ENTERTAINMENT
 

Hosted by

Gina Gershon
 

Gina Gershon is an accomplished actress, having starred in numerous film, television and stage roles.

Most recently, Gershon appeared on Broadway in a production of "Bye, Bye Birdie." For television, she starred in the Lifetime movie "Everything She Ever Wanted." Gershon's other recent television credits include a role on the HBO hit series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," as well as a nine-episode arc on "Rescue Me" and roles on "Ugly Betty" and "Numb3rs."

Gershon is well known for her break-out role in the movie "Showgirls" directed by Paul Verhoeven. She also starred in the feature film "Bound," followed by "The Insider" alongside Al Pacino and Russell Crowe; "Face/Off" with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage; Robert Altman's "The Player" and the feature film "Prey For Rock and Roll."

Gershon made her Broadway debut in Sam Mendes' revival of "Cabaret" in January 2001. After "Cabaret" she went on to star in the farce "Boeing Boeing," which won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

Gina Gershon is also an author. In 2008, Putnam Juvenile published "Camp Creepy Time," a tale of a boy who discovers aliens at his summer camp, which she co-wrote with her brother, Dann Gershon. That same year, she released a CD featuring nine songs which she wrote or co-wrote entitled "In Search Of Cleo." Additionally, Gershon released the children's record entitled "The Good, The Bad and The Hungry," by Beardo and Baddo and recently collaborated on a music project, recording with Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, Christian McBride and The Scissor Sisters.

Special Performance by

Heart
 

Ann Wilson and her younger sister, Nancy Wilson first showed the world that women can rock when their band Heart stormed the charts in the ‘70s with hits like “Crazy on You,” “Magic Man,” “Barracuda,” “Straight On,” “Even It Up,” “Kick It Out” and so many more. Not only did the Wilson sisters lead the band, they wrote the songs, and played the instruments too, making them the first women in rock to do so. Heart continued topping the charts through the ‘80s and into the ‘90s with huge hits like “These Dreams,” “Alone,” “What About Love,” “If Looks Could Kill,” “Never,” and a string of other hits that showcased the sisters’ enormous talents as both musicians and singers. Along the way, Heart sold more than 30 million records, had 21 top 40 hits, sold out arenas worldwide, and had a profound influence on rock music.

The Grammy Foundation Northwest Chapter bestowed Lifetime Achievement Honors on Ann and Nancy Wilson in 2004, and VH1 awarded them Rock Honors rings in 2007. In 2009, ASCAP recognized their achievements as songwriters by presenting Ann and Nancy Wilson with an Achievement Award for excellence in songwriting.

Heart songs have been featured in Guitar Hero, Rock Band, in many major motion pictures and television shows, and on virtually every season of American Idol. Heart and Fergie performed “Barracuda” together on the American Idol Give Back last year, helping that charity organization raise millions.

But, first and foremost, Heart is a touring rock band. In 2008 and 2009, they performed 125 shows for more than a million fans. In 2010, they will be releasing their first new album in six years. Red Velvet Car, produced by Grammy-winning Canadian producer, Ben Mink, and supported by a headline tour of the United States and Canada, and a full slate of television appearances.

Special Performance by

Linda Perry
 

Songwriter/producer Linda Perry is one of the most sought after names in music, and is often credited with bringing out the real artist in some of today’s most acclaimed stars.

From her first major cuts and productions with Pink – on the more than 12 million-plus selling, twice Grammy-nominated Arista album “M!ssundaztood” – to numerous hits penned and produced for such artists as Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, and Celine Dion, Linda Perry has risen to the top of the game.

Among her many accolades are ASCAP Awards for Pink’s “Get The Party Started” and Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and “Hurt,” as well as being recognized as one of the top songwriters by Billboard Magazine. “Get The Party Started” received a Grammy nomination for “Best Pop Vocal Performance,” while “Beautiful,” performed by Christina Aguilera, also received three Grammy nominations including one for “Song of the Year,” and took home the Grammy for “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.”

Recently, Linda Perry has been back in the studio with Christina Aguilera, having completed the single "Keeps Gettin' Better" for her greatest hits package. She has also begun work on Aguilera's latest release, marking their fourth album collaboration. Perry and Aguilera appeared together on the Hope for Haiti benefit, where they performed “Lift Me Up,” a song that Perry produced on Aguilera's upcoming TBR album.

Linda Perry’s recent work with Alicia Keys includes the song "Pray for Forgiveness," which appears on Keys’ recently released new album.

