Is it The End for the Black & White Committee?

Short answer is no but certainly in it's present form. The last of it's type, the Black & White Committee's annual ball at the Sydney Town Hall will be the last in it's present form. The Black & White Derby - where bright young gals reel in little wooden horses- is kaput. At this year's event the 80 year old tradition was put to bed.
But the Black & White Committee who have raised tens of millions of  $$$ over it's 80 year history will emerge next year in an exciting new form and we'll be the first to being you the news. Until then, here are a few snaps from the evening and a short video to show you what you missed. The B&W hard working ladies raise much needed funds for Vision Australia.

Tidbits

The Hairstyle of The Month award in September goes to New York businessman Richard Feldman who was spotted at the annual Quest 400 party in NYC.

 Perhaps he shares a hairdresser with our favorite ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke. The two could be long lost cousins!

Spotted on the Blue Carpet for the premier in London of the new Beatles film Eight Days A Week last Thursday, music personality Simon Napier Bell who these days spends his time touring the world and lecturing on music as seen in our snap taken in India.
Simon wrote a song we all love :"You Don't Have to say You Love Me" made famous by Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley. Napier-Bell attended the film along with Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Not long ago Simon hosted a BBC series on rock'n'roll managers and he is currently filming a documentary on British gay life (in our snap he is interviewing actor Simon Callow) . OK we are a bit prejudiced here- Simon who is half Australian is also a business partner of Whispers in a film project among other things. But you really should read some of his books including the fascinating "I'm Coming to Take You To Lunch" of how he managed to get the pop duo Wham to be the first pop act to appear in Communist China ( Whispers was there!)


Coming shortly : all the news on the 80th Anniversary of the Black & White Ball at the Sydney Town Hall.

















Here is Dusty singing Simon Napier Bell's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.

Elle of a Town

 Leggy Elle McPherson jetted into town yesterday morning at the ungodly hour of 6am and while Whispers was invited to greet her at the airport it was just a tad too early.

McPherson is traveling with the famous fashion snapper Gilles Bensimon to shoot  a cover for..Elle Magazine. But more about this after Tuesday when Whispers gets up close and personal with The Body.

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Sydney town is up for grabs today !

The election to decide who runs Sydney Council will be under way from 6am today and despite a field of candidates the word is that it's down to just two : current Lord Mayor Clover Moore who has held the position for 17 years and current councilor and sister of former PM Tony Abbott, Christine Forster. Although Moore has enjoyed great support from young hipster and the gay community, her grasp on the Mayoral robes could be well & truly shaken by Forster who is openly gay. Forster could lure the huge gay and lesbian (and transgender) community away from Clover with her pledge to revitalize the once Golden Mile of Oxford Street that once had over 15 gay nightclubs, bars and hotels but has since been reduced to just 3.

      Christine Forster                                                                                                                  Clover Moore                                         

                                         

The State government's recent new law that gives businesses within the city 2 votes has seen an extra 20,000 or so businesses register to vote and they may overwhelmingly support Forster. A vox pop poll by Whispers today found surprisingly, a lot of support has shifted from Moore to Forster. We should know by tonight if  a new regime sweeps into office at the Town Hall.

What the world needs now..

In an event organised by stage star Trevor Ashley at the Sydney Town Hall, fellow thespians lined up to appear in a concert to aid the victims of the terrible Orlando shootings :  From Sydney With Love – A Concert for Orlando. Among the performers :  Magda Szubanski, Joel Creasey, Bob Downe, Paul Capsis, iOTA, Emma Matthews, Simon Burke and Virginia Gay.
Her is the finale What The World Needs Now.

Clover to The Rescue

  Sydney's esteemed Lord Mayor Clover Moore held a small shindig last week to farewell Town Hall worker Rachel Healy who is leaving to join theatre director Neil Armfield  (actor Geoffrey Rush's best pal) to work on the Adelaide Festival with Armfield. Left pictured are Armfield, Lord Mayor Clover Moor and Rachel.
Alas proceedings were drawn to a sudden halt when a party guest went crashing down in a faint perhaps overcome by the excitement of it all. Leaping into action Clover was by the side of the prone body in seconds and soon administering a cool clothe to the brow of the hapless guest. Below is a snap of all the drama taken by noted Sydney photographer and chronicler of this town's society, William Yang.

