Drive past the bustling intersection at the corner of Fountain Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Silverlake and you might easily miss the recent arrival of Spruce, the Los Angeles edition of one of New York City’s most celebrated and awarded flower boutiques. It is not because it is particularly demure or due to any particular design flaw that Spruce might so easily escape immediate recognition, but instead because the space is so unlike any other floral emporium in the City of Angels. In fact, it is in this very quality of singularity that Gaige Clark, the owner, mastermind and floral artist behind Spruce’s visionary approach to floral design, revels.

For the last 15 years, the originality of Clark’s floral arrangements has been setting the global design community ablaze while simultaneously setting the scene for television shows like Ugly Betty, Ellen, Law & Order and Damages, as well as a who’s who of clients that includes a mix of celebrities, socialites and royals. With two stores in New York and now one in Los Angeles, Clark has, with her unique approach and in her own inimitable way, evolved the art of floral design and the essence of floral boutiques one elegant stem at a time.

“I hate when people say, ‘I’m an artist’, but I feel like I am a creative director and what I do is I create spaces, and then when I create the spaces I put flowers into them,” Clark explained over a glass of Spruce juice, the refreshing signature concoction that welcomes customers into her minimalist chic vision of the world. “This is the most modern store I’ve built and the aesthetic of this store is based on the Getty and homes that I visited in Palm Springs. What I wanted to create was a flower laboratory. I wanted to deconstruct flowers to their essence…like no one’s ever done before.” Check.

There is something absolutely post-modern about Spruce. The white walls of the store are lined with shelves showcasing individual blooms in architectural vases, flowers and leaves submerged in jars and wooden crates packed with perfectly upright, neatly lined rows of roses unfettered by a shred of embellishment. In its sleekness, Spruce represents, in short, the antithesis of the traditional flower franchise and the penultimate in modern. No wonder then that Clark counts among her greatest compliments the words of the writer who after visiting her Silverlake outpost wrote, “…If there was a flower shop in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange it would be Spruce,” a description that is admittedly so fitting it would be difficult to best.

As if revolutionizing the very idea of floral design vis-à-vis her three stores weren’t enough, Clark now has her sights set on so much more. On the horizon is the imminent launch of a Spruce product line that will include bath salts, body lotion, hand soap and an antibacterial countertop spray, in store classes in floral arranging, and a book that will, among other things, explore Clark’s experience of growing up gender queer. There’s also the leather store in Provincetown she hopes to buy and bubbling under plans for Spruce stores in Paris and Japan. Needless to say, Clark is as long on ambition as she is on creativity.

Asked about the source of here seemingly boundless drive, Clark credits her upbringing.  “I have two very charismatic parents,” she explains.  “My mother really, really drove me and my father does standup comedy. He’s so funny. So I think I got humor from him and the ability to be able to look beyond the tragedy in our lives. The key to it I think is laughing at things. That’s why I’ve always been able to say, ‘What’s next?’ You know …you lift yourself up you dust yourself off and accept.”

And then bloom…clearly.

Find out more about Spruce at www.sprucela.com.

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Anyone who has ever taken a road trip with a neurotic friend or acquaintance will almost assuredly relate to Crystal Fairy and The Magical Cactus and 2012. Directed by Sebastian Silva and starring, Michael Cera  (Juno), Gaby Hoffman (Field of Dreams) and Silva’s model good-looking trio of brothers Juan Andrés, José Miguel and Agustin Silva (aka the Silva brothers), Crystal Fairy won this year’s Sundance Festival Directing award and in the process made its director one of Hollywood’s hottest up and coming directors.

At its core Crystal Fairy is both literally and figuratively a film about a journey. Jamie (Michael Cera) is a naively obnoxious American living in Chile who ropes his Chilean friend Champa (Juan Andrés Silva) along with his brothers Lel (Jose Miguel Silva) and Pilo (Agustin Silva) into driving down to the Atacama Desert for a mescaline-fueled psychedelic trip courtesy of drinking a San Pedro cactus, which they must first buy and prepare before the trip begins in earnest. One problem. On the night before they are scheduled to leave, Jamie snorts a whole bunch of cocaine, swigs a healthy amount of booze and invites a girl that he meets at a party to join them. That girl turns out to be a free-thinking, hippy-esque American who goes by the name Crystal Fairy and her addition to the trip will change the dynamic of everything that Jamie has planned.

Cera’s portrayal of the annoying “ugly American” Jamie is almost painfully dead on. So much so in fact that I found myself squirming in my seat as I watched him. I know this Jamie guy and chances are so do you and that’s what makes him so uncomfortable to watch. The Silva brothers are naturally effortless in the portrayal of the kind and patient siblings that are the perfect foil for Jamie’s self-centered, unenlightened ways. And Gaby Hoffman is fearlessly entertaining as the quirky Crystal Fairy whose story is so much deeper than it appears on the surface.

With the Chilean desert as its primary backdrop, Crystal Fairy is a surprisingly frank exploration of denial, self-recognition and the kind of real camaraderie that only a road trip can bring.

Crystal Fairy is currently playing in Los Angeles, New York and other select cities.

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There are days when even I think I’ve picked a pretty good gig in this life, and this is definitely one of those days. As I sit down to write this week’s blog, I am contemplating what a journey life can be. It really is sort of a—well, trip, when you think about it.

When I was barely 10 years old (if that), I somehow got my hands on a tattered old copy of Jackie Collins’ novel The Bitch, ripped the cover off of it (so my mother wouldn’t know what I was reading) and read the book from cover to cover in a day. I couldn’t put it down. Not only did it inspire me to read, it inspired me to write.

