— DIANE CLEHANE

It was SRO at Michael’s today with moguls Jack Welch and David Geffen holding court at their respective tables while the celebrity du jour, none other than George Hamilton, caused more than his fair share of double takes. We overheard one fan gush, “I loved you on Dancing With the Stars!” (So did we, but we’re too cool to say so.) Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd was so busy air kissing and table hopping between bites it’s a miracle anyone actually got to eat anything. We’re glad we did, because the new fall menu is fabulous!

I was joined today by Debbie Phillips, life coach and founder of Women On Fire, and Sophfronia Scott, author and founder of The Done For You Writing & Publishing Company. Debbie is busier than ever with her Women on Fire tea parties that have been helping women from all walks of life ignite their true passions since 2004. She’s hosting one at Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon in Gramercy Park on Friday, and there are others scheduled for Columbus, Ohio, Boston, Santa Fe and Naples this fall. Debbie is on track to reaching her important goal of “connecting 50,000 women to each other” through Women on Fire this year. You go, girl!

Sophfronia, who I first met when we worked at People together another life ago, got to know Debbie after she attended one of her tea parties. She is really on a roll. This mom of an adorable six year-old boy has been regularly cranking out books since she published her first novel All I Need to Get By in 2004. She recently published How The Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times (Two Harbors) in which she compiles words of wisdom from high rollers, including Donald Trump and Jack Canfield. Just how does she juggle it all? “I can write for about four hours at a time; then I have to get up and do something else,” Sophfronia tells me. See, it’s just that simple.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. The “Imber Gang”: Dr. Gerald Imber, Jerry Della Femina, Jeff Greenfield, Andy Bergman and Michael Kramer

2. Peter Brown and Grace Hightower (That’s Mrs. Robert De Niro to you.)

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong

4. Alan Grubman, David Geffen and Bob Daley

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BayNewser: Dwell publisher Michela O’Connor Abrams told a media conference last week that in the future, magazines will still be around, “but most of them will be these beautiful pieces that are the calling cards of brands, not the drivers of those brands.”

New York Times: Public editor Clark Hoyt discusses book of the moment Game Change and examines how the Times covered the book (with a review and some articles about related matters, like Sen. Harry Reid‘s apology for his quotes in the book) and whether or not the account in the book about Times columnist Maureen Dowd fact checking her column with David Geffen is accurate.

Hollywood Reporter: Oprah Winfrey sidekick Nate Berkus is set to headline his own lifestyle show this fall.

minOnline: Why are Elle and Food Network Magazine so successful?

Reflections of a Newsosaur: Journalists: stop giving away your work for free!

TVNewser: PBS’s “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer” is getting a major revamp come September. And they’re hiring.

FishbowlDC: ABC News offered buyouts to seven more employees in its D.C. bureau

Fortune: David Geffen reportedly made an offer to buy the 19 percent stake in The New York Times held by hedge fund Harbinger Capital, but the deal never happened.

Broadcasting & Cable: Jon Stewart is on board to create a two-hour special for the History Channel about the U.S. naturalization process.

Mediaweek: Magazine publishers are mining the web for print subscriptions

The plot thickens in L.A. following yesterday’s Democratic campaign sludge-slinging between Camps Clinton and Obama over comments made by David Geffen in a Times article.

Now Nikki Finke reports that Hillary Clinton‘s communications director, Howard Wolfson, the one that fanned the flames yesterday. Finke says senior campaign adviser Ann Lewis, formerly White House communications director in Bill Clinton‘s administration, is already prepping for the role. It was Wolfson, of course, who “made yesterday’s major mistake: saying Geffen is Obama’s campaign finance chair when he isn’t. But then, even after Geffen and others corrected the record, Wolfson went on Chris Matthews‘ MSNBC show Hardball and not just repeated the error but compounded it.”