Picture Post

Spotted at the Black & White Charity Committee's annual ball last weekend- Sydney party girl Sharon Sargeant and her paramour Frank Monte. International man of mystery Monte now spends most of his time in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, returning to Australia 4 times a year to visit friends and relatives.
This year's bash was held in a marquee in Centennial Park with a fun park theme and as our snaps show, Ms Sargeant got into the spirit of the occasion. Certainly the gent in our second pic seems to think so. Money raised goes to aid the Royal Blind Society.

Also pictured are LA based comedienne Jackie Loeb and Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen- all grown up- at a party at the Californian Australian Consulate in Los Angeles for a fundraiser for Netball America.
Loeb is a regular at the comedy clubs around LA and Vidgen has set up home there with his mum as he continues his quest to conquer US show biz.

An Invite :

 

Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen & LA based Australian comedienne Jackie Loeb will be performing at a benefit for Net Ball America at the Australian Consul General's residence in Los Angeles on the 29th of this month- see the invite below.

Jack Vidgen Grows Up

Jack Vidgen at 16 has survived puberty and still has his voice and amazingly, can still hit those high notes. The then 14 year old whose success on Australia's Got Talent  was sealed with a kiss on the cheek from macho Irishman Brian McFadden is still capitalising on his win and has been working non-stop for the last 2 years,
He still has a little trouble with his hand movements though but he's well on the way to becoming an Oz version of Wayne Newton. Las Vegas beckons.

Here he is at the gala G'Day USA dinner in Los Angeles last week where he sang the Star Spangled Banner for an audience of top Aussies like Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban, Rose Byrne, Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, Paul Hogan, models Elle McPherson and Miranda Kerr , Hugh Jackman, our favourite Qantas pilot John Travolta.

Here's Jack singing in our exclusive video from the event :


 

Vale James Miller.
Popular publican and man about town James Miller has been found dead by friends from a suspected overdose at the young age of 38.
Miller owned some of Sydney's most popular inner-city pubs : The Norfolk in Surry Hills and The Santa Barbara in Kings Cross.
Handsome, outgoing and friendly, Miller was named last year in Fairfax Media's Sydney Magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People.

Royal update:Limos,Guards,Guns and Paddington

It's generally one of the quietest times of the year with just the Sydney Festival providing some light relief but last week was fairly eventful for the normally deserted Paddington and Double Bay.

Najib Razak & Rosmar Mansor

 The Shuttle became embroiled in a minor fracas in Paddington mid-week as we motored through the back streets and emerged onto William Street, the tiny thoroughfare of smart boutiques (Gail shopped there for chocolates for Oprah Winfrey when they were in town) to find the street blocked by a fierce looking black limousine- the four wheeled drive variety now so beloved of today's celebrities. With two sunglass wearing black suited gentleman blocking the traffic.

 A full five minutes past before these self-appointed traffic wardens graciously allowed the mounting traffic to pass, with a furious waving of the hands as we inched our way past the shop and peered in to see who it was that may have commanded such pomp and ceremony

King of Tonga

One report appeared today stating that Rosmar Mansor the wife of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak happened to be shopping in Paddington that very day

But the plot thickens.

A report arrives that a similar vehicle was seen idling outside an upmarket boutique in Double Bay the same afternoon. A well-known paparazzi reports that as he began to take photographs of an "Asian looking" lady who emerged from the shop and headed for the limo, he was suddenly confronted by a pistol packing minder telling him to buzz off.

 Co-incidentally word spread through the Bay that the daughter of the Tongan rulers His Majesty King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV and Her Majesty Queen Halaevalu Mataaled was on a shopping spree in Double Bay that day as well. Such excitement!

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Queen Margrethe

 Meanwhile the crowned heads of Europe gave e their collective tiaras an outing at a grand party at Christiansborg Palace Chapelin Copenhagen to celebrate Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's 40 years on the throne. 

Naturally the popular former Tasmanian Crown Princess Mary was featured along with a variety of dethroned and serving royal heads such Pavlos & Mary-Chantal of Greece (they have no last name-so chic!) Queen Silvia and King Gustav of Sweden and Queen Sonja of Norway.

There is a Shuttle connection to Queen Margretthe. In her 20s she shared a flat in London with Jean Onions, the sister of Shuttle contributor Bill Ranken.

 And we have an exciting exclusive on the British Royal Family. According to one report HM the Queen will announce her abdication at her Jubilee celebrations later this year and handover to Prince William. No King Charles or Queen Camilla-they are to by-passed for the younger and more glamorous Wills and Kate.