Flash forward to the last several years. I’ve had the opportunity to interview Jackie Collins a few times. For one of those chats, I even visited the best-selling author’s palatial digs in the flats of Beverly Hills, where I sat with her in the space where many of the characters in her best-selling novels have been birthed. In addition to being great fun, Jackie is also, as you might imagine, an amazing raconteur, so conversation has always been easy. And each time we’ve met, we’ve always had a good laugh about her books, Hollywood and music—especially music, because Jackie loves music.

Not once have I walked away from a conversation with Jackie Collins without her reeling off a list of new music for me to check out. She loves R&B—everything from Bobby Womack to Robin Thicke—and she knows it intimately, right down to the remixes, so it came as no surprise to me when I ran into her at the cocktail reception preceding Clive Davis’ listening party for the final album of Whitney Houston at the Beverly Hilton. Of course she would be there. The worlds of Hollywood and music collided that afternoon, so it was an event tailor-made for Jackie Collins.

Tonight, as I sat at the London Hotel in Los Angeles, where Jackie hosted a launch party for her sexy new best-selling thriller The Power Trip, I was thinking the real power trip was how I somehow got from the North Side of Jacksonville, Fla., to the chic dining room at the Ramsay sitting across from Jackie as she dished about Tinseltown, sex and “kicking ass,” subjects in which both she and are characters are very well-versed.

Talk about a journey! For half a minute, I drifted away from Jackie’s conversation and remembered the little boy who had read her big bad words for the first time all those years ago, and it was a little surreal. The fancy sophisticated lady whose picture I had seen on that book jacket all those years ago was a few feet away from me, and I actually kind of knew her. For a second, I felt like a character in a Jackie Collins novel (a lesser character, but a character nonetheless), and I was a little struck.

When you live and work in Hollywood, you have these moments a lot. They are fleeting but nonetheless real. And, though some people don’t like to acknowledge them for fear of not seeming cool, I do, and this was one of them. And that’s that. Now back to The Power Trip.

Collins’ latest tome, which was just released in the U.S. after having already become a best-seller in the UK a few months back, is a wild ride of a read, set not in Beverly Hills or Hollywood this time around but instead on a state-of-the-art luxury yacht. And trust me, there’s more action happening on this yacht on this one trip than most people experience in a lifetime on dry land. Because I don’t want to be a spoiler, rather than write my own synopsis of the story, I’ll use the spin from the book’s press release to introduce the story:

In The Power Trip you will meet Aleksandr Kasianenko, a billionaire Russian oligarch, as he sets sail on The Bianca. You’ll meet his sexy supermodel girlfriend, whom The Bianca is named after, and five dynamic, powerful and famous couples invited on the yacht’s maiden voyage: Hammond Patterson, a driven Senator, and his lovely but unhappy wife, Sierra. Cliff Baxter, a charming, never married movie star, and his ex-waitress girlfriend, Lori. Taye Sherwin, a famous black UK footballer and his interior designer wife, Ashley. Luca Perez, a male Latin singing sensation with his older, decadent English boyfriend, Jeromy. And Flynn, a maverick journalist with his Asian renegade female friend, Xuan.

You will also meet Russian mobster, Sergei Zukov, a man with a grudge against Aleksandr. And Sergei’s Mexican beauty queen girlfriend, Ina, whose brother, Cruz, is a master pirate with orders to hold The Bianca and its illustrious rota of guests for ransom.

Sold yet? You should be. Jackie Collins wrote the inspirations for series like Revenge decades ago with characters like Lucky Santangelo, and she invented The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills before there was even a Bravo network with her books likeHollywood Wives and Hollywood Husbands. The Power Trip is another in the best-selling storyteller’s long list of before-their-time page turners, and it is the perfect read for your next trip. Just be prepared to dig into the addictive tale of power, wealth and consequences, because once you start it, I doubt you’ll be able to put it down. But then again, it’s a Jackie Collins novel, so would you ever expect anything different?

Order the book and take Jackie Collins’ The Power Trip by visiting jackiecollins.com/book/the-power-trip. Also be sure to check out the audiobook for The Power Trip  available on Macmillan Audio where Jackie herself reads the book along with a full cast of characters. Here’s a clip:

ThePowerTrip_webclip

And never forget that one of the most exciting parts of Living Wells is always remembering where you came from, because without a touchstone to ground you, you can’t always appreciate where you’ve been—or where you’re going, for that matter. Until next time…be well…live Wells!

Follow Duane @theduanewells

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Judging from the bustling scene that generally greets guests who pull up to valet at The Redbury on any given night, it would be hard to imagine that this paparazzi-ready backdrop had ever been anything but. However, it wasn’t so long ago that the structure that now houses The Redbury was a casualty of the economic downturn, languishing in the shadows of Hollywood’s iconic Capitol Records building. Originally conceived as a condominium complex, the building was stuck in real estate purgatory—unfinished and unsaleable—until it was reborn thanks to the joint vision of sbe founder and CEO Sam Nazarian and visual auteur Matthew Rolston.

Rather than break up the condos to create more standard-sized hotel rooms, Nazarian and Rolston opted to keep the rooms (which are referred to as ‘flats”) at the original sizes of the condos, which means the smallest flats (Flat A) are 750 square feet, the one-bedroom mid-size flats (Flat B – The Hollywood Premiere Flats) are 850 square feet and the four Redbury Signature Suites (Flat C) have two bedrooms spread over an exceptionally generous 1,020 square feet.

To put that into perspective, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently launched an initiative to build new apartments in Manhattan that would average 275 to 300 square feet, just a little more than a third the size of the smallest room at the hippest destination in Hollywood. Needless to say, the flats at the Redbury are supersize by comparison. But the size of the rooms is perhaps the only area in which the Redbury seems “supersized” in any way—and that is a very good thing.

