Sasha Barrese

Sasha Barrese

The stunning and down-to-earth model and actress, Sasha Barrese, recently graced our TV screens as a guest on the CW Network’s ‘Supernatural’. She’s a rising star with a passion for theatre. Here she tells ASW about her upcoming TV projects and her obsession with music and… well… chess!

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Sasha Barrese : I became a member around three years ago. I’ve known Erik, the founder, since I was little. ASW was much smaller at the time. I thought it was a really great idea.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
SB: I use it to stay in touch with friends from out of town. I also look up cities I am traveling to for work; recommendations for hotels, restaurants and art shows.

Q. Tell us about your latest role on ‘Supernatural’.
SB: The episode [called ‘Sin City’] aired on the CW network on October 25th at 9pm. The part of Casey was written for me so it was really great. We shot the show in Vancouver, Canada – a very beautiful city. The reviews just came in and they were amazing. I won’t be back on that show but I will be working with the producer, Robert Singer, and the director, Charles Beeson, again soon.

Q. Your first acting role was an appearance on American Pie. What was it like to be a part of a cult American comedy film?
SB: I was very surprised it became such a huge hit. I was a junior in high school when I shot it. I was home on a break from boarding school. The movie was released just after I graduated. Doing that part opened a lot of doors for me, work-wise. I still get stopped by people all the time for it! I guess some people have seen it a hundred times. As for a funny American Pie story… right after it came out I was at an audition. I was looking down in the waiting room reading my lines to myself. This guy next to me says "Hey, weren't you in American Pie?" It was the first time I'd been recognized by someone I didn't know. I looked up beaming and said, "Yes! Wow you must be a big fan of the movie!" (My part is small in it.) And then I realized who he was. It was Sean William Scott – one of the stars of American Pie! He played Stiffler. I blushed the deepest shade of red I could go and said, "But you would be because you’re in it. Arghhhh." Stuff like that happens to me a lot.

Q. You lived in Paris until you were four. What do you remember of growing up there?
SB: Paris is a fantastic place for a child. I go back all the time. When I have a job lined up in the fall, I go to the south of France in the summer.

Sasha Barrese and her mother, Katherine Barrese

Q. What has been your favorite role and why?
SB: I did two plays in Los Angeles that have been my favorite roles: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and ‘The Dutchman’. The characters are so well written. A good play feels like swimming down to the deepest part of the ocean. I also loved my character on ‘Supernatural’. It reminds me of my role in ‘The Dutchman’.

Q. What’s your next big project going to be?
SB: I will probably go back on ‘Carpoolers’, a new comedy on ABC, sometime soon. Pilot season is starting early this year because of the writers strike coming up. There are some amazing pilot scripts out there. Brett Ratner is doing a fantastic show called ‘Blue Blood’. I am waiting to hear on that part. I am also trying to secure the rights to a favorite book of mine for adaptation into a screenplay.

Q. Are there any actresses or models from which you would say you draw inspiration?
SB: Yes. For me it’s more about the specific parts they played. Joan Allen – she was in The Contender, which I think is a perfect film; Jane Fonda in Klute; Eva Green in The Dreamers; Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

Q. What makes you happiest?
SB: Seeing a great film. I just saw Michael Clayton in the theatres. I went back the next day and saw it again! I cried because it was so perfect.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
SB: New York. I love to go see plays there.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
SB: Playing chess. I play two hours a day. I should cut back but I’m hooked.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
SB: I like the little diner underground at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The food is simple and the waitresses are cool.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
SB: The New Image Art Gallery on Santa Monica Boulevard. Marcia, the owner, has a great eye for new talent. I also love the Moca in downtown Los Angeles.

Q. What is your favorite beach?
SB: In the movie Contact, Jodi Foster’s character goes to a beach in her mind. The sand is made up of all the stars in the universe. I want to go to that beach.

Sasha Barrese

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
SB: I am really into a director named Michael Haneke right now. He has a new movie coming out called Funny Games. It’s an American version of his original movie with the same title. I can’t wait.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
SB: There are two:
‘The Brent Shapiro Foundation’
A friend of mine, Brent Shapiro, passed away from taking half an ecstasy pill two years ago. He was a magical person. He brought people together. He was so full of love. He was so loved. His parents Bob and Linelle Shapiro started the Foundation to raise drug and alcohol abuse awareness. Many people still don’t know that alcoholism is a disease. Everyone I know has been touched by alcoholism in some way. Please go to their website: www.brentshapiro.org

In Downtown Los Angeles we have a homeless population of 100,000 people. ‘The Downtown LA Women’s Shelter’ is a fantastic place for women to stay. The facilities are bright and clean. Whenever I go down there, there is always a meeting or class going on. It feels like a warm home, rather then a shelter. There is a large open kitchen in the center of it all. I can’t imagine something worse then being a woman and being homeless on the street. I love to see women helping women get back on track. Their web site is: www.dwcweb.org

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
SB: I wish I could sleep better.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
SB: I go through phases. For art right now I really love Aya Takano.

Q. What upsets you the most?
SB: Many issues; I hate the fact that many public schools don’t have enough textbooks or teachers for the children. Money is being spent in the wrong places right now.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
SB: Anywhere where the music is good, the couches are comfortable and I’m with my friends.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
SB: My BlackBerry. I have work emails all day long.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
SB: Falling from great heights.

Q. Were do you love to shop?
SB: Milk, on West Third Street in Los Angeles. Also, in Saint Tropez and Monte Carlo they have some great stores.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
SB: Coffee

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
SB: I am a huge music fan! I love Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails and tons of Indy Rock. I was learning ‘Moonlight Mile’ by the Rolling Stones on my guitar just before I started this interview… anything by the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac… Dylan.

— Laura Jakobovits

Reinventing Sartorial Traditions: The New Savile Row

Behind an unmarked green door in Central London, a Savile Row tailor fitted a client with a bespoke suite on an early November afternoon. If you are picturing an interaction between a stuffy gentleman and a tight-lipped tradesman, think again.

The tailor in question was the maverick, Mark Powell, and the client was Dexy’s Midnight Runners frontman, Kevin Rowland. In front of the mirror, Rowland turned to admire his 1930s high-waisted, wide-leg Donegal tweed trousers and extreme cut-away jacket. “Mark understands me,” Rowland told ASW. “We can spend an hour talking about turn-ups.” Powell left the room only to return holding a remarkably similar pair of tweeds.

“I just made these for Keira Knightley,” he declared.

Welcome to the new Savile Row. The elegant London street, where bespoke craftsmen have been in business since 1733, is still the heart of exquisite British tailoring but it’s the younger players who are reinventing the meaning of bespoke. Their innovation is beckoning younger, hipper – and occasionally female – clients on to the Row to be measured up for luxe made-to-order suits.

