Oh Leo. Rush and Malloy are reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio is so “tight” with promoter Danny A that he took the time to actually get out of his seat to help put an end to an argument that the clubbie was having with a regular patron at “Upstairs”. Apparently he just stood firm behind Danny’s back, glaring down at the other guy until he shut his mouth. While most will walk away from this report questioning Leo’s new choice in friends, we are left wondering….”People are still going to Upstairs?!”

Next up: helping folks unwind…From our Inbox:

“I’ve been working in NY nightlife for four years, and I have never… ever… dimed anyone out to a publication or blog. However, I can’t stand Cordell of The Box. In fact, I loathe him. “

Some highlights of the email regarding Cordell:

“First of all, boyfriend has a drug problem that makes it impossible for him to keep it hard without another little drug by way of assistance.”

“…I had to have dinner with Cordell the other night who again claimed he designed The Box. That guy has NO fucking taste. No way he could design a greeting card much less a fucking bar. He takes credit for it in print too, like in the NY Times.”

“Lastly, he’s also has been known to kick high rollers and celebs out of their VIP seats at The Box for his loser friends. Maybe that’s why New York celebs have been avoiding the place like the plague???”

“Christ. Thanks.
I feel so much better.”

No problem anonymous tipster…We don’t know Cordell personally and so we can’t speak to these claims one way or the other, but we have been having our own issues with the place lately…Friday night it was such a shit show that even Channing Tatum exited early with us.

Lastly, what is going on with the club/lounge/disco/indie spot Rebel on 30th street? We had never heard of this spot until we got invited to a Disco themed birthday party there this last Saturday. Apparently it is owned by Steven Ballinger of Webster Hall fame and opened on Labor Day weekend. The place is huge, with 5 different open areas all named on their webpage. We went to the party in the conveniently titled “Disco Room” on the 2nd level. Fun times, until we went through “the Mezzanine“, past the “Liquid Lounge“, down the stairs to “the Gallery” (we were starting to feel like Dora the Explorer), and realized we were literally the only people there. There were dj’s and a full staff of guys ready for clean up service, but no people. It was Saturday night at 1 am. It was really odd. Where were all the guidos and guidettes? We exited out through the “Perfomance Hall”, left to ponder the existence of such a place. Maybe it has something to do with the events calendar? (we haven’t heard of a single one of these bands, are we missing something?)

Will the nightlife here start making more sense this fall, or will we continue to be surprised by it’s many absurdities?

It’s not the first “back-to-front” shoe as the UK’s Daily Mail reported, but it is a little wacky. The heels go horizontal and, where you would instead expect to find them, there is a space of air. No, this isn’t some shoe you would find in the child’s dress-up play section at FAO Schwartz…they are part of Marc Jacobs’ new collection people, and they aren’t cheap. The designer himself described his new collection as “the emperor’s new clothes” and said it aimed to overturn conventional fashion. The only explanation we can come up with is that the guy’s love life is on the rocks again and he is having a hard time dealing with the pressures of adulthood. We still love him anyway.

On the west side of Sixth avenue, between 21st and 22nd street there is an amazingly beautiful, 41,700 square foot pre-war historic building. It was one of the first department stores in the city that had automatic elevators and has housed one of Manhattan’s several Barnes and Nobles’ stores for years. Well, their lease is up, and they are leaving (don’t worry, the chain is set to open 2 new stores within the coming year). So, come spring, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will pick up this massive treasure. I would absolutely LOVE to see either a Nordstrom or a Target (as Racked is speculating) in that space, the two things from home that I will openly admit to missing. If it’s another H&M or WholeFoods I may consider moving.

While you guys were all psyched up about Darien’s Polo Event this weekend, it seems some other prepsters were out having their own end of summer fun. A dedicated reader sent us some great footage of the annual Princeton lawn parties held each September. Everyone breaks out their nantucket reds, madra shorts, Reefs, and sundresses for this all day beerfest, where the eating clubs (i.e. frats) hire bands for the event.

Cloister hired the Spin Doctors, who you might remember from the early 90s after hearing “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” so many times from the album Pocket Full of Kryptonite on the radio that you wanted to kill yourself. In fact it is an often held belief that excess radio play actually killed the band’s popularity…the reverse must be true today. Abuse of the airwaves with overplayed music couldn’t be higher…but we digress. Sunday must have been a nice homecoming for frontman and vocalist Chris Barron who went to high school in Princeton, jammed with his friend John Popper of Blues Traveler, and from what we hear, loves Hoagie Haven.

