A Modern Family Get-together

You don't have to go to Darling Harbour to see the stars of the US hit show Modern Family (they're filming there) . The cast and producers are taking advantage of Sydney's fabulous array of restaurants.


Our Modern Family spy popped into exclusive Icebergs at Bondi Beach and spotted Sofia Vergera and her boyfriend Nick Loeb chowing down with Sydney based Porsche racing driver Aaron Zerefos. 
Zerefos who has been flitting between LA and Sydney had a busy start to the year with success at Mount Panorama and has now become a fixture on the Los Angeles social circle
 Last seen- Zerefos and pals speeding off in a  white Range Rover and according to the Shuttle's spy disguised as an Aspidistra : the trio dined the following night at trendy Mr Wong in the city. 
How the other 'arf live !

Bondi Booze

Last week we featured the World's Largest Message-In-A-Bottle : a giant bottle of Solo launched by Miss Tenerife Sady Chavez Diaz in Teneriffe : this week we present the World's Largest Esky filled with giant cans of Jim Beam floating in the Icebergs Pool at Bondi Beach.

Party Rivals see in the New Year

Catalina in Rose Bay                                                                Bondi Icebergs

Paris Hilton at Icebergs in 2007

Ever since Paris Hilton and then boyfriend Stavros Niarchos III attended the first New Year's Day charity bash at Bondi  Icebergs in 2007 it's been the recovery party for January 1st but a new competitor looks like stealing Iceberg's thunder. 

Damion Downey

Catalina in Rose Bay threw an almost identical party hosted by musician Damion Downey formerly of Sneaky Sound System . With his party partner Tim Holmes a'Court they pulled in around 300 guests, about the same number that attended the Bondi Bash.

Catalina's was slightly marred by the discovery of a body floating beneath the pier the previous day, the result of  tragic boating accident but with it's expansive view and large dining room it's certainly a comfortable venue.

Chris Brown

Chris Joannou * Laura Csortan

At the Icebergs and sipping on Veuve Clicquot: Dan Single and girlfriend Bambi Northwood-Blyth, Kings Cross nightclub mogul John Ibrahim, Charlotte Dawson and Brian McFadden with Vogue Williams.
At Catalina swilling Pommery and lunching on pancakes and duck sauce-the newly trimmed billionaire James Packer taking a series of intense looking phone calls and wife Erica, Laura Csortan and boyfriend Chris Joannou from Silverchair and Southeby's Justin Miller with designer Danielle Wallace-she flew in from Lake Como.
Missing in action : Kylie Minogue and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Baz Sets Us Right

First pic of Joel in 'Gatsby'

A missive arrives from Baz Luhrmann's production office for The Great Gatsby being filmed at Sydney's Fox Studios starring Leo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton.

It says that yes indeed, many of the cars used in the film are right hand drive-as the Shuttle reported last week- as they were sourced locally although 2 magnificent Dussenbergs were imported from the USA for the film. However when the movie is released, all the vehicles in the film will, by the magic of modern film techniques, appear to be driven on the correct side IE: left hand drive. Thank God. After all, it will be screened  in glorious 3D.

# A local paparazzi tells us a tale of encountering Leo Di Caprio at Bondi Beach a week ago taking a walk along the promenade with an entourage in tow. DiCaprio had lunched with co-star Tobey McGuire at Icebergs.

As the  snapper snapped away at Leo, causally dressed in shorts, sandals and baseball cap, a female minder hissed at him :"why don't you get a real job?"
The photographer retorted "why don't you?". Apparently Leo found it most amusing !

No Longer Keeping Up With The Kardashians

As Kim Kardahsian and sister Chloe Hardashian do their round of media appointments today, requesting that their...errr.. 'privacy'..be respected over Kim's marriage split up (Mum Kris Jenner is doing likewise in the USA and scoffing at rumours Kim's ring is worth $2M.."only half that") one must wonder who has organised this PR tour as the calamities keep piling up.

It's either a total stuff-up or Hollywood PR at it's best. As you can see by viewing footage here.

Last night the sisters went to the Icebergs restaurant at Bondi Beach, again a wonderful spot but not the best place to avoid the media as their minder's infer as they keep angrily hissing at the assembled paparazzi : one who actually said, clipboard in hand,"how did you find us here..leave us alone?"

Icebergs

This was the spot brilliant advertising guru John Singleton chose to launch his Bondi Blonde Beer in 2006 (like Australia really needs another beer!) with then 'it' girl Paris Hilton in tow. He later sold the beer brand for a huge profit 4 years later.

The Shuttle went to the party and made it through the mayhem on a Saturday afternoon. Unwisely we chose to leave just as Paris Hilton left and got caught up in complete chaos, being shoved against Hilton's waiting limousine that had all doors open waiting for Singleton and Paris to make a quick exit..

Hundreds of tourists had blocked the roadway and restaurant entrance and as 2 heavy minders gradually made their way to the limo with Hilton, they first had to remove an almost stereotype Japanese tourist, cameras strung around his neck who was now sitting in the back of the limousine, casually inspecting shopping bags from Paris's Paddington shopping spree that morning !

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Meanwhile John Singleton, whose exploits have built him a $100M fortune by correctly gauging the Australian psyche-if we didn't know Paul Hogan's larrikan personality was the real deal you could be forgiven for thinking he was a Singleton invention-has escaped censure by the local Woollahra council having re-painted his newly purchased Bellevue Hotel in Paddington without council permission.

