Celebrities have a long history of engagement with development. We take a look at the stars who have got involved over the past 60 years
oprah winfrey ellen degeneres dave chapelle george lopez jay leno
Saturday, January 1, 2011
GRS Blogger Profile: Sierra Black
Get Rich Slowly started as a place for J.D. to write about money. Over the past five years, it’s grown beyond that. It’s now a multi-author blog. This week, each of the authors will share a brief bio to give readers a little background. Enjoy! My name is Sierra Black. I’ve been a staff writer [...]
emily blunt and john krasinski bethenny frankel and josh hoppy justin bieber kesha wiz khalifa
Christmas with the stars
Celebrities open up their festive photo albums. Featuring: The Hoff, Susan Boyle, Rufus Wainwright, Oprah Winfrey, Alice Cooper, and many more...
willie nelson rihanna willow smith dorothy hamill hayden panettiere
My $132,683 Comcast Bill
This is a guest post from Carl Hendley of The Motley Fool. He’s substituting for Robert Brokamp, the adviser for The Motley Fool?s Rule Your Retirement service. Brokamp generally contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks, but he’s had the audacity to take a vacation over the holidays, so Hendley is [...]
hilary duff and mike comrie chelsea clinton and marc mezvinsky carrie underwood and mike fisher katy perry and russell brand alicia keys and swizz beatz
Out With The Old, In With The New: Celebrate
Throughout the month of December, The Simple Dollar is posting a daily series focusing on specific activities you can do right now to set the stage for a great 2011. Out with the old, in with the new. 31. Celebrate the year that has passed – and the better one to come. It’s New Year’s [...]
perez hilton justin bieber lady gaga kim kardashian nicki minaj
Ashes fans' guide: Sydney's new drinking dens
Whether you're in Sydney to celebrate the new year or to watch England crown their Ashes glory next week, you can now do it in a clutch of small, cosy bars
Move aside Melbourne - at last, Sydney has its own small bars culture. For years, Sydney's potential for hidey-hole drinking dens was stymied by prohibitive licensing laws ? bars had to apply for a costly Au$15,000-a-year hotelier's licence, and were forced to serve alcohol with food. As a result, big bars ruled, and even the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, agreed there was "a real call for smaller bars supporting a diverse, intimate and more civilised drinking culture". In July 2008, after a strong campaign led by Moore, a new "small bars" licence was introduced ? drinking establishments could finally serve alcohol without food, and the licence fee was slashed to just $500. The result? A burgeoning boutique-bar scene. My guide around the new drinking dens was Myriam Thibault, a French expat living in Sydney and founder of mytinerary.com.au:
1. Small Bar, Central Business District
Opened in December 2008, this was one of the first small bars to open under the new licensing law, and is part of Sydney's Live Laneways project, designed to reinvent the unused alleys of the city in much the same way that Melbourne has done. It's set over three levels, all polished wood floors and wooden furniture; choose from the sandstone cellar, the cosy room upstairs, which has a few seats along the bar and a smattering of tables, or ? if you're not too far gone to negotiate the precariously steep stairway at the back ? nab one of the outdoor tables that spill onto the back laneway. Expect bottled beers from local breweries and good-value wines by the glass from Adelaide to Alsace. There's also live music every Thursday evening and bar food served until 10pm.
? 48 Erskine St; +61 2 9438 4559, smallbar.net.au
2. Bootleg Bar & Italian Food, Potts Point
It may only be a stroll from the city's famous red-light district, but this bolthole is about as homely and laid-back as a bar can get - tea lights flicker, soul music plays softly in the background, black and white photos of famous rockers frame the walls, and drinkers settle in to booths or bar tables. There's a good list of affordable wines, beer on tap and simple Italian dishes served until late ? don't miss the special's chalkboard, with creations such as squid ink linguini with seared scallops and chilli.
