Scene in the Tropics

Paris is burning

After a whirlwind tour of Dubai and the Middle East, Paris Hilton leaves a Miami courthouse Friday, where she is defending herself, like, Your Honor, against an $8.5 million lawsuit that alleges she failed to promote the 2006 film she starred in, National Lampoon’s Pledge This! which was also shot in Miami. Really, though, can you blame her?

Photo: Manny Hernandez: TheSceneMiami.com

Philippe vs. Mr. Chow: culinary Hatfields and McCoys?

 

The tension between enemies and soon to be neighbors Philippe and Mr. Chow has gotten a lot more serious than we thought. According to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Florida Federal Court by Alan Kluger of Miami-based law firm Kluger Kaplan, restaurateur Mr. Chow is chop-suing nemesis Philippe Chow, whose eateries---including South Beach's Philippe--- Mr. Chow contends are a rip-off of his menus and his trademarked good name.  Michael Chow, the original Mr. Chow, has been furious with Chak Yam Chau ever since the former "food chopper" for Chow resigned in 2005, changed his name to Philippe Chow and opened restaurants in New York, according to the trademark-infringement lawsuit. According to Kluger, the final straw came in 2008, when Philippe opened a Miami outpost at the Gansevoort Hotel, 100 yards from a long-planned location that Mr. Chow will open next month at the W on South Beach. Said Kluger “Simply put, Philippe is just not who he says he is!  When Philippe resigned from his job as a food chopper (he was never a chef) in 2005, he signed his resignation as Phillip Chau.  He now goes by the new name Philippe Chow.  Furthermore, Philippe has purchased sponsored links on Google for "Mr. Chow" so that when the real MR. CHOW is searched for, Phillippe's name and link comes up as Mr. Chow.  Phlippe is a fraud!”  Our request for a comment from the Philippe side of things has yet to be fulfilled.

Here's a link to download the 33 page complaint--a legal Chinese menu of sorts-- filed on July 8: Download M0648488

Even before it airs, Miami Social not making friends easily

 

We hope the "cast" of Miami Social has thick skin, because the backlash is out even before the show officially airs next Thursday. Take The Dirty.com, for instance, whose Nik Richie, who in this post focuses on designer slash scenester Ariel Stein, calls the it "the worst show Bravo has ever aired," taking it a bit further by saying, "That show is going to fail miserably. I saw a preview and laughed so hard. Nobody cares about losers in Miami unless it is a fat Brooke Hogan." Harsh!  But, memo to Richie, did anyone really care about Hogan either?

UK tabloids out of control, claiming Al Malnik is the father of Jacko's youngest son!

 

Britain's Daily Star wins the prize for the most absurd Michael Jackson story thus far, claiming that The Forge's Al Malnik is the biological dad of Jackson's youngest child, Prince Michael II, aka Blanket. The rag took Malnik's statements out of context, of course, to wrongfully assume he was the dad. Malnik, who gave an on record interview to the New York Times over the weekend had said "[Michael] asked me, if anything happened to him, I would become godfather and parent to Prince Michael." Ok, so Malnik was the godfather, no pun intended to those who know about his past alleged ties to Al Capone. But the rag goes even further saying how photos show a resemblance between Jackson's older child Paris and Malnik's own daughter with wife Nancy. A shady source told the Daily Star, "Malnik has made no secret of the fact that he has a special relationship with Michael. And now he claims he is the father of his third child. If you look at pictures if Michael's daughter Paris and Malnik's own daughter, they both have a very similar look about them." Of course Malnik's spokesperson has dismissed these claims as ridiculous and frankly so do we. [Insert "the kid is not my son/Billie Jean" joke here]. The only truth to the entire absurdity may be the fact that Malnik, who helped bail his famous pal out during his financial/legal firestorm in the early 2000s, first met Jackson in a Beverly Hills plastic surgery clinic. Now that would make some sense but as for the rest, the only thing we believe Malnik donated to Jackson was money and even friendship, not, dare we say, sperm.

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett: Miami memories

 On May 17, 2003, Michael Jackson was the big headliner---emphasis on big head if you see his 'fro wig--at the 70th birthday bash of then financial advisor and owner of The Forge, Alvin Malnik. With the invitation, a recorded CD was sent out with Jackson singing the praises of his favorite restaurant. I lost that CD and whoever has it will probably make a fortune with it. Anyway, Jackson did, indeed appear larger than life at the disco themed party--with a few young male friends in tow, which of course raised eyebrows, but not as much as the actual presence of an icon in this iconic Miami Beach restaurant. I have hundreds of  pix from that night because, like everyone else, I was also pretty starstruck. Now we wait to hear if Malnik, named godfather of Jackson's child Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, will be raising a Jackson of his own. Malnik told the New York Times that, although he has yet to hear from the family regarding his status with the child, he has every intention of taking care of Prince Michael as if he were one of his own.

