AT THE BEHEST OF Muna Rihani al-Nasser, chairwoman of U.N. Women for Peace Association, a host of humanitarians turned out to support a campaign opposing violence towards women and children.

Dionne Warwick was there, a twinkle in her eye, as was Mexico’s dynamic arts patron Eugenio López Alonso. Dedicated philanthropists Their Royal Highnesses Prince Carlo and Princess Camilla of the Two Sicilies provided a sheen of mondanité.

Then these worthies took to the streets……..

To read more, CLICK HERE.

by KENNY SCHACHTER

EDITOR’S NOTE: Orbmagazine is delighted to debut in these pages the musings of American-born, London-based Kenny Schachter, the Nostradamus of the 21st-century art world. He is a canny curator, clairvoyant collector, reputable dealer, sharp-eyed observer, astute analyst, and most disgraceful of all, a lawyer. In this article, Mr. Schachter gives us an overview of the art scene, and throws in insightful poetry, witty collages, and juicy gossip. He’s a full-service provider….

To read more, CLICK HERE.

WHEN RALPH RUCCI HOSTED A VERNISSAGE for his new dress collection, his retinue of devotees was out in force, but no one outshone Deeda Blair, head to toe in a white Rucci coat and dress.

Mrs. Blair probably hates the term grande dame, but what else can you call her? She’s Ralph’s steadiest supporter and most effective emissary for his austerely architected apparel.

Rucci has re-branded his label—it’s now called RR331—but some things never change…..

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Orbmagazine is always thrilled when an auto-anointed diva who has fallen off the radar roars back into the news, particularly when it involves a juicy financial scandal. So, welcome back, Kimora Lee Simmons, and come on down.

Over the weekend, The New York Post broke the story that Kimora’s third husband, Tim Leissner, 45, a Goldman Sachs director and chairman of its Southeast Asia operations, is being investigated for his role in selling bonds to raise $6.5 billion for the Malaysian sovereign development fund. Out of that pot of state funds, almost $600 million wound up in Goldman’s pocket, charged to “fees, commissions and expenses”, and $681 million was discovered to have been deposited into the personal bank account of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak… READ MORE

Octogenarians have little time to waste, and Rupert Murdoch didn’t waste a minute. Last summer, after his sister’s niece in Australia introduced him to voluptuous Texas-born beauty Jerry Hall, he went into high gear.

The media Midas and the society sorceress began seeing each other immediately, and made their public debut at the Rugby World Cup final on November 1. The week before Christmas, Jerry reigned as hostess at a reception at Murdoch’s flat overlooking Hyde Park for guests like… READ MORE

“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” penned the lyricist Fred Ebb, but the adage is a myth that is not true, not true at all.

Since the 1800s, no citizen of New York has become President of the United States, except for Franklin Roosevelt, who rallied a nation from the depths of despair, and Theodore Roosevelt, whose accession was greased by a bullet. And as there are no candidates in this year’s race bearing the surname Roosevelt, the pattern is unlikely to be broken.

Sorry, Donald. Sorry, Hillary. And sorry for you as well, Michael Bloomberg. Your White House ambitions are as doomed as were those of Thomas Dewey, Averill Harriman, Nelson Rockefeller, John Lindsay, Rudolph Giuliani, and George Pataki…. READ MORE

When the Winter Antiques Show opened the doors at its first exhibition, Dwight Eisenhower was beginning his first term in office and white-gloved, behatted Mamie was setting the style. For sixty-two years, that aesthetic has prevailed: decorous Upper East Siders dutifully troop to the Park Avenue Armory to view and purchase art and antiques, and East Side House Settlement, a Bronx youth charity, benefits from the largesse.

Now the ship is creaking a bit with age. At last week’s opening night gala, some of the Old Guard showed the flag, but as for a New Guard, they were few and far between…. READ MORE

{EDITOR’S NOTE: If you were living in Manhattan during the past four decades and were not personally acquainted with Anthony Haden-Guest, the explanation must be that you were not ambulatory, non compos mentis, or suffered from an acute case of agoraphobia. In the late 1980s, during the reign of Graydon Carter at Spy magazine, Anthony was twice acclaimed winner of the “Iron Man Decathlon” award… READ MORE

With a proliferation of high-end “state-of-the-art medical spas” in the mountains of southern Germany and western Austria, competition for affluent “guests” is heating up and discretion is being thrown to the Alpine winds. This week, the Nadine Johnson public relations firm, in a bid for publicity for its client Langerhof Tengersee spa in Bavaria, sent emails to journalists releasing the news that its services have been enjoyed by celebrated artist Cindy Sherman (left) and the equally celebrated Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter (right)…

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Let’s face it, Marshall Heyman is at this point the most influential columnist in New York City. He has been writing the Heard & Scene column in The Wall Street Journal for oh, the last several years, and he covers the arts, society dos and showbiz like the proverbial blanket….

