Magical Meetup

It was a nice coincidence when former veteran KEYT-TV weatherman Alan Rose, who now works at KOAA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado, took some time off from his vacation to Palm Springs to visit Disneyland.

The complex’s California Adventure was hosting its annual food and wine festival, drawing media from throughout the country, including KEYT-TV morning anchor Joe Buttitta, and the dynamic duo reconnected.

“It was only for a few minutes, but it was nice to catch up,” says Alan.

An Open Book

Ever youthful British singer Peter Noone, 72, likes to do things by the book.

The Birnam Wood resident with his French wife, Mireille, still does 160 shows a year around the country, but admits that being on the road gets “kind of boring.”

“You wake up somewhere and you’ve got the whole day until sound check,” Peter tells the latest AARP Magazine. “So, I have a mission. I get up and ask, ‘Where’s the bookstore?'”

The first thing he asks for is first editions. “The initial printing of a book is the most collectible. I’m also only interested in books about England or France… I probably have 300 or 400 first edition books.”

Peter, who speaks mostly French at home, says he has loads of books on rock n’ roll.

“I’ll use Kindle on a plane, but otherwise I like holding a book. I don’t want to just look at them. That would be like having a record collection and not playing the music.”

He says Mireille bought him his first “really cool” first edition on their wedding day 51 years ago – Winston Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

“I don’t do much book shopping online,” adds Peter. “Yes, you can find something you want with Google, but I enjoy the hunt. If I’m in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with nothing to do, I’ll go on a trip of discovery and adventure. To the bookstore!”

Rock On

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, an American Theatre Guild production, hit the stage at the Granada recounting the all too short success story of the Texan singer known for classic hits like “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.”

Holly, one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, died in 1959 in a tragic plane crash aged just 23 with fellow rocker Richie Valens, 17, which was referred to as The Day the Music Died by singer Don McLean.

The Steve Steiner directed show with Keaton Eckhoff as Holly was a rollicking rock n’ roll romp…

Speaking Out

Santa Barbara Speaks, a San Marcos High student-run charity which hosts events as a platform for teenagers to express their artistic talents, is this year spotlighting student filmmakers in collaboration with our tony town’s International Film Festival.

Vice President Harrison Fell, son of former Santa Barbara Polo Club patron Robert Fell and his wife Robin, tells me students can still submit short films through FilmFreeway for the April 5 event at The Riviera Theatre and the adjacent Towbes community space, with the winner receiving a one on one was Montecito Back to the Future Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis.

In the past SBS has produced a sold-out TEDx Youth event in the Funk Zone, A Night of Poetry and Collective Sounds.

It is also helping raise money for the SB Arts Fund which provides low-income students with the resources needed to supplement creative interests.

For further info check out https://www.sbspeaks.org/

Fighting Fire

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry, who performed at the Kick Ash bash at the Summerland estate of Pat and Ursula Nesbitt after the catastrophic mudslides in Montecito, is now doing the same for fire ravaged communities in Australia.

The American Idol judge, who just announced her pregnancy with British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom, will perform at Bright Pioneer Park in Victoria, with locals from the bushfire-affected town of Corryong being bussed to the concert, with tickets also allocated to communities in the northeast and emergency services workers.

“As a native Southern Californian I know firsthand the devastation of wildfire across my home communities and was particularly heartbroken by the Australian bushfire,” the former Dos Pueblos High student posted on Instagram.

“Australia has always given me so much love and support so FIGHT ON is one way to return that love and help provide a little bit of joy to a community that’s given me so much joy.”

Katy, who has just postponed her 150-guest nuptials to Bloom in Japan in June because of the coronavirus, is in Oz for a cricket match final in Melbourne.

Having a Leg Up

How ironic that while talking about a balanced life, Montecito’s most famous resident Oprah Winfrey fell over on the stage at her 2020 Vision speaking event at the Forum arena in Los Angeles.

After tumbling down in front of hundreds of fans, Oprah, 66, exclaimed: “Wrong shoes!”

Following the mishap, she decided to go barefoot before switching to more sensible footwear and then having an ice therapy sleeve on her leg.

“It’s nice to be talking about balance and then fall,” she commented.

Sole searching, indeed…

Bare Necessities

It sounds like one of the hilarious awkward plots from her days working on TV series Seinfeld.

While shooting her latest film Downhill in Austria with Will Ferrell, Montecito actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 59, took time out of her busy schedule to visit a sauna.

But her relaxation was cut short when she, while completely naked, walked in on two nude men already enjoying the steamy atmosphere.

“I just went ‘Boop!,’ turned around and out I went,” recounts Julia. “I am not comfortable in that situation, but no disrespect to anyone who is.”

Seeing the Other Side

Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow says her least favorite performance was in Shallow Hal, which she describes as “a disaster.”

The 47-year-old Oscar winner co-starred with Jack Black in the 2001 romantic comedy, in which she played an obese woman who is seen as a much slimmer version of herself after Black’s character is hypnotized.

But, in a video for Netflix, she says she found it “disturbing” how terribly she was treated when heavier, wearing a fat suit to achieve the overweight look.

Paltrow revealed her first day wearing it when she walked through the lobby of New York’s Tribeca Grand.

“It was so sad and disturbing. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive.”

Dream Machine

Bentley has come out with its most expensive car ever.

The British marque is producing only 12 hand-made 200 mph Mulliner Bacalars costing $2,562,000 a piece.

The ritzy autos have two seats, a six-liter engine, and accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Surprisingly it has no fixed or convertible roof, and the price could buy at least the equivalent of ten Bentley Continental GTC convertibles – which comes with a fabric roof and cost from $230,632.

It will be available for 2021 delivery. How long before we see one in our rarefied enclave I wonder?

Rest in Peace

On a personal note I remember James Lipton, the erudite host of Inside the Actors Studio, who has died in New York after a courageous battle with bladder cancer at the age of 93.

During his 22 seasons presenting the popular Bravo TV show, he interviewed more than 300 Hollywood guests.

I met him a number of times at Manhattan events, notably the annual Rita Hayworth Gala for the Alzheimer’s Association at the Waldorf Astoria, thrown by Princess Yasmin Khan, daughter of actress Rita Hayworth.

Lipton, who was dean of the Actors Studio, was much liked by his guests because he would talk about their art and not the usual celebrity chatter or project promotion.

Sightings: Rocker Nick Jonas and actress wife Priyanka Chopra riding horses on the shore in Carpinteria… Actor Shia Labeouf checking out the galleries at the SB Museum of Art… Ryan Gosling and wife Eva Mendes at the San Ysidro Ranch