I went to Aspen for some fall foliage last weekend – and ran into more bold names than falling leaves.
I happened upon the super-secretive 2005 Forstmann Little Aspen Weekend, an annual meeting of the titans of business, politics, sports and entertainment to talk about the world, eat, drink and schmooze. And the titans were there – from Fed chief Alan Greenspan to homemaker Martha Stewart.
Teddy Forstmann, who owns an 8,000- square-foot house on Aspen’s Red Mountain, heads the high-profile buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co. and hosts the gathering. This year the gang gathered for various seminars, starting on Friday with a political roundtable with Andrea Mitchell, Bob Novak and Jonathan Alter moderated by Charlie Rose, and a talk about Iraq and Afghanistan with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. In the afternoon you could play tennis with Monica
Seles, work out with Dr. Mehmet Oz (co-author of No.1 bestseller “You: The Owner’s Manual”), or hike with Annabelle Bond (fastest blond to climb the Seven Summits). Dinner at The Little Nell was followed by a routine from Jackie Mason.
Later that night I ran into Gov. Bill Owens in the hotel bar chatting with filmmaker Harvey Weinstein and Jimmy Choo president Tamara Mellon (who’s getting plenty of tabloid ink these days for dating “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis). I believe Owens was the only elected official at the gathering.
On Saturday, Rose and NBC anchor Brian Williams moderated a seminar on Hurricane Katrina, World Bank president Paul Wolfo-
witz talked about “Global Poverty and Human Rights,” and you could have lunch with Karl Rove, senior advisor to President Bush. Everything, everywhere, totally off the record.
Space doesn’t allow me to list the entire top-secret guest list, but stand-outs include Phil and Nancy Anschutz, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, Costco chairman Jeff Brotman, AOL founder Steve Case, Mayo Clinic CEO Denis Cortese, Michael Dell, Barry Diller, Disney’s Michael Eisner, former Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi (boyfriend/guest of Martha Stewart), Peter Ueberroth, Barbara Walters, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Redskins owner Dan Snyder, Roger Staubach, NBA commish David Stern, Michael Ovitz, Time magazine editor Norman Pearlstine, Viacom’s Leslie Moonves with wife Julie Chen and Sony’s Andrew Lack.
Best sightem: Lucas buying 50 vintage movie posters at Omnibus Gallery for about $5,000 each.
Keeping pace
Fort owner and wild West lover Sam Arnold underwent heart surgery Tuesday and Wednesday to replace a pacemaker. His daughter, Holly Arnold Kinney, says he’s doing fine – and even bribed the doctor with a buffalo dinner to get it done quickly so he could attend this weekend’s Spanish Market and 1830s Rendezvous at the Fort in Morrison.
“I think he needs to be a good boy and stay home,” said Holly.
City spirit
Cast members from “Wicked” to present a cabaret show 6:30 and 9:30 Monday night at the Garner Galleria Theatre, $100 tix go to Katrina relief … Sez who: “All truths are half- truths.” Alfred North Whitehead
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears on Fox 31 News. You can reach him at 303-820-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com.
