Posted Nov. 7, 2007,

Jessica Alba on Broadway? Stranger Things Have Happened...

By Whitney Spaner

You heard right -- Jessica Alba is being courted to play Karen, the naive secretary trying to make it big, in a revival of David Mamet's Hollywood satire Speed-the-Plow. The role was originated by Madonna in 1988, who at the time, like Alba, had no stage experience and the reviews punished her for it.

I polled the straight 20-something boys in our office (that's two) to see if they would hike it up to Broadway to see Alba (who is always at the top of Maxim's hottest women alive list, and they said "no," but they'd gladly grab drinks with her afterwards! Although, when I added she'd be playing a secretary they became a little more interested. These straight boys are hard to please!

Posted Oct. 23, 2007,

Eight Items or Less (Nightlife Edition!): Miami's Where the Party's At, Nightlife and Vinyl Are Where the Money's At and Sebastian Is Where Margaret Cho's At

By Gary Pini

1. "Art and culture form a several billion dollar industry in New York City and if you tack on nightlife -- a $9 billion industry -- the impact of the culture economy rivals and even outperforms that of most other sectors," according to Elizabeth Currid author of The Warhol Economy.

2. Maxim Magazine says that New York is only the fourth best party city in the USA. Miami, Los Angeles and Atlanta ranked higher.

3. Record industry trade magazine Hits predicts that no album will sell more than 100,000 copies when Billboard announces the Top 100 tomorrow. DJs, however, are celebrating the news that sales of vinyl doubled in the UK last year.

4. Kenny Kenny tells us that Margaret Cho will be at his new night Sebastian at 27 W. 24th St. on Thursday night.

5. Nightlife legend Ian Schrager is suing somebody (stupid) for registering the web address www.schragerboutiquehotels.com.

6. The annual Winter Music Conference will take place from March 25 to 29, 2008, in the #1 party city (see # 2 above).

Posted Oct. 16, 2007,

Eight Items or Less: Upstairs Is Not the Same as Kiosk, Debbie Harry Channels Shania and Jenna Fischer is Hott

By Gary Pini & Alexis Swerdloff

1. The downtown club where Puff Daddy allegedly punched somebody over the weekend is called Upstairs, not Kiosk (as the NY Post would like you to believe ). It's the place we mentioned before that used to be our old office, above Café Bari on Spring and Broadway. There is a store called Kiosk in the same building, but it is not connected to the club. So there.

2. Debbie Harry has a new album called Necessary Evil and USA Today says "she sounds like Shania Twain fronting New Order," but the varying song quality suggests that "Margaret Mead had the right idea when she said, 'One must never label a necessary evil as good'."

3. Despite rumors to the contrary, you can still get a room in Miami during Art Basel. A look at www.quikbook.com this afternoon revealed rooms ranging from $69 per night to stay at El Palacio Sports Hotel in Miami Shores to $1,430 per night at the Tides on Ocean Drive. Renting a car and staying in Ft. Lauderdale might be the best idea, that is if you can still drive after eight hours of free cocktails.

4. Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty have reportedly recorded a “ska type” song together. We guess train wrecks attract train wrecks…

5. According to a www.maximonline.com survey, Office star Jenna Fischer (who recently split from her husband) is the Hottest Hollywood Single. She beat out the likes of traditional hotties Jessica Simpson and Carmen Electra. Cardigans are hot again!!