>A royal flush? One wouldn’t think that now is the ideal time to stage an Inaugural Royal Gala at the Waldorf, but that’s exactly what those can-do youth drug preventionists at the Mentor Foundation are doing, inviting upwardly mobile Hollywood types to a mixer with some authentic, landed European royals (who are perhaps under the impression that our film industry still produces classy dames such as Grace Kelly?). The hosts are Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden, the Mentor Foundation’s founder, and Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of VH-1’s brilliantly trashy Celebrity Rehab; expected attendees include Terrence Howard, indefatigable Russell Simmons, Brittany Snow—some sort of actress, we think?—opera singer Renee Fleming and, of course, more titled folk: His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Adbul Aziz Al Saud (That’s Prince Turki to you!), Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, and—weird—Dr. Ruth. Later, plump up those lips, sister girlfriends, it’s the American Museum of Natural History’s annual gala! Where there will be cocktails in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda and a live performance by Cougar-bait Jon Bon Jovi! Expected to attend are a distinguished list of power couples, among them Conan and Liza O’Brien, Jane and Brian Williams, Alice and Lorne Michaels, Lesley Stahl and Aaron Latham, and ex-Viacom chief Tom Freston and his Oprah-approved, self-help-book-writing wife, Kathy, authoress of The One: Discovering the Secrets of Soul Mate Love. (Will this teach us how to land a CEO, too?) Later, this week’s ambiguous downtown art/fashion clusterhump is called—somewhat Condé Nastily—Art Rocks! For the ostensible purpose of curing diabetes, a black-clad, bed-headed crowd of semi-famous party spawn gathers at the Bowery Hotel. Look for Laura Katzenberg (daughter of Jeffrey), Arthur Demarchelier (son of Vogue photographer Patrick), Kipton Cronkite (distant relative of Walter) and Kristian Laliberte (who’s he related to again?). Among the “artists” whose work will be auctioned is one Alexandra Richards (daughter of Keith). The hosts are a clutch of fashionable multitaskers: designer and sister-of-Lohan-girltoy Charlotte Ronson, model heiress Lydia Hearst, model actress Maggie Rizer. “I’m really interested in doing a lot of work for charities, and I really wanted to become involved in something more focused with fashion,” said Ms. Rizer. And, of art: “My boyfriend’s big into art. I like it a lot. I like what I like, but I don’t know what differentiates something that’s good from what’s bad”—us neither, honey, us neither—“I just go with my taste. You can like something that’s a moose head painted with finger paints and everyone else is like, that’s horrible!” How about this economy? “I think people are cutting back a little bit, but fashion’s something that’s never going to go away,” she said ominously. “The strong people are going to pull through. Fashion isn’t really a victim.”
[Mentor Foundation’s Inaugural Royal Gala, Waldorf Astoria, 301 Park Avenue, 7 p.m., 347-321-4864; the Museum Gala, Museum of Natural History, 79th Street and Central Park West, 7 p.m., www.amnh.org; Art Rocks! to benefit the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, 8 p.m., www.artrocksnewyork.com invite only]
mbryan@observer.com
