Cocktail Party

The Building a Scholastic Heritage (B.A.S.H.) cocktail party, canceled because of the blizzard last weekend, has been rescheduled for Sunday. The main B.A.S.H. event, the 19th annual "Passport to Progress: A Celebration of Our Cultural Diversity," will be held at 6 p.m. April 24 under a party tent at Malvern Preparatory School, 418 S. Warren Ave., Malvern. Proceeds will benefit the school. Heading the B.A.S.H. dinner and auction committee are MaryAnn Bursich of Phoenixville and Mary and Vincent Zurawski of Thornbury.

LAS VEGAS - It's the first time a woman naked from the waist up has ever initiated a conversation with me at a swimming pool - not counting my daughters when they were toddlers. "Hi," this fantastically caramel-tanned person said as she leaned over - and what I'm going to guess were a couple of 38DDs came within about a foot of my face. "I'm Sara. " We were sitting next to each other at the aptly named Bare, the adults-only pool at the Mirage Resort and Casino. Not only was Sara topless - oh, we're calling it "European style" now - but she was wearing a bathing suit bottom that can best be described as something you might tie around your finger to remind yourself you aren't wearing a top. It was time for a drink.

Mayor Rendell put out the call. He was holding a fund-raising event, and he wanted his major contributors to attend. So, last night, about 75 of them went to the City Hall cocktail party to sip wine and champagne, munch on shrimp and cheese and salmon and to give - $1,000 each. No surprise there. Except that the money went not to Rendell nor to another Philadelphian nor even to another Pennsylvania politician. It went to Gov. Florio. Why would Philadelphia residents shell out big bucks to the leader of another state, a state that, not long ago, tried to lure away the '76ers and the Flyers?

Contortionists Ekaterina Bogdonova (top) and Valentin Ganey of Cirque du Soleil perform for 2,000 international meeting planners at a cocktail party at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel yesterday.

After 20 years of Riccardo Muti, the audience couldn't stop cheering. The ovations and flowers kept coming at the Academy of Music Wednesday night for his farewell performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Muti is heading for Europe. The farewell included a cocktail party before the concert and a dinner party afterward. But Muti will be back, as guest conductor.

Ah, summer. There's something about these warm and languid days and nights that makes many of us want to throw together a little gathering. Picking a cocktail party theme makes planning the menu and decor more fun. Here are just a few to get your creative wheels turning. Invite your favorite people, add some fairy lights and lanterns, and get the party started.   '60s South Beach Showtime's new Magic City TV series, set in mid-century Miami, is inspiration for party decor and music with a retro vibe, served with Cuban-influenced canapes.

Stylistas aren't quite sure what to call the haute hair they crave. A forehead-spanning pouf, maybe? That bump? You know, the big-hair thingy? Here's a little Fashion 101, folks: It's a pompadour. "I didn't quite know what to call it," said Jessica Lynch, 34, a fund-raiser for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "My stylist gave me a pompadour with a ponytail to frame my face. It was a very retro 1950s look. I loved it. " Whatever you call it, the pompadour is hot right now. In a retro-good-girl, modern-bad-girl kind of way. Some fashions catch on quickly, but others (like the pompadour)

Up to now, former District Attorney Edward G. Rendell has run softly for governor, albeit with a big schtick. He was saying things like, "As you know, I will soon complete my second term as district attorney. At that time, I plan to announce my candidacy for governor of Pennsylvania. " Next week, at no specific stroke of the clock, the Committee to Elect Ed Rendell will become Rendell for Governor - and Rendell will really, truly, finally be on the road to the Democratic primary.

City Councilman Francis Rafferty received a $1,000 campaign contribution from the local Roofers union the day before sponsoring a Council resolution to commend the union, according to campaign finance records filed this week. The $1,000 contribution from Composition Roofers Local Union 30 & 30B was made last June 18, the day before Rafferty asked Council to commend the roofers for their charitable work, specifically a new roof installed at no charge for a church in Rafferty's Grays Ferry neighborhood.

The plight of the homeless in this city is no laughing matter. However, a band of merry men and women will join together tomorrow night in The Comedy Benefit for Philadelphia's Homeless to raise money to help those with no place to live. It's a local version of Comic Relief, a three-hour performance to benefit the nation's homeless, airing Saturday at 9 p.m. on HBO. The Comedy Works, 126 Chestnut St., is the site for the local benefit, hosted by Harvey of WIOQ (102 FM) radio and featuring local comics the Legendary Wid, Keven Sullivan and Todd Glass.

YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft - everybody wants to get into the content game by offering TV-style entertainment. Even Amazon recently announced it will adapt the film Zombieland into a serial you will be able to stream on Amazon Prime. With its first foray into original production, Netflix hits the bull's-eye resoundingly. House of Cards is a fascinating, first-class political thriller starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. All 13 episodes of the first season will be available Friday for streaming to service subscribers.