Bespoke tailoring comes from the expression ‘be’spoken’ meaning that the tailor’s cloth has literally been spoken for by a client. When you walk into a bespoke tailor’s atelier, you are opting for a distinct set of craftsmanship principles: specific measurement technique, straight shoulders, a narrow syce, and a well-defined arm are standards.

A bespoke suit is perhaps one of the original proofs that a quality product takes time. A suit takes an average of six weeks and three fittings to finish because every detail is hand-sewn. But according to Ozwald Boateng, a Savile Row bespoke tailor, tradition needed an infusion of the new. “If traditions don’t evolve, they die,” said Boateng, who is also the creative director of Givenchy. “Savile Row wasn’t evolving.”

Boateng and other tailors, who are a part of the New Bespoke Movement, maintain painstaking bespoke techniques but challenge the old school bespoke firms’ subtle, traditional take on the standard suit. They have personalized bespoke even more, offering creative and more individualized looks. Below are the best of the Row’s new innovators.

Ozwald Boateng
The youngest tailor to open on Savile Row, Boateng talks like an artist, looks like a model and insists that he wants “to make all men beautiful.” Boateng’s look proves that brilliance and elegance go hand in hand. He skillfully uses bold colors in monotones and patterns to highlight his sharp suit lines. Clients include Daniel Day-Lewis, Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves. Bespoke suits start at £3,000.
http://www.ozwaldboateng.co.uk

Mark Powell
Famed for his sharp three-piece suits, Powell also knows how to combine individuality and fine tailoring to create edgy, dapper looks. He understands women too and has dressed Keira Knightley, Naomi Campbell and Bianca Jagger. Powell’s male patrons include George Clooney and David Bowie. Suits start at around £1,500.
http://www.markpowellbespoke.co.uk

Kilgour
Established in 1882, Kilgour was revived in 2004 with Carlo Brandelli as the creative leader. Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Jude Law and Daniel Craig are amongst the gentlemen who have donned Kilgour suits. The label distills sleek functionalism in its lean silhouettes. Expect charcoal mohair single button suits and jackets lined with polka-dotted silk. Look out for hand-blown Italian glass cufflinks in sky blue or powder pink and silk knit ties. Suits range from £1,500 to £5,000.
http://www.kilgour.eu/

Timothy Everest
From his beautifully restored retro gentleman’s atelier in Spitalfields, Everest crafts trim two-button slanted pocket jackets and plain trousers for the likes of Colin Firth, Gordon Brown and Tom Cruise. Everest, whose signature is his Spitalfields flower-patterned tie, also does bespoke denim. Suits start at £2,200.
http://www.timothyeverest.co.uk/

Richard James
Dandifying the traditional British menswear look, James’ suits are recognizable for their elegant elongation. The jackets are waisted with deeper side vents and come with one to three buttons. James isn’t afraid of color or texture, much to the delight of his fans, who include Pete Doherty, Hugh Dancy and Mick Jagger. Suits start at £2,700.
http://www.richardjames.co.uk/


— Taraneh Ghajar

Sebastian Copeland / Antartica: The Global Warning

Celebrity photographer and ASW member Sebastian Copeland now has a bevy of new models posing in front of his camera: all breathtakingly beautiful, majestic, with ice-cold glares, Copeland describes them as his latest obsession.

So, who are these mystery muses?

Located in the southern most hemisphere, spread over five million square miles of pure ice, the melting icebergs of Antarctica have been the focal point of Copeland's photographs for several years and are the underlying theme of his latest book, Antarctica: The Global Warning, a compilation of photographs documenting the perils of imminent global warming.

The book contains a foreword by Mikhail Gorbachev, an introduction by Leonard di Caprio and a chapter by ASW member, David de Rothschild.

"I'm just trying to engage and educate people about the dangers of climate change. It's an important warning to which we should pay attention," says Copeland, who is also a board member of Global Green USA, an environmental NGO.

And what better way to engage people than to host a celebrity-studded event to raise awareness, as Copeland did, in association with ASMALLWORLD and Max Studio-- at the Jan Kesner Gallery in L.A last week.

Guests in attendance included ASW President and CEO Joe Robinson, Max Studio's Orion Hand and Ame Max, actresses Brittany Murphy and Julie Delpy and Copeland's cousin Orlando Bloom, who accompanied the photographer on his Antarctic odyssey.

"It was a great opportunity to see what was at stake," said Orlando Bloom. "I took a four-week trip there with my cousin and it's clear the earth needs protection. We really need to team together and do something to help."

That "something" involved Copeland instructing members of his ship to disembark on an iceberg in 2006 and align themselves so their bodies spelt out the letters "S.O.S": an echo of the continent's plea for help, which, according to actress Julie Delpy is yet to be heard by politicians.

"The environment is still not a priority in politics and it needs to be," she says. "The problem needs more attention. It is, after all, our future."

— Mmoma Ejiofor

In 2004, Adi Ezroni, a well-known Israeli actress and TV personality, learnt of the harsh realities of the underworld of child trafficking. In defence of the rights of children around the globe, Adi decided to get involved in the production of ‘Holly’ – a feature film opening this week in the US – which portrays the life and experiences of an underage girl who ends up in the hands of sexual exploiters.

What started as a narrative project has now turned into an international grassroots movement dedicated to raising awareness of child prostitution and putting an end to the inhumane industry. Here, ASW talks to Adi about the difficulties she faced while shooting the controversial film, and the importance of delivering a clear and urgent message to the international policy-making community.

Q. Tell us about Holly. Where did the idea come from? How did it start?
Adi Ezroni: While travelling on a sabbatical in 2002, my partner, Guy Jacobson, encountered a group of five to seven-year-old girls in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who aggressively tried to solicit him for prostitution. One of the girls, she was about six years old, said, "I yum very good. I no money today. Mama San boxing me.” (Meaning: the madam of the brothel will beat me up.) He gave them some money and walked away, but decided to do something about it.

While researching the subject, he was horrified to realize that each year around two million children (some younger than a year old) are kidnapped, sold into prostitution and sexually abused worldwide.

I met Guy in 2004, right after his trip. I was on vacation in New York when he told me of his idea to write a narrative film through the eyes of a girl. I was so passionate about making this happen that I suggested I’d be the water girl and decided to leave Israel and my career to pursue the dream of producing a film that would raise awareness on the issue.

The product of this decision was to create a combination of a three-film project which has now evolved into an international grassroots movement to decrease child prostitution, sexual exploitation and child trafficking. We were extremely fortunate to meet Amit Kort and Dr. Smadar Kort who decided to fund the whole project. And we had an incredible crew led by Holly’s director, Guy Moshe.