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 Australian cultural icon Dame Edna Everage has sent Whispers a doctored snap she also sent to Sir Ian McKellan for his 76th birthday. McKellan was so taken with it he is now using as his profile pic on Facebook.

 Meanwhile Dame Edna's manager Barry Humphries has been interviewed in The Guardian in his capacity as director of the Adelaide Festival with some comments to make about the noted Australian diplomat Sir Les Patterson pictured below next to Humphries.

And a Tale of Woe : singer and musician Sean Lennon currently on tour in the UK has posted a snap (right)  on his Facebook page of the empty spot in his band's van where their radio was stolen a few days ago in Shepherd's Bush while they were performing. At last estimate his mum Yoko Ono was worth a cool $500M.

Missing In Action

On Wednesday November 5th (one day after the Melbourne Cup) a memorial service will be held for the late Gough Whitlam the former Prime Minister who died at age 98.
                                               

Word is buzzing around town that the venue, the Sydney Town Hall will not be nearly big enough for the crowds expected from former PMs, the current PM Tony Abbott , a host of show business faces and business names to ordinary members of the public including a large contingent of Indigenous Australians.
Former Fairfax scribe Mike Carlton has been on the blower to some Labor Party heavies and is  trying to organise a live TV link to the old Parliament House in Canberra to host an expected few hundred more mourners.
While Gough's extended family will be attendance one family member will miss the service Andrew Esteban Romero Whitlam is Gough's "adopted" son although it's never been confirmed by the late Whitlam if he actually adopted the Argentinian.
Baci as he is known to pals whipped up dresses in a Double Bay boutique for society ladies for a number of years before joining his family restaurant business in Rushcutters Bay.
It was there as we reported back in February that Baci was busted in an undercover sting while attempting to sell cocaine to police. He was sentenced to two years jail. Above is the only photo taken of the late Gough Whitlam and Baci together.

Day One with Georgia May Jagger

Bauer Media launched their '30 Days of Fashion & Beauty' with a cocktail party at the Sydney Town Hall. Ambassadors include Jecinta Campbell, looking quite amazing in a hot pink Alex Perry dress and Georgia May Jagger who brought her mum Jerry Hall.

Ita Bows Out

At the beginning of August when the Shuttle brought it's readers the exclusive story that publishing identity Ita Buttrose was considering a run for Sydney Lord Mayor, the mainstream media thumbed it's nose at the tale.

Ita Buttrose

"A fantasy "proclaimed one (who should know better considering the amount of scoops we have fed them) but sure enough, three weeks later the 2 Saturday broadsheets presented their "exclusive" stories on Ita's Town hall ambitions.

Buttrose had been approached by a well known businessman who represented many others who wished to break independent MP and Lord Mayor Clover Moore's stranglehold on inner Sydney politics. They had done the research and their polling reckoned Ita was a shoo-in for the job.

Town crier Graham Keating & Clover Moore sydneyindymedia.com.au

On the weekend Ms Buttrose announced that she would not be contesting the election, probably after a long hard think about the grind of the job with it's many brickbats and few bouquets as she was sure to win.

Which leaves the dog-collar wearing mayor Clover Moore a cinch to be re-elected. Although Moore has stumbled of late over the largely unused bike lanes and unsuccessful attempts to curb nightclub drinking hours, she is sure to romp home with no credible challenger on the horizon.

Meanwhile powerful shock jock Alan Jones continues his weekly brickbats directed at Moore but they are expected to have little affect with a largely North Shore and Southern Shire audience, none of whom vote in the mayoral elections.

This weekend a group of Oxford Street businessmen will be drowning their sorrows at Justin Hemmes' Beresford Hotel having seen their dreams of propelling Buttrose into office, crash and burn.