? 175 Victoria Street, +61 2 9361 3884, bootlegbar.com.au
3. Pocket, Darlinghurst
Opened last summer, this drinking den is one of several new small bars to crop up in the Darlinghurst and Surry Hills area. It manages to be unpretentious and cool at the same time, with concrete floors and mix-match furniture, like 70s sofas, wooden benches, chesterfields and coffee tables. The walls are a mixture of exposed brick and Lichtenstein-esque murals, and the glass-topped bar doubles as a display case for various bits of art and knickknacks, as well as a bookcase with issues of National Geographic. Settle into a sofa and enjoy the funk play list over the sound system. They serve breakfast (eggs on sourdough) and dinner (chicken skewers, charcuterie plate etc), but their crepes ? from savoury delights such as chirizo with spicy eggplant and feta, to calorific sweets like Nutella and strawberries ? are to die for.
? 13 Burton Street, +61 2 9380 7002, pocketsydney.com.au
4. Shady Pines Saloon, Darlinghurst
Tucked away in a back alley parallel to Oxford Street with no sign (look out for the drab white curtains), this bar caused quite a stir when it opened earlier this year. Largely, because it's an unashamedly stylised country and western saloon bar straight out of a Spaghetti Western ? small round wooden tables fill the darkened concrete room, overlooked by stuffed deer, carved wooden American Indians, "wanted" posters and a huge longhorn steer, which takes up almost an entire wall. Take a pew at the bar (three-quarters reclaimed wood from Arizona, quarter old basketball court) and ponder the drinks list: while a bourbon seems the drink of choice, the wine list is top-notch For a couple of weeks at a time, special bottles from a particular country ? Portugal, Lebanon, Italy ? are available by the glass.
? Shop 5, 256 Crown St, [no number] shadypinessaloon.com
5. Sticky Bar, Surry Hills
There's something exciting about a hidden bar where you have to call the owner to get in. In this case, the owner is an Italian called Michael Fantuz (there's a phone number at the entrance, which you call to be let in), and the tiny, dark bar is tucked away in a room above his quirky-cool Table For 20 restaurant - where diners sit at two large tables and dishes of Italian-influenced food, cooked by Michael's mother, get passed around. Like the restaurant, Sticky has an everyone's-welcome laid-back vibe; sink into one of the deco armchairs or leather Ottomans and ponder over the all-Italian wine list on the blackboards (the specialty is the "sticky" dessert wine), or the Italian-inspired cocktail list, while listening to cool tunes; live music is played during dinner, which is piped upstairs into the bar.
? 182 Campbell St, +61 4 1609 6916, tablefor20.blogspot.com
6. Fico, Surry Hills
With no signage, no website and masked windows, Fico is a place you seek out rather than stumble across. Owned by the people behind Italian trattoria Il Baretto, just up the street, this is very much a chic, but cosy, wine bar, with around 30 varietals offered by the glass (there are also a couple of beers and other tipples on the menu). Small and intimate, with low hanging crown bulbs, deep-cushioned couches and calfskin ottomans, there are lots of little alcoves, perfect for a t�te-�-t�te. As would you expect from Italain restaurant owners, the food is stellar, too, with a selection of dishes such as Roman-style ravioli (stuffed with prosciutto and mozarella), and there's a free antipasto plate with the first glass of wine between 6-7pm.
? 544 Bourke St, Surry Hills; +61 2 9699 2133, ficowinebar.com.au/fico/frontdoor.html
7. Name This Bar, Darlinghurst
This bar opened December 2009, and, having not yet decided on a name for it, the owners asked the public for their ideas. Along with suggestions for everything else - the bar erected an "ideas wall" on which patrons were invited to scrawl their thoughts. In the end Name This Bar ? its working title ? won out. The temporary "ideas wall" has been given permanent status, alongside other mismatched lounge-style decor. There's a decent wine list, happy hour with Au$5 bubbly cocktails, cider on tap and cheap eats - mezze, dips and dumplings - but it's the live art wars (two street artists in a "graffiti battle') and weekly jam sessions that many people come for.
