Parker: Top names trade dignity for dollars at transplant benefit

By Penny Parker

Saturday, July 15, 2006

A bunch of boldface names boldly went where no respectable server should go by donning hula skirts (and those were on the guys), Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops Thursday night at The Palm to raise a pot of poi for the American Transplant Foundation, a charity founded by power broker Steve Farber after his own kidney transplant.

Penthouse Club and Diamond Cabaret owner Troy Lowrie snagged the most tips from donating diners, and he presented the booty stashed in his waistband to ATF director Heidi Heltzel. Seems that Lowrie's been taking cues from his clubs' strippers.

Former Adams County Commissioner Marty Flaum showed up clutching a cigar.

"I'm here to violate the smoking ban, and when they give me the $200 ticket, I'll make sure they donate it to the foundation," he said.

Music man Chuck Morris took well to his new occupation by seating guests and ducking in and out of the kitchen to retrieve plates of Caesar salad and steak and lobster.

"I told Chuck he had a backstage pass," Palm GM Dan Foster said about Morris' trips to the kitchen.

Health care honcho David McReynolds turned tricks (the clean kind) for his tips.

"They gave me $5 to do a table dance," McReynolds said.

"And someone else paid you $50 not to do one," shot back former City Councilman Ed Thomas.

HOLTZMAN HITCHED: Former GOP gubernatorial candidate wannabe Marc Holtzman tied the knot with longtime fiancee Kristen Hubbell, spokeswoman for Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, during a July 8 ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif.

Among the attendees at the nuptials were eye surgeon Larry Spivak and Cynthia Honssinger, wife of state Treasurer Mike Coffman.

"Marc was surrounded by many of his friends," said Spivak. "They seem very much in love."

Holtzman could not be reached for comment on Friday.

FRANKLY FRANKEN: Music man Morris met snarky funny man Al Franken through guitarist extraordinaire Leo -Kottke at an awards show in New York.

Morris, who manages Kottke, was hanging out backstage after the show when Franken came in. Morris and Franken hit it off to the point where Morris' Live Nation got the gig as the promoter for Franken's Stand Up 4 Change comedy tour, which stops in Denver on Aug. 24 at the Paramount Theatre.

Franken, known for slicing and dicing political conservatives, will donate money raised on the tour to his political action committee. Our own Todd Park -Mohr, lead singer of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, will open for Franken with an acoustic set.

Franken's national radio show on Air America will broadcast live from Denver the morning of the concert. Tickets go on sale at 10 this morning through Ticketmaster - phone (303-830-TIXS) or on-line (ticketmaster.com) only.

CSNY DVD: All three Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young shows at Red Rocks this coming week are being filmed for a DVD release, Graham Nash tells music critic Mark Brown. The three-hour-plus shows, filled with CSNY classics as well as new songs from Neil Young's Living With War, will be edited for a DVD release in time for Christmas, Nash says. You can read the full interview in Monday's Rocky Mountain News Spotlight section.

THE SEEN: Dean Fearing, executive chef of The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas for 21 years, dining at Rioja last week. Fearing just left The Mansion to open a new restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Dallas.

EAVESDROPPING on a man at The Palm talking about the exhibit "Body Worlds 2": "Don't show me a bad liver; I own a bad liver."

Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Call her at 303-892-5224 or e-mail .