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Russian tsar Vladimir Putin has issued an edict that detainees in pre-trial detention centers are forbidden from addressing each other or their guards in the traditional, foul-mouthed slang of the Russian prison system known as fenya. The NY Times calls it “a rich and filthy language”….

To read more, CLICK HERE.

GOING OUT IN PUBLIC with Andy Warhol in the early ‘70s was always an adventure. The ivory-thatched artist was recognized and greeted by one and all. He responded warmly and sincerely, if sometimes diffidently. (After all, an acquaintance had plugged him with a bullet not so long before.)

The opening night in October 1971 of Jesus Christ Superstar, the “first rock opera on Broadway”, was a seminal moment, with the Pope of Pop at the epicenter. Your humble editor, Richard Turley, was standing there—literally, as you will see–taking notes.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

IN AN AGE OF TERROR, Ray Kelly is superbly qualified to be Mayor of New York. He was police commissioner for two years under Dinkins and twelve more under Bloomberg—the longest tenure in history. In between, he served at the highest levels in D.C.

With de Blasio’s approval ratings so anemic, there is a clamor for Kelly to run in 2017, and he has signaled an interest in doing so. But last week, when Kelly unexpectedly claimed that the NYPD has been fiddling with crime statistics—without offering any proof or garnering validation for his allegations—he may have stuck his foot in quicksand.

Ray Kelly’s admirers are concerned—will this misstep hobble his nascent bid for City Hall? ORB trains its orbs on municipal politics.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

THE NY TIMES BLOWS hot and cold with The Clintons—they went after Hillary for her hokum about the rogue email system, but lately they’ve toned it down because they’re terrified of Trump. Last week the paper hit them hard. They used an obituary for an under-the-radar Washington bureaucrat to remind readers of the sindiscretions of the 42nd president during what they have christened “the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal.”

If the Democrats were hoping The Times would suffer amnesia about the Clinton shenanigans during their first two terms, they’ve got another think coming.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD BUSINESS for a showboat schmoozer like Donald Trump to have some famous black guys as his “friends”, and Russell Simmons and Jesse Jackson used to fit the bill.

Now that the presidential candidate’s policies about minorities have made him radioactive, his buddies are distancing themselves—and revealing what was Donald’s “quid” for their “quo”.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

IN “THE CONTENDER”, a recent biography of Andrew Cuomo by Michael Schnayerson, the author writes that in 1990, even before asking Kerry Kennedy to be his bride, the proto-ambitious young pol went around polling members of the media—some of them acquaintances he barely knew—how they thought such a marriage would play out in the press.

Subsequently, they married, had three kids, divorced. It’s all over but the child support payments. Last week Kerry, herself tough as a well-worn Wellie, landed a fierce uppercut on the governor’s noble chin. He didn’t see it coming.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

AH, THE INTERNET. Ya can’t live with it, ya can’t live without it. Now some politicians, like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are suggesting we might have to do without it if we want to keep living.

For the first time, proposals to censor the vile and dangerous traffic on the World Wide Web are being taken seriously.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

AS MIAMI BECOMES A MECCA for the festive and the restive, it is becoming less American and more pan-continental. Italian tastemaker Gianni Versace lit the fuse years ago, in a previous century, and now the city is exploding like a pantheon of pyrotechnics.

Alan Faena, an Argentine fantasist, backed by Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian conglomerateur, are the latest migrants to put their mark on Miami, re-inventing a whole stretch of oceanfront.

Veteran South Beach historian Eric Newill describes the surreal estate now rising along Collins Avenue.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

THE GOSSIP COLUMNS breathlessly related that couturieuse Mary-Kate Olsen and investment banker Olivier Sarkozy got married over the weekend at “a private residence on 49th street between Second and Third Avenues”, but nobody—nobody—reported that the magnificent mansion is the couple’s new home.