Q. I understand you had many problems while filming, including being held at gunpoint and even being held hostage for two weeks. Could you share your experiences?
AE: Producing this project has been an uphill battle, and sometimes seemed more like a war. When we arrived in Cambodia, Interpol cautioned us about threats to our lives. We were a group of international filmmakers who had decided to expose explosive subject matter in a corrupt country. Everything that could go wrong, did – the Cambodian, Vietnamese and Chinese mafia were after us, our equipment was held up in the borders and we were extorted to get it back, we had over forty bodyguards with AK-47s guarding us on the set, we had to hide our film, we got stuck in remote rivers, and, finally, after the production team left, I was denied exit out of the country and basically held hostage for two weeks.

When I arrived in the airport to leave the country with a bag full of documentary tapes (for the second film), the officers stopped me and said “cannot” and gave me a warrant in Khmer with the names of the chief producers of the project in English. Since I was the only one there at that point, I realized that I was in danger and I couldn’t go back to the hotel I was staying in. I stayed in a different area in town under a fake name and after about five days, we found out that it was pure extortion. It took me another two weeks and a lot of money; had I not left, it would have become a diplomatic incident.

Q. Child prostitution is largely an undocumented issue. Was the problem larger than you imagined?
AE: Actually, I feel like when we started there wasn’t much awareness to the issue. It was ‘Dateline’ in 2005 that did the first big exposé, I think. And then they started with the series about sexual predators. I knew about the issue, but never ever imagined that it was so vast and so extreme. Three-year-olds? And not only in Asia — everywhere.

That is part of the problem of combating this epidemic – the lack of one geographical/racial/ethnic theme. For example, a brothel was just closed in Queens, NY,with ten-year-old girls.

Q. Tell us some of your favourite moments when filming Holly.
AE: My favorite moments when filming Holly had to do with casting locals for different roles, and especially finding the children that would play the street children in the film. I went to a number of different orphanages and auditioned little Cambodian children to see if they could handle the pressure of being on set, if they understood what we wanted from them, etc. I found a wonderful group of kids who are featured in the film, and an extraordinary boy that plays Holly’s street friend. It was sometimes very difficult because no “good” girl would play a prostitute in a film. We ended up finding real working girls for those scenes.

Also, Somaly Mam, the head of AFESIP (one of the largest organizations that treats these children) and the Somaly Mam Foundation is here in New York for our premier at the UN. After a number of years, hearing Khmer again really made me nostalgic. I loved touring around on a small motorcycle, walking around in the markets, eating exotic fruits.

Q. In your opinion, what is the main cause of human trafficking - aside from there being a great demand for it?
AE: I think that the demand is the key. If you reduce the demand, you’ll reduce the supply. I wouldn’t say poverty, because some of the poorest countries don’t have as much of a problem. It may have to do with a broken family structure/culture, usually as a result of war. But the most important thing to remember is that there wouldn’t be any child prostitution if there weren’t regular clients that look specifically for that, which is why it’s important to strengthen legislature and enforcement.

Q. The making of this film inspired the creation of an active humanitarian movement. Tell us about Redlight Children.
AE: The Redlight Children Campaign is a worldwide grassroots human rights initiative promoting awareness and practical action for reducing the number of children who are sexually exploited each year. The goal is to decrease the demand for child sexploitation by raising awareness through mass media, pressuring governments to enact, amend and enforce more effective legislation and creating a broad coalition of human rights organizations as well as academia and media to deal with the issue.

With an easily accessible website, readers will be able to read information/research about the subject, and send emails to their representatives about what they would like them to do. The emails/communications received are featured on the site for additional accountability and pressure.

Q. What do you think will be the future of human trafficking? What are the solutions being proposed by local and international authorities on the subject?
AE: The TIP (Trafficking in Persons) report that comes out every year ranks the different countries in terms of steps that are taken in enforcement, legislature, education and treatment. There is a strong push now for countries to be able to prosecute their nationals if they’ve found them participating in underage sex. It is already implemented by the US. I hope it will be implemented everywhere. We will be screening the film in DC to ambassadors of all countries, as well as senate and congress, and hope that this will push them in the right direction. If one knows that wherever they are in the world they will be held accountable under the laws of their own country, it makes a difference. Since some countries are still too corrupt to truly implement strong laws, this could definitely be a great step in the right direction.

Q. Given the fact that the issue is still extremely undercover in most countries around the world – especially in the West – what would you advise people to do to help fight child trafficking and sexual slavery in their own communities?
AE: It is not West versus East – this is very important to emphasize. Holly was shot in Cambodia, just like it could have been shot in London, Florida, Mexico, Israel or Croatia…
Go to http://www.redlightchildren.org/

In the coming week we will install an application that will allow you to send letters to your constituents and representatives demanding immediate action.

If you have a nonprofit, if you have a corporation, or are just as passionate as us about the issue – go to www.priorityfilms.com/join.php and see how we can arrange mutual screenings or other ways to spread the word. It is important to keep this film in the theaters, for a long time, so that it gets to the smaller cities, to the college towns and crosses over internationally.

Holly opens in theaters nationwide in the US on November 9. For tickets and more information visit www.priorityfilms.com

— Alonso Dominguez

I'm not a Russian Mail Order Bride!

Helena Khazanova

One would think I know all about Russian girls in New York because that is exactly what I am: a Russian girl living in this monster of a metropolis. People often ask where I am from. “Moscow,” I reply with certainty and without hesitation, despite fifteen years spent abroad. The look of surprise always registers in their face. “No accent, I know,” I feel compelled to finish the thought for them in order to avoid another obvious comment, a conversation that I can predict word for word. But it follows anyway, and the next question is why.

“Why are you here?” they ask, almost surprised, as if I am the only person not born on this island. They look on, eager to hear another heartbreaking story about bleak, cold weather, everlasting snows, and bread shortage, garnished with an intricate and hopefully slightly illegal crossing of the Atlantic. Black and white images of Ellis Island flash in their minds, and faces of harassed dirty immigrants contrasted by their own childhood that is suddenly basked in a warm glow reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

“Sorry,” I let them down. My story is not thickly wrapped in darkness and despair. Instead, it is disappointingly ordinary. “Well, my parents moved here because my father worked for an American company,” I begin my speech that I have told enough times that I no longer need to concentrate on what I am saying. “They live in the city and Southampton,” I continue. “I went to school in Rhode Island. No siblings,” I add for some reason. So far nothing too scandalous.

“So, your parents are here?” they ask, shocked at another proof that I am not, in fact, a prostitute in disguise. “Yes,” I say. Somehow they feel cheated out of their small victory.

