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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 25
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
It’s all good with fans of domestic diva
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Martha-tinis will be flowing at 10 a.m. Friday when the members of the Atlanta Martha Stewart Good Things Group gather to watch themselves on the domestic diva’s “Martha Stewart Show” (seen locally on WXIA-TV).
The nine-gal group that ranges in age from 19 to 44 will be toasting their trip to New York City this month for two tapings of the daytime show.
“It was a stupendous experience,” Ana Raquel Ruiz, the group’s Powder Springs-based leader, told Buzz. “We were all very impressed with how very organized Martha’s staff is and how clean the studio was.”
Courtesy of Ana Raquel Ruiz
Atlanta Martha Stewart Good Things Group members (from left) Robyn Coward, Darcy Harper, Dawn Klempf, Victoria Clearfield and Shalomie Ruiz and leader Ana Raquel Ruiz celebrate their club’s ninth anniversary at two tapings of Stewart’s show in New York City.
Not surprisingly, the nine-year-old group was first introduced to Stewart and her staff this year when the author came to town to sign copies of “Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook.” Stewart’s people asked the Good Things members to send in a video of themselves. A few weeks later, they received the studio invitation.
On Friday’s show, Stewart asks Ruiz, 44, about the group and asks for “good things” tips from the self-described “Spanglish domestic diva.”
“I told Martha about my food scrapbooking,” Ruiz explains. “My passion is cooking. I have 4,500 cookbooks. I like to document the recipes that I cook, and I take pictures of each dish.”
So what’s exactly in those Martha-tinis?
“Oh, it’s a combination of citrus and vanilla vodka, lime and simple syrup,” Ruiz spills. “I’m the martini queen of the group.”
For Ruiz and her friends, keeping Atlanta’s Good Things group together after Stewart’s much-publicized trial and prison stint was simple: “Martha brought us together. Our friendship is very solid.”
WHAT IS THAT UNFORGIVABLE SMELL?
Look for a new, fancier edition of Atlanta restaurateur Sean “Diddy” Combs fragrance: Unforgivable Multi Platinum.
The new cologne is a limited-edition, amped-up version of Unforgivable, which the 37-year-old rapper-producer introduced last year and watched it become one of the top launches of 2006.
“In the world of fragrances, perfumes and colognes, the actual products we use are based on ‘the juice.’ There are different grades of ‘juice,’ ” Combs said during a recent phone interview. “This is the luxury version.”
He compared it to a fine wine: One year might be a great vintage for a particular wine, and you love it. Then you taste the wine from one of those once-in-a-decade vintages, and you go crazy for it.
Even at $65 for 2.5 ounces, $10 more than the regular version, Unforgivable Multi Platinum is likely to be in short supply.
“I’m definitely attracted to something that won’t be around a long time,” Combs said.
There was no immediate reaction from Diddy’s longtime girlfriend — and a mother of his children — Kim Porter regarding that last quote.
SERENBE’S NEW CHEF
Serenbe braintrust Steve Nygren has snapped up former 103 West chef Hilary White to head the kitchen in the burgeoning Palmetto community that boasts residential living, organic farming and destination eateries south of the city.
Not coincidentally, we suspect, the new restaurant will be named the Hil, and White’s husband, Jim White, has been hired as the restaurant’s manager. We’re told that the Hil is set for an August launch.
‘IDOL’ MARKS A FIRST
In a first, “American Idol” didn’t cut anybody at all Wednesday night.
Indeed, host Ryan Seacrest said the show had raised nearly $30 million for various charities in Africa and the United States before the two-hour special results show had even ended.
The producers basically yanked the viewers’ chains by acting as if they were going to drop somebody. (The consensus on the Web was either Chris Richardson or LaKisha Jones.) In fact, they ended the night with Richardson and favorite Jordin Sparks standing. And for a moment, Seacrest implied that Sparks was out, which would have been truly shocking. But no, he said everybody was safe and that the 70 million votes tallied Tuesday night would be added to next week’s vote. Then, two people will be ousted, leaving four.
The special featured performances by the likes of Rascal Flatts, Josh Groban, former “Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson and a strange duet between a live Celine Dion and a dead Elvis Presley, who was made to look like he was standing next to Dion, at least on camera. For the uninitiated, it was semiconvincing, if not incredibly cheesy.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress-comedian Carol Burnett is 74. Actor Jet Li is 44. Actor-comedian Kevin James (“The King of Queens”) is 42. Singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC is 37. Country bassist Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts is 36. Incubus drummer Jose Pasillas is 31. Actor Tom Welling (“Smallville”) is 30. Actress Jordana Brewster (“The Fast and the Furious”) is 27.
SICK BAY UPDATE
Film critic Roger Ebert says he won’t miss his annual Overlooked Film Festival in Illinois despite the advice from some who said he should sit out this year.
The 64-year-old’s participation at his film festival this week is expected to be his first public appearance since a cancerous growth was removed from his salivary gland last June. Doctors removed a portion of his jaw in the process and needed to perform a tracheotomy to allow him to breathe. It has left him unable to speak.
“I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers,” he wrote in a column published this week in the Chicago Sun-Times. “So what?”