We’ve got the photos and the provenance of the 1920s chateau-like dreamhouse in the exclusive enclave of Turtle Bay Gardens. You’ll swoon when you see them.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

WHEN SHELLY SILVER, Speaker of the Assembly since 1994, would be asked by reporters what he did for the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg to earn hundreds of thousands yearly, he would piously answer, “I handle cases representing the little people, but never anyone who has dealings in Albany.”

Shelly lied. At his corruption trial, it came out he represented Big Guys, machers who bribed him handsomely to pass laws that benefited them financially. Now he is going to jail.

Silver was a crook, but never a schnook. He knew what his services were worth, and he demanded to get paid. It’s a helluva story, and he got away with it for a long long time.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

This ORBMAGAZINE story is being featured in The New York Post.

by BERGOTTE

The premier cultural event of the New York season is at the Metropolitan Museum, and I am happy to report that it has neither relevance nor redeeming social value. Hallelujah!

This event is a display of clothing of Comtesse Jacqueline De Ribes, the grande dame French fashion icon of the past six decades. The show is occupying the Costume Institute space at the Met – now called something like the “Anna Wintour Wing,” which, while not quite what it was when it was the “Diana Vreeland Wing”, is still the most amusing part of the august Metropolitan.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

IF YOU’RE AS BORED AS WE ARE of seeing skin cluttered with calligraphy (15 years ago the Poof Daddy etched “Only God Can Judge Me” on his neck), you won’t be unhappy to hear that tattoos may be falling out of fashion.

Among the current crop of young superstars, many are going ink-free—such as Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard (above), Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis, bigtime belter Taylor Swift, New Directions bandmember Niall Horan, and the always adorable Carrie Underwood. Orb shows you their untarnished canvases.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

DO DOGS THINK, ruminate, retain memories, feel pain and have a notion of self? People who live with dogs are convinced they do. Non-dog people sometimes regard them as empty vessels, like pet rocks.

If dogs have feelings, should those feelings be taken into consideration in determining who gets custody when a family unit breaks up? Some new and interesting court cases are raising these questions.

To Read More, CLICK HERE.

WHEN THE HORDES of foreign oligarchs overpaid to be crowded into the vulgar new erections on 57th between Sixth and Seventh, the smart set knew it was time to get out.

Leading the evacuation are the popular social figures Wilbur and Hilary Ross, who also maintain a major presence in Palm Beach. They’ll be heading east to Sutton Place, where they’ll have 5,000 square feet to cosset their fashionable friends.

To Read More, CLICK HERE.

PEGGY SIEGAL, OFTEN uncharitably described on Page Six as the “pushy publicist”, loves sending out invitations to movie screenings and yelling at guests to get into their seats, but she is less adept at helming a p.r. company.

In the past, she merged with the power publicists Harriet Weintraub and Lizzie Grubman, but then both mergers were unmerged. Now ever-upbeat Peggy is giving it another shot with the fashion mogul Bryan Bantry. Fingers crossed.

To Read More, CLICK HERE.

EVER SINCE THE EDITOR of this magazine had the privilege of chatting with HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall a few years ago at the Museum of Modern Art, we have admired their style and the skill with which they do their job. Charles is now forty years older than his mother was when she was enthroned, yet he is still waiting to learn if he will rule the United Kingdom. A new play now on Broadway, “King Charles III”, imagines how he will perform when he steps up to the plate.

We asked three writers, Tom Dean Phillips, Belle McIntyre and Bergotte (whom you will remember from his coverage of the Arnold Scaasi memorial service), to tell us what they think about the production and the real-life inspirations for the characters.

Their different perspectives are Rashomonesque. If you haven’t seen the play, this article will help you decide if you want to. If you have, this article might illuminate an angle you didn’t see from your seat in the dark.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Just when you thought there was no place left to gentrify in the City of New York, Keith Rubenstein discovered an unexpected paradise—on the banks of the Harlem River in a forlorn outpost of the South Bronx. He bought the land and drew up the plans–but even before he builds the buildings, he’s bussing in some world-famous celebrities to share his enthusiasm and give it the imprimatur of Chic.

A few days before Hallowe’en, Mr. Rubenstein, his glamorous wife Inga, celebrated art dealer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, sleek publicist Nadine Johnson, art world wunderkind Lucien Smith and others too lofty to mention are throwing a party in Mott Haven.

By the time the rollicking evening draws to a close, the household names you read about in the gossip columns will all be signing contracts to purchase real estate in the South Bronx.

