 73rd Street, 7 p.m., 472-7170; Girls' Poker Night , someone's fancy Upper East Side apartment, 7 p.m., by invitation only, 940-7767.]

Friday 8th

The fest and the furious, part 2: Clap on a beret, sister girlfriend, and join beaucoup de French people like Jeanne Moreau, Emmanuelle Béart and Isabelle Huppert -the French doppelgängers of Glenn Close, Goldie Hawn and Jodie Foster, respectively-for the 10-day-long Rendez-Vous with French Cinema festival at Lincoln Center. Formidable ! This afternoon Audrey Tatou , star of the under-edited Amélie , returns in Dieu Est Grand, Je Suis Toute Petite (God Is Great, I Am Small) . We'll say it again: formidable !

[West 65th Street, plaza level, between Broadway and Amsterdam, 3:30 p.m., 875-5600.]

Saturday 9th

Noir and peace! Sure , you can argue that there's no culture left in Manhattan , but the fact is the baseboards of the city are positively creaking with young hopefuls in black sneakers and leggings toiling away in ramshackle theaters as though this life is just an eternal Oberlin …. Take, for example, the Collision Theory performance company, which tonight debuts Dance, My Darling, Dance , inspired by Dashiell Hammett's sleuth-hound novels . "We're not making fun of it; we're not trying to do a campy, hammy thing ," said artistic director Stephanie Gilman , a still-idealistic 35. " I think this show has some hope in it. We have an earnestness that makes us not very postmodern -that's a risky thing to do when you're young and not famous." As for the plot, she said, " There's a detective looking for his missing girlfriend; he sees her in the form of a ghost- I swear we did this before this new Kevin Costner movie . Some people will probably walk away feeling a little confused. It's not like True West by Sam Shepard ." Hey, as long as that podgy has-been Kevin Costner isn't in it, we're there!

[Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster Street, 8 p.m., 924-0077.]

Sunday 10th

Kabbalah goes discount? Anybody else starting to feel that Kabbalah , with its big pamphlets, promises that it will help "actualize your potential" and conspicuous celebrity practitioners ( Roseanne, Shoshanna, Madonna before she became British) , is kind of becoming the Jewish Dianetics? Today in midtown, the Kabbalah Centre pushes for mass enrollment : a six-hour open house with face, palm and astrology readings.

[155 East 48th Street, noon, 644-0025.]

Monday 11th

Awards for everyone! In order of descending gravitas and ascending glam : There's the National Book Critics Circle Awards , another nice "high-culture" opportunity for Jonathan Franzen , author of jumbo unread bestseller The Corrections …. Meanwhile, those lovable, hard-charging geezers George Plimpton and Elaine Stritch pick up trophies for lifetime achievement from the Guild Hall of East Hampton . "This award is equivalent in achievement to the Oscar, Tony, Emmy, even the Pulitzer ," said Guild Hall chairman Edward Bleier, a bit grandiosely …. Finally, the Michael Awards , which claim to be the Oscars of fashion (the same claim made by the splashier Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards later this spring), undermines its credibility by giving Ilona Rich (Denise Rich's daughter) a "Best New Designer Award"-but hey, the gate money goes to leukemia research, and you can't argue with that.

[National Book Critics Circle Awards, Tishman Auditorium, New York University Law School, 6 p.m., 463-6554; Guild Hall Annual Academy of the Arts Awards Gala, Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 6:30 p.m., 631-324-0806; Michael Awards, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, 6 p.m., 686-2722.]

Tuesday 12th

"Weird thing about Rosie- a lot of other female editors declined, too ," said Mediabistro editor Albert Lee, who is co-hosting a panel tonight titled "Gay Editors at Mainstream Magazines: Ghetto or Gestalt ?" "Amazing how semi-closeted a lot of them are, perhaps because they're at women's/beauty magazines." But though Rosie O'Donnell ain't comin', have no fear-editor Maer Roshan , who worked at a magazine called Talk, and New York Times Magazine editor Adam Moss will emphatically be there. Crash strategy: buy a cheong-sam for your favorite closeted women's magazine editor and bring her along!

[23 Thomas Street, 7 p.m. cocktails, panel to follow, by invitation only, 929-2588.]

Dogs and bunnies! In yet another Fashion Week aftershock, Animal Fair magazine is having one of those events where they dress up dogs in ridiculous little outfits and parade them down the "catwalk"; it benefits the Humane Society . Who's on the committee: New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, Saturday Night Live cuties Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer, Pepsi spokestot Hallie Eisenberg …. Meanwhile, across town, the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center holds their "Bunny Hop" at F.A.O. Schwarz-a party for families with young children …. Keep Dad away from the Rockettes, Mom!