As a boutique hotel with just 57 rooms, the hallmark of The Redbury is service, and the experience of the hotel is intimate from the very first encounter. Rather than a massive check-in desk in the lobby, there is a simple, discreet area on the second floor where guests are welcomed and shown to their perfectly appointed rooms, in which Mr. Rolston’s flair for visual stimulation is in full bloom.

In every room, vintage rock ‘n’ roll posters and Persian rugs abut brightly colored walls and boldly patterned furnishings. Meanwhile, amenities like full European-style kitchens with oversize work islands, washer/dryers, floor-to-ceiling windows, vintage vinyl record collections with record players and private balconies and patios, which would be rare finds in other properties, are standard fare for each room at The Redbury. Put simply, this is a hotel that represents the ultimate in livability, which probably explains why when guests arrive, they tend to stay a while, and repeat customers are the norm rather than exception.

Complementing all of the above are uniquely sbe guest favors like preferential (translation: VIP) access to the brand’s signature Los Angeles assets, including Bazaar by José Andrés, XIV by Michael Mina, Katsuya, The Abbey and the Ciel Spa at SLS. All that aside (and that’s a lot to put aside mind you), I am of the opinion that the greatest treasures The Redbury has to offer are right on its premises rather than beyond them.

The Glade, the hotel’s lush courtyard area with its Moorish accents, is a brilliant place to enjoy cocktails in the heart of Hollywood. Bordered by the dimly lit, sturdily masculine Library Bar, The Glade is perfectly happening (meaning not annoyingly crowded) on evenings and weekends, and it has just that hint of exclusivity that gives it a great buzz. Meanwhile, Cleo, the Redbury’s premier dining experience, is perhaps the breakout star of the property.

With Cleo, chef Daniel Elmaleh has created one of the best new restaurants in Los Angeles. Now, I readily admit that I make that call with prejudice, because I am a huge fan of Mediterranean cuisine. But I would challenge you to sample the mezzes (small plates), the raw bar, the homemade Laffa flatbreads or any of the dishes prepared in the restaurant’s signature stone oven and not have a transcendent epicurean moment. Start with the Brussel Sprouts—and trust me when I say these are not your mother’s brussel sprouts. Fried crispy with capers, parsley and almonds, drizzled with red wine vinaigrette, this is the best starter I’ve discovered in ages.

Then, on the Mezze menu, try the dips—the Babaganoush, the Lebaneh with Feta and the Cucumbers with Yogurt—which are served with warm pita bread, the “Cigars” stuffed with Merguez sausage and the lamb, chicken and beef kebabs. All are simple but amazing in flavor. Next move on to a flatbread like the artichoke with crushed potato, wilted Arugula and aged mozzarella, or the Merguez with caramelized onions and peppers and smoked mozzarella. And then maybe sample a salad (the chopped salad is an excellent choice), but by all means try one of the dishes prepared in the stone oven—a tagine of beef cheek, mussels or fish perhaps. For what it’s worth, I recently ordered the lamb and it was just a beautiful, perfectly balanced dish—definitely the highlight of the night.

For guests of The Redbury, there is a 24-hour in-flat dining menu that has been created by Chef Elmaleh. Now if that, along with all the other bells and whistles The Redbury has to offer, doesn’t make you feel at home in Hollywood, I’m not quite sure what will.

Find out more about The Redbury experience at theredbury.com.

Update: The Redbury Hotel has closed.

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While for the rest of the world the most wonderful time of year may fall somewhere between Thanksgiving and December 31, in Hollywood there is no more glittering space of time than the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards. Swanky soirees, rounds of screenings and enough cocktail receptions to inspire a stint at Betty Ford fill the calendars of the A-list en route to Tinseltown’s biggest night of the year. But you don’t necessarily have to be an A-list celebrity or bold-faced name to get in on the Oscar night party action. You simply need to know where to go. With that in mind, here are a few ideas on where to go to party hop like an Oscar nominee come February 26th, but first a word about where the action happens.

What most people may not realize is that the majority of the big Oscar night parties all take place within minutes of one another in the heart of West Hollywood and neighboring Beverly Hills. Let’s call it “Oscar Row” for conversation sake even though it’s not exactly a row. Serious star watchers and stalkers-in-training need only make their way to the streets of WeHo to be assured of a celebrity sighting. In fact, this year the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar Party will actually be hosted under a tent in West Hollywood Park near the Pacific Design Center. It just doesn’t get any closer than that. Now…speaking of Sir Elton …on to the parties.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party:

Generally held at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, the Elton John AIDS Foundation Party has, over the last 20 years, grown into an increasingly exclusive ticket thanks to superstar appearances by everyone from Madonna, Mary J. Blige and Victoria Beckham to Sharon Stone, the late Elizabeth Taylor and Kiefer Sutherland.

This year’s event will feature a special five-course menu prepared by celebrity chef Cat Cora and a musical performance by Foster The People (“Pumped Up Kicks”) and of course music from Mr. John himself. Though pricey and damned near impossible to get, there are still a few tickets available each year to those whose names do not regularly appear in print. That is of course if those folks can scrape together the $3,500 ticket price.

Night of 100 Stars Oscar Party:

Hosted by veteran music agent Norby Walters in the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom, the Night of 100 Stars Oscar Party brings LA’s glitterati together for a formal sit-down dinner viewing party that generally includes past Oscar winners and nominees who return each year to pay tribute to the current year’s nominees. Tickets to this year’s gala will set guests back a cool $1,000 per.

