They have it all – a contemporary look, infinite sound and sex appeal.  Grammy winners Herb Alpert, 77, and his wife, Lani Hall, opened their repeat engagement at the Café Carlyle in NYC this week to a packed house which included talker Regis Philbin and a woman who said she traveled from Korea to see the show. The intimate room was the perfect venue for the classy duo.

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It felt like family gathered in the living room for John Gabriel’s performance at the Metropolitan Room in New York’s West Village, Sunday evening. Not only were his grandsons ages 6 and 8 there, but his pharmacist, doctor, and closest friend for the past 50 years, actor/talker Charles Grodin.

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It’s unusual for an artist to perform a CD from top to bottom as a cabaret act, but that’s what Tom Wopat did in his one nighter at 54 Below in NYC. He opened his show Monday evening with the title song, “I’ve Got Your Number,”  followed by “The Good Life.”  Wearing a vintage suit (“Sinatra wore a suit,” he quipped), white shirt and tie, he described his show as “more like a saloon than cabaret.”  For Wopat, that translates to less story telling and “more of a vibe”. . . or perhaps, more of a publicity opportunity.  Wearing a baseball cap, he personally passed out CD’s to his fans before the show.

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Stylishly dressed in black tux and a sequin lapel on her bare-shouldered jacket, Lorna Luft paid tribute Monday evening at “Lorna’s Living Room” aka Birdland in New York City to three influential female composers who impacted her life: Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden and Laura Nyro. Luft, who began her career at 11 on her mother’s TV show, exhibits a strong stage presence and energy which compensates for any notes she misses. Even off pitch, she can belt out a song and is a sensational entertainer.

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David Brenner, now graying a bit, but as sharp and edgy as ever, felt right at home at the Metropolitan Room this week. It’s the site of the former Gotham Comedy Club where he first performed stand-up comedy in the seventies. And just in case the audience forgot, he opened his show with a quick video collage of his TV appearances. He holds the record for the most guest shots on The Tonight Show as well as surpassing other performers with the most guest appearances on all TV talk shows.

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Following a 15 year absence from the New York stage, Pia Zadora presented an incredibly slick comeback show.  “Pia Zadora–Back Again and Standing Tall” was well-rehearsed and more Las Vegas than the laid back Metropolitan Room in style. Dressed in a long, low cut Bob Mackie bronze sequin dress with a high side slit, she exuded sex and wowed the men in the room.

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   It’s been a stellar double-header this week at NYC’s 54 Below (for award-winning vocalist Eric Michael Gillett. He not only presented his own show, “Careless Rhapsody: An Evening Dedicated To The Lyrics of Lorenz Hart,” but the multi-talented star of Broadway (”Sweet Smell of Success,” “Kiss Me Kate”) and New York’s cabaret circuit directed Tovah Feldshuh in her show, “On, Off, and Now Under Broadway!”

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Every time I hear the haunting words and tune, “From A Distance,” it always captivates me. The Grammy winning song was used as a wake-up call for the astronauts when the Americans and Russians met in outer space for the first time. It brings to mind Bette Midler, who popularized the peace anthem.  That is, until Monday evening, when I heard composer Julie Gold perform her masterpiece at the Duplex in the West Village. Wow! Gold at the piano sang this and other songs she’s written accompanied by backup singers Margaret “Madge” Dorn and Emily Bindiger. Their well-balanced harmony complemented Gold beautifully.

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It’s freezin’ outside. . . hence the time many of us travel to warmer climates, or at the very least, fantasize about an exotic locale on a beach or under the stars.  The Calendar Girl, Colleen McHugh, takes us on that journey from sandy Havana to Mexico, Shanghai and beyond in her show, “Wish You Were Here.” She even includes Mackinaw Island, which she compares to Bermuda in Michigan. Her once monthly show at the Duplex in NYC is constantly changing. Her January offering was the best of her travel song repertoire — “Mackinaw,” “Shanghai,” “Red Sails in the Sunset,” “When Will You Come Back To Me?”