In addition to her skills as a producer and writer, Linda Perry is also an astute A&R professional. Quick to recognize talent, she signed the British artist James Blunt to her record label, Custard. She also produced the song "No Bravery" from his album "Back to Bedlam," which has gone on to achieve unprecedented success with worldwide sales in excess of 10 million. Recently, Perry signed the Los Angeles-based band Crash Kings, who have been tearing up the modern rock charts with their smash hit “Mountain Man.”

Prior to her current incarnation as a writer/producer/label owner, Linda Perry was a singer/songwriter, most notably for former Interscope recording artists "4 Non Blondes." Perry’s song, the early-90s mega-hit "What's Up," catapulted the band to international stardom, helped their album, "Bigger, Better, Faster, More," sell seven million copies worldwide, and landed Perry the Best New Female Vocalist award in the Rolling Stone Reader's Poll. She has toured as a performer with The Who, Aerosmith, Prince, Neil Young, and Pearl Jam, and has appeared on David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, the Billboard Music Awards, MTV, and England's Top of the Pops.

Linda Perry has recently completed recording and producing the Oxford, UK-based duo Little Fish, whom she signed to her Custard label (Universal/Motown). Expect to hear more great music in the future thanks to the versatile talents of Linda Perry.

Special Appearance by

Renée Zellweger
 

Academy Award winner and three time nominee, Renée Zellweger has garnered critical acclaim with her outstanding performances in COLD MOUNTAIN, CHICAGO and BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY. In 2004, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as “Ruby Thewes” in Anthony Minghella’s COLD MOUNTAIN. She was nominated in both 2002 and 2003 for Academy Awards for Lead Actress for her roles in BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY and CHICAGO, respectively.

Her Academy Award for her role in COLD MOUNTAIN was accompanied by a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, a BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress. Directed by Anthony Minghella, the film is about a confederate soldier’s journey home after the American Civil War. Zellweger starred opposite Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.

In addition to her Academy Award nomination for her role in CHICAGO, Zellweger also won the 2003 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Lead Role as well as a 2003 Golden Globe Award for Lead Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Lead Actress. Directed by Rob Marshall, the film is set in Chicago in the 1920s. Zellweger starred opposite Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta Jones as a murderess who will strive for fame at any cost including scandal and lies.

Zellweger can last be seen in MY ONE AND ONLY as the beautiful but mercurial “Ann Devereaux” who has just left her philandering husband “Dan” (Kevin Bacon) and embarks on a journey to California with her two teenage sons. Directed by Richard Loncraine and produced by Aaron Ryder and Norton Herrick, the film is inspired by incidents in the life of actor and Hollywood icon George Hamilton. She was also last seen in Paramount Studio’s psychological thriller CASE 39 in which she stars as a social worker who takes on a case in which things are not what they seem.

She starred opposite Harry Connick Jr. in Lionsgate’s NEW IN TOWN as a hard nosed Miami executive who is charged with shutting down a plant in a tiny Minnesota town. She also appeared alongside Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris in his Newline’s APPALOOSA, and with George Clooney in Universal’s romantic comedy LEATHERHEADS as the sassy reporter Lexie Littleton.

Her voice is also a major Hollywood asset as she can be heard in DreamWorks’s animated comedy SHARK TALE with Jack Black, James Gandolfini, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese and Will Smith in a film about the shark mafia in the sea underworld as well as alongside Jerry Seinfeld in DreamWorks’s animated award-winning film BEE MOVIE.

Not only is Zellweger an award winning actress, her reach has extended behind the camera. She received much praise for her depiction of Beatrix Potter in MISS POTTER, in which she starred and executive produced.

Zellweger gained much attention in the smash hit BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY and its sequel, BRIDGET JONES DIARY: THE EDGE OF REASON. For her role as Bridget she won the 2005 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Leading Lady. She was nominated in both 2002 and 2005 for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy and in 2002 for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy, a Golden Satellite Award, an Empire Award, an MTV Movie Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Her other film credits include Universal’s CINDERELLA MAN opposite Russell Crowe, 20th Century Fox’s comedy ME, MYSELF AND IRENE, directed by the Farrelly brothers starring opposite Jim Carrey. In addition, she can be seen in director Neil Labute’s dark comedy NURSE BETTY alongside Chris Rock and Morgan Freeman. It was for this film that she won a 2000 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Zellweger was also in Universal’s critically acclaimed ONE TRUE THING with William Hurt and Meryl Streep. She also starred opposite Robin Wright-Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in Warner Bros’s WHITE OLEANDER and opposite Tom Cruise in JERRY MAGUIRE for which she was named Best Breakthrough Performer of 1996 by The National Board of Review, received a Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, and was nominated for a SAG Award.