To spy on the soirée, CLICK HERE.

At last—some do-gooders who are actually doing good. For fifty years, the World Monuments Fund has been pursuing projects in over 100 countries, staving off disasters that threaten the fragile and priceless architecture that still exists.

For its bicentennial year, the WMF has published a book highlighting several of its proudest achievements and describing some of its current challenges. The photos are spectacular and so are the essays by such worthies as Fernanda Eberstadt (writing on Cusco), Justin Davidson (Mexico City), Andre Aciman (Rome) and Andrew Solomon (Beijing). These four were at a special launch party hosted by the eminent interior designer Juan Pablo Molyneux and his wife Pilar (pictured above).

To read more, CLICK HERE.

When it’s High Season in Manhattan—we’re in it now—the nights become a blur: running here, running there, and running into the same people coming and going.

For Yaz and Valentin Hernandez, the night began on the Upper East Side in the smart salon of society chronicler Jeanne Lawrence, then continued downtown at a fundraising gala for medical research.

After the ball was over, their journey took an unpredictable turn.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Born October 15, 2015

BEFORE DONALD TRUMP WAS CLASHING with Megyn Kelly, and dissing Carly Fiorina, and turning Rosie O’Donnell into roadkill, he had an even more epic feud with hotel magnate and heiress Leona Helmsley, which he enjoyed thoroughly and loves to recall, in shocking detail.

I was reminded of this when Avenue magazine, an Upper East Side publication that for 40 years has catered to the crowd so uncharitably depicted in “Primates of Park Avenue”, asked me to put together a remembrance of the columns I once penned for them in a double-bylined collaboration with Page Six journalist Richard Johnson.

Rereading the dinner party that Richard and I hosted where Donald gleefully described pulling an adolescent prank on Mrs. Helmsley, I realized the impact the Republican presidential candidate has made in recent months with his candor. Mr. Trump has upended the usual charades of politicians by speaking his mind and never apologizing. Whatever happens at the polls next year, the phony double-speak used by hacks will never again ring true.

For our brief recollection of some of the giants that once bestrode the Silk Stocking district, CLICK HERE.

SOME OF THE BEST ENTERTAINMENT in New York takes place at funerals, especially when the dearly departed had lived a long and eventful life.

Arnold Scaasi falls into that category, and his memorial service last week at St. Bartholomew’s was as lively and as lovely as the soirees he attended every night for decades.

Orbmagazine asked Bergotte, a veteran funeral-goer, to give us the rundown on Scaasi’s sendoff, and at the same time to describe other farewell ceremonies attended in the same stately sanctuary.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

If the O.J. Simpson murder trial was a landmark criminal case of the 20th century (it melded race, celebrity, economic privilege, courtroom finagling and media manipulation all into one bubbling cauldron), then Dominick Dunne—along with Judge Ito, Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Mark Fuhrman and Kato Kaelin – were the breakout stars imprinted forever in the American consciousness.

Dunne’s dogged investigative reporting and omnipresence on television elevated him to the pantheon of crime and society journalists.Then he stayed in the spotlight covering other high-profile miscreants.

Six years since the outspoken author’s death, a biographer with a reputation for digging the dirt is writing a book about Mr. Dunne.

How deep will Robert Hofler dig into the past of a man who exhumed the secrets of others but kept a curtain over many of his own? Orbmagazine is uniquely qualified to shine a light on this literary excavation.

To dig deeper, click HERE.

Three months ago, Caroline Kennedy was in clover, even shamrocks, finishing up two successful years as Ambassador to Japan. Then all hell broke loose.

Donald Trump began belittling and ridiculing her in his stand-up routine. Then it was revealed that Sidney Blumenthal, a veteran stooge of Hillary Clinton, was behind those ugly magazine stories that had helped sabotage her bid to be appointed to Clinton’s unexpired Senate term.

Against her will and for unknown reasons, Ambassador Kennedy has been thrust into the middle of the white-hot Republican primary. Now her friends and family are urging her to bow out at the embassy, return to New York and support the nascent presidential candidacy of her close friend Joe Biden.

To learn more, CLICK HERE.

This ORBMAGAZINE story is being featured in The New York Post.

In time Gibraltar may tumble, the Rockies may crumble, they’re only made of clay, but Her Majesty the Queen is here to stay—or so it seems to any doddering geezer in the English-speaking world. She’s all we’ve ever known. She’s eternal, like Rome.

