Parker: Gifford makes way back to Colorado after 13 years

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Fifty-three-year-old Kathie Lee Gifford knows when you're a woman of a "certain age" you are required not to take yourself seriously.

"Hold the crowds back, please," Gifford teased when she arrived on the red carpet for the premiere of Hats! The New Musical For The Rest of Your Life at the Denver Civic Theatre, where she was "accosted" Wednesday night by a 9News photographer and me. "Please, honestly, stop it. I mean it!"

Gifford, who wrote the lyrics of the Hats song I Don't Want with writing partner David Friedman, hadn't been to Colorado since her now 13-year-old daughter was 10 days old. The Giffords had a home in Cordillera then but sold it years ago.

"I miss Colorado so much, especially in the summertime," she said. "It was like being in Switzerland. . . . Don't make me cry."

Singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester brought her mom, Ruth Manchester, to the red carpet opening night.

"Since this is such an affirmative group of formidable women, I brought the most formidable woman I know," said Melissa, who wrote the lyrics for Hats songs Cinco Pasos de la Vida and Invisible with writing partner Sharon Vaughn. "We tend to lose sight that life can be wonderful, particularly in these cranky times."

Hats, inspired by the over-50-and-female Red Hats Society, examines the dread of a woman facing her 50th birthday until she meets several "Red Hatters" who teach her to relax and have fun. Tickets: 866-464-2626, 303-309-3773 or ticketswest.com.

JUST JAMIE: A reader who ran into James "Jamie" Denton (Mike "The Plumber" Delfino on Desperate Housewives) during Monday's Broncos-Ravens game raved about the guy. Denton was in town to plug Primal Quest: Utah, on ESPN2, which he hosts.

"During halftime I was able to meet him in the Budweiser suite," my spy said. "He was so nice it was unbelievable. No Hollywood ego on this guy at all."

He told the admirer to call him Jamie. "He chatted for quite a while about next week's episode of DH. It was like talking to an old friend, he was so kind."

My spy says Denton is a tad shorter than he appears on TV. "I guess Teri Hatcher is pretty petite to make him look so tall."

BUCKHORN BOO-BOO: Calls and e-mails trailed into The Buckhorn Exchange on Tuesday after ESPN ran footage of the historic eatery during Monday Night Football.

The announcers gushed about the place, which can't be bad for biz, except for one problem: They called the restaurant The Buckhead.

"One caller asked if we had changed the name, and an e-mailer suggested we move the restaurant to Atlanta," said Buckhorn spokeswoman Lynn Bronikowski. "Maybe the guys from ESPN had Atlanta on their minds since there's an ESPNZone in the Atlanta area known as Buckhead."

JAN'S GAMS: Janet Elway showed off her swimmer-slim body Saturday night when she kicked up her heels and peeled off part of her outfit during Dancing For A Cause, a fundraiser for the Colorado Neurological Institute.

Boldface names, including Les Shapiro, Joyce Moses, Jamie Angelich (despite a pulled hamstring), Douglas Kerbs and Gail Johnson glided across the Seawell Ballroom with pro partners in a dancing competition.

Elway, who ripped off her "tear away" outfit in the middle of the dance, won the hearts and minds of the judges and the appreciative audience, who gave her the people's choice award. More than $300,000 was raised at the event

"Must have been the emcee," quipped CBS 4 News weather whiz Ed Greene.

ROLLIE'S ROAMIN': After less than a six-month stint, Rollie Wesen, chef at Via in the Ice House, is leaving. Wesen came to Via in April after he parted company with Summit in the Broadmoor Hotel. I'm told the split is "mutual and amicable" between Wesen, son-in- law of famed French chef Jacques Pepin, and the Momo brothers, who own the restaurant.

EAVESDROPPING on a woman at the Denver West Marriott bridal fair: "The groom to be has more earrings than the bride to be."

Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com