CALLING ALL COYOTES!  7-Nov-2003  Aight, ladies... (and gents, for that matters...) You know the drill. When you go into Coyote Ugly it's all about ladies on the bar swingin' around whatever piece of clothing they wanna swing around; much to the delight of the in-house males... and females, too, I'm sure. Well, Washington, DC is about to get taken by storm! Yes, my friends, the original New York bar is coming to DC early next year. I heard it on the radio this morning. While some DJs were chillen at the Coyote Ugly bar at the New York New York Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, they interviewed one of the bar-tenders, who offered that they will be bringing in the theme bar to DC. It's supposed to open somewhere across the MCI Center near Chinatown, and will be a three-level venue.

Auditions to be a coyote are forthcoming. Ladies will be asked to sing, dance, and - of course - have some skill with the drinks. So keep your eyes out! For more info, check out their site by clicking on the logo... YEeEEeeE-HaAaAWwWWW!!@!

ROSIE: PICTURE PERFECT?  5-Nov-2003  Rosie O'Donnell is still in brush-to-brush combat with the company that used to publish her magazine... This time, the controversy focuses on a cover for the mag that did not actually hit newsstands. It was a cover which showed the former TV-hostess flanked on both sides by Sopranos stars, Edie Falco and Lorraine Bracco.

The cover was actually never used, and was replaced by one featuring another woman. Former editor, Susan Toepfer, suggested that the cover photo was replaced because Rosie supposedly cried that she didn't want to be seen posing/touching another woman, especially "as a lesbian." Of course, O'Donnell refutes the claim, and says that she's never even made any comments that begin with "As a lesbian..." Seemed like Rosie disapproved of the photo simply because it made her "look fat," something that many a body-image-troubled person would claim.

Seems that the suit against her, by the former magazine publisher, is still in cahoots. Rosie swears that if she wins the suit, the money gained will go towards charity. She notes that the issue at hand isn't about the money, but about the principle.

Seems like Rosie has a fight on her hands... Well, we wish her well!

BOOTILICIOUSLY SPEAKING...  4-Nov-2003  Beyonce Knowles was the opener of last week's Radio Music Awards, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The spunky songstress opened up with a slow version of "Baby Boy" which she clearly lip synched to in the beginning. Only afterwards when she started to "shake her thang" did she start to sing live... Hmmm, shouldn't that be the other way around?! She should try sharing that tactic with Britney Spears. LOL.

Anyway, Beyonce was doin' alright. She sang fine live, which puzzled me as to why she didn't just sing live during the opening part where she was hardly even moving. But the performace was nixed once she started doin' her dance in that ring of fire. Whatever the hell she was doing was totally BEYOND me. I could not, and would not, understand her moves for the life of me. BOO, BEYONCE!

The girl started thrashing around, then attempted to do what appeared to be pseudo dance moves. She even tired to do a tumble where it looked like she fell like a fat kid jumping off the monkey bars. My theory is that they used the pyrotechnics (aka "ring of fire") to sort of HIDE the fact that the girl can't dance a lick. Emmm. I am shocked at these sistas who can't dance. It's just a shame...

Beyonce's stock just plummeted.

FASHION STATEMENT.  3-Nov-2003  Check out this interesting story from Fashion Wire Daily...

Katharine Hamnett Speaks Out
By Godfrey Deeny

Katharine Hamnett -- a woman as much committed to doing the right thing as creating great fashion -- is never at a loss for something to say. The designer caused the biggest sensation of London's recent season with a series of T-shirts designed to help combat injustice in Africa. Modeled by Naomi Campbell, the T-shirts and tops carried slogans like "Save Africa, Use a Condom," or "Save Africa, Support Fair Trade." Without question, her simple tops were the most photographed of the British shows.

"I just abuse the media. That T-shirt got more attention than a civil war in a small country," Hamnett says over lunch.

Never one to mince words, she tells you bluntly: "I put a lot of blame on Catholic teaching. The Pope is a lovely man -- but he has a blind spot. That's why I felt it important to make that T-shirt. Sixty-eight percent of young adults in Burundi are HIV positive and we still haven't legalized generic drugs. It's really, really wrong."

