GRAMMY J. BLIGE, CHICKS
Oh, boo, hoo. Along with untold millions in the Pacific time zone, I didn’t get to vote for one of three young lovelies who would share the spotlight with Justin Timberlake at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, Thanks, CBS! But there must   have been some white knuckles in the control room as the cameras capturing the twosome came perilously close to revealing a danger zone that would have made the Justin-Janet Super Bowl breast flap look like a Disney Channel promo. Yikes, girl, I hope you were wearing your Cosabellas. The crotch-length dress overshadowed any vocal talent on display and made women everywhere cringe. Straight men, maybe not so much.
Best line from the show came from Chris Rock intro-ing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. “They put their jocks in socks long before Justin put his d(bleep) in a box.”
In the days leading up to the 3 ½ hour Dixie Chicks-dominated extravaganza, Ocean Way Studios and InStyle hosted the Grammy Style Studio®, where guests including John Legend, Gnarls Barkley, Katharine McPhee, OK Go, Weird Al Yankovic and Peter Frampton imbibed on Hypnotic Breezes, (a potent mix of the blue vodka/cognac/fruit juice elixir, Malibu Rum and a splash of pineapple) and autographed a Swarovski-encrusted bottle to be auctioned for the Grammy Foundation. Other suite visitors enjoyed expert makeup from Urban Decay VP Eric Jimenez. If you haven’t seen it yet, UD has the most rockin’ glitter eyeliner, aptly called “Heavy Metal,” in shades ranging from crystal to copper to teal, green and purple. Other highlights: L.A.M.B.’s hot new timepieces, including an enamel bracelet with a mother of pearl face framed by Swarovski crystals, cowboy hat company Stetson, with a hip new line of plaid and corduroy newsboy and driving caps that were quickly snatched up, the new Grammy Brand line of luxury products including leather jackets, evening bags and shades plus FUNimation Entertainment’s vivid Japanese anime T-shirts—along with a slew of designers like Vivienne Westwood, Moods of Norway, Jenny Packham London, Kyri, Zegna and Ted Baker. 

LA DOLCE DONATELLA 
 

Donatella Versace, surrounded by Trudie Styler, Eva Longoria, Kanye West and Jennifer Lopez  at the Walk of Style in Beverly Hills, February 8, 2007.

They’re having fun.
Totally off the hook. That’s the best way to describe last Thursday night’s blowout bash at a tented Beverly Hills City Hall for the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style? Award honoring Donatella Versace and her late brother Gianni Versace.  The amount of beauty in the room was staggering: Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Sharon Stone, Drew Barrymore, Mischa Barton, Amber Valetta, Demi Moore, Jada Pinkett Smith and Brooke Shields—all decked out in plunging Versace gowns. After an Italian dinner buffet featuring hand-carved rack of lamb catered by Along Came Mary, Maya Rudolph (Donatella’s Saturday Night Live doppelganger) got the party started via videotape. Reclining on a couch in full Versace regalia and smoking a blue cigarette, she intoned in her best Donatella voice: “It’s a party! You can drink in here, but you can’t smoke, and if you do—get out!”
Donatella laughed, ensconced between Elton John, Trudie Styler, J. Lo and Marc Anthony, Longoria, Kanye West, Barrymore, Prince and Cruz, on white embossed leather Versace couches. 
Sharon Stone auctioned off the new Versace Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation—promising that the winner’s girlfriend “would fuck him before they even got out of the driveway.” It went for a cool half mil. 

Sir Elton took the stage to accept the award on behalf of the late Gianni Versace. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of Gianni. He was not only a great friend, but family, and I dearly miss him,” John said. He told a story about turning Versace on to Franck Mueller watches when they first came out, and how Gianni proceeded to buy 17 of them in one day. He quoted Gianni as saying to him, “Bitch, you ruined my life,” as a result. He also reminisced about how Versace once tried to convince him to buy a $1 million tablecloth that took nuns 17 years to make.
Then Elton moved to the piano and performed three songs he said were specifically requested for the occasion. “Your Song,” Rocket Man,” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” During the spirited performance, Kanye West displayed some ADD by repeatedly checking his BlackBerry. Maybe texting someone that he was there was more important than being there?  Then, Axl Rose & Guns N’ Roses came out on stage, but within a few bars of their first of only two numbers, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” the gum-chewing La Lopez and Anthony—with Longoria in tow—decided to make their exit. So much for recording artists’ respect for other artists.  Rose proceeded to thoroughly rock the house with a rousing rendition of the monster hit “Sweet Child O’Mine.”
Prince, with Penelope Cruz at his side, rocked a pair of glitzy Versace sunglasses, never taking them off the whole night--apparently still recovering from his Super Bowl shadow show.
After the performance, other VIP guests milled about and schmoozed Donatella before saying goodnight. Staying long after the others to party past midnight were Rose and Quincy Jones, who was last seen pouring a bottle of Laurent Perrier champagne into flutes for his companions. 
 