The Envelope Please – APLA’s Oscar Party:

The Envelope Please is always a good time on Oscar night. Best of all it’s just next door to the Elton John Party and tickets are a fraction of the price. Each year this event is held at The Abbey, West Hollywood’s most popular gay watering hole, and each year it attracts a stable of LA’s prettiest and most famous. Last year Marlee Maitlin and Drew Lachey were among the party faithful and this year NCIS’s Pauley Perrette will host the event.

Tickets are only $50 and the proceeds benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. Can you say score? Oh and did I mention that this year’s event includes an official after-party with a special 2-hour DJ set by DJ Connor Cruise from 8:30 -10:30 p.m? Make that double score!

Of course there is also the Mac Daddy of Oscar Parties, the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, and Madonna’s newly minted post-Oscar party, but since there are only 500 invites to the former (with one charity invite currently being auctioned off for over $16,000) and people selling their first born to get into the latter, which has become the ultimate insider’s event, I’ll spare you the pain of considering them.

#MoxieQ Oscar Bash:

If you happen be throwing your own Oscar Party or just kicking back at home watching the Academy Awards on your own, join MoxieQ’s online conversation moderated by moi on Sunday starting with Red Carpet coverage. We will be tweeting live all night from Hollywood about Hollywood’s biggest night and we want to hear what you think about the night’s big winners and even bigger losers. So don’t be shy. chime in. Follow me at TheDuaneWells or MoxieQ and get in on the conversation!

Oh and if you need a cocktail or twenty for the night, try the cocktail that I am designating as the signature libation at our soiree. It’s called the Crystal Cosmo (an ode to this year’s host Billy Crystal) and it’s made with Voli Lyte vodka, a new low-calorie Vodka (um how genius is that…all the alcohol with fewer calories…say it with me…”yum”).

Crystal Cosmo Recipe

APPROX CALORIES: 150 (Genius)

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 oz Voli Lyte

1 oz fresh lemon juice

2 oz Cranberry Juice

1⁄2 oz Agave Nectar

Top with Prosecco (OPTIONAL)

Garnish: Lemon twist

In a mixing tin, add ice, Voli Lyte, lemon juice, agave and shake. Strain into a martini glass and top with Prosecco.

Bottoms up and Happy Oscar Sunday! Can’t wait to chat with you on Sunday night!

Cheers!

-Duane

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This year, I am taking my love for the Oscars to another level by hosting the First Annual MoxieQ Oscar Party at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles (stay tuned for more details). In honor of this auspicious and long overdue event, I will be painting the town Oscar for the next week and a half, starting with my predictions for this year’s big winners.

Check back on MoxieQ for more updates and random thoughts about this year’s Academy Awards celebration in the lead up to Hollywood’s biggest night.

My 2012 Oscar Picks Are:

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer

At this year’s Oscar ceremony there is perhaps no surer thing than Octavia Spencer whose supporting role as the saucy, strong-willed Minnie in the hit film The Help has left an indelible impression upon moviegoers and critics alike. With a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a SAG  Award and a Critics Choice Award, among the many nods she’s already received in this category, it seems almost inevitable that Miss Spencer has a lock on this one Oscar night  and, truth be told, she deserves it. In recent years, this category has been one of the more predictable ones and there is little reason to think this year will be any different.

Runner-up: My choice would be Berenice Bejo whose performance in The Artist is pure joy. (Oh and for the record Bryce Dallas Howard was robbed of a nomination in this category for her no-holds-barred performance in The Help. Better luck next go round Bryce…for what it’s worth, I loved to hate you in The Help.)

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer

Like Octavia Spencer, Christopher Plummer seems to have a lock on the this year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his poignant portrayal of a man who decides to come out at the tender age of 75 in the film Beginners. The power of his performance aside, at  82 years-old, Plummer has been at his craft for six decades and has never come quite this close to Oscar before, so me thinks this time around the Academy will acknowledge him with the gold.

Runner-up:  Kenneth Branagh turns in a brilliant performance as Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn. In another year, he might certainly be the shoo-in for this award.

Best Actress:  Meryl Streep

Conventional wisdom says this award will go to Viola Davis for The Help, particularly after she took home the SAG Award for best actress in this category, but I’m going to go out on a limb and call it for 17-time Oscar nominee, Meryl Streep. The Iron Lady may not be one of the year’s best pictures, but Streep’s portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is drop dead phenomenal. Another tour de force performance from the best actress of our time. Add to that the fact that she has already scored the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for her performance in The Iron Lady and I’d say the odds are pretty good that Madame Streep will likely take home her third Academy Award this year.

Runner-up: Viola Davis. Hands down! (However, I’m secretly really rooting for Tilda “We Need To Talk About Kevin” Swinton simply because I secretly always want her to win everything because she’s just so damn cool. However there’s no real science to support that call so that’s really just a blatant plug for Tilda Swinton and maybe a not so good reason for me mention her name in this category. C’est la vie!)

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin

Again, conventional wisdom says George Clooney will take home this year’s Oscar for Best Actor, and again I’m going to go against that wisdom and call this one for The Artist’s Jean Dujardin. Not only does Dujardin deliver one of the most intoxicating and endearing performances in recent memory in The Artist, he’s also taken home the SAG, the BAFTA, the Palme d’Or and the Golden Globe for Best Actor. The Academy may love Clooney, but I suspect that this year they might just love the undeniably, irresistibly charming Monsieur Dujardin, just a little bit more. I mean, did you see his speech at the SAG Awards? Can you say ‘swoon-a- thon’? Anybody who wasn’t already in love with Dujardin and his mega-watt smile before that speech, was surely in love after. Ah l’amour!

Runner-up: George Clooney — Though a real (and unlikely) upset would be Brad Pitt for Moneyball.  But then again, does a guy with Pitt’s looks, career, significant other and gorgeous brood of children, really need any more rewards? I’m asking…does he?

