The place was packed today with people lining up around the block in the pouring rain. But, there was an oasis in that overflow room, a little table set up, Table 5 it was. And it went empty the entire day. Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, Martha Stewart, mogul upon mogul looked longingly over at that empty table, hoping to be seated there. But no. That table was reserved. It had just a kind of altar-like thing, with a picture on it of a man. It had the man's favorite meal, too. But no man. No Michael Wolff. Nah! We kid. Anyway, Michael Wolff where were you? All the Michael's kids miss you. They were all asking why? Why? Why? Why? did you bite the hand that fed you? The hand that gave you a fabulous book party. Why?

Anyway, on to other news. Here were the people who mattered at Michael's today:

[Because we're running late, we'll post just as many names as we can type, and fill in more info and correct things as we go along. Feel free to write us: LaurelT at mediabistro dot com with corrections. This is LIVE!!]

Table 1: Bunch o' birthday gals celebrating. Six women, one man. We only knew a couple. Sydney Shuman, wife of Stan Shuman and Duane Hampton, widow of Mark Hampton. She was in pink.

2: Stan Shuman, with his brother Fred, at the table right near his wife. They were joined by one other fellow. We hear that Stan, who is at Allen & Co., is Rupert Murdoch's investment banker.

3: Joe Armstrong, the "Mayor of Michael's," with Shelly Ross, a dark beauty in a black suit. We hear she is the former executive producer at Good Morning America.

4: Mark Burnett, who produces Martha Stewart's Apprentice, with another guy. Mark was wearing a very LA-style outfit. Jeans with a striped jacket and a very funky patterned shirt. His pal, in a dark suit and pink shirt, had his ear to his cell phone at some point in the meal. Bad boy!

5 (Michael Wolff's usual table): Norman Lear with another fellow. Michael Ovitz went over to their table.

6: Wayne Kabak with a woman in pink.

7: a trio of people, we believe Lynn Tesoro was there.

8: Jack Myers (happy birthday, Jack!) with John McMenamin, the managing director of Dow Jones.

11: Bob Friedman of Classic media, with someone we couldn't see from our vantage point at the bar.

12: Hearst's Deb Shriver, we believe.

14: Alice Mayhew of Simon & Schuster, with author Kati Marton (sp?). We are told that Kati Marton was the Third Mrs. Peter Jennings; she is now married to the Former Ambassador, Richard Holbrooke. [Thanks to a fellow fishie volunteered the correct Kati information!]

15 (the Book Table, this is where David Hirshey always sits): Larry Kirshbaum with Patricia Fili-Krushel.

16: Woman with incredibly impressive eye-shadow. Very bold statement. From a distance a bit raccoonish though. With a gent.

17: Sally Susman, we think.

18: Michael Ovitz with John Huey, who we believe was late. Funny thing happened. While Ovitz was waiting for his guest, he came over to the bar to chat with Michael (yes, THE Michael) and we overheard someone else at the bar say: "Hey, isn't that Ovitz? That's a 120 million dollar severance package standing right behind you."

19: couldn't see over there.

20: Freddie Friedman. Freddie, was that you?

21: Two guys. Jay Kriegel might have been one.

22: Don Welsh, looking dashing as ever (he sold Budget Travel to Newsweek for a bundle and started Budget Living), with Chuck Winningham.

23: Paul Caine with another fellow.

24: Man and woman in mint green top. We overheard him being introduced to someone at Bob Friedman's table. His name: Michael Perlis.

25: Leslie Stevens, of Laforce Stevens, with another woman and a fellow.

26: Lucy Danziger, looking beautiful and animated (what were you talking about over there???), gesturing a lot. She was with a fellow, who looked handsome from the back at least. If that's possible.

27: James Hoge, with a guy and a woman.

28: PR Pow-Wow. PR Moguless to the moguls, Chris Taylor, in a smart dark pant suit with PRista Norah Lawlor, of Lawlor Media Group.

29: Stuart Rekant, with Adele Morrissette of North Haven Partners, talking about money things.

[Keep hitting F5 or your refresh key, as we continue to post]

Roll Call (they were seen, but who were they dining with? write in!):

New York Living Editor Janice Battiste appeared with Mike Strohl and two other New York Living staffers: Brey Brownlie (Managing Editor)and Ann Simkins (Art Director).

Merrill Gordon of New York magazine

Lori Majewski

Hunter Millington
David Moyer (he winked as he went by), but he won't give us his guest's name! [we later learned he was with: the media relations director of one of the big investment banks...a sharp looking fellow.

Jay Newman

Knight Landesman (we thought we saw you when we arrived!! You didn't recognize us?)

Adam Miller

Steve Wasserman

IF you were at Michael's today (or any day) and would like to report in, or correct the record, please email LaurelT AT mediabistro.com

Map of Michael's