Denève Directs a Success

As its 75th anniversary season winds down, the Music Academy’s Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève was in fine form at the Granada.

The entertaining concert featured Ravel’s masterpiece “Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2” and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3.” Frenchman Denève, music director of the St. Louis Symphony and the Brussels Philharmonic, was at the top of his game…

O’Brien on Board

Former Carpinteria TV talk show host Conan O’Brien has joined a new buddy comedy from a trio of Saturday Night Live writers. 

The currently untitled comedy hails from writers Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, collectively known as Please Don’t Destroy.

After living and working together, a group of friends realize their lives have become stagnant and they set off an expedition to find gold in a nearby mountain, according to Variety.

Hopefully they’ll also find ratings…

Jumping Aboard

Former Montecito Union School student supermodel Gigi Hadid has joined British soccer legend David Beckham and his family on their chartered $2.2 million a week 311-foot, 30-crew yacht, Madsummer, in St. Tropez.

Gigi, 27, has grown close to the family as she’s a childhood friend of Nicola Peltz, who married Brooklyn Beckham in a lavish multi-million 500-guest ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, in April.

Nicola famously dated Gigi’s younger brother Anwar for more than a year before they split in May 2018. The $229 million yacht can carry 12 guests and boasts a cinema, gym, and 36-foot swimming pool.

Skating Into Town

Ice skating champion Evan Lysacek has splashed out $9.8 million on a Montecito home from prolific Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp. The seven-bed, seven-bath, 5,388-square-foot Colonial-style house sits on 1.23 acres within walking distance of Miramar Beach. Koepp’s screenwriting credits include the 1993 and 1997 Jurassic Park films, and Mission Impossible in 1996.

Selling Uptown

Diandra Luker, ex-wife of Oscar winner Michael Douglas, who used to own a home in our rarefied enclave, has just sold her Manhattan Upper Eastside townhouse for $17 million. The landmarked turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts property is 20 feet wide. It has been on and off the market since 2019 when it was first offered at $20 million. It last appeared at $17.5 million. The five-story, 8,000-square-foot property features five bedrooms, five and a half baths, and a roof deck. The couple divorced in 1995.

Streaming Scheduling

Netflix is hoping to screen Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s much anticipated documentary at the same time as the upcoming season of The Crown to capitalize on the Duke of Sussex’s upcoming biography, part of a $20 million deal with New York publishers Penguin-Random House.

The major streaming service, which has a $100 million deal with the Sussexi, doesn’t want to be scooped by Harry’s memoirs, despite the couple wanting the documentary to air next year.

The book by Queen Elizabeth’s grandson is set to be released in the fall and Netflix is keen to capitalize on the huge buzz the tell-all tome will undoubtedly generate, much to Buckingham Palace’s chagrin.

Netflix is said to be keen to further boost royal fever by running the Sussex’s as-yet untitled documentary after the fifth season of The Crown, which will hit TV screens in November.

Stay tuned…

Content Career Choice

Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow says she harbors no regrets over stepping away from her successful acting career to focus on her lifestyle brand Goop.

The Montecito resident, 49, who launched the company in 2008 with a simple newsletter, says she feels completely fulfilled after opting for a different career choice.

“I don’t really miss it,” she says in an NBC interview. “I think I’m so lucky to get to do it, but I’m sure I still will at some point.

“The team is always trying to get me to do a movie, but I really love what I do and I love the immediacy of it, how we’re able to create a product out of thin air that we believe in so much.”

Paul Sorvino Remembered

On a personal note, I remember GoodFellas actor Paul Sorvino, who has died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, aged 83. For more than 50 years he was a mainstay in films and TV, including Nixon, Reds, and a recurring role in the hit crime TV show Law & Order. But his real passions were poetry, painting, and opera.

When I lived in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, I would see him often dining at Moreno’s, a popular Italian eatery on Irving Place, when he would break out into song with his wonderful tenor voice during dinner. The father of Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino, he was a gentle soul with a heart of gold, rather different to the mob characters he was renowned for playing…

Sightings 

Beverly Hills Cop actor Paul Reiser and wife, Paula, noshing at the Hook & Press… Katy Perry’s fiancée Orlando Bloom shooting his latest movie in Cairns, Australia… Actor Jordan Peele checking out the food at Olio e Limone.

Pip! Pip! Be safe, wear a mask when necessary, and get vaccinated.