What’s not eternal, we’re learning, are those darling little corgis, who’ve been nipping at her ankles since Hitler ruled half of Europe. While no one was looking, the Queen called it a day, shut down the kennels and is phasing out the doggie dynasty. Buckingham Palace will soon be a canine-free zone.

To learn more, CLICK HERE.

Growing up in Kentucky during the Eisenhower years with a Methodist mother, Richard Meyers “never knew what a Jew was, nobody ever told me anything about it”— even though his father, who had died when he was seven, was of Jewish ancestry.

After coming to New York, he re-invented himself as Richard Hell, the punk rock star, indie movie actor, and writer of essays and novels. He never thought about being Jewish until others began pointing it out to him.

In this excerpt from his new paperback collection of nonfiction, “Massive Pissed Love”, Richard Hell looks in the mirror and hears klezmer music in the air.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

This ORBMAGAZINE story is being featured in The New York Post.

At Denise Rich’s annual blowout on the pier at Saint-Tropez, high-powered guests like Steve Schwarzman and wife Christine (above) were amused by the Alice in Wonderland themed entertainment. But what really captured the attention of the megayacht owners was a rare sighting of Isabel Dos Santos, 42, the attractive and mysterious mogul from Angola, who is by far the richest woman in Africa.

To float your boat, CLICK HERE.

As new restaurants go, Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar is a supernova, soaking up most of the oxygen and most of the ink. NY Social Diary’s Blair Sabol had an unforgettable meal there, and described it so pungently we’ll give you an excerpt from her review.

Charlie Palmer’s new dining room in the venerable Hotel Knickerbocker is visited by The New Yorker, then Forbes discovers Caffe dei Fiori, a low-key hideaway on the Uppah East Side.

To curb your carbs, CLICK HERE.

MARTHA STEWART HAS BEEN A STAR PLAYER in a Manhattan soap opera for 30 years, and the plot keeps getting juicier. In the latest installment, she takes wannabe bad boy Justin Bieber under her wing and, using her bona fides as an ex-convict, makes him “Scared Straight” of going to the penitentiary.

Then Madame Stewart sells her eponymous corporation to a little-known, 34-year-old investor, Yehuda Schmidman, at an 80% discount from its peak valuation.

Is our girl Martha rattled? Don’t be silly. She knows that every cloud has a Silver Lining—and she’s still Livin’ La Vida Loca.

To view Ms. Stew, CLICK HERE.

CROOKS ARE STILL SENDING those fraudulent emails, supposedly from a friend, asking for an emergency loan. Apparently they work. People are kindhearted, gullible, and concerned about the welfare of their friends.

Today’s hackee is Susan Fales-Hill, the well-known philanthropist and writer (fluently, fluidly, in four languages). You’ll chuckle when you read the email signed with her name. But you won’t be chuckling if it happens to you.

To see the plea, CLICK HERE.

HAVING OUTLIVED MOST OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES, the Hot Shot Art Stars of the 60s, and having avoided many of the pitfalls that sidelined others, David Hockney has been making art for half a century—so why stop now? He just mounted new shows in London and in Los Angeles, and the bravos and big bucks keep rolling in.

Like his father, David has lost his hearing, but so what. When asked if there are any advantages to being deaf, he paused, smiled and gently replied, “Well, most people are talking a lot of crap, aren’t they?’’

To choke on smoke, CLICK HERE.

A FRIEND IN NEED is a friend indeed, but a phony crony is full of baloney. Those fraudulent emails pleading for a wire transfer to help out a pal stranded abroad without funds or documents just keep on coming. And the heartless hackers are now targeting the One Percent.

Who can’t stop laughing when you receive an urgent plea from a billionaire, asking for an emergency loan?

To pass the plate, CLICK HERE.

It seemed too good to be true, and it was. When lawyer Tonja Carter announced she’d discovered a “new novel” by Harper Lee, who’d made her name in 1960 with “To Kill a Mockingbird” and published nothing since, the literati were stunned. Where had this manuscript been all these years?

It turned out “Go Set a Watchman” was nothing new—just an early draft of Mockingbird, preserved by Lee’s older sister and lawyer in her safety deposit box at the bank. But Carter and publisher HarperCollins saw dollar signs instead of warning signs. Lee, 89, frail from a stroke, deaf and almost blind, was steamrollered in their dash for cash. A pretty story with a happy ending, it isn’t. It is a tale of greed.