? 197 Oxford Street, +61 2 9356 2123, namethisbar.com.au
8. Mille Vini, Surry Hills
Housed in a small building that was a stonemason's workshop and bookmakers in previous lives, this buzzing wine bar-cum-restaurant retains an industrial feel with exposed sandstone walls and roof beams, mixed with sleek dark-wood furniture and hanging lamps. The name of the bar means "a thousand wines'", and there are, unsprisingly, 1,000 wines, as near as damn it, to choose from lining the floor-to-ceiling shelves and sourced from every corner of the globe. It gets busy, so arrive early and settle in for the night. A big glass cabinet showcases the ingredients that make up the spuntini (Italian tapas) ? cured meats, zucchini flower, blocks of cheese and fat olives.
? 397 Crown St, Surry Hills, +61 2 9357 3366 [no website]
9. Delicado Foods, McMahons Point
On first impressions, you could mistake this place for being just another bottle-shop - a beautiful one at that, wood-clad with a huge wrought iron chandelier. Walk through the little doorway at the back, however, and you're in the most charming restaurant-cum-deli-cum-wine bar in Sydney. This is a Spanish place through and through, with Flamenco black and red walls, a deli counter stocked with Spanish meats and cheeses, a menu heavy with seafood, chorizo and paella, and a stunning range of Spanish wines, unmatched in Sydney. Buy wine for your meal from the bottle shop, or come between 4pm and 6pm for wine tastings (Au$35, or Au$45 with cheese).
* 134 Blues Point Rd, +61 2 9955 9399; delicadofoods.com.au
10. Fix St James, St James
Originally a restaurant, Fix St James reinvented itself into a wine bar-cum-Italian bistro under the new small bar licence. And it works. The wine is definitely a highlight, "dedicated to hands-on-makers, small growers, crazies and fanatics", with little-known varieties and producers from Australia and beyond. Come just for a drink - during the week, its banquettes buzz with post-office Sydneysiders doing just that ? or a meal, too. Owner and sommelier Stuart Knox knows his plonk, and will happily suggest wines to match your food. Go for the "quick fix" menu of five dishes, which are chosen by the chef, a steal at Au$44.
* 111 Elizabeth Street, + 2 9232 2767; fixstjames.com.au
mytinerary.com.au offers a half-day tailor-made wine tour from Au$99 per person (0061 1300 951 138, ). Virgin Atlantic (08448 747747, virginatlantic.com) flies from London Heathrow to Sydney from �848 return. For more details visit australia.com
Getting there: Qantas (qantas.com) from London Heathrow to Sydney from �749pp. Valid for departures 16 April-20 June 2011. Offer ends 31 January 2011.
Further information Tourism Australia, australia.com
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kim kardashian lindsay lohan sandra bullock and jesse james melissa etheridge and tammy lynn michaels chelsea handler and ted harbert
This week's new live music
Drake, on tour
Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment is like a finishing school would be, were swearing actively encouraged there. And while Wayne himself was unavoidably detained for much of 2010, his proteges performed magnificently in his absence. Nicki Minaj created a strong female identity. Her opposite number, male counterpart and all-round runaway success, however, is Drake. An MC both amusing and ribald, but also with the odd pang of conscience, Drake is having his cake and eating it: enjoying fame's spoils, while also providing a Robbie Williams-style commentary on their effects. The successes have been considerable ? dating Rihanna; becoming one of GQ's Men Of The Year ? but they've also been artistic; his borrowing of Lil Wayne's drawl among the only flaws in his hip-hop/R&B hybrid. He's a class act, too. These are rescheduled dates: last time, he cancelled when his mum was ill.