The scoop comes to us courtesy of the newsofthewoldonline.

Sadly we note this must read glossy website no longer appears to feature our favourite minor German aristocrat Frederic Prinz von Anhalt as a show biz writer.

Married to the ailing Zsa Zsa Gabor, perhaps he has other things on his mind.

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And here is a snap that young Jack Vidgen sent us from the red carpet at last week's G'Day Ball in LA. Tonight he sings at the New York G'Day Ball..  he sent the following message :

" The New York Gday USA Ball is tomorrow night.. Loved the LA one so much am really excited for this one.!! The other acts were so awesome in LA, Guy Sebastian is going to be performing as welll. Will be great to see him!
It was FREEEEEZING in New York today! Apparently it's meant to snow tomorrow so i better rug up lol
Am flying to Houston in a couple of days, I bet Texas will be awesome!
Hope your all well and only a few more days till I'm back in Oz :)"

Partying in Hollywood

Guy Pearce & Kate Mestitz (UPI)

Abbie Cornish

HOLLYWOOD'S GUM LEAF Mafia were out in force at the annual G'Day USA Ball in Hollywood. 

Miranda Kerr, Guy Pearce, Paul Hogan, Jackie Weaver, Abbie Cornish , Olivia Newton John and Rachel Taylor joined Priscilla Presley, John Travolta and Kate Winslet last night at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom

The menu was prepared by popular Australian chef Guy Grossi in collaboration with Wolfgang Puck. A selection of premium Aussie wines served and awards given to notable Australians who have made significant contributions to the entertainment industry including Air Supply and Guy Pearce-who is up for a Golden Globe at tomorrow's awards.
And the entertainment
 ..young Jack Vidgen of course. G'Day USA is an annual program designed to showcase Australian business capabilities in the USA - Australia's largest trading and investment partner.

Kate Winslet

Rachel Taylor

Society Surgeon's Wrist Slap

SYDNEY SURGEON Michael Zacharia, a favourite nip and tuck doctor in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs has been fined $15,000 for prescribing steroids, growth hormones and testosterone by the NSW Medical Tribunal.

It's quite a blow for the talented doctor who is a regular on TV shows like Extreme Makeover and is regularly consulted by glossy magazines like Cleo and Woman's Day.
Society ladies ( and quite a few men) swear by Zacharia's ability to lose a few years off the face with minimal surgery that looks like the patient has just been on a long relaxing holiday.

One well know partygoer on the Sydney social circuit who spoke to the Shuttle today (we know she's 59 years old but easily gets away with 40) said : "Michael is the best plastic and cosmetic surgeon in town. He is a very caring and thoughtful doctor who talked me out of some heavy surgery I wanted and eventually did the most minor things. And it took at least ten years of my looks!"

Michael and his wife Stephanie Zacharia burst onto the Sydney scene about 15 years ago after re-locating from Adelaide and were an instant success as a new young glamour couple on the circuit.
For a few years Stephanie published the Australian version of Ocean Drive, the top US celebrity and social magazine from Miami.

Although the two have now parted ways they are still good friends and Michael has been building a steady clientele from the North Shore and in the East.

Michael thinks he is being made a scapegoat and is quoted saying : "I have had this issue placed against me but really there are lots of other doctors who are performing exactly what I was doing - thousands of other doctors both here and over in America"

Oddly, the drugs Zacharia prescribed are easily available on script in the USA and UK but Australia's medical profession is known for it's conservatism and for frowning on drugs that patients may actually like (doctors fought for years to be able to prescribe Prozac and Viagra).
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Fourteen year old Jack Vidgen has been telling his Fcaebook friends about his current trip to the USA . Jack is holidaying in New York for a week before heading to Los Angelas for the G'Day Australia celebrations there later this month :

"New York is INSANE!!! It's incredible.. Went to New Jersey today and checked out 'Carlo's Bake Shop' (from the show Cake Boss) and there was about a half-hour wait to even get into the bakery.. Then caught the Subway back to Times Square (this scary looking guy kept staring at me and I got freaked out lol). I'm off to see 'WICKED' now.. I'm sure it'll be amazing!"

Scary looking guy on the subway?. Why isn't Sony providing a limo for their top selling, angelic looking young star ?

After winning Australia's Got Talent last year Vidgen also appeared in a star studded event in Las Vegas. He's also become a big star in South America and his Youtube videos have now received over 14 million hits.

