Red Carpet Season Rolls Out

Back in September at Borat’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere, the Golden Globes were just a gleam in Sacha Baron Cohen’s eye. Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images 

By Jon Warech

There is no business like show business and, quite frankly, there is no season like awards season. On Monday night, the Golden Globes took over the Beverly Hilton and all the stars were shining. There were highlights — Tom Hanks honoring Warren Beatty’s balls, Sacha Baron Cohen thanking his costar for putting his “wrinkled Golden Globes on [his] chin,” and Giuliana DePandi calling Zach Braff her “creamsicle” in the E! pre-show. There were also lowlights. Prince arrived late, forcing presenter Justin Timberlake to ad-lib his acceptance speech. Clint Eastwood mocked Jennifer Hudson’s tearful speech in his own victory monologue. And, Jeremy Piven got a reality check (twice) — first his red carpet interview was cut off for a Brangelina Q&A with Ryan Seacrest, and then, when he lost to Jeremy Irons for best supporting actor in a TV role, Irons walked up to Kevin Connolly to shake his hand thinking he was Piven. OK, those were highlights too. Either way, awards season is here, which means TGFSB — thank God for Super Bowl — or we wouldn’t see one celebrity in this town until next Memorial Day weekend.

MISCHA DOES SOUTH BEACH

One celebrity parading around South Beach this week was former OC star Mischa Barton, who must be loving the fact that the show got canceled shortly after she left. Barton, who’s got four films in the works for ’07, partied inside the Red Room at Skybar on Thursday night at the table by the DJ booth. Arriving early, Barton was one of the first people in the Shore Club lounge, but then she snuck away for a while with Jose “Jochy” Ortiz and crew before returning to a much more crowded Red Room. Friday night, it was more of the same at Mokai. Barton and friends occupied the table adjacent to the DJ booth and the actress spent a good amount of time chatting with fashion designer Esteban Cortazar before sneaking out the back door. Barton turns 21 on Wednesday, so maybe this Miami trip was just practice for an upcoming celebration.

ENRIQUE IS STILL YOUR HERO, BABY

At Mokai on Saturday night, Enrique Iglesias did some grassroots self-promotion by walking into the club with CD in hand. An old friend of the Mokai crew, Iglesias had the DJ play his new track, and even though it was placed in the middle of a house set, the crowd approved of Enrique’s new up-tempo jam. It wasn’t that long ago that South Beachers got a taste of Ricky Martin doing the same thing — hopping from club to club playing his new song — and now Iglesias appears to be following his lead. Martin’s 2005 album Life was as high as #6 on the U.S. charts and his recent MTV Unplugged CD was #1 on the U.S. Latin charts, so maybe party-hopping with song in hand is the way to go.

It looks like the Hard Rock in Indianland may be a good place to turn for celeb-stalking.

Tommy Lee goes to Hollywood. Photo by stringer/Getty Images Publicity

HARD ROCK BRINGING THE NOISE

South Beach getting a little too snooty for you? It looks like the Hard Rock in Indianland may be a good place to turn for celeb-stalking. Tommy Lee, Bob Seger, Louie Vega and Roberto Cavalli all brought parties to Pangaea in the past week or so, and rocker Dave Navarro was spotted dining with a female friend at Tequila Ranch on Sunday night, days before the Supernova/ The Panic Channel Tour show at Hard Rock Live on Tuesday. Prince will be performing at Hard Rock Live on Jan. 31, days before his Super Bowl Halftime show, and a number of other SB-related events should make their way north as well. I know we love us some South Beach, but if I was a betting man, I would say the BroCo casino will be a hotspot as well.

NIKKI TURNS 10

Nikki Beach celebrates 10 years of insane late-night partying at the south end of South Beach with a two-day soiree, Jan. 27 and 28. DJ Roman, DJ Claudio, DJ Snezana, DJ Mitch and DJ Armand Pena bring sounds from all over the world to the party, which is set to begin at 10 p.m. Saturday night and carry on through a Sunday brunch that should begin at noon and end sometime early Monday morning. Owners Jack and Lucia Penrod and Eric Omares will celebrate the big bash alongside friends, who will undoubtedly include a few celebs.

Johnny V:
Local celebri-chef

JOHNNY V IS ALIVE

Chef Johnny Vinczencz of Food Network’s Iron Chef America officially opens the doors to his new restaurant, Johnny V South Beach, tonight with an invite-only soiree at the new digs in the Hotel Astor on Washington Ave. For the past three years Johnny V worked the BroCo scene with Johnny V Las Olas, but he returns to South Beach by opening a second restaurant in the old Astor Place spot, where V originally broke onto the national culinary scene. For the bash Vinczencz brings his Latin and BBQ-infused cuisine via the hors d’oeuvres, and guests will enjoy Krug Champagne and live rock ’n’ roll by The Blue Fire Band.

UPCOMING …

Smirnoff launches a year of activity with a drink and dance bash dubbed “Clearly Original Nights” on Tuesday night at Nocturnal. Danny Tenaglia and Murk will spin a classic set of house music tunes in “The White Room” while Felix Da Housecat, DJ Irie and a live performance by New York’s grungy, electronic rock-style band The Rapture take over “The Black Room.” And, in “The Red Room” invited guests will enjoy the Tapas Drinking Experience, where specially created Smirnoff cocktails will represent each of the other four cities (Moscow, Shanghai, Paris and New York) in which Smirnoff will host events over the next year.

SPOTTED …

• The Ying Yang Twins performing at Mansion on Friday night.

• Pharrell Williams at the movie theater on Lincoln Road, where he took in a late viewing of Curse of the Golden Flower with a female companion.

• Tommy Lee DJing at Pangaea on Tuesday night for the official Rock Star Supernova after-party.

Got the 411? Send comments, questions and news items to Jon@miamisunpost.com.