According to Crowe, “Renée’s appeal is that she is just Renée, quirky and heartfelt. When I told her ‘You got the part,’ there was a silence. Then she said, ‘What makes you think I’ll take it?’”

Special Appearance by

Sarah Silverman
 

Emmy winner Sarah Silverman is as versatile of a performer as they come. Her repertoire includes everything from film and television, stand-up comedy, to iconic online videos and she will soon add author to this list when she releases her first book this spring. Silverman can currently be seen starring in the third season of “The Sarah Silverman Program,” on Comedy Central and her book, a memoir, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, will debut in stores on April 20th.

Silverman was nominated for a 2009 Primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series category for her portrayal of a fictionalized version of herself in “The Sarah Silverman Program.” This marked Comedy Central’s first ever Emmy nomination in a scripted acting category. She also received a WGA nomination last year for her work on the show. Silverman won a Primetime Emmy in 2008 in the Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics category for her musical collaboration with Matt Damon. In addition, she was honored with a Best Actress Webby Award last year for her online video “The Great Schlep,” in which she persuaded young Jewish kids to encourage their grandparents in Florida to vote for President Obama prior to the 2008 election.

On the film side, Silverman has wrapped production on the comedy Peep World opposite Rainn Wilson and Michael C. Hall about a group of dysfunctional adult siblings who are fighting over a novel that one of them is writing about the family.

In 2004 Silverman made an impressive splash with her concert film Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. Directed by Liam Lynch, the film garnered major attention at the Toronto Film Festival and created huge national buzz. Silverman also garnered critical praise in the documentary feature, “The Aristocrats” in which 100 of the industry’s most prominent comedians tell a version of the same joke. Her other film credits include, Saint John of Las Vegas, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, School for Scoundrels, The School of Rock, There’s Something About Mary, The Way of The Gun, The Bachelor, and Say It Isn’t So.

Silverman co-starred on the Fox comedy “Greg the Bunny”, and has guest starred in a slew of acclaimed and notable television shows such as “Monk,” which earned her an Emmy nomination in 2008 in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category, “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Seinfeld,” and “Mr. Show with Bob and David.” Silverman also lent her voice to the Comedy Central show, “Crank Yankers.”

Silverman was dubbed “the most outrageously funny woman alive,” by Rolling Stone. With her comedic timing and stage presence it’s no surprise that Sarah has been asked to host major award shows. In 2007 she hosted the MTV Movie Awards and she has also twice hosted the Independent Spirit Awards.

Silverman grew up in New Hampshire and attended New York University. In 1993 she joined “Saturday Night Live” as a writer and feature performer and has not stopped working since.

Silverman currently resides in Los Angeles with her dog Duck.

Menu Designed by

Jamie Lauren
 

Jamie Lauren’s interest in the culinary arts started at a relatively young age, when she spent evenings in the kitchen cooking with her parents, although at the time she had no idea of becoming a chef. From these humble beginnings mixing meatloaf and frying chicken cutlets in Manhattan, she rose to become one of San Francisco Chronicle’s “Rising-Star Chefs” in 2005.

As an honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Lauren has had the opportunity to work with many celebrity chefs in the past, including: Anita Lo of Annisa, New York City; Lance Dean Velasquez of Bendean in Berkeley; and Jean-Michel Bouvier, from L’Essentiel, Chambéry, France. She credits all these chefs for teaching her how to meld exotic flavors and ingredients.

Growing up in New York City, Lauren’s affinity for bright and flavorful cuisine originated with family dinners at some of Manhattan’s best neighborhood restaurants. She held this particular type of food in high regard and at Absinthe Lauren is finally able to recreate it with fresh local ingredients in a way she’s been dreaming of since she started cooking professionally.

Assuming the Executive Chef position at Absinthe in July 2007 was a natural progression in Lauren’s culinary career. Best described as American-influenced French and Northern Italian, Absinthe’s menu echoes Lauren’s commitment to organic, locally grown, seasonal ingredients. Her menu highlights a number of unique dishes that are elevated by her cultured background and grounded in her dedication to making each dish memorable. She explains that her cuisine “looks good and tastes good, but it’s not so refined that you find yourself afraid to touch it. It’s accessible, meaning people are excited to try the dishes on the menu. And a lot of love goes into each dish.”

Lauren has received both local and national praise for elevating the cuisine at Absinthe including being named as Restaurant Hospitality’s “Rising Star Chef 2008” and selected as the sole Bay Area "Cheftestant" on season 5 of Bravo's award-winning show "Top Chef" which aired in 2009.

Lauren lives in San Francisco and, when not at Absinthe, enjoys dining out with friends all around the Bay Area.