                        

A Christmas Tale

Alex Day

The Shuttle spent Christmas Day in the company of good friends at a lavish lunch, eating turkey and quaffing Bollinger ( as one should).

One guest at the table was a well known music industry lawyer who regaled us with tales of court room battles between artists and their record companies. He described his first job as a green barrister sent to London to handle a case against a hugely popular Australian band who were suing  EMI over the band's claim that the record giant had failed to promote their latest album which languished at the bottom of the charts.

In the course of his investigations for the record company, he was introduced in great secrecy to the 'hit-picker' employed by the company to assess whether the Aussie band's release would be a hit. The hit picker, an ageing musician who had seen better days had assessed, after several bottles of wine and many tokes on a hash pipe that the record was doomed to failure.

COLDPLAY

Overall the legal costs were in the millions of dollars. It would have been cheaper just to promote the album but anyone who has been unfortunate enough to deal with record companies  will know how an artist's fate can rest on the the late night worries of an executive fearful of making the wrong choice, picking a dud, losing his job and being stuck with a mortgage.

One young singer/songwriter Alex Day has just broken the mould and is currently at No 4 in the British music charts having sold 52,881 copies of his composition Forever Yours in the last week, pushing COLDPLAY into fifth place with just 50,000 sales.

Alex has no record deal. He promotes himself on YouTube.

Official Charts Company MD Martin Talbot has said that "Forever Yours is certainly one of the most successful self-released tracks we have ever seen, the Official Charts are based on sales, and sales alone, so Alex’s achievements this week are a genuine reflection of the passion of his army of fans, and of course, the power of social media."

Contrast Alex Day's success with the hullabaloo over shows like X-Factor with their millions of viewers around the world and rewards heaped upon the winners by the music giant Sony.

Local X-Factor winner Recce Mastin sold 70,000 copies of Good Night while Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen sold a similar amount. Both had the entire Sony network behind them plus a reputed million dollar budget and nightly TV adverts promoting them.

Alex Day did have help from a hit maker from way back-Jonathan King who describes here how he and Alex beavered away to beat the music industry at it's own game.

Forever Yours:

Reece Mastin's Victory

When the Shuttle encountered X-Factor contestant Reece Mastin 5 weeks ago at Sony's Wharf4Ward charity fundraiser at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo we asked him if he was going to win. "No" was the answer.

Britain's biggest selling tabloid agrees with the Shuttle

But just as with young Jack Vidgen who won Australia's Got Talent, we already knew what Reece did not, and what a handful within a tight circle did. Sony Music was so convinced that the ex-Scunthorpe lad would pick up the gong, plans were already in place to set Reece's career into high gear the day after the contest ended.

And so it came to pass. Sony are banking on the 17 year old (his birthday is today) to become a major world-wide rock star and they are pulling out all the stops. As of today, his first release Good Night is the number one itunes download. His album will be released on Dec 9th. Listen below to Good Night:

Shock & Awe At The Black & White

We always knew local party girl Sharon Sargeant would make a memorable entrance to the ritzy Black & White Charity Committee Ball last Friday evening at the Sydney Town Hall.

The first indication was when her limo pulled up at the entrance in the 'buses only' lane, sending an exasperated bus driver into a frenzy of horn blaring. That suddenly ceased  as she clambered out of the vehicle and smiled sweetly at the bus driver.
 All became clear as she alighted the Town hall steps and a major wardrobe malfunction was revealed (we've had to censor it for our more sensitive readers). There was spontaneous applause from the assembled onlookers and one Scot's bagpiper momentarily faltered and hit some very odd notes.

When Sharon and her escort, the famous private eye Frank Monte took to the dance floor all eyes at the front row tables were transfixed.

Today we spoke to a member of the charity committee to get their comments on the spectacle.

Her reply :
 "We just loved having Sharon attend the ball. She really livened up the evening. And Frank is always more than welcome considering he drops a bundle on raffle tickets" 

"Mind you one distinguished gentleman was very put out and couldn't stop talking about her and her fairly exposed assets. In fact he was so shocked he walked the length of the hall past her table at least seven times to check on the outrage until his wife put a stop to it."

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Australia's Got Talent winner, 14 year old Jack Vidgen takes to the stage tonight for his first appearance at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas-possibly the youngest ever performer to appear there.

Jack has been telling his friends he was bowled over when walking down a street in Vegas to suddenly see his face flashed  on a giant TV screen announcing his appearance.

Following the stage show at Caesar's Palace where various Talent winners will appear, some British singer called Elton John has to win over the audience.