Best Picture: The Artist

A film doesn’t get more Hollywood than The Artist. Period. It’s a film about Hollywood, that is set in Hollywood and hearkens back to the birth of Hollywood as we know it. And it’s genius. Rarely do I watch a film and get the sense that it is a classic right away but with The Artist that is exactly what I felt 20 minutes in. Put simply, The Artist is a cinematic triumph that reminds us all how powerful the medium can be sans the bells and whistles that have become standard theatrical fare. The 59 Awards the film has already earned going into this year’s Oscar ceremony, don’t hurt it’s chances in this category either.

Runner up: The Help, which deserves an award for ensemble cast. Jessica Chastain, Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard all gave bravura performances.

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

French director Michel Hazanavicius, made pure movie magic with The Artist and he’s taken home this year’s DGA award for Best Director, which is usually a big indicator of what will happen at the Oscars. Besides…(see above).

What do you think? Who are your picks? Let me hear from you on Twitter at MoxieQ or at TheDuaneWells. We’ll be tweeting all week about the lead up to the Oscars and picks for other categories, so give us a shout and tell us your picks and why. And then join us on Oscar Sunday for the 84th Annual Academy Awards when me and some of my favorite tweeps will be tweeting live about all things Oscar from the Red Carpet to the actual awards ceremony. Get in on the conversation! It’s gonna be uber fabulicious.

See you on the Red Carpet!

Cheers…

Duane

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To call Jackie Collins a literary titan would be an understatement. Since she began writing as a teenager, she has penned 27 New York Times bestsellers and has sold over 400 million books imbued with her own unique brand of glamorous raunch and Hollywood insider savvy. Her oeuvre is currently available in over 40 countries and not once has even one of her books ever been out of print. This spring saw the mass-market paperback release of Collins’ 27th book, Poor Little Bitch Girl, and this fall, she will release her next highly anticipated tome, Goddess of Vengeance, in the United States.

In your most recent book, Poor Little Bitch Girl, you’ve written a character called Belle Svetlana who clearly knows a thing or two about hotel rooms, and I suspect that you do too. What are some of the most notorious hotel rooms in Hollywood?
Well, Warren Beatty used to have a penthouse at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which many a woman in this town visited. It was quite good because they could go there and pretend they were shopping and then slip into the elevator and get up to the penthouse. So that was notorious. And then of course at the Chateau Marmont, where all the rock stars used to stay, there are a lot of private bungalows and people could slip in and out without being noticed. And the Beverly Hills Hotel has had its share of assignations. I think that’s where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton first started hanging out, so to speak, because you can approach the hotel from the side and go to one of the bungalows, and nobody sees you. The secret of a good hotel for an assignation is one where you don’t have to walk past the front desk.

The characters you write about experience the best of LA, where every door is open to them and every experience is strictly A-list. What are your picks for the hottest places in Los Angeles?
The clubs come and go so quickly that it’s difficult to say which ones are hot at the moment. A restaurant is hot here for five minutes and they move on, so a lot of parties go on at people’s houses. And unfortunately, drugs are still very much around…that whole Charlie Sheen scene. And men with power still feel that they can use women so you’ll see some old guy of 93 with a 22-year-old saying how much in love they are.

Speaking of Charlie Sheen, he’s actually very much like a classic character straight out of Jackie Collins’ Hollywood.
He really is! In fact, I was writing him when all this happened and I didn’t know it was him! I had this character who was locked up in a hotel room with hookers and cocaine, and then suddenly there it is on the television. My assistant, who inputs my books into the computer, was like, “My God…you’re writing this right now!”

Turning from your adopted hometown to your birthplace, tick off an itinerary of must-dos on a visit to London.
I love Marks & Spencer, it’s a must. Then of course there’s Harrod’s, which is an English tradition. You have to have tea at the Dorchester and a great Italian meal at San Lorenzo. The Woolsey is another fabulous English restaurant, which is just along from The Ritz. You also have to have tea at The Ritz after you’ve had tea at The Dorchester on another day. You’ve got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace because that’s quite a spectacle. And then you have to take a little drive into the country and eat lunch at one of the beautiful restaurants situated by the river. And you also have to visit a London Pub. Probably go to Guy Ritchie’s pub—you know the ex-husband of Madonna—I don’t know what it’s called, but I’m sure it’s fun.

So we all read you on the plane, but who or what do you read?
I love to read Mario Puzo. I re-read The Godfather every year. I like Elmore Leonard, and I love Chelsea Handler. I think her books are hilarious.

Along those same lines, I know you’re a huge music fan. So what are you listening to at the moment?
My current favorites are Drake, Bruno Mars, and Esperanza Spaulding, who I was loving before she won the Grammy. And of course the perennial Amy Winehouse and my old favorite, Marvin Gaye.

Frankie Romano, one of the central characters in Poor Little Bitch Girl is a DJ. What music would be on his playlist?
Oh he’d have Pitbull and the Black Eyed Peas. He would like the Foo Fighters, and he wouldn’t be a very good disc jockey, but he’d be a raunchy disc jockey.

What is your number one travel tip?
Pack your clothes in the cleaner’s bags. Keep them on the wire hanger under cleaner’s bags and just fold them over and they never wrinkle. That’s a great travel tip.

And what about the one item you’re never without when you travel?
My camera.

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“Baby, I am menopausal!” Lewis chided in jest to my friendly query. “I ain’t got time to be remembering shit! I won’t remember you when I hang up this fuckin’ phone!”

Jenifer Lewis is funny. Seriously funny. And she’s been entertaining audiences practically since the day she was born. It may sound like a Hollywood cliché, but with her husky voice, undeniably diva-esque bravado, and unabashedly raw brand of humor, Jenifer Lewis is a woman who was born to perform. And if you won’t take my word for it, take hers.

