Birdcage Still An Aviary Of Equine Extravagance

The Age

Thursday October 16, 2008

Lorna Edwards

SHAREMARKET panic may have spooked some corporate racegoers out of the Birdcage at Flemington this year, but it won't spook the horses or the dedicated party set.

Emirates has snipped its budget by $350,000 but its guests will still indulge in hearty Austrian-themed nibbles, including miniature veal schnitzels, beef goulash and Kaiser chicken sausage washed down with Viennese spritzers or a Wenzel pinot gris.

Fiercely proud of having the first plumbed toilets in the Birdcage, Emirates this year will extend the pampering in the ladies room beyond its usual hairdressers on standby to revive hat hair.

Therapists from Dubai will0 offer spa treatments, including neck, shoulder, hand and foot massages for the uncomfortably well-heeled. Guests still must BYO cosmetic surgery makeovers, however.

Saab, which has taken over the departed Moet's corner on "millionaire's row", will pour lingonberry champers while George Calombaris dispenses his Press Club lunch boxes of baklava, asparagus salad and raspberry cupcakes.

Their "sauna" will bravely offer karaoke but will curiously not be heated nor adopt the usual Scandinavian sauna dress code of nudity. "We are definitely encouraging people to keep their clothes on," insisted Saab spokeswoman Rebecca Clout.

Andrew McManus will be celebrating loud and proud with hard rocking and rapping guests, including Snoop Dogg (below), Ice Cube, Chris Isaak, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick and possibly Kenny "The Gambler" Rogers.

The rock promoter suggests only a small pocket of people have been hit by sharemarket woes and predicts what PM Kevin Rudd yesterday billed as "the worst financial crisis in our lifetime" will be forgotten by most in a year.

"We are being told there is a disaster out there but we are looking around saying where is this disaster?" he said to Diary.

"Are we going to have Dom Perignon? No, we'll have Moet again. Are we going to spend more on the marquee? A little bit."

He insists there is more demand than ever for an invitation and recalls his doorman last year being offered up to $2000 to let people in.

Describing the atmosphere in some prestigious marquees as "the walking dead", McManus says the gaggle of girls turned away at his marquee's door last year sparked a trade offer for his "fillies". An unnamed tent in the neighbourhood offered his doorman $100 a woman for those rejected, he says.

Boom and bust

IT'S economic boom times at the Australian Open, with a record prize pool of $22million for the players and a record high of ticket sales last week.

Only the all-suffering ball kids will be feeling the pinch with their relatively meagre allowance unceremoniously axed by Tennis Australia, as reported by Diary last week.

But Tennis Australia insists while there is no cash to spare for the kids, they will instead get some products from sponsors and adequate "recognition".

"Our allowance program has changed to a sponsor-related recognition program,"

a spokesman told Diary.

With all that prizemoney floating around, Diary suggests the ball kids charge the players a fee for each fetch.

Overexposed

MARGARET Gee's Australian Media Guide has raised some eyebrows with its latest marketing approach.

A promotion for its latest directory features an illustration of a bent-over woman in heels and suspenders with her dress hitched up waist-high and the accompanying directive: "Give yourself the right exposure."

"Given the efforts of women to get rid of this garbage from advertising material, how sleazy is this promo from people working in the media," one reader thundered.

Not the sort of exposure it was seeking, perhaps.

Paper loss

LEAN times have hit the opulent world of opera at a production of Bellini's I Puritani at the weekend.

There was no luxury loo paper for the delicate derrieres of women in the powder room of the Athenaeum Theatre.

Horrified opera fans instead had to endure using Cost Saver brand toilet paper dumped in boxes on a ledge, which Diary's spy described as having the "consistency of fine sandpaper".

A harsh note indeed.

Albert's knees-up

SOME heavy-duty boozing and schmoozing took place on Tuesday as the Albert Park Hotel celebrated 125 years, not out. The watering hole, popular among the sporting set, managed to muster a large midweek crowd of more than 500 thirsty freeloaders for the festivities.

Celebrated sippers included John-Michael Howson, Pete Lazar, Coral Knowles, Grant Smillie and Nick Holland.

Sequinned sequel

THE iconic sequinned maracas and camp wardrobe of the original Boy from Oz have enough stage presence to star in their own show. Thus the Arts Centre is paying homage to Peter Allen (below) with an exhibition of some of his flamboyant stage "bling wear" and those trademark Hawaiian shirts.

The sparkling collection came from career memorabilia donated by former Allen pal and tour manager Larry Rinehart and personal assistant Bruce Cudd.

Allen's wardrobe sequin count rivals that of Dame Edna and Kylie Minogue, two other Aussie stars whose wares and wears have inspired two previous Arts Centre exhibitions.

© 2008 The Age

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