[Paws for Style, Exit, 610 West 56th Street, 7 p.m., 752-4842, ext. 233; Bunny Hop, F.A.O. Schwarz, 767 Fifth Avenue, 7 p.m., 639-7975.]

Wednesday 13th

Plugging our own: Jaunty New York Observer editor and columnist Terry Golway , who is writing a history of the New York City Fire Department , joins four other "Irish and Irish-American notables" -and for the first time in modern memory, Frank McCourt is not one of them-at the New York Public Library for a discussion, "Beyond the Blarney: Talking About the Irish in America." Remember, St. Patrick's Day is just four days away, and after that comes spring , and spring means drag queens!

[New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 930-0571.]

Have you ever wondered why New York is always teeming with Oscar parties, but you never hear anything about Grammy parties? We'll tell you why: Rock stars can't dress! Their idea of a snappy outfit is a shredded T-shirt over some tights, and maybe some kind of big shearling coat. Also: The Recording Academy is still handing out an award for "Best Polka Album." Tonight on the other coast, The Daily Show 's Jon Stewart hosts the Grammys as vastly overrated R&B singer Alicia Keys goes up against mellowing proselytizers U2 …. Meanwhile, back home, the Museum of Modern Art previews an exhibit of amateur photos of our town called Life of the City , a tribute to the city post–Sept. 11. "Of course, if the museum just opened its doors and said, 'We'll hang everything anybody brings us,' we wouldn't be doing our job," said curator Peter Galassi . "But if you're in the mood to help us, we need more pictures by ordinary people: a corner deli, the nutty friend at the party …. They're going to be put up-not casually, but they're going to be put up with pushpins." O.K., Pete, you asked for it: A pic of our nutty friend at the party is on its way to you!

[Grammys, CBS, 8 p.m.; Life of the City , deliver your photo in person to 11 West 53rd Street, exhibit opens to the public tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., 708-9400, push 7 for information on submitting.]

Thursday 28th

Heimel maneuvers: If you're like us, you're completely sick of the whole single-woman-whining-about-her-plight-over-Cosmos genre-and when, exactly, did the feminist ideal morph from the sensibly randy Simone de Beauvoir to the bubblebrains on HBO's version of Sex and the City ?-but way back in 1983, when most of those tootsies were still in tube socks, Cynthia Heimel wrote the seminal Sex Tips for Girls and, we swear, it's one o f the best books of all tim e , right up there with Anna Karenina ! Now she's publishing Advanced Sex Tips for Girls , and so we tracked her down in Los Angeles, where she was visiting her 31-year-old son, Brodie, a producer. "I'm just so sad I ever left New York," she told us between deep drags on an American Spirit Light. "It was just such a mistake. I left because I lost my job at Vogue , there were crackheads every night screaming on my block-and it was a good block- and all my friends had disappeared because I had stopped going to nightclubs. I was lonely and scared and depressed, so I thought, ' I'll go to L.A. because it's sunshiney .' Big mistake-what can I say?" Now she lives in Oakland with her four dogs and 6-foot-2 younger boyfriend , who is six years older than her son. Oakland, she said, is "a really nice place to live if you're a woman of a certain age, which is 47, something like that. There is a lot of intelligence . The cons are, they are a bunch of control-freak maniacs who are really serious about being politically correct . Since I left New York, I feel underappreciated, if you must know the truth." Tonight Ms. Heimel reads and signs in Chelsea, after a mad dash through Loehmann's shoe department.

[Barnes & Noble, 675 Sixth Avenue, 7:30 p.m., 727-1227.]

Friday 1st

It's March, and everyone's dancin '! Just try to avoid getting trampled tonight! Nancy Karp and her Dancers are flying in like a bunch of reindeer from San Francisco (uh-oh) to premiere Kalasam , which was inspired by India. Meanwhile, Savion Glover (tap, tap, tap) is M.C.'ing the " World's Best Tap Dancers Aged 21 and Under" in midtown …. Also, the Heather Harrington Dance Company is out in Williamsburg, which Th e New York Times has finally discovered, rapidly dooming it to become the next Upper West Side.

[Nancy Karp and Dancers, Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, 8 p.m., 334-7479; Savion Glover, Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, 8 p.m., 307-4100; Heather Harrington Dance Company, 205 North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, 8 p.m., 718-599-7997.]