 Not only has Vidgen's premier CD now been released in the USA, he has become a major star in Brazil with Sony rushing to get copies of his album to his fans there.

X Factor Update

Seeing 16 year old Reece Mastin, the X Factor finalist from Adelaide (via Scunthorpe in the UK) in the flesh, it's difficult to imagine what an amazing talent he is. His performance last night, singing while accompanied by a solo violinist again demonstrated that a major star is about to be launched upon the world:

Reece is pictured here in our exclusive snap from last Thursday's Sony's Wharf4Ward charity event with fellow contestants Johnny Ruffo and Declan Sykes, 2 other terrific performers. Here is his performance from Monday night :

Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen has been telling his Facebook friends :
"My album 'Yes i Am' is now available on the American Itunes for all u guys in the US. The reaction from Brazil which I was so surprised about has been massive as well so it will be released in Brazil very soon.
A couple more days till I leave to LA. Am getting excited. I'm gonna look like such a tourist when I go site seeing hahaha".
Jack will be appearing at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas . He's only 14 years old!

On The Waterfront

Cam McGlinchey & Natalie Bassingthwaighte

Dennis Lillee

Nikki Phillips

To one of our favourite spots-The Finger Wharf in Woolloomoolloo for Sony's Wharf4Ward.

Odds-on favourite to win X Factor-16 year old Reece Mastin at the Finger Wharf

Wharf4Ward is a music business charity raising funds to build cancer wards for kids across Australia and with a turn out of 800 at 10 top restaurants today nearly half a million dollars was added to the kitty.

Melissa Doyle &Sony's Denis Handlin

It was also a chance to check out the current X Factor finalists who all attended .Entertainment was provided by Sony Music artists, including platinum-selling Kate Miller-Heidke,  Guy Sebastian, 2009 Australian Idol's Stan Walker and 2010 Australia’s Got Talent winners Justice Crew.

Jo Casamento & Ronan Keating

Jodi Gordon &Braith Anasta

Amongst the guests- Ricky and Rianna Ponting, Geoff Huegill, Eamon Sullivan, Natalie Gruzlewski, Richard Wilkins, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Angela Bishop, Melissa Doyle, David Koch, Natarsha Belling, Samantha Armytage and Larry Emdur. Plus teen sailor  Jessica Watson and cricket great Dennis Lillee. 



Every one can also get involved with Sony's You Can campaign without donating a single dollar. There are over 20 million old mobile phones lying in bottom drawers across the country - the You Can campaign calls on all Australians to recycle these. Sony Foundation has partnered with an international recycling company to swap old mobile phones for cash.

X Factor's Mitchell Callaway &Andrew Wishart

Every wharf should have one-the Champagne Bar

Every person should have one-a new Bentley

Here's a message from Alice Cooper, Meatloaf and others:

Jack Goes Gold

POCKET Rocket Jack Vidgen has just wowed 15 million viewers on America's Got Talent and as a result will be appearing in the Las Vegas shows for the US TV series later this year.

And his first CD  has just gone gold selling over 35000 copies. Last night he sang up a storm on X Factor as you can see in this power packed performance in the video below.

The X Factor Winner

It's a toss-up !. We do the hard yards so you don't have to. Just as we picked young Jack Vidgen after the first few bars on Australia's Got Talent.

# 16 year old Reece Mastin. A natural rock star. "Fan- bloody- tastic" as Mel B said.. He makes it look so easy.

# And did anyone imagine 19 year old Zaacharia Fielding from "the desert"-an Aboriginal community of 350 (with his Mel B tribute hair) would come out with the most beautiful, natural and accomplished voice ?. Such control .

# Admit it-you too had tears in your eyes when Iraqi orphan Emmanuel Kelly sang. You weren't alone.
Watch these three sensational performances from the current X Factor and you will have to agree.

exclusive : Jack Vidgen's Debut Album

Here's a of taste of his debut album from young Jack Vidgen who picked up the $250,000 prize for winning Australia's Got Talent.

Listen to River Deep Mountain High and Think-you could be forgiven for thinking this is an album by a black female singer with Jack's amazingly mature voice.
As for Michael Jackson's Who's Loving You..we're sure Michael in Heaven is certainly loving this version.

You can get the album at Sanity , JB HiFi or Itunes.

Jack Vidgen Joins Eric Bana & A Murdoch

Getty

YOTS patron Eric B

Having picked up a prize of $250,000 with his spectacular win in the latest Australia's Got Talent, 14 year old Jack Vidgen has been revealing how he plans to spend some of the money.

