Kanye West and his late mother, Dr. Donda West, in August at the Sax Hotel, where the pair appeared to announce a partnership between the Kanye West Foundation and the ED in ’08 campaign.
Condolences to Kanye West for the untimely passing of his mom, the intelligent and outspoken Dr. Donda West, 58, whom I had the distinct pleasure of meeting this past summer. Dr. West, a former Chicago State English professor whose book, Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar, came out last May, died of complications relating to a cosmetic surgery procedure Saturday in Los Angeles, according to people.com.
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 Kid Rock kept his eyes trained on his laptop Saturday night at Enclave. |
Kid Rock spun an hourlong set Saturday at Enclave following his sold-out show at the Aragon Ballroom. The rap/rock/country star arrived just after midnight and immediately hopped in Enclave’s new elevated, state-of-the-art DJ booth. Although throngs of fans clamored below for a peek, Rock barely raised his head from his MacBook Pro laptop.
“He’s a good DJ, isn’t he?” Donnie Kruse, owner of Stanley’s, BB’s (22 E. Hubbard St.), and the recently shuttered Melvin B’s, asked me. Kruse is a longtime pal of the rapper and had come with Rock’s entourage from the Aragon, where Rock played hits from his newest album, Rock N Roll Jesus, as well as old favorites. Kruse had been hanging out with Rock all weekend; on Friday, the rapper ate dinner at Rande Gerber’s Mexx Kitchen at the Whiskey Bar (1015 N. Rush St.), then hung out at BB’s in River North.
 About 1,000 fans showed up to hear Rock spin. |
After mashing up Jay-Z with Peter Gabriel and spinning some pure rock (Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman,” and ACDC’s “Highway to Hell”), Kid retreated to the club’s roped-off VIP section, where he hung out with Kruse and Detroit Red Wings defenseman and good friend Chris Chelios, among other pals. Clad in his signature black hat and a black T-shirt and jeans, Rock sat quietly in the corner smoking a cigar and drinking Belvedere and sodas, declining to take photos or mingle with fans. He even refused a light for his cigar from The Boyfriend. Rock’s not the most fan-friendly celeb, but, after all the tabloid scrutiny over his on-again-off-again relationship with Pamela Anderson, can you blame him? Rock and Co. hung out at Enclave until about 2 a.m., then headed to Stanley’s, where the party continued into the wee hours.
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After catching Rock’s DJ set, I swung by The Underground for a friend’s birthday, just missing one of my all-time favorite artists, John Legend, who was in town for a Sunday gig at Park West. Legend came in with two gentlemen and two women (he was spotted getting cozy with one of the latter) and sat at Underground owner Arturo Gomez’s table for about two hours, drinking Voss water—probably saving those chops for Sunday.
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Following last Monday’s première of Fred Claus at AMC River East, a mutual friend of Vince Vaughn and Manor owner Mike Bisbee called Bisbee with a request: open the nightclub’s doors for 100 of Vaughn’s nearest and dearest (Manor usually isn’t open on Mondays). Bisbee complied, and the group partied from midnight until 1:30 a.m., drinking Grey Goose to the sounds of DJ White Shadow.
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Six Chicago Blackhawks celebrated their third win in a row—and fifth in the last six games—at the newly reopened Le Passage on Sunday night. James Wisniewski, David Koci, Adam Burish, Jason Williams, Brent Seabrook, and Martin Havlat arrived around 1:30 a.m. and hung out in the newly coined “discotheque” drinking Stoli Elit. If you’ve spotted these or any other celebs around town, share your scoop below.
Photography: (Images 1 & 3) Courtesy of Sarah Preston; (Image 2) matthew Reeves