The $500-a-head Gulf Coast funder got it started near midnight Wednesday night when the Black Eyed Peas – will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo came singing and strutting down the staircase in the living room of Nuggets GM Kiki and Peggy Vandeweghe’s posh Cheesman Park digs. Talk about rockin’ the house.
Peggy put the night together through the Peas and a nonprofit called RockWorks. She’s from New Orleans and this was a way to help out – and party down. No one was having more fun than she was, riding the banister as the Peas belted out their crossover hits.
“What else could I do?” Peggy said. “I felt so helpless.”
Fergie, the female singer in BEP, did not show – deciding to hang out with Gwen Stefani after their concert at Magness Arena. But the crowd forgave all – busy dancing and sipping champagne and martinis and eating food from North, Mezcal, Rioja, Corridor 44 and Lucky Strike.
The downstairs family room served as the VIP area before the Peas arrived – with the likes of Nuggets Marcus Camby, Carmelo Anthony, Earl Boykins drinking soda pop. “We’re in training,” said Camby. The boys wore white T-shirts and bling, and Camby shared that he didn’t think much of the new NBA off-court dress code.
Spotted in the crowd of about 150: Asha Blake, Ernie Bjorkman, Molly Hughes, John Butler, actress Regina King, Chad Ladov, Greg Vickers, Walt DeHaven, Sam Fox, Shannon Foley, J.R. Moehringer, Bradley Joseph, Holly Kylberg, Mary Smith (sorry about spilling that martini on your leg), Dana Bresee, Pam Morris, the POSH girls, Mike Landa, P.C. Crown, Wendy Aiello, Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, Kara Sundeen and Bronco George Foster.
After the Peas’ short set, the party moved to the patio-martini bar – where it continued until 3:30 a.m. – when the 30 die-hards, including the three Peas, went to the roof to look at the stars.
Next up: Peggy plans a Branford Marsalis concert Dec. 7 at the Ellie for gulf relief.
HA!
Comedy Works won’t confirm or deny, but we hear Dave Chappelle is coming to the venue Nov. 14, 15 and 16.
On the club’s website, the dates say “Top Secret Act,” and it informs you at the shows will not be advertised. You have to subscribe to the site, comedyworks.com, to get the info.
Chappelle is also supposed to play Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom on Nov. 16 in a benefit for Progressive Majority.
The comic is on tour, playing mostly big venues. Maybe that explains all the hush hush – or maybe it’s all the controversy since he bailed on his $50 million Comedy Central contract in April. It’s a hard secret to keep. Westword dropped a line that the gig was mentioned in a Sept. 12 MTV.com story.
City spirit
Charles Master and Chuck Cattaneo, the men behind the wildly successful Cherry Creek bar-bistro Brix, have taken over the lease of Nectar, the forever-struggling space below Brix. Yup, Brix is growing, and I’ll give you all the deets in Monday’s column … The Robusto Room at Park Meadows set to open in mid-November … Star Trek actress Kate Mulgrew here Thursday for the AWARE luncheon … Happy 76th birthday to milkman Dick Robinson … Sez who: “Where is the love?” Black Eyed Peas
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.