The biggest act playing yesterday was the rock band Everclear. The Tipster also had this anecdote to recount:

I was standing on Prospect Street, and this couple approached me and asked me what was going on. So I explained to them how all of the eating clubs were throwing parties with hired bands for lawn parties, and their response was “Only at Princeton!” To which I had no response.

Today’s Page Six shares the embarrassing incident that our friend Armin had last week when his doorman refused to let Bruce Willis and his entourage into Socialista.  This reminded us of the time Miriam from The Box refused to let in Margarita Missoni to join a Hearst birthday party. She failed to recognize the well known socialite.  If you are going to be the person who is deciding who gets into the top spots in the best city in the world, don’t you think you should be up to date on your important faces?  Armin himself became a name after working the door at Bungalow so it’s no surprise that he was infuriated at his hired help after the incident.  Marquee and Bungalow may be past their primes but god knows Wass and Disco would NEVER make mistakes like that.  Mr. Willis would never be “dying hard” to get into their establishments. 

We love a good Indian Summer, which is the first and only piece of good news we got this morning.  Now for a list of the “news stories” we picked up on:

-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be speaking at Columbia today which has no doubt already encouraged massive groups of protestors congregating on the UWS.  The cover of Daily News flashed the headline “The Evil Arrives“, New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind said Ahmadinejad “should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God’s sake”, while, in defense of free and open debate, the Dean of the school said that they would invite Hitler to speak.

-Our own trusty leader George W. is in town today, and will be attending the UN assembly tomorrow, which means nothing more than we will all be expected to disrupt our daily commuting for awhile.  1st avenue is completely closed along with 44-46th streets on the east side.

-3 were killed in a fire in brooklyn

-An NYU college freshman committed suicide this weekend by jumping 15 stories to his death behind University Hall.  The first one at the university in 3 years, after 5 students took their lives between 2002-2003.

Wow.  A lot for us to take in before 10am.  At least the weather is keeping us smiling…

Saturday is the Harriman Cup in Darien, CT. This event celebrates 22 years of polo tradition between the University of Virginia and Yale University. We attended the event last year however, and know that what it really celebrates is just how well embroidered khakis, CASHmere, and cocktails mix. If you are going to go, take the train…it’s where you will meet the people that will be having the most fun throughout the day (aka the drinkers). Find a good crew to mooch cheese and wine off of and get your prepster on! (we know you want to). If you want to fit in, make sure you hit up your local Lily Pulitzer and Ralph Lauren departments, and Brooks Brothers, and J.Crew stores. Also, feel free to bring the little tykes around, even young adults trust fund babies love playing ball with kids after a few drinks. So polish off your riding boots and make sure to bring sufficient reinforcements…because this WASPy crowd gets better by the bottle.

This morning, we read that the gourmet grocery chain The Amish Market is planning on opening at least 13 more locations in the metropolitan area (bringing total to over 30).  What is it with people and their boutique, gourmet groceries in this town???!  While we do like this place actually better than Whole Foods, Trader Joes, East of Eden, AND Zabars, we are just hoping that an Associated will open by us soon.  Or what about a Hy-Vee or a Safeway? (anyone?)  I mean we like olive bars and fresh baked bread and whole grains as much as the next guy, but sometimes we just want to go get in on a special on frito-lays is that okay?…Is there anything wrong with wanting a Totinos Party Pizza once in awhile?  We think not.  Now that that is out of our systems, on to the Amish.  Last night we finally went to eat at the new spot on W. 10th, The Kingswood, which we were under the assumption was opened by Aussies, not Amish.