While Black Friday shoppers were winding down frenzied searches for flat-screen TVs, designer Bela Shehu hosted a swank meet-and-greet at studio:christensen with Harper's Bazaar associate editor Lisa Luna. In total Shehu fashion, the designer toasted her new retail space on the biggest shopping day of the year, confident her customers - women who would rather wrap themselves in asymmetrical black cloaks than get caught up in the buttons of a tan trench - would come to the Rittenhouse studio to check out 30 new pieces of her NINObrand collection.

* Square 1682 (121 S. 17th St., 215-563-5008, square1682.com ) hosts the third annual "Cheesesteak Challenge: High Steaks" block party from 2-5 p.m. Sunday to benefit Philadelphia Academies. Competing chefs include Daniel Stern (R2L), Paul Trowbridge (Devil's Den) and Natalie Maronski (Chifa). $25. Tickets at cityeats.com. * Skinny Girl Bethenny Frankel and "Hell's Kitchen" contestant Justin Antiorio are among the celebs attending Taste Festival of Food, Wine and Spirit Friday-Sunday at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks.

Ah, summer. There's something about these warm and languid days and nights that makes many of us want to throw together a little gathering. Picking a cocktail party theme makes planning the menu and decor more fun. Here are just a few to get your creative wheels turning. Invite your favorite people, add some fairy lights and lanterns, and get the party started.   '60s South Beach Showtime's new Magic City TV series, set in mid-century Miami, is inspiration for party decor and music with a retro vibe, served with Cuban-influenced canapes.

Broad Street Baller went ballistic with the hugging, tearful, hysterically high-fiving hordes of happy fans at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday after a 79-78 nail-biter over the Chicago Bulls sent the Sixers into the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2003. HEAVENLY MOM: No one but no one was happier than Lamont "Monty G" Anderson of South Philadelphia — 380 pounds of pure Sixers love, down from 467 after trainer Kimberly Garrison got him to abuse the machines at the 12th Street Gym. "We did it!"

Stylistas aren't quite sure what to call the haute hair they crave. A forehead-spanning pouf, maybe? That bump? You know, the big-hair thingy? Here's a little Fashion 101, folks: It's a pompadour. "I didn't quite know what to call it," said Jessica Lynch, 34, a fund-raiser for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "My stylist gave me a pompadour with a ponytail to frame my face. It was a very retro 1950s look. I loved it. " Whatever you call it, the pompadour is hot right now. In a retro-good-girl, modern-bad-girl kind of way. Some fashions catch on quickly, but others (like the pompadour)

A "SAFE" STUNTMAN got a round of applause last night as he got up from a stretcher, after medics pulled him out of a Chevy Tahoe he was driving in a crash scene in the action/thriller being shot along JFK Boulevard between 18th and 19th streets. Onlookers feared for the stuntman after fire trucks and ambulances arrived, but he got up from the stretcher instead of being loaded into an ambulance. Actor Jason Statham ("The Expendables," "Transporter") shot, literally, yesterday afternoon at 15th & Moravian, in Center City.

IT WAS MOSTLY a happy herd of donkeys that gathered around the water hole - before getting the spur from their riders. The much-ballyhooed Republican "political wave" that is expected to swamp America on Election Day won't wet our feet because Philadelphia is a Democratic dike. A "red city" for the Phillies, we're back to true blue now. The main purpose of Monday night's Democratic autumn cocktail party was to inspire ward leaders and their lieutenants to get out the vote next Tuesday.

LAS VEGAS - It's the first time a woman naked from the waist up has ever initiated a conversation with me at a swimming pool - not counting my daughters when they were toddlers. "Hi," this fantastically caramel-tanned person said as she leaned over - and what I'm going to guess were a couple of 38DDs came within about a foot of my face. "I'm Sara. " We were sitting next to each other at the aptly named Bare, the adults-only pool at the Mirage Resort and Casino. Not only was Sara topless - oh, we're calling it "European style" now - but she was wearing a bathing suit bottom that can best be described as something you might tie around your finger to remind yourself you aren't wearing a top. It was time for a drink.

David N. Zeehandelaar, 55, of Villanova, a lawyer with special knowledge of aviation who won many high-profile cases in the area and was known for his tenacity and competitive spirit, died Friday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after a five-month battle with lymphoma. Mr. Zeehandelaar led his firm, Blank Rome L.L.P., to many victories in complex tort litigations during his 14 years there. "He won cases," said Alan Hoffman, cochairman of Blank Rome. "His battle with lymphoma is the only loss I've known him to have.