 

And during the MTV Video Music Awards in Miami a few years back, we believe in 2005, Farrah Fawcett was a surprise celeb at many of the parties, including one at Thomas Kramer's Star Island mansion, where she walked and worked the red carpet and mingled with the crowd like the true celebrity she was, not like some of the other one-hit-wonders gasping for their three seconds of fame. We ran into Fawcett, no joke, at the faucet in the ladies' room at the Delano where we shared a laugh about hotels trying too hard to be hip--not that we were talking about the Delano, of course. She was a class act and we were lucky to have her down here, if but for a fleeting weekend.

Naomi Campbell's Russian billionaire beau shacks up at Shaq's

 

According to the South Beach Condos Blog, Naomi Campbell's tycoon boyfriend Vladislav Doronin is the buyer of Shaquille O'Neal's Star Island sprawl. And he got a bargain, too. The house at 26 Star Island Drive sold for $19 million less than the original, outrageous list price of $35 million. Still, for that money, however, we hope the house is diva-proof.

Bravo annuls the notion of Miami's alleged "housewives"

 

We just heard from a Bravo spokesperson who officially confirmed that the casting we reported earlier is neither a "Real Housewives" series, nor is it associated with the network. We asked if there was ever a possibility that Miami would join the batty, bratty brand, and all the spokesperson would say was that the only confirmed location they are in development with right now is Washington, D.C. Perhaps the Miami casting was for a Peyton Place remake or maybe Desperate Housewives is looking for some extras?

The Sapphic City

More Gay & Lesbian Video At LogoOnline.com

Forget housewives and supposed socialites for a minute and get ready for Gimme Sugar, TV's only lesbian and bisexual reality show premiering tonight on LOGO, MTV's gay network. The second season of the show, Gimme Sugar 2, takes place where else, but right here in our backyard. According to producer Brian Forti, Gimme Sugar 2--Miami was shot in the spring at The Akoya on Miami Beach as well as "every gay club between here and Fort Lauderdale." Forti adds that, "It was a great project. The girls were delighftul and exciting and a blast to hang with. I  had no idea how many beautiful lesbians live in South Florida!"  All we can do is defer to our esteemed colleague Glenn Garvin, who wrote on his blog , "Can anybody in Miami who is not on a reality show just raise his hand?"

A-Rod and K-Hud: From Benchwarming to Lapdancing

 

Yes, yes Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson partied at the Fontainebleau following A-Rod's benchwarming during the Yankees and the Marlins game Friday night. According to our tattle, the duo wanted to be seen and were they ever, pawing and prodding each other like Kevin Federline at an all you can eat buffet. Says our source, the duo was "all over each other at Blade where they were sucking face for like an hour without coming up for air." The snitch also tells us Hudson was acting like "an out of control teenager, giving A-Rod what seemed to be a lapdance." We hear Hudson's mom Goldie Hawn isn't too thrilled about her daughter's behavior lately either but from what we understand, it was all just a giddy girl acting all, uh, juiced up over her man. What's the big deal? 

Drew Barrymore and that Mac Guy at Delano

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 We're sure that Drew Barrymore's boyfriend Justin Long, the gooberish guy best known for shilling Macs on TV, didn't come to Miami to experience the incompetence at the Lincoln Road Apple store where we hear some chaos ensued over that new iPhone thingie. Quite the opposite, actually,as Long and Barrymore are apparently just here for some R&R, staying at the Delano and seen leaving the hotel around 7-ish Saturday night, making their way to the Marlins/Yankee game where they were seen sitting in the stands. Following the game, Barrymore--sporting a Florida Marlins jersey--and Long stopped by a pool party for the Humane Society at a house off Lincoln Road. According to our source, "Drew seemed out of it. She was acting all theatrical, while joking around with a bunch of her gay friends." Throughout the night, says our spy, Barrymore and Long were making out in a corner on a lounge chair. Other than the fact that Barrymore may be a not so closet Marlins fan, we're not really sure why they are here, especially considering the fact that Long used to, uh, download with a loose local gal who had a thing for cozying up to celebrities. As for whether Barrymore has a clue about Long's past Miami vices, who knows, but if anyone would have an app for covering up one's sordid past, it would have to be the Mac guy.