“I am a quadruple threat,” Lewis shrieks, fully embracing her over-the-top on stage persona. “You name the bitch who sings, dances, is funny, and can act!”

From the time she first stepped on the stage at the age of five to sing the gospel classic “Oh Lord You Brought Me a Mighty Long Way” with her hometown Baptist church choir right up through her stage debut on Broadway in Eubie, her stint as a Harlette backing Bette Midler, her hilarious one-woman show The Diva Is Dismissed, her string of memorable performances on television and in hit films like The Preacher’s Wife, What’s Love Got to Do With It? and Madea’s Family Reunionand her recent return to Broadway in the role of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Jenifer Lewis has brought the funny, while simultaneously imbuing her characters with a gritty realness that has become her hallmark.

Along the way, Lewis has been a tireless advocate for both AIDS services and LGBT civil rights, performing at countless benefits around the country. Jenifer Lewis speaks with Advocate.com as she premieres Hot Flash, her new one-woman show, a benefit for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center that will be performed at the center’s Renberg Theatre each Saturday through March 6. As the tag line for the show says, “Be on time, or Jenifer will cuss you out!”

Advocate.com: So, Jenifer, I think the title probably says it all, but tell me about Hot Flash in your own words.

Jenifer Lewis: Child, please! I’m going through menopause and my ass is on fire constantly. [Laughs] Seriously, Hot Flash is basically about everything. I just happen to be at a time in my life when I am literally hot-flashing. When it first started happening, I thought it was fabulous. I was thinking, My God, I get to burn up every other hour! But now I’m gettin’ sick of it because it disturbs your sleep! Basically Hot Flash is just a metaphor for my life … the extremes of standing on extinct volcanoes … all the way to seeing Mount Vesuvius of Naples and Mount St. Helens. It’s all about my eruptions and the lava flow. It’s basically me talking about the extreme fabulousness of my life.

So what was your process for writing this new show about the wonderful world of Jenifer Lewis?
Well, basically if it’s a one-person show, usually it’s about yourself. I mean, that’s why you do it. Some people will portray historical figures and that sort of thing, but shit … I am historical! I can’t think of anybody’s life that goes on and on as fabulous as mine. So fuck ’em! I’m talkin’ about myself because that’s what I know. [Laughs] Besides, how are you gonna’ tell somebody else’s story?

The way I form my one-woman shows is I pretty much that I always pick up where I left off. In my last show I was 50 and now I’m 53 and I’ve done so much and I’m going to tell you all about it. From the Democratic National Convention to the inauguration to Hairspray and Hello, Dolly! plus I’m in love now … so much has happened. So ya’ll get all those fabulous stories with footage and photos so for those people who are out there going, That ain’t true!, I can throw a picture in their face.

Without giving too much away, can you offer a preview of one of the highlights from Hot Flash?
I’ve written this song called “Shakespeare Ain’t Got Nuthin’ on Me” … Don’t ask me to be or not to be, I be bitch! There’s the song. Is that fabulous? Now print that because anybody who’s gay who sees that will be at the door. I’m going to show out!

You have embraced and been embraced by the gay community from the minute you first set foot on a stage. Where did the love affair begin and why?
They embrace me because I embrace them. That is why. I think a lot of female entertainers who are true advocates for the community — the ones who really care — I think it comes across in their performance. I think when you sit and you really take in the Judy Garlands, the Bette Midlers, the Barbra Streisands of the world, I think there is a connection that can’t quite be defined.

Everybody wants to know why the gay boys throng to Judy Garland. It’s because they saw honesty. And that’s what people see in me. They see raw, uninhibited honesty. I don’t know anything else. I never have, and that’s why I have sustained and remained in this business.

In your previous shows, you’ve talked about frequently being cast in the role of mother to everyone from Angela Bassett to Whitney Houston. Do you feel pigeonholed? And what are your thoughts on what some say is Hollywood’s obsession with portraying black actresses as sassy?
Child, listen, I have represented the African-American mother, aunt, and sister, and personally I think I’ve done a damn good job. I am sassy! Black women are sassy! Michelle Obama is sassy. Harriet Tubman was sassy! Please!

Let me tell you something, if what people say about you is not true, then why the fuck are you worried about it? What can anyone say about me but that I’m fucking brilliant? Why is that? That is because I tell the truth and I honor the gift that was given to me. I worked my ass off for what I’ve got. I used an outhouse until I was in ninth grade and now I’ve got five bathrooms. Jenifer earned it. Everybody can say that about me, and that’s why I can get up and do a woman show and say anything I want because I’ve been there, done that. Can’t nobody say nothing about me.

You are unquestionably a survivor, and, as you say, you’ve been brutally honest about your life, even going on Oprah to tell the world that you were bipolar …
I went on Oprah and told 60 million people that I was bipolar. I don’t care … I was lyin’. I’m tripolar! [Laughs] The bottom line is that I love being alive. Look, this is what happened. I honored a gift. It wasn’t easy! I’m bipolar and I was bipolar, for years. When I was younger nobody knew anything about being bipolar, so it was just the bitch is crazy. But my heart was always good and that’s how I got through it. I loved people and all I wanted to do was entertain. That’s all I ever wanted to do.

And you do it so well. Now, I couldn’t end this chat without asking you about the gay cult classic film Jackie’s Back. Any possibility of a sequel?
I was going to write a song about Jackie’s Back because [Jackie’s daughter] Entendre done gone and got herself pregnant and she named the baby Bling Bling. I tried to stop her, but she insisted, so now the baby’s going to be all fucked up!

But what about the sequel?
I’m going to talk about it in the show. I’m going to talk about Jackie’s Back 2 in the show … and I may sing a little bit of the song in the show.