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Filling in for Linda Eder at 54 Below this week, the exceedingly talented Marin Mazzie, a familiar figure on Broadway stages (“Next to Normal,” “Passion,” “Kiss Me, Kate”), made a striking entrance dressed in pink sequins. She invited everyone back to her house in Rockford, Ill, when she was ten. That’s where her personal music chronology began. Her parents would dance and she shadowed their every move.

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Bridges take many forms; some are more functional than others. They vary in strength and aesthetics as well.  The multi-talented Ann Hampton Callaway expanded the meaning of this concept in her new show, “Bridges” at Birdland. Just as all bridges are not equal, neither were all of the selections. Although Callaway’s voice is incredible, she was not at the top of her game in some of the numbers chosen to meld with this theme. But her musical message was loud and clear:  how “bridges” help us connect with the world. Brazilian composer Milton Nascimento’s song inspired this singer/songwriter’s show.  Hampton Calloway declared 2013 “as the year of building bridges.”

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The Kennedy Center Honors celebrated its 35^th anniversary last weekend with a group of extraordinary and diverse life time achievers in the performing arts. Even President Obama noted that they “have no business being on the same stage.” But the three remaining members of the 70’s band Led Zeppelin – vocalist Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and guitarist Jimmy Page– came together for this annual celebration with actor/director Dustin Hoffman, late night talker David Letterman, bluesman Buddy Guy and dancer Natalia Makarova. The group was honored at the State Department, White House and Kennedy Center with a taped- for- CBS-TV tribute (airs December 26) and late night gala supper. 

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 Washington will miss the outspoken Letitia “Tish” Baldrige, the octogenarian etiquette maven, who passed on this week. Tish learned the manners of political Washington at an early age when her father served as a U.S. representative from Nebraska. Later, she served as social secretary to America’s ambassador to France in Paris, assistant to Clare Booth Luce at the American Embassy in Rome, and chief of staff to first lady Jackie Kennedy. 

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When I spoke to my longtime friend, Michael Touhey, he shared with me his trepidation about the upcoming ten year anniversary of September 11. “I want to be the man I was before 9/11,” he told me, “the man open to wonder and spontaneity.”

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The Oscar winning film, “The King’s Speech,” has brought national attention to stuttering — the handicap that King George VI of England suffered in the 1940’s. He wasn’t the only famous stutterer. Consider actors James Earl Jones and Marilyn Monroe, performers Carly Simon and Mel Tillis, writer John Updike and even Winston Churchill.

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By Campari as told to Karen Feld

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A friend and I wandered into Ocean Grill, a quiet, sophisticated fish restaurant on New York’s Upper West Side, for a late lunch on the recent Martin Luther King Jr holiday. I heard that unmistakable deep, gravelly voice from a nearby table. It was social activist/calypso crooner Harry Belafonte. How coincidental, not only to run into an old family friend at this retro restaurant reminiscent of a luxury liner, but to reconnect with the long time civil rights activist on this commemorative day.

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Who among us doesn’t want to discover the eternal Fountain of Youth? Politicians, and their constituents alike, are no different. For some, it may be akin to finding a pot of gold, for others, a fad diet, steamy sex, or perhaps, Botox, cosmetic surgery or a trendy spa.

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Will political correctness, obligatory to DC culture, prevail over BRAVO TV’s demand for drama? DC consultants and power women weigh in on what will make the show successful and what will make it fall short.

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“Funny Girl,” Barbra Streisand, a familiar White House guest during the Clinton years, apparently felt right at home there Sunday evening, when President George W. Bush not only surprised the outspoken liberal by planting a kiss on her cheek, but when she walked into the men’s room while hubby James Brolin and a military aide blocked the door. Perhaps for the moment she thought she was back on the set of “Yentl,” where she played a young boy. The talented diva dramatically pulled the medal she was presented at the State Department the previous evening out from her cleavage so it dangled among a dozen or so long gold chains.

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CURIOSITY and a desire to see reality led the late Rep. Leo J. Ryan to Guyana 30 years ago this week. I spent much of the last evening of the 95th session of Congress in 1978 with the Democrat from Northern California. It was his final night in Washington before he would head back home and then, several weeks later, embark on his fact-finding trip to Guyana.