Saturday 2nd

Remember Wonder Woman? And trying to dress up like her for Halloween when you were little , except your half-heartedly bohemian mom wouldn't fork up for the Underoos ("too commercial"), so you wound up pasting gold stars on a T-shirt?… Tonight, Chicago comic-book artist Alex Ross - not the secret alter ego of New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (we think )-headlines a charity event featuring an exhibit of art from his new graphic novel, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth . What it benefits: Sept. 11 charities. "Wonder Woman's special quality is that she's coming from an idealized society," said Mr. Ross, "somewhere better than here. The Amazons are completely at peace with each other, their society is a utopia of sorts , and she comes to us representing the peace and wisdom of the Amazons." But screw the philosophy-when's the big splashy Hollywood movie ? "So far as I know, Sandra Bullock has the rights to do something with it , but they're very shy of trying, because they fear the character coming across as ludicrous in today's times-which is a misleading conjecture, because if you think about it, the character was reinvented almost in totality as Xena ."

[CB's 313 Gallery, 313 Bowery, 8 p.m., 677-0455.]

Sunday 3rd

Oscar heat is building … but first, it's the dulling vapors of the Stony Awards , the Oscars of High Times magazine, which we hear humiliated the New Yorker team on the softball field last summer. Celebrity wattage: Snoop Dogg. Interestingly, Stony nominee The Anniversary Party is better than an awful lot of this year's Oscar-nominated films . "We're moving it uptown," said High Times senior editor Greg Casseus. "We kind of felt like we wanted the show to be a little more glamorous. In terms of attire, I don't really care-when I say 'glamour,' I mean sort of a soirée along the lines of the Golden Globes, as opposed to a glass of wine and a slice of hemp pizza." Does he and his staff ever get busted? "Why should we? We're not the only office in New York that has pot smokers!" True-one of our cubicle mates smells like the lower decks on a Colombian banana boat!

[B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, 8 p.m., 387-0500.]

Monday 4th

More proof that baby boomers just aren't going to roll over and go quietly into that dark Westchester: My Generation , kind of the Sassy to Modern Maturity 's Seventeen , throws a party (celebrity wattage: um, Pete Seeger ) to celebrate its first anniversary and 3.8 million subscribers, who get it free with AARP membership (AARP used to stand for American Association of Retired Persons , but because boomers don't retire-they just become consultants-it now stands for nada ), and something called the Genny Awards that they've conferred upon Julia Child, the Pill and Muhammad Ali. "There's a new executive director and a whole new branding campaign!" said My Generation editor in chief and peppy boomer Betsy Carter. "Boomers have sort of changed aging, and are changing how we're aging. First of all, they don't think they are - we all think we're 35 . Also, we tend to be in kind of better shape , and we know more song lyrics ; we're much more in sync with a younger group of people. I'm going off to Costa Rica for a week on Friday!" Cra-zy! Meanwhile, Grammys aftershock in midtown as dusky pop singer Nelly Furtado does her strange, lurching dance at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

[Genny Awards, Museum of Television and Radio, 25 West 52nd Street, 6 p.m., by invitation only, 255-8455; Nelly Furtado, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, call Ticketmaster.]

Tuesday 5th

Level III chef groupies, the truly desperate breed ( house husbands with house accounts at Williams-Sonoma and big, well-oiled butcher blocks ), descend on Lincoln Center, where they'll watch cuddly Babbo celebri-chef Mario Batali narrate a piece called The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine by composer Aaron Jay Kernis , played by one of those modern-music chamber groups with ladies in billowing Yohji Yamamoto black skirts and men with prominent Adam's apples.

[Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway, 8 p.m., 721-6500.]

Wednesday 6th

Even the circus is falling prey to the "girl power" scam . "Never before has the Greatest Show On Earth featured so many women headliners in such dramatically divergent displays of derring-do, " boasts the press release for the 132nd edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Here comes Sara, the famed Tiger Whisperer ; Circus Siren Sylvia Zerbini; and, of course, Mei Ling the Motorcycle Maiden ( vrooom )-umm, is this the circus, or the Penthouse Forum? And tell us something else: Since they have all these babes on their roster, why on earth did they send a picture of T.M., the "Gator Guy"? (See off-putting photo.)

[Beat the crowds-the circus comes to Madison Square Garden on March 21-and schlep ironically out to the Continental Airlines Arena, somewhere in New Jersey, tonight; www.Ringling.com.]