Here’s a toast: Axl Rose and Hillary Atkin at the Walk of Style

And there was champagne aplenty flowing the night before—and loads of caviar-topped appetizers--at a pre-party/plaque unveiling at the newly redone Versace Boutique in Two Rodeo, sponsored by C Magazine.
 

An insanely gorgeous white leather and gold trim luggage set with matching handbag, heels, belt and jackets at the Versace boutique. Private jet-worthy only. The price: if you have to ask….

TENGU FOR TWO
It’s about damn time another high-end Asian-fusion/sushi place hit Santa Monica. Just down the street from the firmly entrenched and ever-popular Sushi Roku, Tengu has opened in the space on Ocean Ave. near Colorado vacated by Ivy at the Shore, and fans from its Westwood location and legions of Westsiders are keeping the reservation lines humming. The black-and-white themed dining area, with marbled walls, adds some much-needed casual elegance to the beach restaurant scene. Also mesmerizing:  the aquariums behind the sushi bar.  Despite a scathing review in the LAT that focused on being charged $40 for four pieces of stringy toro, I found the new Tengu offers a pleasurable dining experience with friendly service, perhaps even a little too friendly. The master sushi chef was trained by Nobu Matsuhisa himself. If you’re concerned about the tab, stick with the sushi menu instead of the specials—and skip the toro. 
Tengu, 1541 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, 310-587-2222

SWEET SPOT: WARREN-TRICOMI
If you haven’t yet discovered Warren-Tricomi’s LA salon, awards season is the perfect time. It’s been less than a year since Edward Tricomi and Joel Warren set up shop on Melrose, their fifth outpost. They come in once a month from the East Coast, while partner and esteemed colorist Kaz Amor runs the shop. Aside from private and semi-private rooms, the salon features a Redken Color Lab that walks clients through a series of questions with their colorist to help determine what shades might be appropriate for them.  Then, the hair color product is selected and mixed right at the lab for the client to see.
Warren-Tricomi, 8327 Melrose Ave., 323-651-4545
 

TEN DAYS IN THE GYM: OSCAR MADNESS BEGINS
This won’t be like Ten Days in the Hills, the new must-read Jane Smiley novel, due to a lack of literary yet graphic sex. This is for those who are just starting now to whip themselves into shape for Oscar weekend. OMG, it is just around the corner! Equinox Fitness trainer and aerobics instructor Erin Lanahan says the key is your core. She recommends working out (at the many convenient Equinox locations in LA & NY, of course, and she’s mainly at WeHo) five days a week, twice a day if you can, doing cardio for 30-60 minutes in the morning on an empty stomach, and then in the afternoon, doing 30-60 minutes of a circuit incorporating strength, core and cardio training. And here’s her trick for looking great in photos for the big nights ahead: she says to keep halving your intake of water and other fluids starting a week before, so that the day before an event, you are drinking about 1/8th of your norm. The really radical amongst you can get down to just sucking on ice cubes the day before, but don’t tell anybody.
Dr. Eric Braverman, of Path Medical in New York (www.pathmedical.com) and author of Younger You, recommends cutting down your salt and sugar, sleeping longer, and eating a “rainbow” diet of five different-colored vegetables and fruits a day, and also increasing seasonings and spices like tumeric and sage. He says sleep in as much as possible the week before, get a massage, and take natural supplements like DHEA and B and D vitamins for the inevitable stress caused by [what to wear to] such high-profile events. 

BAGS OF GIFTS, BUT NO GIFT BAG
AMPAS, in its infinite tax wisdom, is reportedly dispensing with the extravagant gift bags for Oscar presenters and performers this year. They had such an attitude about the whole thing anyway, pretending on one hand that it didn’t exist (“Oh, we won’t talk about THAT,” one seasonal and distinctly arrogant Oscar publicist once told me.) On the other, they made PR firms sign lengthy confidentiality/embargo agreements and forced them to approve their media outreach plans in advance in exchange for the “privilege” of getting their client into the bag. God forbid a tiny photo of a Krups coffeemaker should appear in US Weekly in violation of the embargo: it’s the end of the world as we know it! 
But no worries. There won’t be any shortage of gifts going to this year’s batch of nominees like Helen Mirren, Leo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Eddie Murphy, Forest Whitaker, Kate Winslet, etc. Companies like Distinctive Assets and Madison & Mulholland are working overtime to get the most lavish goods and services into their bags. The 25 acting and directing contenders already received their own personalized pre-release MOTORIZRs, boasting a slider design, powerful digital camera and lots of music storage.

MOTORIZER: Helen, you’ve got a call
And invites to the fashion and beauty suites are going out from Silver Spoon, Hearts on Fire, Haven House, Frederic Fekkai, Liberace, Stuart Weitzman, Platinum Guild, Intraceuticals, Matrix/Marie Claire—the list goes on….
© 2007 Atkin Communications.  Reproduction of material from the Atkin Report without permission is prohibited.  The Atkin Report™ is a trademark of Atkin Communications, Los Angeles, CA.