To look at the book, CLICK HERE.

ART DEALERS ARE ALCHEMISTS—they know how to turn excrement into gold. Literally.

At the summer auctions in London, the newest rage was for paintings and sculpture desecrating the faces of Christianity—namely that of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The bidding was furious—so why aren’t the faithful?

To leer at the smear, CLICK HERE.

WHEN A CAREER IS AT A CROSSROADS, it sometimes helps to give an interview—to elicit sympathy from the public, to galvanize one’s supporters and to explicate one’s defense against enemies and the cruel cruel world. What doesn’t help is to be so self-confident as to light up a 420 fatty in front of a reporter, and then watch as this act of bravado backfires in cold hard print.

That’s what happened to Gawker owner Nick Denton in the NY Times and to hippity-hoppity musicmaker Scott Storch in Details magazine. Here’s how their lapses of discretion led to cautionary tales, not to say precautionary tales, of woe.

To broach the roach, CLICK HERE.

UP UNTIL RECENTLY, history was written by historians. Since the advent of Wikipedia, anyone with a computer and an agenda can play the game.

Wiki has a flotilla of facts about Naomi Campbell—she leads a diva’s life—some of which she’d just as soon forget (and we’d just as soon remember). So her public relations man decided to expurgate her history, but he got caught with his finger on the Delete Button. The Times, prissy as ever, made a big stink about it.

The funniest thing is—you won’t believe what part of Miss Campbell’s biography the flack made disappear.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

“THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: they do things differently there.” One cannot recapture the past, nor rewrite it, but you can revisit it—if you do so with whimsy and your eyes wide open.

Jackie 60 was the wackiest nightclub in New York throughout the not-so-lamented 1990s. The genii who conjured and built it, Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti, never lost its vital spirit or sense of joy.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

CANDACE BUSHNELL calls her new novel “Killing Monica”, but whom she really wants to kill is Sarah Jessica Parker who starred in her “Sex and The City” television series and movies, and Charles Askegard, who danced away from their 10-year marriage–if one can believe The Daily News.

Candace throws the book at Sarah and at Charles, then The Daily News, owned by her onetime buddy Mort Zuckerman, throws the book at her.

Revenge is Sweet, it’s the Aftertaste that’s Bitter.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

When a filly from Picadilly meets a Latin from Manhattan, the plot is pregnant with possibility. As Walter Winchell would say, “The editrix of Page Six is infanticipating.”

To fish for dish, click HERE.

FORGET THE PLUNGING RUBLE, the messiness in Ukraine, and those awful sanctions that pinch the proletariat.

This week the global spotlight in on Russia, as art world sovereigns Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova unveil their temple to modern art in Gorky Park.

ORB gives you a peek inside the Kremlin as a cadre of capitalists invade Red Square. There’ll be madness on the Moskva, so let’s get the Stoli party started.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

As The Times leaps to laud Vanity Fair stylist Jessica Diehl for the Caitlyn cover coup, Orb remembers that’s how Yves Saint-Laurent’s pal Marina Schiano lost the same job;

PLUS, the Warhol Foundation rents out Andy’s old drawings for some modish sunglasses but, trust us, the artist wouldn’t mind a bit;

PLUS, Californians keep up their curb appeal by spray-painting their languishing lawns.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ’S LIFE is like a melodrama, and though he’s knocking ’em out of the stadium this season, he still has ghosts from the past looking over his shoulder.

Turning a new page, A-Rod recently rented an apartment on Fifth overlooking the park.

But until he rode down the elevator with Stevie Phillips, author of the new memoir “Judy & Liza and Me” (she once managed their careers), the current Yankee slugger had no idea his new residence was once the home of the immortal Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

—HYPER-GENTRIFICATION and “high-rent blight “ drive out the little people and now there’s nowhere to buy gas to get out of town;

—AUSSIE GOVERNMENT BULLIES are threatening Johnny Depp with 10 years in jail for smuggling in two darling Yorkies;

—POPE FRANCIS cleans up the Vatican Bank and raises profits 2,000% (why isn’t he on Wall Street?);

—RUSH LIMBAUGH made $400 million bad-mouthing Obama (doesn’t the Prez deserve a cut of that?); and

—IN THE HAMPTONS, the New Money Guys get all indignant when restaurant runs out of $5,000 bottles of Champagne.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

