Wicked Games

Talk about your holidays from hell. Last December — after hosting a week of parties for Paper magazine’s L.A. residency — the owners of Acme game store on Melrose were busted by the feds for selling pirate Xboxes [Arrr! —ed.]. Facing major legal fees, they threw a benefit last Monday at Cinespace featuring performances by The Cult and The Chelsea Smiles (who are not broken up as previously reported, but have replaced Christian Martucci with another black-haired warrior . . . what are they, a punk rock Menudo?). “Fuck Microsoft!” yelled Ian Astbury during a set that included four supercharged songs from Electric, and guest riffin’ (and hair-wavin’) from Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell. By coincidence, Cinespace also hosted Paper’s L.A.-issue release party earlier that night, attended by cover girl Bryce Howard (Ron’s daughter), designer dudes Jeremy Scott and Henry Duarte, rap twanger Mickey Avalon, and photog Patric McMullen, who told us about his new book, Kiss Kiss, featuring lip-smacking celebs . . . wonder if the classic air kiss counts?


{mosimage}And the Wiener Is…

Faux smooches and half-assed hugs abounded last week, what with Oscar in town; our fave celeb-athon was the GM Ten event, featuring Lindsay Lohan, Liz Phair and Mischa Barton modeling designer duds and cars, followed by music from John Legend. Luved it. But (shocker!) the rich & famous can be rude, and Nightranger left with nomination ideas for biggest party prick: Jamie Foxx, who stepped on our toe exiting the bash, but gave us a look, as if we shouldn’t have stood so close to him; Jeremy Piven, who got all weird when a pal mentioned a tabloid rumor about him and Lohan (you’re famous, man, deal with it); and Vincent Gallo, who went from agreeable to aggro when we mentioned this paper. “I don’t like the L.A. Weekly!” he fumed, before turning his back to us. “You write mean things about me!” If you insist. Envelope, please . . . And the award goes to Mr. Gallo! . . . In other Oscar-week news, it was a shame the much-anticipated happenings at Flaunt magazine’s house of fun were a bit of a bust, at least after dark — plagued with fire-marshal visits and noise complaints. Still, the Friday Flaunt fete did have its moments: namely, gambling in its “casino” and rambling with pals, including Odyssey mag’s queen bitch Candyass and toasting with former El Rey owner Rodney Nardi, who was celebrating the ink drying on Goldenvoice’s purchase of the prop that very day. Can’t wait to see what they do with the place!

{mosimage}Club Rub

Deluxe, the new dance spot from Miss Kitty and quirky queen Chi Chi LaRue, had its de-lectable premiere last Saturday, and if the flamboyant getups there were any indication, we might have an excuse to slather on the glitter gel again . . . The latest on Safari Sams: It might not open — ever. Stay tuned . . . Finally, best wishes go out to Jeppe of Junior Senior, who was recently hit by a car. Donations toward his med bills were accepted Sunday, when Peaches deejayed his new Akbar night. Get well soon, Senior!

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.