O2 Academy Glasgow, Tue, Wed; HMV Apollo, W6, Fri
John Robinson
(Not) The Track And Field Winter Sprinter, London
2010 was a pretty good year for old-school indie music: the coyly-stated passions, lo-fi recordings, and knock-kneed imitation of 1960s studio masters as much a feature of some of the year's most charming music as it was in 1986. The Track And Field Winter Sprinter dates back to a time when indie's fortunes weren't so fair, and, now curated by the Fortuna Pop label, sees in the new year with an optimistic outlook. Things begin with Shrag and retro-poppers the Loves, and continue with Comet Gain on Wednesday. Darren Hayman, who headlines Thursday with his group the Secondary Modern, was an anomaly when he emerged with former band Hefner in the mid-to-late-90s, but emerges now to find that his work is finding its most sympathetic audience.
The Lexington, N1, Tue to Thu
JR
Teeth Of The Sea, London
Centuries ago, you'd have found Teeth Of The Sea as the sentinels lighting bonfires to warn of impending invasions. These being more sophisticated times, the Londoners confine themselves to doing much the same, but in a format you'd loosely have to call post-rock. This, though, isn't by any means the tidy, complex and slightly jazzy business that term can sometimes entail. Instead with Teeth Of The Sea, it's all about the feeling and all in the build up, a barometric disturbance before the churning of the storm ? a state that in the late-90s we'd have attributed to "pre-millennial tension", but which now sounds like a pretty terrifying protest music, an impression not dispelled by the odd baleful, quasi-military cornet blast. Their thundering tribal drums and antique synthesizers scream Stonehenge, of course, but the sensory experience far outweighs any reservations.
Madame Jo Jo's, W1, Tue
JR
Mozart Unwrapped, London
It's going to be hard to escape Mozart this new year. Radio 3 is broadcasting all of his works in the first 12 days of the year, while this weekend sees the launch of Mozart Unwrapped at Kings Place. The biggest so far of the Unwrapped series, it runs through the year, some 40 concerts parcelled up into 11 week-long strands. Jonathan Cohen's programme with the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, soprano Sophie Bevan and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout features the piano concerto K467 and the 39th Symphony, while on Thursday Colin Davis conducts the Aurora Orchestra in the 36th Symphony and a couple of concert arias with soprano Fflur Wyn.
Kings Place, N1, New Year's Day & Thu
Andrew Clements
Neil Cowley/Finn Peters, Dorking
Two cutting-edge but groove-driven UK jazz groups, helping the BBC celebrate Jazz Line Up's 10th anniversary in a live broadcast. Pianist Cowley moved toward a more complex and subtle music with his Radio Silence album, a venture beginning with an almost free-improv speculativeness that turns into expansive, Bad Plus-like anthems, flamenco associations, and slowed-down funk. Flautist and saxophonist Finn Peters, on the other hand, spans the worlds of John Coltrane and the soul-jazz horn players, and has worked with Dizzee Rascal, Matthew Herbert and classical group Noszferatu. His latest venture is a collaboration with computer-music guru Matthew Yee King.
Friends Provident Social Club, Thu
John Fordham
Scott Hamilton Quartet, London
Scott Hamilton, the Rhode Island tenor sax man, missed a generation in his jazz evolution ? his age destined him to be a postbopper, growing up like the late Michael Brecker in John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter's shadows, but he preferred the song-shaped lyricism of the saxophonists that had passed by long before. Hamilton began recording in the late-70s, deploying a lustrous, smoky sound, and a meticulous sensitivity to the implications of standard songs that hardly any jazz horn players his age were bothering to cultivate. Thirty-odd albums later, Hamilton still eases his way around the same dance ? with an ever more refined skill that makes it increasingly irrelevant whether his materials are dated or not. He's recently showed an interest in Hammond organ blues, and in partnership with British virtuosi like Alan Barnes, has swept freely across the jazz composers' landscape, notably Duke Ellington's.
Pizza Express, W1, New Year's Day to 7 Jan
JF
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dave chapelle george lopez jay leno tyra banks david letterman
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