Media Events

This week Bon Appétit opened the BA Kitchen — an entertaining space to put it lightly, an insanely awesome kitchen, to put it correctly — in the Condé Nast building. Pamela Drucker Mann, the Vice President and Publisher of Bon Appétit, commented that the BA Kitchen is simply matching the food fury consuming the world right now. “No longer is food a discussion contained within a small group,” she said. “It is a major lifestyle.”

Chefs Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, and Marcus Samuelsson all contributed ideas for the creation of BA Kitchen, and the launch party featured “Quest Loves Food,” a new line of food from The Roots’ drummer, Questlove, and celebrities like Zoe Kravitz, Penn Badgley, Wyatt Cenac, Solange Knowles and Olivia Munn.

But enough talk, right? Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

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If anyone happens to find themselves in the Harvard area with nothing to do this afternoon, you should not miss this: Gay Talese and Chris Jones are going to be speaking about narrative journalism. The free event begins at 2:00 pm, and is being held at Boylston Hall in Fong Auditorium.

We’d love to go; they are two excellent writers. Here is some more information about the lecture.

Monami Entertainment and Bartenura Wines hosted a private dinner and screening for Season 2 of VH1′s Love & Hip Hop at Pranna restaurant Friday, and mediabistro.com was there as cast members Jim Jones, Chrissy Lampkin, Olivia Longott and Rich Dollaz fielded questions about life in front of the cameras.

The elephant(s) in the room? Will there be a wedding this season, and what the hell happened to make Chrissy attack new cast member Kimbella in the very first episode? Well, Chrissy was sporting a very large rock on her left hand during the event. (“What ring?” she said, turning the bauble away from the crowd when a reporter asked about it. “Watch the show,” replied Jim.)

And, as for that knock-down stomping she gave Kimbella (seriously, she sent the poor girl flying off her chair and then proceeded to kick her in the face), Lampkin says she had merely acted in the moment to defend her friend and cast mate Emily Bustamante. “It happened and I’m over it,” she said.

Peep more pictures after the jump, and tune in to VH1 tonight at 9 p.m. ET for Season 2 of Love & Hip-Hop. Read more

WeTV hosted a premiere party for its hit reality show Braxton Family Values at Tribeca Grand Tuesday. mediabistro.com was invited along with other members of the press to screen the first episode and attend a Q&A with the singing sisters. While Toni Braxton was notably absent, Traci, Towanda, Trina, Tamar and mom Evelyn more than made up for it with their usual candor.

Although the cast is still filming the final episodes, the show kicks off this Thursday, November 10. Here’s what you can expect this season along with more photos from the event:

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Top movers and shakers of the wedding industry kicked off the week by rubbing elbows with the lifestyle and cooking tycoon at the 10th Annual Martha Stewart Weddings Bridal Market Party. Guests had plenty to do with the 18 vendor booths set up all around the event space created in MSLO’s Chelsea headquarters. Make up by Vênsette, manicures by Essie, henna by Henna Studio and eyelashes by Paul Labrecque helped attendees touch up their already fabulous looks, while the candy buffet, wines and cupcakes by Edible Artistry, Creme-Delicious and Cake Power continued to fuel their energy throughout the night. Guests grooved to the live band provided by Elan Artists.

Behind the scenes tours of the editorial offices were given every half hour, and the guests also got a sneak peek at the publication’s test kitchen, personally presented by the food editors themselves. To top it off, a photo booth and flip book station gave guests something to upload to Facebook.

Among the sparkling crowd were celebrity wedding and event planner Colin Cowie, Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress, celebrity wedding designer and planner David Stark, Reem Acra, Amsale Aberra, Lela Rose and Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings. Check out more pics from the event after the jump.

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Tuesday, mediabistro.com threw a party for New York startups at Chelsea Manor. The event was hosted by yours truly, and guests enjoyed drink specials and appetizers compliments of Chelsea Manor. Peep the pics below.

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It’s hard to believe but, once upon a time, Google was just a couple guys with a great idea. So were Apple, Facebook, Pandora, and even our own mediabistro.com (founded by Laurel Touby, all woman).

So, Tuesday October 11, we’re throwing a Startups Party in honor of all the tech and media entrepreneurs in the New York area. Join us for networking, complimentary drinks and appetizers, and the scoop on how your company can be featured on mediabistro.com’s Elevator Pitch.

Plus, I’ll have a special treat for whoever can guess which hip-hop song the headline is from. (Not really, but it’ll give us something to talk about, no?)

Go ahead and RSVP here.

In case you hadn’t noticed, New York has been pretty excited about snagging Frank Rich. To send some more love his way, the magazine held an event in his honor at the New Museum last night, and FishbowlNY was there. There weren’t any speeches, just plenty of good looking, talented people milling around and celebrating Rich.

Sure, it’s kind of odd to throw a party for someone who already has a great life, basically saying, “Congrats for being you!” But it was a fun night. Check out some pics (all courtesy of Neilson Barnard / Getty Images) after the jump.

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Maile Carpenter, Bobby Flay and Vicki Wellington.

FishbowlNY has mentioned it before, but it’s worth saying again: Food Network Magazine had one hell of a summer. Its July issue boasted the most ad pages ever and it announced a rate base increase just last month. Naturally, the leadership at the magazine — Editor-in-Chief Maile Carpenter and Publisher Vicki Wellington — decided to keep the momentum going now that fall has arrived.

To do that, last night the magazine celebrated chef Bobby Flay and the release of his new Bar Americain Cookbook, and FishbowlNY was lucky enough to be there. At Flay’s Bar Americain on West 52nd, drinks flowed and Flay, Carpenter and Wellington worked the room masterfully. We sampled the roasted corn soup (apologies to the guy we might have elbowed so we could get to the waiter), the shrimp and grits and some fantastic pinot noir.

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There’s pizza at the end of every class. The teachers are hot. Classes begin and end in bars. Well, not exactly, but our classes are pretty awesome.

We caught up with some of our equally awesome teachers at our recent Meet the Teachers party at the Empire Room to find out why they signed up for an mb course.

“You can always refresh your skills,” says Derek Scheips, instructor of Copywriting for the Web (pictured left with Julia Dahl, the instructor of Boot Camp for Journalists). James Fuerst of Novel Writing adds, “We take writers of all experience levels and help them finish their manuscripts.”

Check out our full course list here, and remember to sign up now while seats are still open.