Once, they were known as an entourage. Today they’re called a posse, and every celebrity, it seems, has one.
Cynics say a posse is nothing more than a bunch of wanna-bes and hangers-on; E! Online claims that up to 75 percent of all hip-hop posses are “wanna-be MCs or road managers … twentysomethings hungry for the chance to be subservient” to a particular star.
Defamer, a Los Angeles gossip sheet, snarks that a Paris Hilton posse is “almost always made up of one sister, one flack and one youthful Greek tycoon.”
Denver’s celebrity quotient isn’t on a par with Hollywood or New York, but when it comes to assembling a posse, our swells hold their own. And they beg to differ on how a posse is defined.
It’s a rare day when Annabel Bowlen, founder and president of Beacon Center’s Cherish the Children Guild, makes the scene without Marc Roth and Jim Pfister. The designing duo responsible for creating the exquisite interior at the Cherry Hills Village mansion Bowlen shares with her husband, Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with the Bowlen family and are quite possibly Annabel’s closest confidantes.
They go antiquing together (the Central City Opera’s Denver Antiques Show & Sale is a favorite haunt) and escort her to benefits her husband is unable to attend. Pfister is one of a very few who can coax her onto a dance floor, and Roth is a trusted counsel for wardrobe choices, especially when a themed party is involved.
They run interference when crowds surround her, and see to it that her drink is fresh, her questions are answered and her table is where it should be.
Holly Kylberg’s work chairing benefits for Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Film Society and other nonprofits is practically a full-time job, so on the rare nights that she doesn’t have a fashion show to assemble or someone else’s benefit to attend, she heads to a local club or restaurant with her posse: Douglas Kerbs, Tom Lorz, Matthew Morris, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Bradley Joseph, Tonya Frank Bracken, Lena Zavyalova, Jim Rhye, Stanley Thompson, Dan Brown, Gina Comminello, Brett Harris and Gabriel Conroy.
“Our commonality is that we are all very sociable, spontaneous types who share a love for laughter and fun,” Kylberg says. “Since most of us have a disdain for cooking, we eat out often and like to try new restaurants and clubs. We often attend fundraisers and concerts, see foreign films and travel together, especially around birthdays.”
Favorite hangouts are Nine75, Ocean, Capital Grille, The Palm and the Cherry Cricket “for fried mac and cheese. Also, anywhere with a patio for a long, leisurely brunch.” The fun-loving group “had a bowling addiction going for a while” and enjoy weekly Taco Tuesdays. They also like to throw parties, particularly ones with a theme.
“We’ve done white parties, hat parties and Sopranos parties with Italian food and fake cigars.”
Western Fantasy co-founder Sharon Magness Blake is one of those who has many acquaintences but only a few close and true friends. Her posse – David Alexander, Jean Galloway, Nancy Lamb Thompson and Ed and Barb Greene – falls into the latter category, and where one goes, they all go.
“We’re too old to hit the clubs,” Alexander insists, so “for us it’s dinners out and fundraising galas, but mostly just hanging around Sharon’s house.”
Magness Blake and her posse have attended the Barbara and Marvin Davis family’s past four Carousel of Hope balls in Los Angeles (a tradition they enjoy with Barry and Arlene Hirschfeld) and when Galloway was the community affairs director at 9News, the posse would always attend the 9 Who Care awards dinner and then adjourn to the dive-y Don’s Tavern on East Sixth Avenue.
“We’d arrive by limo, in our black-tie finery,” Alexander recalls, “and needless to say, we were noticed. One time, a customer, an older gentleman, told Sharon in his most sincere and respectful tone that she didn’t need to get so dressed up the next time she came there. This was just before he asked her to dance to the music on the jukebox.”
The Magness Blake posse also likes to hit Elway’s, Venice or Del Frisco for dinner; when they’re in Breckenridge, it’s Fatty’s for pizza.
Bottom line, though, is, “We have shared many good times, and some lousy ones, too,” Alexander says. “We are devoted to each other, protective of each other, honest with each other, caring and concerned about each other and forgiving of each other – but mostly we really do love each other.”
Cherry Creek Shopping Center’s marketing director, Lisa Herzlich, has not one but four posses: Sylvia Atencio, Ginnie Kontnik, Nancy Sagar, Devany McNeil, Linda Christie Horn and Debbie Zucker are the ones with whom she usually attends benefits; Ellen Robinson Schwartz, Terry Vitale and Nancy Sagar are birthday buddies and traveling companions. “We celebrate every birthday together and have been celebrating Christmas at Morton’s for 12 years, sitting in the exact same booth and exact same seats each and every time,” Herzlich says.
Nancy Sagar and Molly Broeren are included in Posse No. 3, which meets for dinner every six weeks, no exceptions. Her original posse is Michele (Mel) Gibson and Debra Jason, with whom Herzlich has been friends since they were both 8 years old.
“We have traveled together, laughed together and cried together,” Herzlich says. “We share our joys, our sorrows and all the little quirks that make us individuals. We are all professionals but with diverse backgrounds – some of us are married, some are single, some have children and some don’t – we dine, we shop, we exercise, meet for coffee, travel to New York and Las Vegas, go to movies, attend charity events and interact with each other’s families. We spend a lot of time talking about work, relationships and parenting, but we never kiss and tell.”
Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
Who are those guys?
A celebrity’s posse, according to E! Online’s The Answer B!tch , can include any and all combinations of:
Security thugs
Agents and/or managers
Attorneys
Backup dancers
Bandmates
Publicists
Stylists
Childhood friends
Unemployed relatives
Car watchers
They do what?
According to Gawker, Rapper Ja Rule’s posse is so dedicated, they’ll even slap his women for him.
Jennifer Lopez’s posse is one of celebrity-dom’s largest and includes someone to fasten her shoes.
Paris Hilton – whose posse on any given night is likely to include her sister, Nicky; a publicist; and her fiancé du jour – is known to have one of them call ahead and find out if the club or red carpet action is hot enough to rate a Hilton appearance, according to Defamer.
The New York Post’s Page 6 says posses traveling with rapper Ludacris and R&B superstar Usher almost got into a brawl at a pre-Kentucky Derby party in Louisville hosted by Stuff magazine and Jack Daniels. One of the stars inadvertently sat at a table that had been reserved for the other. The situation was resolved before any punches were thrown.
A posse by any other name
Wanna-bes and hangers-on, they’re not:
Detour Posse is a Los Angeles-based reggae band
Pink Posse is an online community for romance writers
Ponytail Posse is an Internet fan site for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
Wet Noodle Posse is an e-zine for women. It offers support, encouragement, information, recommendations or “just a good belly laugh” for women everywhere.
