Waving the Black Flag: Rollins & Co. Rock to the Rescue

"It was packed," she says of the club that regularly attracts the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Tatiana Von Furstenberg. "They made us a beautiful, humongous cake. At midnight, Michelle [Lamy, Les Deux's owner] brought us a bunch of bottles of champagne, we French-kissed and blew out the candles." "We didn't really French-kiss," jokes Rose (née Bernstein), an attractive green-eyed former professional snowboarder.

The coming together of Rose and Via was one of those things that made perfect sense, at least to Via, a Pisces, who spent her formative years living with her bohemian artist parents in an ashram in Ventura County run by the guru Maharaji. The adorable 31-year-old blond, who left the ashram at age 6, recalls the day Rose asked her to partner up two years ago. "I didn't even think about it. I just knew. It was like 'Yes.'"

At the time, Via, a fine artist and poet in her own right, had just lost a series of children's books she had nearly completed when the car she was driving to Canada "exploded."

"I was devastated," she explains, picking at her egg-white scramble. "I was like, 'Forget it. It's a sign.' I resigned to what was there for me — and that was Audrey."

Meanwhile, Rose, a onetime Sonic Youth album-cover girl, who got her professional name (inspired by the '70s horror flick) while working and living with photographer-filmmaker Richard Kern ("We were married, well, sort of married"), had come to town from New York to throw one of her then-famous karaoke nights at the Derby in Los Feliz. The party went so well that she decided to stay.

The two had met a few months prior when Via, head of promotions for a wireless guide called Modo, contacted Rose about throwing the launch party. When the financing finally fell out for Modo, they lunched instead, and it just clicked.

Since then, they have produced a steady string of successful soirees: a Levi's party for Phantom Planet at the downtown Standard, Jerry Stahl's book signing, and shindigs for Dazed and Confused, Robbie Williams, the sneaker shop Undefeated in conjunction with artist Barry McGee's Nike-sponsored billboard, and, of course, Monday Night's Cachet, still going strong.

"Somany people have been coming since the first week," says Via, dressed in a Grey Ant striped skirt, mismatched X-Elle striped shirt and Converse All-Stars. "Just noticing all the changes they've been through, how they developed their careers. Watching them grow as people."

Like who?

"Like the Phantom Planet kids, they were there the first week."

"Like Vincent Gallo," adds Rose jokingly. "He was like living in the streets two years ago. And now he's doing reallywell."

The secret to the event planners' success has as much to do with the group of hip New York transplants and L.A. kids who cross-pollinate consistently at their events as it does with their laid-back approach.

"I hate the idea of us being promoters. We don't have enough cell phones and beepers to be promoters," says Rose, who seems to have always had a knack for bringing the right people together.

"I was having parties all the time," she says of her early days in N.Y. "I had a birthday party, and it turned into a big thing and the owner asked me to keep doing it. It was at ENO, a little restaurant. Nell Campbell's husband owned it."

For Rose, who now lives in Silver Lake ("Where, as my friend likes to say, all the New Yorkers like to go"), location plays a big role.

"I think Les Deux just makes you feel special," she muses. Rose is wearing sneakers, jeans, a Paul Smith T-shirt, a vintage corduroy blazer and "fancy underwear."

Another key ingredient is their guest DJs. Last night's celebration had seven. "Sean Patrick, Sam Spiegel, Savannah Buffet, Kelly Cole, D.V. DeVincentis [the writer], Shannyn Sossamon [the actress], and Matthew, our DJ from the very beginning."

And don't forget Andrew the doorman.

"What about Andrew!!?" blurts Via.

"What about Andrew?" asks Rose. "We want him with us at all times, 'cause he's the best. He knows everybody!"

"And he's friendly and loving toward people. He's a drug counselor during the day and works the door at all of our events," adds Via, who walked to breakfast this morning with her boyfriend . . . Wolf.

Apple and Audrey are currently looking forward to branching out, working with nonprofits, producing benefits.

"Not that what we do is unimportant — creating an environment where people feel inspired and supported— but there is so much more we can do with it," says Rose.

Until then, they have their sassily manicured hands full.

"We had an event Friday night, Monday night, Thursday night and this coming Saturday," says Via. "It's a bit much."

—Seven McDonald

APOCALYPSE, SIM: Post Card From Blazing Hills

THE SIMS ONLINE (TSO) TEST SITE IS now up and running, with thousands of volunteers inhabiting a choice of several cities at no charge until TSO's official launch on December 17. During this test period, wipeouts (full erasures of data) are conducted sporadically to remove bugs and upgrade the system. In these wipes, Sims lose everything — their homes, their skills, their friends, their identities . . . hours of online labor. At 11 a.m. PST on Nov. 26, 2002, the city of Alphaville was wiped. Many fled into Blazing Falls, only to find that it, too, would be wiped the following day. Found in the rubble after the second Apocalypse was the following letter from an actual player using an assumed name: