Matthew Modine: Grab a Bike!

Matthew Modine, Bebe Neuwirth and Liam Neeson were among the celebs who turned out last night for the unveiling of the Alpha Collection from premier luggage-maker Tumi. From the sky-high Glass Houses at the Chelsea Arts Tower, guests admired a collection of Modine's photographs, which were up for auction in support of his new initiative, Bicycle for a Day. On that occasion, September 20, 2008, the actor and thousands of others will grab a bike instead of a taxi, all in the name of cleaner, healthier air. Mike Bloomberg's congestion pricing initiative may have died in Albany, but this is one plan at least, that has no risk of falling flat. Mark your calendars now.

Spitzer Lampooned

Tonight's Inner Circle performance, a black-tie charity fundraiser held at the New York Hilton, took off the gloves and delved right into this week's political shocker, the Spitzer scandal and resignation. The manic events of the past five days required cast members, who are primarily New York radio and television personalities, to put in long hours both covering the unfolding story and re-writing portions of the script of their show to be up-to-the-minute as details of the tawdry affair were uncovered. Traditionally, the hammy corps of 100 journos creates an annual show to lampoon the sitting mayor. Immediately following the reporters' on-stage antics, the mayor has the chance for a theatrical rebuttal. Last year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was joined on stage with cast members from Mary Poppins. This year, it was the cast of Xanadu. The fun-spirited give-and-take parry has been going on for more than eighty years. This evening's performance, called Young Mikenstein, a send-up of the Mel Brooks musical currently playing at the New Amsterdam theater, follows the wild campaign to create a monster-style replacement for our lame duck mayor. The Spitzer jokes, however, start early and don't let up. Watch for WCBS Newsradio 880's Rich Lamb as Michael Bloomberg, Glenn Schuck of 1010 WINS as a hilarious and inspired Igor, the CW11's Mary Murphy as a singing and dancing Hillary Clinton and Marvin Scott as NYC schools chancellor Joel Klein, as well as CBS 2's John Slattery as George W. Bush, among others. Photographs courtesy of Marvin Scott.

New Orleans Jazzes it Up in NYC

At a glittering gala held tonight to raise funds and awareness for the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, Soledad O'Brien accepted an award on behalf of the Time Warner Corporation for its team coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. In the glorious Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, O'Brien and Mayor Michael Bloomberg looked on as a video presentation portrayed the many ways Time Warner covered the disaster, from the pages of Time and People to the airwaves of CNN. The Preservation Resource Center was founded in 1974 and has been instrumental in assisting more than 5,000 families in the ravaged city in preserving their homes. %%showphotos [setid=72157603767582448]%%