Robert Redford invited Harvey Weinstein for a noontime repast, and promised to pay, but after the button-pushing impresario ordered and drained two bottles of the most expensive wine, the actor ate Harvey’s lunch and the producer ate the check.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

—NY TIMES anoints Carly Fiorina as a rising star in the testosterone-heavy GOP presidential race;

—CHINESE MAKER of fake Segways ends theft lawsuit by buying the real Segway company;

—CRITICS and the family of Alexander McQueen hail a new play about the melancholy couturier; and

—6,000 HIPPIES camp out in the Negev for 5 days of cultural enlightenment–sharing food, water, and everything else.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

VENERATORS OF MODERNIST architecture are celebrating a decision disallowing plans of Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen to “update” Philip Johnson’s sanctum sanctorum, the Four Seasons Restaurant (except for new carpeting). Now, everyone is praying Rosen agrees to a new lease, as the clock ticks down to July 31, 2016.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over a same-sex wedding ceremony Sunday at a Washington mansion, she pronounced the two grooms married “by the powers vested in me by the Constitution of the United States,” emphasizing the word Constitution. The guests cheered, speculating the enunciation was a signal foretelling the Supreme Court’s decision on gay […]

AFTER ALMOST A YEAR, the clandestine renovation of the stately bank building across the street from the just-vacated Whitney Museum is almost complete–and Apple still hasn’t confirmed it is putting a retail store in there. To get the story, an ORB staffer paid a nocturnal visit to the premises, and it seems the disgruntled neighbors were correct: Get Ready for a Madhouse on Madison.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

The filmmaker and social commentator John Waters, who is Baltimore’s answer to Oscar Levant, was on Bill Maher’s show this week on HBO. Waters said he wants Hillary to win “so Bill will become the First Lady, and I hope he’ll be an old-fashioned First Lady, like Mamie Eisenhower, with a frilly apron and overseeing […]

Ever find yourself dodging the tourists that clutter the sidewalks, getting that feeling you need to use the bathroom, and realizing you have no idea how to locate a public lavatory? Good news, folks, the Wall Street Journal has found an App that will solve your urgent problem. Tap your screen and you’re good to […]

Among urbane New Yorkers, the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street has always been considered the dead center of Manhattan. The gilded Crown Building, on the southwest corner, has now been purchased by a consortium of developers, including hotshot Michael Shvo and Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin (remember when he dated Naomi Campbell?) Last week, at a Picasso exhibition at David Benrimon Fine Art in the aforesaid Crown Building, Shvo was telling art-lovers he is going to convert its offices, galleries and showrooms into luxury condos. Wouldn’t it be great if Imelda Marcos, who once owned the building, returned and bought the penthouse?

The headline in The Guardian (5/9) says it all: “Sheldon Adelson faces new scrutiny as documents challenge his testimony: Casino magnate’s trial remarks raised more questions than they answered about Las Vegas Sands’ connection with an alleged organized crime leader in China”.

The article says he “spent four combative days in a Las Vegas court this week defending his gambling empire from accusations of bribery and ties to organized crime. By the time the hearing was over, Adelson had argued with the judge, contradicted the evidence of his own executives and frustrated his lawyers by revealing more information than he was required to.”

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As camera-carrying drones become cheaper, more agile and more ubiquitous, there is a realization that Manhattan high-rise condominiums, with their floor-to-ceiling windows, are sitting ducks. Is that what impelled presslord Rupert Murdoch to bail out of his half-constructed 60th-floor penthouse and take refuge in a 19th-century townhouse?

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The art of predicting the future by interpreting facial features is once again the rage in South Korea. But these days there’s a problem: the fortune tellers are being hobbled by another rage, for plastic surgery. The WSJ faces facts.

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A million dollars isn’t what it used to be. In 2015, in the traffic-clogged East End of Long Island, it won’t rent a house for three months.

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You won’t be seeing extraterrestrial objects on Park Avenue this summer, just stunning aluminum sculptures by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that look like they floated down from heaven. Something to get you through the Dog Days, which are on the way.

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Smoke ’em if you got ’em. A Denver company is leaving the state because too many employees have been lighting up and getting Rocky Mountain High.

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Once lionized in Britain, Tony Blair has become, at 61, a pariah. His career is plunging like an unhinged elevator down a shaft. He is greeted in public by Londoners the way New Yorkers would greet Bill Cosby, Anthony Wiener or O.J. Simpson.