It’s not offensive really. I guess I am just used to it. But no matter where I come from, today, in New York, I am only an observer. I watch in awe as this new breed of Russian girls dash wildly around Manhattan in four-inch stilettos as if they are still at a local collective farm, rounding up all eligible men like a herd of cattle. Yes, sometimes the ill-fated reputation is well-deserved. Permanent fixtures at every chic and expensive restaurant their faces look somewhat devoid of expression and can be compared to say, a genetically engineered peach. Good to look at, perfectly colored, firm and completely inedible. They sit on their well-chosen dates with silence hanging heavily off their forks and vacant smiles on their plump and glossed lips. But although they look blank, their minds are crunching numbers faster than any investment banker.

Unfortunately, to many in New York it seems highly unlikely and very suspicious that a girl from Russia could be just that: a person from a place with no baggage attached. Stereotypes run rampant; a model from a small town who was selling vegetables in the snow-covered market to survive; some beauty whose main goal is to marry a billionaire but who is still having trouble reading; a designer-clad girlfriend of a shady businessman with wads of cash stuffed in her purse.

Somehow lately the image of the Russian “girl” has undergone a very significant and swift transformation. First it was associated only with something Americans strangely like to refer to as babushka (which, in fact, does not mean a scarf or any other headpiece but a grandmother). This babushka is usually represented in their mind as a poor girl swathed in rags, slightly hungry and pale, looking wistfully at the brightly lit store window, too embarrassed to go in.

Then came the age of the mail-order bride: a girl who does not possess any command of the English language but is nice-looking, timid and compliant. This was an image that made a proud husband think himself a knight on a white horse and not some loser from the Midwest in a white Subaru.

But with the iron curtain swinging wildly in the wind of political change during the early nineties, the seemingly largest resource of the former Soviet Union spilled out into the world: women. They are literally everywhere. Mainly stationed in leading epicenters such as New York and London, they traverse the globe to the best beaches, ski slopes or just anywhere that starts with a “St”. They are beautiful, tall, ready and willing but behind the sugary facade they are tough and uncompromising.

They come from different corners of the enormous country empowered just by their ability to get out, something that was forbidden to their families for generations. Behind them is a dirty country road, remains of an old factory sticking out against the big sky as a skeleton of some prehistoric beast, bleached white concrete with weeds growing timidly in between the cracks and long forgotten objects that suggest an everlasting, destructive human presence: vodka bottles, condoms, candy wrappers. In these places, being beautiful does not really matter and does not have the capacity to change your life.

Russian girls want what everybody wants; a good life and they want it badly. I guess they just don’t go to the trouble of hiding it. True, there is a lack nuance in their approach as they are offensively shameless about it. A style quite opposite from their American counterparts who want it just as much, but pretend they do not by modestly feigning indifference (which, in their minds translates to good breeding) and then turn into domestic monsters the second they have a ring on their finger. Yet, a lingering and unwavering impression remains; complete and utter obsession with money.

Saying one is Russian in New York gives off a subtle whiff of negativity and indignity. However, isn’t it giving Russian girls too much credit in the originality contest? As if no one else ever wanted a diamond or two, as if obsession with money, especially someone else’s, has not been plaguing people since the beginning of time.

New York is a city that indeed does not get much sleep. Here our tastes are erratic and there is clearly an obsession with ‘the new’. Spoiled and neurotic, we are in constant search for the next best thing. And guess what? Russian girls are ‘in’. Modeling agencies are practically bursting with various Natashas, who are rapidly succeeding Brazilian bombshells and sprinting towards the finish line of lukewarm celebrity. Not too many men would object to having one on their arm either. But for some reason, insinuating that a Russian girl, no matter how pleasant or gracious, is most likely a whore in disguise has become “a thing to do”, almost like bashing France.

But like it or not, even when this trend is gone the Russian girls are here to stay. And in the city that is a graveyard of failed dreams they will most likely be successful in finding what they are looking for – be it money for some or a white picket fence for others.

Maybe at the end of the day, girls are pretty much the same. They could be from Minsk or Minnesota and want the same thing just wrapped in different packaging. And who is to say what the American Dream really is if not to get your own Prince Charming with all the right trimmings?

— Helena Khazanova

Liverpool: City of the Arts

‘It’s grim up north’ or so goes the familiar reply whenever a town situated north of London’s M25 is mentioned. ‘Well, have you ever been to Liverpool?’ is the appropriate response. After suffering a chequered history, Liverpool has recently emerged as a lively centre for the arts. Former home to Europe’s largest port, the city enjoyed its heyday during the industrial revolution before it was bombed to smithereens during World War II. Out of the rubble emerged the Beatles, until disaster struck again, in the shape of Margaret Thatcher and hundreds of dock workers were laid off. Liverpudlians soldiered on, however, transforming their disused dock system into a suitable home for Tate Liverpool. Now the city is positively brimming with art and has been voted Europe’s 2008 Capital of Culture.

• Tate Liverpool is hosting this year’s Turner Prize. Mark Wallinger is tipped to win the £25,000 prize with a hilarious film of the artist dressed in a bear suit. http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/turnerprize2007/

• The Liverpool Biennial was founded by Liverpudlian and arts innovator James Moores. Now in its 5th year, the 2008 Biennial is commissioning 36 new works by leading international artists, many of them will be installed in public spaces. Previous projects include Anthony Gormley’s spectacular cast iron figures standing on a Lancashire beach, waves lapping around their heels. http://www.biennial.com/

• ‘A’ Foundation, Moores’ latest Liverpudlian venture has secured vast warehouse spaces for exhibitions. Installations by British artist Brian Griffiths and U.S. based collective SIMPARCH will be on show until April 2008. “James Moores' introduction of the Liverpool Biennial in his own home town has really helped to bring the city to the forefront of the art world’s collective consciousness,” says arty ASW member Rebecca Guinness.
http://www.afoundation.org.uk/

• The Walker Art Gallery will be staging the John Moores Prize for Contemporary Painting, now in its 50th year. The winning painter receives a prize of £25,000. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/

• FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) commissions artists to make works in film, video and new media. On show until Jan 13th 2008 are three new films from Manchester based filmmakers Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson about issues of faith in contemporary society. http://www.fact.co.uk/

• ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2008,’ is the hot ticket next year. This annual exhibition of the best work by recent graduates from art schools attracts eager gallerists in search of new artists.
http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/

— Constance Wyndham

Sushi Samurais Battle for Top Sushi Honor

Sushi epicures gathered at the Sushi of the Year 2007 competition at London House for the ultimate sushi fix last Tuesday night.

On the menu were seven nigiri dishes prepared by top sushi chefs – collectively billed the ‘Seven Sushi Samurai’ – who competed for the sushi world’s highest honour.