A new Audi is on the cards- for Mum ( Jack has 2 more years to go before he gets his P plates) but Jack also wants to donate to charity with has heart set on Youth Of The Streets, YOTS the charity started and run by Catholic priest Father Chris Riley . YOTS provides services to assist homeless and disadvantaged, abused and neglected youth.

And Jack joins some high profile names- actor Eric Bana is the charities patron and publisher Matt Handbury, nephew of Rupert Murdoch has been a patron of YOTS for decades. Handbury donated a farm to YOTS in NSW to be used as a rural retreat for deprived city kids.

Vidgen is working on his first album having been signed by Sony and the song he wowed audiences with, Yes I Am is now available on iTunes here.

For more about Youth Of The Streets go to their website here.

Camerman Displays Perfect Tabloid Mentality

The Shuttle interviewed him once in Sydney on his many visits to promote his movies. Matt Damon is an intelligent and polite actor (not star truck, just impressed).

In this answer to a cameraman as Matt explains to an interviewer why he supports US teachers (one success of the Tea Party in the USA has been it's ability to convince the country the worker is now the Enemy Of The State) he illustrates the state of today's media.

The public may say they "don't believe everything they read in newspapers" but still buy them in large numbers. The demise of the News of The World has seen a surge in the circulation of other Sunday tabloids in the UK.

With some in the media business now mounting a campaign to convince the public that freedom of the press is about to be trashed by politicians (Brendan O'Neill on Monday's Q&A) and that the attacks upon News International are some sort of Commie plot, despite one newspaper, The Guardian having uncovered one of the greatest scandals in decades in British public life by legal means, it's scary how many media workers today are possibly more gullible than the public.

Gone are the grizzled old cynical hacks of yesteryear who pounded away on typewriters and created a network of contacts, trudging their beats and uncovering all manner of underhand political machinations, fraudsters and so on, replaced by a new breed who believe everything they write is gospel, re-produce press releases or simply don't give a damn and even worse, believe what their rivals publish.

Was Nikita Krushev channeling the future when he reputedly asked JFK in the 1960s how the West got journalists to write their lies when he had to threaten Pravda scribes to do likewise ?
..and here is the 14 year old lad who won Australia's Got Talent last night (plus $250,000) who Kyle Sandilands says has "a black woman inside him and looks like Ellen DeGeneres" : Jack Vidgen.

Lady GaGa & Sarah Ferguson told to Shut Up !

Ga Ga checks in

and checks out

Not everyone was mesmerised by the Lady GaGa whirlwind as the diva swept through Sydney over the past three days.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports GaGa was pelted with eggs after her performance at ARQ nightclub on Tuesday evening as she left  via a lane way at the rear of the club surrounded by fans. Apparently an irate neighbour furious with all the noise made their sentiments felt from a window high above the commotion.

It's reminiscent of the time Sarah, the Duchess of York was in Sydney and was hired to promote Rupert Murdoch's cable TV network Foxtel. Around ten years ago the 200,000th subscriber was to be connected and a media event was organised in the seaside suburb of Clovelly.

An electricity manhole was opened in the street outside the lucky subscriber's house and Fergie did her duty, clambering into the hole to flick a switch to activate the connection as the occasion was to be broadcast live on Foxtel and Sky News. The assembled hacks crowded around jostling and pushing as they tried to get a good vantage point as a PR operative on a microphone introduced Sarah.

Suddenly a window in a nearby building was flung upon and an elderly woman leaned out and yelled "what's all that bloody racket down there about?"

Foxtel PR flacks rushed over and asked the woman to keep quiet telling her a very important person was about to give a speech. The woman responded : "I wouldn't care if you had the bloody Prime Minister or that silly Duchess woman there you can pull your heads in and shut up " as an egg landed squarely on the head of an earnest looking publicist.

Jack Vidgen

Accompanying Lady GaGa on her trip was the US blogger Perez Hilton who has slimmed down and was looking remarkably fit compared to his visit 3 years ago.
Here's a film of Perez on an empty Bondi Beach :

Perez  features blond bombshell Jack Vidgen ( he was at Lady Ga Ga's concert) on his website. Jack gave another stellar performance on Tuesday on Australia's Got Talent with his rendition of Adele's Set Fire To The Rain and we have the video below followed by fellow teen sensation in his first public appearance Ronan Parke singing up a storm in front of thousands and mincing sashaying down the stage like an old trouper.

Ronan Parke