For more information or to purchase tickets for Hot Flash, visit LAGayCenter.org.

Originally published at Advocate.com. To read this post and more by Duane Wells at the Advocate, click here.

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While Hollywood itself may be in upheaval, the queen has a lot to crow about in the days leading up to the release of Poor Little Bitch Girl, her latest page-turner, which explores the lives of three very strong but very different women who all attended the same ritzy high school in Los Angeles.

Over the last four decades, Jackie Collins has sold some 400 million copies of her books in more than 40 countries, and not a single book she has written has ever gone out of print. Moreover, she has to her credit a whopping 27 New York Times best sellers, all of which she has delivered with clockwork-like precision.

“It always amazes me when I’m doing television shows that the host will say, ‘Oh, so you’ve churned out another book?’” she says. “I want so say to them, ‘Hey, wait a minute! You had Tom Hanks on. Did you say to him, “You’ve churned out three movies this year?”’ People are always surprised, but I love what I do.”

Collins voiced brims with her love for what she does when she talks about her latest venture — writing a and producing a film that will go directly to DVD and be mass-marketed in much the same way as a paperback novel. She’s also writing a cookbook with recipes from one of her most memorable characters, Lucky Santangelo, and she’s positively over the moon about the hilarious new song Josh Miller has written which is, in both name and spirit, an ode to her new book, Poor Little Bitch Girl.

It’s always fun to talk to Jackie about her new projects, but nothing beats dishing with her about the subject she knows best — Hollywood. In this no-holds-barred conversation, Collins not only talks about her new book but riffs on everything from the late-night television scandals involving Letterman, Leno, and Conan and the recent string of tragic deaths in Hollywood to her 2010 Oscar picks and the double standard Tinseltown maintains for openly gay actors.

The Advocate: I love Poor Little Bitch Girl and I know you love your strong female heroines, but I’m so ready for you to write a gay lead in one of your novels. Do you think you would ever do that?
Jackie Collins: Yes, I absolutely do. You know, Cole DeBarge — the gorgeous black fitness trainer — keeps coming back. He’s been in four books now, and I keep on giving him romances but not main romances. And of course Lucky Santangelo’s brother Dario was gay, and in Chances he had a huge part in the beginning of the book.

It’s so interesting — somebody did a sort of analysis of all the gay characters in all my books, and it was quite amazing the number of gay characters that I had written. But, you know, I write life the way it is.

Poor Little Bitch Girl seems to have been ripped not from the pages of Variety but straight from the headlines in The New York Times. There are shades of Eliot Spitzer, South Carolina’s Gov. Mark Sanford, and even maybe a little Heidi Fleiss and Victoria Sellers in this new novel. How much of Poor Little Bitch Girl was inspired by the headlines? 

You’re very, very, very right. The Eliot Spitzer case did absolutely inspire me. So I created [the character] Annabelle, who’s lying in bed with Frankie Romano after they’ve just made love and they’re thinking about what they’re going to do next … they’re lying there reading the paper and they’re reading about Eliot Spitzer. So that’s how that all came about. And then with Carolyn in Washington, I’ve always had that Chandra Levy case on my mind and I wanted to kind of mirror that a little bit.

And also, while we’re talking about this, Annabelle’s parents vaguely — vaguely — mirror maybe someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger if he was married to someone like Gwyneth Paltrow. [Laughs] Do you love that combination?

Without a doubt! That’s an odd pairing, but I think it’s really pretty dead-on accurate for Annabelle’s parents.
I know. I thought to myself, What’s the new accessory in Hollywood? The new accessory in Hollywood is a baby. But what happens when those babies grow up and get older? [These couples] don’t want this great, hulking daughter ruining their image. [Laughs]

So here’s a little chicken-and-egg scenario for you. When you’re writing, which comes first — the characters or the inspiration from the real-life headlines?
When I pick up my pen, I have no idea what’s going to happen. The [characters] just tell me that day, and I guess Spitzer was in the headlines that day and I thought, Yeah, this is what’s going to happen here. I’m writing the new book now. I haven’t actually started it yet, but what it’s going to be is running through my head right now, and that’s Goddess of Vengeance: The Continuing Adventures of Lucky Santangelo. [Laughs] Everybody says to me, “How old is Lucky now?” And I say “She’s the same age as Madonna.” That shuts them up very quickly. [Laughs]

You always have wonderful stories about your raciest characters, whom you talk about as familiarly as if they were your close friends. Who are some of your favorites in Poor Little Bitch Girl?

I was very enamored with Bobby [Santangelo Stanislopoulous]. I think he’s very sexy. He’s got that young John F. Kennedy thing. He’s a good boy, but he can also be a bad boy as is proven with Zeena. I particularly like the scene when she goes into the shower and grabs his balls! [Laughs] You know, it’s typical of a guy — he’s not going to tip her out once she’s there and she’s got his balls in her hand! [Laughs]

Touché. I love that you have such a sense of fun and mischief about your characters.

You know … I try to make my books humorous too. I was reading this thing in The New York Timeson Sunday about James Patterson, and he seems all uptight about the fact that he’s not taken seriously, but if you’re a storyteller, you can tell whatever story you want and it doesn’t matter whether you’re critically acclaimed or not. Who cares?

Speaking of stories, what are your thoughts about the scandals in late-night television surrounding David Letterman and the whole Jay Leno–Conan O’Brien ordeal over at NBC? I have to ask because in your last book, Married Lovers, you wrote about a talk-show host, so it’s almost as if your book foreshadowed the current meltdown in the world of late night.
I know. If I wrote [what’s going on now] would anyone have believed it? No. They would have just laughed me off the page. But here’s what I think. I think that the two best late-night show hosts are Craig Ferguson and Chelsea Handler. I think they’re both fabulous, so who gives a crap about the others? [Laughs]

Well, to be quite honest, Jay and Dave really only have a finite period of time left on television, when you really think about it.

