PEACH BUZZ: Carter’s oil painting nets $100,000

Despite the country’s current economic woes, former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn’s annual winter weekend auction benefiting the work of the Carter Center proved recession-proof.

The weekend in Port St. Lucie, Fla., raised an impressive $817,590.

As always, the president’s signature auction item generated the highest bids. In past years, Carter has toiled in his woodworking shop in Plains to create a piece of furniture for the auction. This year, he picked up a paintbrush. The subsequent original painting sold for $100,000.

We’re told that more than 100 auction items —- including a baseball signed by our current president and historic memorabilia from the White House, presidential elections, the space race and American sports —- were offered.

The most popular pieces in the public auction included:

> The only baseball in the world hand-signed by five U.S. presidents (Carter, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) sold for $82,500.

> A fly-fishing trip with the Carters at North Georgia’s Brigadoon Lodge sold for $80,000.

> A handmade Manuel Rodriguez classical guitar sold for $65,000.

> Three prints of artwork by Carter sold for $26,000 apiece.

> A baseball signed by U.S. President Barack Obama alone raised $8,000.

Sick bay

A representative for Atlanta pop star Usher said the singer’s wife, Tameka Raymond, is recovering from surgery in Brazil.

Publicist Simone Smalls said Raymond “is in stable condition after suffering complications from routine surgery in Brazil. Her husband Usher is with her at the hospital.”

No further details were provided. In her statement, Smalls said, “the family requests privacy at this difficult time.”

Raymond was being treated at the posh Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

Usher was supposed to be one of the performers at music mogul Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party Saturday night, but he had to back out for what Davis called a serious family illness.

The 30-year-old R&B star and his wife were married in August 2007. They have two young sons, 2-year-old Usher Raymond V and 2-month-old Naveid Ely Raymond. Details on the exact nature of Raymond’s surgery and why she elected to have it outside the U.S., were not immediately forthcoming Monday.

Overscene

Blues Brothers Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi leading a 600-member motorcycle posse from Marietta to downtown Atlanta. The hog ride and Tabernacle concert was a benefit for Hillels of Georgia. Belushi surprised fans by showing up with a shiny pate, and Aykroyd’s actress wife Donna Dixon accompanied her hubby to the concert. Maxim Prime hosted a post-gig private party for the actors.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nephew and King Center president Isaac Farris surprised Atlanta Falcon Jamaal Anderson by popping into his birthday dinner at Aja in Buckhead.

Actor Robert Duvall and his wife Luciana meeting friends in the Kyma bar before dining family style on wood-grilled octopus, scallops Santorini and whole grilled fish.

Cirque du Soleil hosted Atlanta’s rapper-actor-restaurateur Ludacris at its “Kooza” show at Atlantic Station. We’re told the artist born Chris Bridges enjoyed the hospitality of the Tapis Rouge experience in the VIP tent before heading to the big top tent.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Actor Robert Wagner is 79. Guitarist Don Wilson of The Ventures is 76. Singer Roberta Flack is 72. Actress Laura Dern is 42. Actress Emma Roberts (“Nancy Drew”) (below) is 18.

UPCOMING

After a pair of high-profile appearances at the Super Bowl and Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, Oscar winner and singer Jennifer Hudson is headed out on her first tour. And Atlanta’s on the itinerary.

People.com is reporting that the five-week outing with Robin Thicke will start April 2 in Philadelphia. The exact Atlanta date and venue has not yet been announced.

The tour announcement comes as the performer slowly returns to the spotlight after her mother, brother and nephew were slain in October of last year.

Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services

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