The guy circled is one of the founders of both Ruby’s and The Kingswood (Lincoln).  Not pictured (unfortunately) is Joey.  Joey is the guy that greets and seats you at The Kingswood.  We also found out that he is the designer of the space.  It is a shame that we didn’t get a photo of the guy, but just imagine the standard Amish man (thick beard and tall hat).  Ah yes, that is Joey, and we love him for it.  We also love the open windows in the back and raised wooden enclave you can look up in the back of the space, as well as the little red butterflies he scattered across the ceiling (can see in below picture).  Overall the vibe here was good last night.  Music was some of the best we’ve heard at a sit down restuarant in the city (though that was to be expected, Ruby’s is always on tune), the crowd was very nice, and  the peach salad was just as good as everyone said.  A tip we would give would be to turn down the lights a little in the back corner, (though they dimmed the whole place around midnight, we felt like we were under a flourescent bulb throughout our entire dinner).  Also, the chocolate cake we had for dessert was a bit dry.  Other than that, loved the place’s simplicity, a trait that both the Australian and the Amish can agree on.

Last night, members of the elite social network asmallworld recieved an email debuting the new president and CEO of the company Joe Robinson.  Though he officially accepted the position in January, he apparently didn’t feel comfortable enough yet in the role to make a formal announcement until yesterday (maybe the fact that he’s made only 241 friends on the site has something to do with it?)-we kid, we kid.  In any event, his email outlined the changes that he will be starting to implement based on various feedback he’s been receiving and will include things like:

-Automatic email reminders for messages, changes, etc.

-Improved design and layout of the site including new navigation and improved forum and message search function.

-A regular member newsletter and official introduction of the ASW Magazine

-Picture galleries, sharing and picture management for profiles, new tools such as friend notifications and powerful events/personalized calendar

-Travel Contests, hotel give-aways and member parties around the world.

There is a link to a video of Joe further describing his new role here. This is all too much for us to take in at once.  We really liked the fact that ASW kept things clean and simple and are a little bit disappointed that they will be falling to all the bells and whistles like the other social networking sites.  Then again, it would be pretty sweet to see some of Harvey Weinstein’s personal pictures online.

Michelle McKelvey. No one know, nevertheless cared about this girl when she entered into our territory in May. Now, it’s unreal at how many emails our inbox is flooded with asking about Michelle McKelvey. So many, that we offered her to have her own column, journaling her stories while gliding through the social scene. Although she declined (we still don’t get why), she offered to sit down for an interview, answering some of our readers questions. She’s the youngest woman to win this title (she can’t even legally have a cocktail), but age is just a number, right? We recently had drinks with Mark Burnbower, co-owner of the Gansevoort Hotel, Bagatelle, and Marquee. “McKelvey’s ability to see connections and leverage ventures using her relationships is unbelievable. I call her a super spider–she spins a very tight web of people, places, and ventures that she uses at her disposable. We went out to dinner once, and we had to move to a different table because so many people recognized her. She has a vision, and gets it done. ”

Okay I absolutely loved the first episode of Gossip Girl.  It definitely was dramatic in the way that only a teenage-drama-series could be, but I predict it will be a hit.  First of all Blake Lively is awesome (and only 20 years old, not 30 as many suspected).  The fact that I am able to love her character (Serena Van Der Woodsen-perfectly fitting and totally legitimate name) after she slept with her best friend’s boyfriend (in an ultra hot scene might I add), takes good acting.  Dan and Nate are super hot, and Chuck is the epitome of the East coast “bad boy”.  Their school “The Constance Billard School for Girls” is based off of the real life “Nightengale-Bamford School” where the author Cecily Von Ziegesar (again fitting name) actually attended on the Upper East Side.  I loved the music (especially when “Hang me up to dry” by the Cold War Kids came on), I loved the pot smoking in central park, and when Serena explains to Blair that their friendship runs too deep to end (she can always of course count on her to “dance on the tables at Bungalow 8“-that place HAS seen its day).  Love the limo rides (true), all the text messages (true), and drinks in the Madison Room at the Palace Hotel (probably untrue although when your parents own the place who knows).  I also loved the scene in Henri Bendel and the fact that Chuck’s dad needs him to stay with Blair so that he can get in on her mom’s IPO (definitely has happened here more than once).  God I loved this show, so much so that I think I will have to do a review after every episode.  Oh does anyone else think that Leighton Meester, the 21 year old actress that plays Blair Waldorf, is just divine!  It’s like watching Olivia Palmero up on TV!  In fact, so far from what I have seen, I think that they did an impeccable job of casting this series.  I haven’t been this excited about a show in awhile.  My other choices for this fall will be “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “The Office”, and of course “Weeds” which has already begun.  Gossip Girl however, is set to be my most secret guilty-pleasure of the fall.