Exactly. And I’m sick and tired of watching Letterman flirt with all those young starlets that come on [his show], and there he is banging half his staff. [Laughs] And Jay is only interested in getting back to his car collection. [Laughs] But yes … I found [the scandals] intriguing.

I loved the jokes they were making about each other. I particularly liked the one Jay made about Letterman when he said, “Well, if you want to be ignored, you better marry him.” [Laughs] It’s gonna get really nasty when they get back on the air. I love that.

While we’re dishing about Hollywood, in the last year or so we’ve witnessed the sudden and shocking deaths of so many young stars …
I know. Isn’t it awful?

It is. But you’re the expert … Have you ever witnessed anything like this before? What’s really going on in Hollywood and what do you think is driving this deadly new trend?

It’s drugs. It’s all kinds of drugs. It’s pharmaceutical drugs … it’s a mixture of drugs … it’s insecurities. I always write about that rags-to-riches dream. They come to Hollywood and if they get everything, then it’s just too much for them to absorb. It’s much better when people are successful later in life. You look at somebody like George Clooney. All of a sudden he’s the movie star, but he’s taken it very well because he had years and years of struggling before this happened for him. I mean, he was on every failed sitcom on television. [Laughs]

Indeed. OK, so what are your thoughts about another trend, which is the slow trickle of openly gay actors coming out of the closet? Why do you think Hollywood has been so slow to embrace openly gay male leading men?
Well, that’s difficult isn’t it? I feel it’s very difficult for an actor to come out because then he’s labeled “gay” and the powers that be think that women don’t want to see those actors in love scenes with women. I think that’s ridiculous. I mean, there are so many gay actresses and they’re screwing away on the screen! [Laughs]

Do you think Hollywood’s reluctance to accept openly gay actors and actresses is a reflection of what we’ve been seeing across the country in the backlash against pro-gay ballot measures from California to Maine?

We live in Hollywood, we go to New York, and we go to the big cities, but when you think of what’s going on across the country, there’s still a great prejudice [against gays and lesbians].

I know because when I did my bus tour last year, I went to 23 cities and there would be [like] … 500 people at every place. I would go to at the Harrah’s casinos, and they would be lining up to get books. Often there would be a young gay guy there and he’d be in some little town and he’d say to me, “Your books have inspired me. I’m saving my money. I’m going to try to move to New York, but thank you so much.” They weren’t accepted in the little towns they lived in, and I remember them so distinctly because there were so many of them. I thought it was very sad because we live in Hollywood where it’s like “what the hell,” but then you go to a little town and there’s still that tension.

And so the battle continues, unfortunately. Now let’s jump from Hollywood to Paris. What’s your latest venture, Paris Connections, all about? 
I think it’s [about] the future. The future is selling a movie like you sell a book. You put it on the supermarket shelves and people buy it.

We start shooting [Paris Connections] on February 1 in Paris, and it’s going to go direct to DVD. It’s called Premiere DVD, and all the money for the movie is being put up by Tesco, this huge supermarket in England, which is kind of like Costco. They’re going to have it exclusively for their members for three months, so you can only buy it in Tesco stores. And then we’ll do a sale to America, hopefully through some place like Target or Walmart.

We’ve got Nicole Steinwedell from The Unit, we have Anthony Delon, the son of the famous French movie star Alain Delon — he’s so gorgeous — and we have Trudie Styler [Sting’s wife] and Charles Dance. So we’ve got a fabulous cast.

So Jackie Collins breaks yet another barrier, then?
Oh, absolutely, People are going to be jumping on this bandwagon. It’s exciting, because instead of a movie going direct to DVD because it just wasn’t good enough for the cinemas, we are making this directly for DVD. We don’t want it to go into the cinemas, and it’s going to be a really fabulous production.

And will you be going behind the camera for Paris Connections?
No, I’m just producing along with three other producers, and unfortunately I can’t be in Paris at this particular moment because I’m launching Poor Little Bitch Girl. [Laughs]

Before I let you go, I know you’re a big music fan, so I’ve got to ask who’s on your playlist at the moment.
The new Robin Thicke track with Jay-Z is fantastic. You’ve got to listen to that particular track. [Robin Thicke] is like the modern-day Barry White. I still always love Usher. Whatever he comes up with, I want to listen to. He’s so great.

I love Diddy. He’s got some great new tracks out there. And of course, the Black Eyed Peas — I’m crazy about them.

I very much like Mariah Carey. I think she’s fabulous. I love Norah Jones and Alicia Keys — those are two of my favorites. I’m dying for the new J. Lo, because I love J. Lo, and Marc Anthony, because I love Latin music. And Adam Lambert … thank you very much! I love Adam Lambert! And you know, I kind of like the new John Mayer. I have eclectic taste.

Final question — with the Oscars a month away, who are you betting on to win?
Well, I loved George Clooney in Up in the Air. I thought he gave an incredibly nuanced performance. I thought he was great. For actress I’d say Gabourey Sidibe from Precious. And for movie I’d say Avatar and The Hurt Locker side by side. But my favorite performance of the year wasn’t in movies, it was on television, and that was Michael C. Hall on Dexter, the best show on TV.

Enough said. The Queen of Hollywood has spoken. Who am I to argue? Place your bets, folks.
Jackie Collins’s latest novel, Poor Little Bitch Girl, arrives on bookshelves everywhere February 9.

Originally published at Advocate.com. To read this post and more by Duane Wells at the Advocate, click here.

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