Now in its sixth year, the challenge attracts global competitors from Michelin-starred restaurants such as Nobu, as well as an impressive line-up of judges. Kyle Connaughton, guest judge and head chef of development at Heston Blumenthal’s famed Fat Duck restaurant was keen to participate: “We are influenced by Japanese technique at the Fat Duck,” said Connaughton. “We are always looking to Japanese food-science to enhance our cuisine.”

Visiting gourmands also had the chance to sample each nigiri and cast their votes alongside the judges – not before cleansing their palettes with some shochu highballs of course. ASW member Lini Kuhl was amongst those grazing on the spreads. “I’m looking forward to trying a new combination that isn’t usually in sushi,” she said, adding that she was eyeing Nobu chef Yasuhiro Mineno’s Scottish beef nigiri with miso marinade and a dab of English mustard.

The event highlights an interesting foodie conundrum: on one hand, sushi represents the value of tradition and simplicity in cuisine. But to Japanese sushi chefs working abroad, being inventive is a necessity as traditional materials are often scarce.

Sushi’s global popularity also means that non-Japanese chefs are integrating their own cultures and regional ingredients. Andrei Sim, chef at Moscow’s Planeta Sushi, for example, wowed the crowd with ‘Red Square’, a nigiri sushi consisting of red flesh tuna with mirin gelee on a cream cheese and beetroot sushi rice base.

Sushi innovation triumphed in the end when Masashi Ogata was crowned the event’s winner. The chef had intended to use shark fin in his ‘Golden Shooting Star’ sushi. Unable to find quality shark fin in London, Ogata recreated the taste and texture using vegetarian ingredients such as daikon sprouts, maple syrup-infused apple and cornflakes.

“It was absolutely unlike sushi I've had anywhere else," said novelist Tobias Hill on the winning sushi. Hill, who described his first taste of sushi in 1987 as "one of the most alien things I'd ever eaten at that point," should know since he is now familiar with the London sushi scene. "Nobu is lovely, although a little trendy," he said. "But this [Golden Shooting Star] sushi is a surprise."

— Taraneh Ghajar

Swarovski Fashion Rocks 2007

"Music is fundamental to complete an outfit," said Frida Giannini, Gucci's creative director at the Swarovski Fashion Rocks 2007 on Thursday night at London's Royal Albert Hall. The evening proved her point as 15 designers, including Gucci, sent models down the runway to tunes of their inspirational rock star collaborator. Armani paired with Alicia Keys while Chanel chose self-proclaimed Chanel fan, Lily Allen. Versace models strutted, bright as canaries, as they dodged a writhing Iggy Pop. Dolce & Gabbana preferred a loud and proud soundtrack from rapper Timbaland.

The evening's star quotient was exceptionally high. Uma Thurman, who wore a stunning crystal-scattered Valentino gown and Samuel Jackson, in a series of Armani suits, played hosts while Gwyneth Paltrow presented the evening's highlight: a lifetime achievement award to her dear friend, Valentino, who recently announced his retirement. "I want to leave when the party is still full of people," said Valentino of his half-century in the fashion world. "This is very emotional for me." The audience stood as Valentino accepted the award and later his fans cooed over his talent. "Valentino is frills, bows and dots," said social Tamara Beckwith, who arrived in full-length red Valentino dress. " He makes you feel like a million dollars."

Other surprises included the unconventional Scottish designer Christopher Kane's runway show with Beth Ditto and The Gossip. Ditto has a reputation for making fashion 'don'ts' - like spandex and horizontal stripes - into fashion 'dos.' Kane fully supported her with a magenta crystal skirt suit. Ditto kicked her shoes into the audience during the last extended shout of the performance.

"Chris Kane and the Gossip were definitely the stars of the show," agreed Charlotte Hamlett and Miguel Pascal, ASW members who moved on to the Kane after-party at Paper club on Regent Street. Other attendees also dispersed into the night. Jasmine Guinness, Elizabeth Saltzman, Harvey Weinstein, Calum Best, Courtney Love and Princess Beatrice headed to the official after-party at Baglioni.

Bungalow 8 attracted the sophisticated set, which included members of the Armani group while Punk Club drew fashionista and rock offspring Peaches Geldof. The parties continued well into the wee hours – evidence, if any was needed, that fashion indeed rocked.

— Taraneh Ghajar

Alexander Kølpin

Alexander Kølpin

Alexander Kølpin is a Danish star of film, the stage, and the ballet. He danced with the Royal Danish Ballet, in Bournonville Ballets, and guest starred with several other ballet companies. While injury forced Kølpin into an early retirement from dance, his life still revolves around the art and he is currently the artistic director of the Copenhagen International Ballet. Here he tells ASW about his many passions and his next big project.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
Alexander Kølpin : I use it when I have to travel, especially for restaurants and hotels. I like the rating system and I mostly look at the individual comments.

Q. At what age did you know you wanted to dance?
AK: When I was 10. I came straight from a soccer match to see my sister do a ballet class. And I believe it moved me right away because all the things that I was interested in were represented in this one room; movement, music, physicality, grace and drama, all embodied in one vocabulary.

Q. What has been the greatest moment of your career thus far?
AK: Dancing ‘James,’ the lead in La Sylphide; first in Copenhagen and again later at the Sydney Opera House.

Q. Is dance in your blood?
AK: No, my mother is a designer for cloth, my father an architect.

Q. You’re in the Danish stage production of the Full Monty. Do you get your gear off?
AK: Not completely (Full Monty-style) but it was a great experience to be a stripper and do a ten minute solo strip to open the show.

Q. You performed in several Bournonville Ballets. For the ballet-ignorant among us, what is unique about Bournonville?
AK: That his ballets are always about people and the characters. It’s demanding in the technique, but first and foremost it is a portrait of personalities.

Q. What are you doing in the way of TV and film these days?
AK: I did a short film last year and am now shooting a documentary on my father-in-law, Peter Zobel (a retired business tycoon in the insurance industry).

Q. An injury forced you into early retirement from dance. How did you cope with that disappointment?
AK: I have been injured many times in my career – it is a part of being professional and working hard. I had to stop for a year, but recovered and left the Royal Danish Ballet to work with Maurice Bejart in Lausanne. After that I moved to New York and worked with Twyla Tharp. Then moved back to Denmark and stopped dancing.

