D.C.’s glam brunch
(See Yeas & Nays’ photos from Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors here)
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If there was a common theme among the celebs at Sunday’s pre-Kennedy Center Honors brunch at the Mandarin Oriental, it was that they had never met the honorees they were preparing to fete later in the evening.
Lyle Lovett was ready to praise Brian Wilson, despite the fact that he’d never met the musical genius
| Carrie Devorah/For The Examiner |
behind the Beach Boys. He was set to sing Wilson’s “God Only Knows,” explaining that he prefers performing to public speaking. “It’s fewer words, but they take longer,” he quipped.
As for Wilson’s work, Lovett said, “When you study a song and learn it, it gives you a greater appreciation for his music.”
Ditto Steve Carell, who admitted to Yeas & Nays that he was utterly “petrified” to pay tribute to Steve Martin, first because he said Martin “is absolutely my idol in every way,” and secondly because he’d “never met the man.”
We caught up with Carell right after he exchanged a few words with Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel, whose Endeavor Agency represents Carell (along with honoree Martin Scorsese).
Emanuel, the model for Jeremy Piven’s character on “Entourage,” came with his brother, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel. So who was the guest of whom?
“I’m his date tonight,” Rahm conceded. (And for the record, given that the brothers are famous for their blue streaks, we did hear Ari curse, but not Rahm.)
Cameron Diaz arrived late, dressed down in jeans and a black turtleneck, along with an aide. She refused to pose for photos, even when Rep. Ed Markey and wife Susan Blumenthal asked.
Also on hand for the VIP gathering: comedian Martin Short, actresses Christine Baranski and Gloria Reuben, violinists Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
And, finally, the usual Washington crowd: Justice Stephen Breyer, Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell, AOL founder Jim Kimsey, BET founder Bob Johnson and current President Debra Lee, Ethel Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr., comic Mark Russell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Among the honorees, we only spied pianist Leon Fleisher and Martin at the brunch. The sneaker-clad Martin breezed in and out, before repairing to a quiet table in the bar area with three guests.
