Newtown wants Cate Blanchett

Newtown

Cate at the Sydney Theatre Company

The decline of Sydney's King Cross and the legendary 'Golden Gay Mile' of nearby Oxford Street is having unexpected consequences. Double Bay as we reported previously is becoming the location for smart nightclubs like Karim Gharbi's Casablanca and the Pelicano Bar.
But Newtown, the densely populated suburb much favoured by students at the nearby Sydney University is positively booming.
The main street is packed with restaurants of all stripes, coffee shops, gay hotels, smart and alternative boutiques along with second hand and designer furnishing stores.

Now an ambitious plan is underway to attract Oscar winner Cate Blanchett to a newly renovated theatre, The Hub which is ideally located slap bang in the centre of Newtown and directly opposite the subway station.

The Hub at various stages during it's lifetime

The property developing Vlattas family have invested $500,000 in refitting the 100 year old Vaudeville theatre that has done time as a porno cinema amongst it's varied and often sad life.
The Vlattas' are also part owners of the nearby Enmore Theatre, now the only live venue in the inner city.
Whispers attended the opening of Mel Spencer's Green Room bar next to the Enmore Theatre along with Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer (and our favourite crooner Kamahl)
left : Kamahl with Adam Spencer at the Green Room
Chris Vlattas is hoping that Blanchett who has had such a stellar success with her Sydney Theatre Company productions will take up an offer to lease the 1500 seat Hub.
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The Seal Of Approval that Newtown is now a serious contender as the up and coming suburb for the smart young set surely must be the fact that Australia's most ambitious and successful nightclub entrepreneur Justin Hemmes has purchased the nearby Queen Victoria Hotel in Enmore for $11M. below Justin Hemmes & his new purchase

Why are people so unkind...

We like to think we are a cynical bunch at the Shuttle, not easily fooled and on the ball.  But even the new office cat Eva was taken in the by the possibility of a scoop- the tale that casino baron James Packer was spotted with supermodel Miranda Kerr in New York last week.

Alas it was an April Fool's Joke but one played on the Shuttle by a long time New York pal, one of the USA's top photographers who had vowed revenge after we stung him similarly 5 years ago.
How were we taken in ?. By expert timing.  Sending us the story and snaps (old ones nicked from the web) with knowledge of our publishing timetable - that we wouldn't twig to the fact by receiving the tale on the 30th of March and being told we must wait 40 hours to coincide with another publication.

The Merry Wives Of Murdoch, the Gardener & the Crooner

Patricia Booker               Anna Torv                 Wendi Deng

Whilst the rest of the media is still reeling after having been caught on the hop by the announcement of the Rupert Murdoch divorce : unlike Social Shuttle readers who read 2 months ago that the marriage was on the rocks and the end was pending, a former Murdoch confidante has come up with an insightful article on Rupert Murdoch and his former wives including Patrica Booker, Anna Mann (nee Torv) and the soon to be Wendi Deng.

Most of the media have turned to Michael Woolf's excellent biography  The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch for details but Rodney E.Lever was Rupert Murdoch's right hand man and a News Ltd executive for many years, a friend of the family and someone intimately involved in Rupert's personal and business affairs. He even accompanied Rupert and Anna on their honeymoon.

His series on Murdoch and his empire on the informative website Independent Australia are well worth reading.

One piece shines out as a previously unknown detail is revealed : In Adelaide when Rupert first set up home with his first wife Patricia, the gardens were tendered by a dusky hued handyman. And who was this gardener?.Step forward our favourite Malaysian import Kandiah Kamalesvaran , the late Queen Mother's favourite singer and now known as Kamahl !. Kamahl has certainly come a long way from the Adelaide Hills. He now lives in a large mansion on Sydney's elite North shore and drives a gleaming Rolls Royce. Last week we encountered Kamahl at an America Australia Association awards dinner attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

What a small world we live in.
Here is a clip of Kamahl (hiding in the foliage) singing his 1975 hit The Elephant Song which won the heart of HRH Queen Mother who invited Kamahl to share a few G&Ts at Clarence House.
trivia : He first used the name Kamal but after an MC introduced him as 'Camel' he became Kamahl.