Q. Tell us about your next big project?
AK: My documentary and planning next summer’s dance performances.

Q. What makes you happiest?
AK: To travel, eat, listen to music, the ocean, friends and my kids. And work when I am with cool people.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
AK: Paris and Mallorca

Q. What is your favorite hotel?
AK: Plaza Athénée, Paris

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
AK: Le Stresa (Paris), Oubaek (Copenhagen),

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
AK: Moma (NY), Whitney (NY), Rodin (Paris)

Q. What is your favorite beach?
AK: Blacks Beach (La Jolla, California), 7 Mile Beach (Byron Bay, Australia), Hornbaek (Denmark)

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
AK: Le Stresa (Paris), Oubaek (Copenhagen)

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
AK: The MOMA in Paris

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
AK: Girl on the Bridge (touching and honest acting; great story about human relationships)

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
AK: Verbier (Swizerland)

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
AK: Children in need, because they are vulnerable and bear no responsibility for what we are doing to the world around them.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
AK: To be less self-aware and more patient.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
AK: Whoa… Picasso or Igor Stravinsky. My favorite living artist has to be choreographer Jiri Kylian.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
AK: Not a good idea to share it.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
AK: Not historical as such, but the Dalai Lama

Q. What upsets you the most?
AK: Stupid and lazy people who do not take action but expect respect without contributing.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
AK: Plaza Athénée (Paris)

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
AK: My iPhone and my Mac.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
AK: Not being healthy and lose my loved ones.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
AK: Beer

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
AK: 'Love Me or Leave Me’ by Nina Simone, ‘Adagietto,’ Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ sung by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

— Laura Jakobovits

A Quick Glance at the Frankfurt Book Fair

What was it all about?
With more than 6,000 exhibitions from over 120 countries, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the world. This year the deal fervor was high, with chatter between agents, publishers, film producers, and distributors.

Why people go?
To buy and sell books - Frankfurt is an in-house affair for people in the book business. Although unpublished writers are not the focus, it was a good place to learn about publishing (the seminars are great) as well as to discover obscure publishers.

Who was there?
Germany’s ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer was interviewed by Der Spiegel to talk about his new book The Red-Green Year. British Novelist Fay Weldon discussed female misery in society, domestic wars, and her new book She May Not Leave. Italian novelist Umberto Eco talked about the History of Ugliness. The fair was, of course, filled with ASW members like Lana Cevro, Leticia Jiménez-Buil, and Marco Caffagni.

Highlights?
ASW Member Hendrik Teneues’ publishing company teNeues held a launch party for Eyes Over Africa, which was amazing. Other fun parties were the Cannon Gate’s party, the Cook Book Awards, Bertelsman’s party and ASW Member Rolfe Swinton’s party for his company CPI Publishing Solutions, which was held at a nearby castle.

— Staff

Frieze Art Fair

Modern art’s most glamorous patrons combed the 150 galleries of London's Frieze Art Fair in search of the next Damien Hirst and Chapman Brothers last weekend. And of course, when they weren’t looking at the art, they were attending the countless events held to coincide with the fair.

From a small affair five years ago, Frieze has turned into ‘the start of the season’ for the art world, according to Amanda Schneider of the Jablonka Galerie, whose highlight was a stunningly erotic David LaChapelle photomural. Set in London’s beautiful Regent’s Park in a custom-built marquee of over 20,000 square meters, the galleries came from nearly 30 countries, representing over a thousand artists.

Galleries, which had been at Frieze last year, reported a definite upturn in attendance and business this time around. The Gagosian Gallery, one of modern art’s powerhouses, sold out its edition of Tracey Emin’s neon sculpture 'I could have really loved you' in a few hours. Indeed, everywhere you went, countless tiny orange dots indicated that work had been snapped up.

Photographer and ASW member Hugo Tillman, whose work was shown by Nohra Haime at the Bridge Art Fair, got to the major Frieze event this year – the party that followed Saturday’s Phillips de Pury & Co auction. “It was the place to see and be seen,” said Tillman. “Everybody was there but the mood was very serious due to the lack of alcohol for the first half of the party.” In the art world, this is a serious complaint.

The celeb art fans were certainly out in force for the first two days of the fair. Dennis Hopper was seen pacing the aisles and regular Friezer, Claudia Schiffer, prowled the booths. One of the Olsen twins put in an appearance while Kate Moss and Hugh Grant were also spotted at the fair.

When you were worn out from all the art – and with 150 galleries, it did get exhausting – Frieze laid on the most luxurious facilities for VIPs and patrons. Mark Hix, legendary chef of The Ivy and Le Caprice in London, brought his kitchen to the fair, while the VIP lounge was luxury defined, with its glamorous denizens – ASWers certainly among them – and fabulous furnishings.

Some galleries reported that they did most of their business in the first couple of days of the fair. Others noted that there were far fewer Americans present compared to previous years because of the weak dollar. Still, judging by the number of people present from across the world, Frieze is firmly on the art world’s calendar.

— Josh Spero

The Cartier Award 2007: And the Winner is...?

On the first day of London’s Frieze Art Fair, a full house of serious art buyers and seriously puzzled artists laughed and scratched their heads as the 2007 Cartier Award recipient, Mario Garcia Torres, used an actor representing a pseudonym to present his winning project.

The Los Angeles-based Torres, who has exhibited at the Tate Modern, Kadist Art Foundation and Venice Biennale, took 'playful' to another level with a droll monologue for a nonexistent but notorious entertainment world scapegoat, Allen Smithee. Beginning in 1968, Hollywood directors would credit Allen Smithee, an anagram for 'The Alias Men', when they felt they lost creative control of their film. Allen Smithee’s filmography has 67 films so far.

“I am a dustbin of creative work, an unlikely collection of artistic rubbish and cobbled together leftovers. You can really make it as a garbage collector,” cautioned the actor, employed by Torres as Smithee. Torres managed to challenge the confines of a creative act in only thirty minutes, pointing out that a collective body of artistic failure can turn into success.

Curator of Frieze Projects, Neville Wakefield, describes Torres’ work as, “an irresistible combination of dry wit and conceptual elegance sure to perplex, confuse and hold everyone’s attention.” Indeed, Torres managed to genuinely confuse the audience, who craved a glimpse of the elusive artist and wondered if Allen Smithee was, in fact, a famous director.

—Taraneh Ghajar

The 2007 London Film Festival

What’s it all about?
It doesn’t have the glamour of Cannes or the art house cachet of Venice or Berlin but this year’s London Film Festival is attracting its fair share of Hollywood A-listers, including Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Halle Berry.

Why go?
Unlike the other major European film festivals, which are mainly in-house affairs, the LFF is about public audiences. In other words, you don’t have to be a film critic or work in the business to actually get to see the films and, often, meet the cast and crew.

Among the list of more than 300 movies are films from 43 countries. Yes, you can discover obscure South American or Eastern European gems that will never show in London otherwise. You can also get sneak previews of mainstream hits that will shortly show at your local multiplex – Leicester Square will be donning a red carpet 15 times over the two weeks for gala performances.

What’s on the agenda?
Opening the festival is David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, a dark thriller set in London’s criminal underworld. Cronenberg and two of the stars, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, will be present. (A tip: If the gala performances are booked up, the stars will usually turn up to the following day’s afternoon screening.)