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The Nation�s governors attended their annual State Dinner last night in the East Room of The White House hosted by President and Mrs. Bush. It�s a tradition that began with Teddy Roosevelt 100 years ago. The governors dined on Hudson River duck rather than the Maine lobster and Colorado lamb served last year. But that wasn�t the only difference I noticed throughout the evening.

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Betsy Stuart’s puzzles are a cut above the rest and so was Stuart, herself, who this week at age 60, lost her valiant decades-long battle with cancer. For Barbara Bush, the pieces all came together during a vacation many years ago with husband George –the hand-cut pieces of her Betsy Stuart jigsaw puzzle, that is. The former First Lady had brought along the 500-piece puzzle–a picture of Manhattan’s skyline–on the couple’s 12-day Aegean cruise. “It drove us crazy,” she said later. “We loved it.” Now she�s a member of Stuart�s rental club, the Netflix of the puzzle world.

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It doesn’t take long to discover that there are dog people and non-dog people. The latter don’t understand when I talk to my “kids” — as I often refer to my toy poodles — Biscotti, 9; and Campari, 4. My fur-babies are an integral part of my daily life. I’m told we even look alike, the same reddish hair color with the same wavy texture. They sense my moods, never judge, know when to play and when to comfort me. My holiday cards feature them, and friends always ask how they’re doing.

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Want a retreat from your daily routine? How about a night in a bona fide two-story Log Cabin? You�ll sleep in a four-poster timber bed with an aquarium built right into the headboard and bathe in an environmental habitat room � all this in the heart of D.C.?Or are you in the mood for a cruise? Try the windowless Stateroom, with its king-sized waterbed and nautical detail. Beatles fans can soak in the tub immersed with not only the sounds of John Lennon, but his face reflected on the bathroom floor of the Lennon room. I hunkered down in the magnificent Fifth Dimension suite while my house was undergoing renovation. After a whirlpool bath and a dreamy nights sleep in a hand-finished mahogany Sleigh bed from Milan, I worked out on my private treadmill.

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Virginians rejoice! Governor Tim Kaine has promised to serve out his full four-year term. When I ran into him Sunday evening at President Bush�s annual dinner for the nation�s governors at The White House, I pressed him as to why he felt the need to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination so early in the election cycle. After all, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, Obama�s home state, is so far the only other governor to do so. Most savvy politicians sit back and wait rather than make such an aggressive move a year before the primary. It�s significant because Kaine, respected among Southern Governors ��the south is an important voter block�–supported a mid-westerner over a fellow southerner, former Sen. John Edwards (N.C).

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Terry McAuliffe is ready for the challenge, any challenge.”I�ll do anything once,” boasted the McLean resident and author of the recently published, “What A Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals.”

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Red, white and blue balloons reminiscent of a political convention decorated the ceiling of the Fountain room at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City on Monday evening. The energy in the room was high and filled with buzz of Hillary Clinton�s candidacy for the nomination. The occasion was the launch of the publication of Clinton best pal and golf companion, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe�s book, “What a Party! My Life among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals.”

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Dolly Parton dressed in a dramatic white gown and teased beehive hairdo looked around at the guests at the White House reception, Sunday, “I�m honored to be here with all these people wearing all these fancy clothes.” The occasion was a reception for the honorees before the 29^th Annual Kennedy Center Honors performance and late night dinner. And although President Bush and the First Lady, The Cheneys and Secretary of State Condolezza Rice took part, this evening was show biz before politics.

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�The relationship between God and politics may be an age old question, but my conversation over coffee at the Caboose Caf� in Alexandria, VA.,�the other morning was not the usual small talk.

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South African President Thabo Mbeki, as well as many of the country�s other influential leaders including Nelson Mandela, come from South Africa�s eclectic Eastern Cape. The region is rich in natural beauty but economically the poorest of South Africa�s nine provinces. South Africans are also proud of their top diplomat in the U.S., Ambassador Barbara Masekela. Also from the Eastern Cape, she was an anti-apartheid activist, former chief of staff to Nelson Mandela, and the sister of the great jazz trumpeter, Hugh Masekela.

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