25 Years of Wilko

Richard with Tracey Grimshaw

 To Luke Mangan's superb restaurant, the  Glass Brasserie in the Hilton Hotel for a select gathering of Nine Network bigwigs and stars to celebrate Richard Wilkins's 25 years on the telly.

Tony Bennett at Glass Brasserie

Mangan is a great pal of Wilkins so the venue was an obvious choice. And there was a surprise guest who called in to wish Wilkins the best- crooner Tony Bennett.

 Glass is quite spectacular with it's huge glass windows fronting George Street. It was designed by New Yorker Tony Chi and really does conjure up the feel of a Big Apple skyscrapper venue. But it's the food that is the reason to be there and plenty of nibbles created by Mangan were served.

Wilkins like many of our best imports hails from New Zealand where he was once a school teacher who started a band called Wilde & Reckless and travelled to Australia to support Grace Jones. He scored a job as a presenter on the fledgling MTV show which was cancelled after about 2 years. Snapped up by the Nine network, he's been in work for the past quarter decade reporting from the red carpet at the Academy Awards  and travelling the world to interview stars. Lucky man !

                         
 right : Karl Stefanovic attempts to hypnotise Luke Mangan

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Christopher & Fiona Day

Sandersons who have showrooms in Rushcutter's Bay selling Mercedes cars hosted a drinks party for the  launch of the new M Class and B Class luxury motors. Just a small crowd and nearly everyone of them confessed to actually owning a Mercedes.  
Christopher & Fiona Day who own the wonderful Christopher Day Gallery in Paddington say they love their new B Class Merc particularly as it parks itself.

One thing they did note-unlike their car, the model on display had little trays ala Rolls Royce in the back passenger seats. What were they for we pondered? . Is one likely to host a drinks party in the back?. It was a topic that occupied us over 2 glasses of Veuve Clicquot and the Shuttle can't quite remember what the outcome was.
Such trivial matters occupy one when looking at luxury motor vehicles.

Tinkling The Ivories with One Direction

To the Cosmopolitan Cafe in deepest Double Bay for a special treat. Legendary pianist Chet Clark ( above) had flown in from his home in Santa Barbara to give a concert for invited guests. Clark was big in the 50s, and the 60s and 70s. He appeared on every major rock'n'roll show in Australia and the USA and accompanied legendary names of rock and pop, too many to mention.

(left : Jenny Main,John Foreman & Maria Venuti at the Cosmo)

Joining Chet at the piano was the musical director of some of television's and live theatre's top shows John Foreman who flew in from Melbourne for the night.
The night was put together by producer Jenny Main and hopefully will be the first of many musical evenings to come
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The Shuttle will be at the Ch 7 studios in Martin Place tomorrow morning for One Direction's appearance. Are we looking forward to it ?. Not as much as Tony Bennett's final show tomorrow night at the Sydney Opera House which we managed to score a rare ticket for.

There is one thing everyone must do in this life. And that is see Tony Bennett sing live.
There is a reason Frank Sinatra said Bennett had "the best tonsils in the business". His voice is like pure honey and washes over you with a purity never experienced before. In our lifetime we have not seen a live singer with such perfection and poetry in their voice. There is no man or woman on this planet that is better. Bennett's recordings do not do his voice justice, as wonderful as they are. This is the singer who thrives on live performances and at 85 years old, by all accounts he is as good today as he was 50 years ago.

Oh yes, Rihanna is in town and attended the premiere of Battleship last night and went shopping in Paddington during the day before boarding a luxury yacht for the obligatory Harbour cruise. Perhaps she waved to One Direction who were also on the Harbour.