And the glam factor?
The most extravagant night out will be the premiere of Robert Redford’s political thriller, Lions for Lambs, on October 22. LFF’s main sponsor, The Times, is hosting a state banquet-themed party at the Waldorf Hilton after the screening, which will be attended by Redford and leading man, Tom Cruise, who plays a presidential candidate.

Ken Livingstone, a less glamorous but nonetheless real-life politician, will be hosting the Mayor of London’s gala film – Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution – and a post-screening event at the Royal Opera House on October 20.

Wes Anderson’s new movie, The Darjeeling Limited, closes the festival on November 1. The story of three brothers – played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman – traveling across India, the film promises typical Anderson whimsy with rich images and a great soundtrack. Of the trio, only Wilson – who has been keeping a low profile since a suicide attempt – will be absent from the gala performance.

What else should I get tickets for?
Other highlights will include Sean Penn’s directorial adaptation of the Jon Krakauer book, Into the Wild, Halle Berry in Things We Lost in the Fire (in which she plays a woman who loses her husband) and Michael Moore’s polemic doco, Sicko, about the US healthcare system.

Is there anything to do between screenings?
One of the problems of the LFF has been that screenings are spread out across the city. There is no central venue where film people and the public can mingle. The situation, however, may be different this year with the recent opening of the Benugo Bar and Kitchen at the British Film Institute on the South Bank. For the first time, there will be a classy location for film-goers to hang out before and after screenings at the National Film Theatre.

The details:
The festival runs from October 17 to November 1. Check official website for schedules: www.bfi.org.uk

— Alex Bellos

End of Summer Ball: London's Farewell to Summer

Never mind that there was no summer in Britain this year. London's smart set still showed up to celebrate the End of Summer Ball, hosted by Vince Power at Berkeley Square.

Scenesters such as Kimberley Stewart, designer John Rocha, Tim Jefferies and Princess Beatrice – who was escorted by her beau, Dave Clark – came out for the soiree, which supports the work of the Prince’s Trust charity. ASW members present included Claudia Winkleman, Alexia Inge and Daisy Bates. The all-star chef team of Mark Hix, Tom Aikens, Richard Corrigan and Bryn Williams provided a sumptuous spread while the mixologists from Nobu Berkeley kept the crowd suitably lubricated with rose petal martinis and other concoctions. But the real treat of the evening came when former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley took to the stage. The trip back to the 1980s provided enough of a cue for many of the guests to claim table tops as their personal dance podiums.

— Jessica Ramakrishnan

Sanjay Rawal

Sanjay Rawal

Sanjay Rawal is a philanthropy junkie. He has led dozens of projects around the world and helped launch some of the most impressive relief campaigns to date. His previous work with the likes of Donna Karan and Wyclef Jean has quickly earned him a position as a go-to guy when it comes to humanitarian endeavors.

We sat down to talk shop with the man who likes going all the way – to support the right cause.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Sanjay Rawal: Late last spring my ultra-connected friend, Octavio Domit, invited me after another member teased me for not having joined yet. I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I should have!

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
SR: I have to hand it to ASW, just for giving hundreds of super-connected, super-creative people the chance and comfort to interact on a global scale. Since I joined in June, I have joined the board of an ASW member-led bottled water company, developed a few new philanthropic projects with ASWers and received immeasurable help and advice from a number of people. ASWers are definitely way more [socially] conscious than the average Joe and the opportunities to collaborate on a business and philanthropic level are staggering. Through ASW alone, I ended up helping a friend finish building a community centre for children in Mississippi who were affected by Hurricane Katrina!

Q. You sort of ‘stumbled’ upon directing a humanitarian program in Nepal, when the person in charge of the direction of the development arrived three weeks late. This seems like a good luck/bad luck type of situation that seems to have had a big influence on you. Can you tell us something about your first experience and how it developed?
SR: I was a bit confused trying to find a real career in New York City. I originally moved to the city for grad school in 1997, but was lured by the bright lights of Broadway, actually off-off-Broadway. I took a lead in a small production, which ended up touring Europe. I came back to do the career thing and joined an iBank in 1998.

Later that summer, a friend of mine who worked at UNICEF in NYC encouraged me to get involved as a volunteer with a project she was working on in Nepal. At the same time I was becoming disillusioned by Wall Street, quit my job, and basically began helping in minor ways to put together a peace initiative she was launching in Nepal. I was just trying to find something I really enjoyed, I guess.

As I got more involved, she suggested I go there with her. I got my ticket to Kathmandu, then found out she was going to be three weeks late for this program, for which we just had one month to launch!

But I went, had a wonderful time, felt purpose (finally) and never looked back. Basically we had lobbied the Nepali Government all fall to pass a peace resolution and went to Nepal to rally all the political parties around this resolution as a show of national solidarity for peace. We had a grand kick-off and even brought elephants to the lobby of a five star hotel for the event (they made such a mess!).

Sanjay Rawal and Angelique Kidjo

Q. After Nepal you led programs in Brazil, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysian Borneo, Brunei, Thailand, The Gambia, and elsewhere. Were all of these programs peace-related? Could you tell us about the nature of some of these programs and their impact on the community?
SR: After my experience in Nepal, I began to understand the simplicity of lobbying and working with governments as well as local non-profits to make a sustainable impact on communities – basically helping groups drive through red tape. I also learned that if one was willing to work for (nearly) nothing, there were endless job possibilities in this field!

After Nepal my next gig was in Brazil, set up by a friend of mine who paired me with Brazilian Olympic hero, Joaquim Cruz, to create an identical program to the one I did in Nepal. We helped to motivate the government to actively support peace through sports and helped give voice to hundreds of national-caliber athletes living at or below the poverty line. Surprisingly enough, it was successful and when I came back to New York I realized I could make a real career out of this and subsequently traveled to 35 countries over the next five years.

Most of the projects were, in fact, related to peace – developing a sense of local, national or international peace, through initiatives that encouraged sports (like the World Harmony Run), the arts, culture or government, and sometimes all four. The projects I worked on were varied but all helped to establish platforms for dialogue and lead parties to constructive resolutions.

I was at home in New York on 9/11. After those events, ‘peace’ became a bad word and I had to re-calibrate on a number of levels, so to speak. I became more focused on governmental relations and helping governments and non-profits communicate with each other and the public more effectively.

Q. Tell us about Wyclef Jean and the program you started with him to help Haiti.
SR: In 2004, Wyclef and I were sitting in his music studio in New York. Clef had just met Harry Belafonte who lauded him for his humanitarian activities but also told him he had a long way to go.