Bellevue Hotel

Facing a $3000 fine the council have agreed to waive the fine if Singleton re-paints the pub in  'acceptable"colours within the month.
A similar event happened in London in 2005 when he arrrived at his daughter's Notting Hill house unannounced, and not finding her home, had her front door re-painted red as a surprise. The local council ordered the door be re-painted it's original colour.

The pub re-paint is part of Singleton's promotion of the Gut Foundation, just one charitable cause the generous Singleton donates to which are a diverse lot- from paying legal bills of incarcerated asylum seekers, Rev Bill Crews Exodus Foundation  and almost too many to name..
Sadly, John who has been married 5 times has just split from his girlfriend Yvette Hartmann.

Men In Underwear

When celebrity chef Rick Stein married his long time girlfriend , Australian publicist Sarah Burns at the Icebergs restaurant in Bondi Beach just under three weeks ago, he said the restaurant had the "best view in the world".


He could have been referring to the Bonds underwear bash held there last week at the Iceberg's seaside swimming pool just beneath the restaurant.
While Bonds' flags adorned the balcony, on closer examination the bunting fluttering in the sea breezes turned out to be rows of men's knickers. As the breeze grew stronger many dislodged and were last seen heading for the cliff walkway which would have made a nice surprise for the early morning joggers the following day.

Mark Gasnier &Pat Rafter

Tyler Atkins

The shindig was to launch Bond's new range of quick dry undies for surfers and sportsmen and a surfing match was arranged for a number of hunky men to take part in including tennis ace Pat Rafter, footballer Mark Gasnier, Hayden Quinn, Nathan Joliffee and others.

 Needless to say, plenty of  girls and quite a few blokes turned up to catch a glimpse of some dudes in briefs and tight wetsuits, muscles rippling and all that. The Shuttle just went to have a cold beer and get the gift bag that contained a few sets of the new undies. OK, admittedly we did have a little peek at the sportsmen, purely for aesthetic reasons but restrained ourselves from asking how these chaps achieve such tight butts, a subject of much discussion amongst the party guests.

nice spot for a party-the Icebergs.

Rick Stein Marries

How times have changed.
Around ten years ago Sarah Burns, then a publicist for Harper Collins publishers invited the Shuttle to a book promotion at a trendy hotel in Kings Cross.

There were several guests there including two British chefs Ainsley Harriott and Rick Stein.

While Stein was chatting to Sarah we asked them to pose for a snap which they reluctantly did. We didn't know that evening that Fleet Street had sent signals to the Sydney paparazzi to watch out for Stein and his 'secret girlfriend' believe to be blond Australian publicist.

By the following evening our photograph of the pair had swept around the world. Over the next few years Stein and Burns played a cat and mouse game with the Shuttle when they appeared at various foodie events in Sydney, quickly parting whenever we hovered nearby. One evening Sarah admonished us, albeit in friendly fashion, for exposing their affair to the world.

Yesterday Sarah Burns married Rick Stein at Bondi Beach and both sat down for a wedding feast at Maurice Terzini's Icebergs, the chic restaurant with what Stein says is "the best view in the world".

What a difference a few years have made.

Four weeks ago Rick and Sarah were more than happy to pose at the The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2012 launch.

Ain't love grand.

the continuing fall of Paris Hilton

  Which is more tragic ?

       British TV host and ex-tabloid editor Piers Morgan or the so-called 'party' girl Paris Hilton ?. Britain's Daily Mail today carries pics and a story of a mock wedding between the 2 in Las Vegas complete with a (yawn) Elvis impersonator.

       Apparently the stunt is to promote Pier's new ITV show Piers Morgan On...whatever. The decline of Las vegas appears to be the first in the series. Sadly Piers is about 2 years out of date. Vegas started plummeting about 2 years ago around the same time Paris Hilton partied there with Sydney "nightclub identity" (or organised crime figure according to police) John Ibrahim (pictured right (c))

       Morgan's tale in the Mail about the decline of Vegas isn't bad reading but the ABC TV's 4 Corners did it better and earlier with their "Will The Son Also Rise" story on James Packer and his $2Billion loss in Vegas which can be viewed here. It's a far better insight into the decline of the Nevada gambling city than Pier's tale, although to his credit, perhaps his TV version may be more fun.

        As for Paris, she's let it be known that she is available for a gig in Sydney for New Year's Eve but hasn't found a taker yet. That's probably after her behaviour in 2008 when she was paid a reputed
 $200K to front a party at Kings Cross bar The Piano Room (co-incidently another Ibrahim venture) when she swept through the bar at mid-night into a small hidden VIP closure never to be seen again. Guests who had paid a small fortune to see the party girl cried foul.

   

 Hilton agreed to attend the regular New Year's Day charity party in 2007 held at the chic Icebergs restaurant overlooking Bondi Beach-as long as no media were allowed to attend. Just to show there were no hard feelings tSS went anyway and snapped her snogging with Stavros Niarchos who had slipped in unnoticed by all.

                                                    the on/off Paris & Stavros (c)

    And on the theme of New Year's Eve, the once 'party to be at' , the Lord Mayor's Opera House get-together that once hosted celebs like Kylie Minogue or Sarah Michelle Geller to push the start button for the spectacular fireworks display has become a pay only event with the privilege to listen to music presented by Lindsay Lohan's ex, Samantha Ronson for around a $1000 entry fee. No thanks. One press conference with the snarly Ronson is one too many in a lifetime.

tSS will be reporting NYE from a 30th floor apartment in an East Sydney building, which hosts so many parties special tickets are printed with limited numbers supplied to each resident. Bolinger and a small comedy set by Austen Tayshus (right) will be a bonus.

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Distant cousins # 3 ?

former Prime Minister Bob Hawke

Minister for The Yartz Sir Les Patterson