In August, Hamnett jetted to Mali as part of an Oxfam campaign to support local farmers in their fight for more open international trade. Her goal -- ending cotton subsidies to US farmers, so that the developing world have a more even playing field for their crops.

"American tax payers are subsidizing poverty in Africa and are causing utter misery in West Africa," said Hamnett. She recalled that when Mali farmers were informed she had once met Nelson Mandela, they lined up to "shake the hand that shook the hand."

"When someone suggested I meet Mandela for dinner I went down on the next available plane," recalled Hamnett. She actually made the "Use a Condom" tops two years ago, but waited to display it on a catwalk show, gathering the most impact by putting it on Naomi, for whom "Mandela is like her grandfather." The statements underlined Hamnett's exceptional ability to garner attention for causes in which she believes deeply, a trait that first grabbed international attention in 1984 when she shocked Margaret Thatcher by showing up at 10 Downing Street with an anti-nuclear T-shirt.

"I didn't give a shit about going to have a drink with Thatcher. She was appalling. She was trying to railroad democracy, parking Pershing missiles in Europe. What I wore was a practical joke, but it taught me something I never forgot -- the power of a great photo opportunity. Everyone in the world seemed to see that T-shirt," Hamnett recalls.

Today, Hamnett's big bogeyman is Tony Blair, an example at just how disenchanted most people left of center are with the UK's prime minister.

"Blair, Ugh! His latest smart idea is stopping kids learning foreign languages at 14. We will all be dunces here in Britain! Languages are what's bringing Europe together," moans Hamnett, who flew in that morning from Treviso where her Italian manufacturer Pier is based.

In Katharine's eyes Blair can do no right. Besides the Iraq War, she disdains his policies on the environment, privatization and genetically modified food. "The privatization of utilities is a joke. The trains have never been so bad! -- The Irish Sea is the most polluted in the world," Hamnett snorts, referring to the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

"And there's now plenty of evidence that GM foods are not a good thing. They create an antibiotic resistance," she snaps.

Ironically, Hamnett's London headquarters in Islington are a short walk from the restaurant where Blair had his infamous dinner with rival Gordon Brown to decide who would be head of the Labor Party, and ultimately Prime Minister.

"When I made a T-shirt 'Stop War, Blair Out,' they opened a secret file on me! All I was basically trying to do was secure my children's future," says Hamnett, recalling her February 2003 show where models wore T-shirts reading "No War" and "Blair Out."

That same month, Hamnett joined Minnie Driver, Bella Freud, Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger, Blur's Damon Albarn, Tim Robbins and Vanessa Redgrave plus an estimated million marchers who turned out against the then upcoming Iraq War, the biggest demonstration in Britain in two centuries.

Though she runs her own fashion label and jets around the globe for business and causes, Hamnett still finds time to cook most evenings for her "two great big sons," William and Sam. "When one of them decided he was no longer a vegan, we all let out a great cheer. Finally, we could eat an egg again!"

Hamnett has been something of a legend since she staged her first show in "Neighborhood," a Rasta club in Notting Hill back in 1974, even if her shows are irregular. In the early '90s, she famously walked out of the British Fashion Council, "because they wanted me to show in a disgusting car park," and decamped her women's collections to Paris, and for a time showed men's in Milan.

If anything, Hamnett's selfless determination to fight the good fight, support fair trade and back environmental causes has hurt her firm's bottom-line. Though her name has immediate recognition, her company sales, an estimated $6 million annually, are modest even compared to much less-famous designers.

Hamnett refuses to work with inexpensive Third World sweatshops and hopes to launch an all-organic cotton jeans collection next year. She also plans to publish a global directory listing environmentally conscious farmers, fabric manufacturers and dyers.

But right now, she's happy to recall her recent show. "We noticed that all the models tried to take the T-shirts, which is when you know you�re doing something right," said Hamnett, who plans to donate the profits from these looks to the Nelson Mandela Children's Trust.

"It was incredibly chilled putting the whole shows together. A friend from Paris was cooking, so we all had haute cuisines for lunch, and we had this Indian princess backstage. When someone asked for a cup of tea, she called up her mother and got a servant to explain how," laughs Hamnett, taking the first breather from her flow of words.