Blair fiddled with Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife Wendi Deng and now the canny Aussie is extracting payback. The Murdoch papers are taking off the gloves. They created him in 1997 and now they are gleefully picking at his carcass.

Sarah Ellison wrote recently in Vanity Fair, “Tony Blair has gone from being one of the most popular prime ministers in Great Britain’s history to being one of the most reviled figures in British public life. He is now regarded as a shill for big corporations and deep-pocketed and dubious regimes.” Oh, and he somehow didn’t make the guest list for the wedding of William and Kate.

Blair is said to have amassed $150 million by representing Third World despots, but money can’t buy you love. Still, he has been sighted in Sardinia on “the smaller yacht” of David Geffen.

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There hasn’t been a movie this year as entertaining as the revelations rolling out of the Sony computers, after Amy Pascal flung a grenade at the Dear Leader. Her bosses in Tokyo warned her not to insult North Korea, but the studio chief preferred the wise counsel of seasoned diplomat Seth Rogen. Now Amy is groveling at the feet of ethically challenged Al Sharpton. Ay yi yi. The girl is toast.

PLUS, the CUNY teacher arrested for attacking cops on the Brooklyn Bridge also writes erotic poetry attacking the police. Read it and howl;

PLUS, Barron’s Weekly predicts the market will rise 10% next year and the Euro will continue to slide. January can’t arrive too soon for us;

PLUS, Tina Brown sends The Week to her friends because it is “brain sex”. Who needs a prophylactic?

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Beginning today, ORB will curate the day’s news, and present the essence for your delectation. Here we go:
—WSJ divulges details on real estate machinations of Suze Orman and her wife, plus Patricia Cornwell and her wife;
—Apartment in The Pierre rents for 500/G a month;
—Wealthy are fleeing France over high taxes;
—Athina Onassis sells grandpa’s beloved Skorpios to daughter of Russian “fertilizer king”;
—Larry Kramer cerebrum outshines Kardashian décolletage;
—Ayn Rand’s lover/apostle dead at 84;
—Tony Danza comes out fighting for Broadway show; and
—Sharpton’s real victims are U.S. taxpayers, says news anchor.

To READ MORE, click HERE.

Art Basel Miami soaked up a lot of ink this week, but we keep hearing that it was less glamorous than in previous years, with fewer of the right people showing up, and more of the wrong people rushing to 2d-rate parties and throwing money at 3d-rate art. Like all trendy scenes, they peak, then […]

CLINTON VERSUS BUSH. You saw that movie already, no? Indeed you did. In 1992. Several lifetimes ago. Get ready for the sequel, set in 2016. Same plot, different actors. Hillary is squishing every potential rival Democrat. And Jeb Bush is all set to announce his candidacy. ORB SAYS: Jeb will consolidate the center and sweep the field. Barring unforeseen circumstances, in two years he will become our first “Latino president.” We’ll explain why Bush must be considered the frontrunner.

PLUS, a WSJ theater reporter tells you which Broadway shows she sneaked out of at intermission (most of them) and which are worth staying for the second act (not many).

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It was one of the most tragic and poignant unravelings in New York social history: Brooke Astor, who had spent a lifetime, a long lifetime, cultivating an air and reputation for rectitude and propriety, died in a fog of scandal.

A year before her death, her son Anthony Marshall and his third wife Charlene had been ordered by a court to return $11 million in assets (art, jewelry, cash) they had diverted from her estate. Amid allegations of “elder abuse”, a friend of Mrs. Astor, Annette de la Renta, took over her care at the end.

Last year, Marshall went to jail for grand larceny and possession of stolen property–property that belonged to his mother, one of the most lionized philanthropists of the 20th century.

Yesterday, Tony Marshall died in disgrace. It didn’t have to be that way–if only he and Charlene had been more patient.

PLUS, The Times’s architecture critic lambastes 1WTC and blames George Pataki and Larry Silverstein for pushing through bad decisions;

PLUS, somebody is telling George Pataki he should run for president (is it David Koch?) and The News says he is warming up to the “delusional” notion;

PLUS, Hillary’s former best buddy says she warned Bill Clinton to keep his zipper closed, but he wouldn’t listen;

PLUS, the neighbors were right: the Trump Soho hotel and condominiums has gone belly up. But, as usual, Donald has the last laugh;

PLUS, why the ageless Valentino may be immortal.

To READ MORE, click HERE.