“To paraphrase a line from ‘Raging Bull,’ I ain’t a pretty boy no more,” Ebert wrote.
Ebert will watch the movies from a recliner. He’s written occasional movie reviews since last summer and has called his return to the festival a starting point on the road back to full-time film criticism in print and on the syndicated “Ebert & Roeper” TV show.
Contributing: News services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Mayer and Simpson sup on sea bass, steak in Buckhead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bluepointe staffers and diners got quite the jolt Monday night when celebrity couple Jessica Simpson and John Mayer arrived at the posh Buckhead eatery for a late dinner.
We’re told that the couple slid into a booth (yes, on the same side of the table) and split a bottle of wine. Chef Doug Turbush prepared sea bass for the Chicken of the Sea-challenged Simpson, while Mayer had a filet mignon.
Apparently, Simpson had a fan among the diners. The couple received complimentary dessert from an anonymous patron.
We’re told that former Buckhead resident Mayer and Simpson later closed down the restaurant.
On Tuesday, sans Simpson, Mayer was spotted stepping out of a Lincoln Town Car near Castleberry Point Lofts to shoot a GQ magazine cover featuring the Atlanta skyline as a backdrop. Dressed in jeans, a green army jacket and aviator shades, Mayer was approached by Jerry Miller of Miller Gallman Developers (builders of the lofts), who naturally tried to coax the former Atlantan back to town.
At press time, there was no word on whether Mayer had yet opted to become a downtown loft owner in the hipster ‘hood.
A FASHIONABLE LUNCH
It’s almost a given that guests at Stephanie Blank’s charity luncheon May 2 at Ecco in Midtown will be salivating into their salads. To raise money for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Blank has persuaded New York fashion designer (and Phipps Plaza boutique owner) Tory Burch to unveil her fall line during a fashion show here.
“Tory has almost this cult following,” Blank told us Tuesday. “She’s doing classic American sportswear mixed with a youthful, bohemian edge. I feel comfortable going to a meeting in her clothes and then running carpool. It’s great for all those women who have to wear a lot of hats now.”
Without a single invitation being sent, only about 15 seats remain for the $175 per person benefit featuring celeb models Jane Fonda, Spanx founder Sara Blakely and Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders.
Quipped Blank: “We just had our fittings and I discovered Jane is a size 2 and I’m a size 6. It’s just not fair!”
Call for tickets: 404-785-7316.
A STAR IN THE CROWD
Pop star Janet Jackson’s presence Monday night at the Stars of the Century seventh anniversary drag show at Jungle nightclub likely resulted in a few jangled nerves for performers. We’re told that the part-time Atlantan and pals were spotted in the crowd and grooved in their seats to numbers featuring the music of the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie and Beyoncé. Jackson remained polite even when someone ill-advisedly attempted to entertain with the music of her brother Michael.
IT’S A SCOTTISH THING
We’ve been to Scotland and we’ve hurled haggis, but the upcoming festivities at the Georgia Renaissance Festival sound infinitely more fun. Festival officials are requesting that attendees slap on kilts and warm up their throwing, er, arms for the ever-popular Scots and Kilts Weekend, May 5-6. Haggis-hurling competitors will be standing atop half a whisky barrel throwing a frozen sausage containing various unsettling ground- organ byproducts for distance — without falling off the barrel. Festival reps tell us that Guinness World Records shows the modern hurling record as 180 feet, 10 inches. The Renaissance Festival contest will be held in the Joust arena at 1:30 p.m. and will offer long-distance throwing categories for men and women. The men will lug an 8-pound frozen haggis, while the women will toss a daintier 4-pound version of the stuffed sheep’s intestine.
For more info: www.georgiarenaissancefestival.com or call 770-964-8575.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Al Pacino is 67. Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba is 62. Actress Talia Shire is 61. Actor Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons”) is 43. Singer Andy Bell of Erasure is 43. Actress Gina Torres (“I Think I Love My Wife”) is 38. Actress Renée Zellweger is 38. Actor Jason Lee (“My Name Is Earl,” “Almost Famous”) is 37. Singer Jacob Underwood (O-Town) is 27.
HIGH FIVE
From ousted “American Idol” contestant/ponyhawk hawker Sanjaya Malakar’s list of “Things I Learned From ‘American Idol,’ ” which he read Monday night on “Late Show With David Letterman”:
1. “Nothing.”
2. “The camera adds 10 pounds to your mohawk.”
3. “Work hard and make sacrifices, you can finish in seventh place.”
4. “Voting for yourself 100 times an hour causes some wicked carpal tunnel.”
5. “America loves performers with bad hair — right Dave?”
OVERSCENE
> Food Network host and author Paula Deen and hubby Michael Groover dining on the barbecue special at South City Kitchen in Midtown. The couple shared house-made country sausage with chipotle and garlic, molasses-glazed pork shoulder and mustard-glazed smoked pork ribs. Sipping Coca-Cola, Deen was seen raving about the jalapeño coleslaw with manager Chris Dean. She also happily posed for cellphone pictures.
> Chicago interior designer, author and F.O.O. (Friend of Oprah) Nate Berkus shopping at J. Crew at Lenox Square.
Contributing: Lamar Wilson and news services.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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