Clef hadn’t been back to Haiti since 1997 when the Fugees performed in Port-au-Prince – [band member] Pras wore a bullet-proof vest on stage! So, on a whim, we flew down to plan the largest concert in Haiti’s history – multi-million attendee concert set for December 2004 – as a demonstration of peace.

To make a long story short, the unrest in Haiti reached a boiling point that October and we were forced to scuttle our plans for the concert, but having realized the impact Wyclef could make in Haiti on a purely humanitarian level, we launched Yele Haiti to address key development issues in the area.

We wanted to start small, but the need was so great. In just two years, Yele became the best-known non-profit in Haiti. Down there we ran slum clean-up projects and gave scholarships. In the States we had meetings with World Bank President James Wolfensohn, State Department and intelligence officials, and had fundraisers with Angelina Jolie, Norah Jones, Drew Barrymore, Meryl Streep and others. It was a wild ride.

Wyclef Jean in Haiti

Q. After you quit managing Yele, what happened next?

SR: After about 16 months of working 80-hour weeks, I was totally burned out. I had an opportunity to spend three months in Malaysia on beaches, working part-time on projects with children orphaned by the 2004 tsunami. Yele was in a great place and I felt it was a good opportunity to move on.

When I returned in 2005, I joined a consulting company started by a couple of friends focused on development. This company took over Yele when I retired. We just merged this month with an advertising agency to become what I think is the premier agency for execution of cause-related marketing and non-profit work from the ground up. We are called The Vox. [Other principals include ASWers Roberto Ramos and Susan Jaramillo].

Q. You seem to have a close relationship with music foundations. Tell us about Batonga and Bambai Bling.
SR: Musicians and artists are some of the most creative people I know. When they are given the space and freedom to create sustainable development projects, the ideas they develop are absolutely genius. And of course, the energy they bring can break down many barriers.

We followed the model of Yele, which mixed music with development efforts – we had local hip-hop stars distributing rations in the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince – to create Batonga: an organization headed by African superstar and UNICEF Ambassador Angelique Kidjo, oriented to bring education to young girls in underdeveloped African nations.

Over the last few years, there has been a huge international push to put kids in Africa into primary school; however, most groups realized that there weren’t too many options for kids to continue school past the sixth grade – especially girls. With Batonga, we are giving girls in five countries such opportunities.

Similarly, last year a couple filmmaker friends of mine took rapper Paul Wall, Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan and child-soldier-turned-author Ishmael Beah to Sierra Leone to explore the intersection of civil war, blood diamonds and bling. Their documentary Bling: A Planet Rock was a huge hit on VH1 and helped start a foundation we created for the children of Sierra Leone. Bambai Bling launched last June with the help of Jeff Skoll and Jennifer Connelly at an event widely attended by ASW members.

Q. You have worked with many interesting people. From General Khinh Nyunt in Myanmar to Donna Karan in New York. Who has inspired you the most?
SR: The one thing I learned in New York, if I have learned anything at all (!) is the need for inner peace. I think that if I didn’t meditate on a daily basis I would have gone totally nuts. I am pretty lucky to be close to Sri Chinmoy, a well-known meditation teacher and humanitarian who lives, of all places, in New York City. His philosophy is: “If you are not in the world, you can’t change it.” Very practical.

He also introduced me to a number of his close friends, like President Gorbachev, Susan Sarandon, Sting and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with whom I ended up working at one point.

Q. You are very fond of philanthropy, there’s no doubt about that. What is it that you find most attractive about your occupation? Where do you get your inspiration from?
SR: I don’t consider myself an expert by any means. I am constantly learning but I know that if I offer myself with at least a little bit of humility in the service of others, I sleep well at night! I really just value freedom, the ability to feel grateful and to feel a connection with other people. Philanthropy allows me to experience those emotions on a daily basis and get a little more satisfaction out of life. I am no Mother Teresa or anything but I do get inspiration when I see people who have a lot of love and don’t mind sharing it.

Q. What would you say to people to inspire them to make a positive change in the world?
SR: I think we are all pretty much seeking the same things at the end of the day and that everyone is making a positive change in the world whether they know it or not. The question is: How conscious are they of their importance in this world? I think each person is pretty special and when they realize this, they begin to feel more fulfilled by life. Of course when this happens, the world always changes for the better.

Q. What makes you happiest?
SR: Having an ice-cream sundae after running a marathon.

Children in West Africa

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
SR: Bali, hands down, barrel-seeking at Uluwatu.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
SR: Oversleeping. I’d sleep all day if I could.

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
SR: Kempinski in Istanbul, Amanusa in Bali, Raffles in Phnom Penh, Andaman in Langkawi, Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. Yes I have spent a LOT of time in Southeast Asia

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
SR: I am a vegetarian and it’s rare for me to find good-tasting vegetarian; however, Bagatelle in Oslo has an incredible vegetarian restaurant! Otherwise, in New York, my favorite meal is truffle pizza and onion rings at Five Points.

Q. What is your favorite beach?
SR: Because of the solitude and the waves, I’d have to say Nusa Dua, Bali.

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
SR: I loved Bling: A Planet Rock, Hotel Rwanda and The Killing Fields – not exactly popcorn and milk duds movies, but I like to learn something when I watch films.

Q. What is your favorite book?
SR: Fiction: The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Non-fiction: What is the What by Dave Eggers

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
SR: I prefer surf to snow, but after spending a hot June week snowboarding on the glaciers of Norway, I’d have to say Stryn.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
SR: Refugee assistance and disaster relief, due to the sheer inhumanity of their situation.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
SR: I could use a lot more drive and focus sometimes. Sometimes I prefer a lazy beach day to a hard-work day. But maybe that’s not all that bad!

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
SR: Sri Chinmoy. His paintings really move me.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
SR: Tried to negotiate a cease-fire between rival gangs and militia in Haiti with Wyclef. It worked but not before bullets flew (and flew way too close to me for comfort).

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
SR: The Buddha. Why not? I am sure he was a totally nice guy.

Q. What upsets you the most?
SR: When friends don’t get back to me right away (you know who you are).

Q. What is your favorite bar?
SR: I am not a drinker, but I spent hours at the FCC in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. I also like watching the sunsets over Port-au-Prince in Haiti at the bar at the Hotel Montana.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
SR: My blackberry.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
SR: Being old and having any regrets over any missed opportunities.

Q. Were do you love to shop?
SR: Philosophy (Kuala Lumpur), Triple Five Soul (Soho), Hansen’s Surfshop (in Encinitas) and any Versace store, really. Oops, I forgot to add DKNY.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
SR: Give me a fresh coconut under a palm tree and I am in heaven.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
SR: ‘Five More Minutes’ by OAR, ‘F Stop Blues’ by Jack Johnson and ‘Prabhuji’ by Ravi Shankar

— Alonso Dominguez