Bashes, Beasties, Bongs and Bradys

The fortuitous juxtaposition of Labor Day weekend and Rosh Hashanah meant that the Jewish year closed with a bang.

Not to mention that also closing out its season was Lollapalooza 4 at Cal State Dominguez Hills, which didn’t spawn the expected traffic jams as much as it did some pretty hellacious parties--namely Sunday and Monday night’s rocker-filled fetes at the Chateau Marmont hosted by Lollapalooza performers Nick Cave and the Beastie Boys, respectively.

Meanwhile, just down the Strip at the Mondrian, “Twin Peaks” corpse Lara Flynn Boyle hosted the very-much-alive Summer ’94 Pool Bingo Party on Sunday afternoon and evening, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit Heal the Bay and AIDS Project Los Angeles. Among the models and actors who peopled the pool area was nearly due Rosanna Arquette, proudly dressed in a tight, pregnant-form-fitting Adidas suit, while the bands and deejay were chased indoors by noise-conscious neighbors.

But although TV- and movie-star sightings may get ho-hum during such a party-packed weekend, this was not the case at Charlie Sheen’s birthday bash at Babylon on Sept. 3. While the expected crop of Sheens/Estevezes and other garden-variety personalities who showed up did generate a little head-turning, it was nothing compared to the hubbub that greeted the arrival of struggling-actor-turned-megastar-witness Brian (Kato) Kaelin. Just goes to show what being at the right place at the right crime can do.

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Bong, Bong, Bong Went the Gallery: And who could resist attending the opening Saturday at 2000 B.C. for what owner Craig X Rubin calls “the first-ever bong art show”? Displayed in the gallery adjacent to this clothing and gift pro-hemporium are artist Ivan Gomez’s fanciful and--though none dared try--functional, er, objets d’art. There wasn’t much trouble, legal-wise. Like Magritte used to say, “Ceci ne pas une pipe.”

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End for the Innocents: Finally, at the other end of Melrose Avenue--if not the wholesomeness scale--”The Brady Bunch” (the movie) held its wrap party at a Paramount sound stage.

The extremely Brady-like gathering drew more than 200 guests including director Betty Thomas, Shelley Long and much of the new Brady cast, as well as Susan Olsen and Christopher Knight--the TV Cindy and Peter.

An all-ages alternative to bongs and Babylon, this squeaky-clean affair never descended to anything more decadent than roast turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans along with innocuous carnival games.

We’re sure Alice would have approved.