RSVP : VH-1 Tunes In a Few Charitable Causes

The Scene: Sunday’s first VH-1 Honors at the Shrine Auditorium. A party for 2,100 followed the 2 1/2-hour live concert. Since VH-1 is the adult contemporary sibling of MTV, the party was like an opulent ($200,000-plus would be a ballpark figure on cost), 20-year high school reunion.

Who Was There: Honored for their charitable work and performing were Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Garth Brooks, Michael Bolton, Melissa Etheridge, the Rev. Al Green, Kenny G and the former Prince. Presenting, in order to the above, were Coretta Scott King, Mavis Staples, James Taylor (perhaps the living embodiment of VH-1), Kathy Ireland, Brad Pitt, Danny Glover, Jon Lovitz and Kirstie Alley. On hand were MTV execs Tom Freston, John Sykes and Geraldine Laybourne. Emcee Ellen DeGeneres said hosting a live award show made her “feel like I just bungee jumped and it took 2 1/2 hours to see if the cord would snap.”

The Dancing Bimbos Incident: While Raitt performed with Green, two Edie Williams wanna-bes jumped onstage and pranced for the cameras. It sullied an otherwise ethereal moment. “They were dancing around like sluts,” said an unamused Raitt backstage. “I didn’t feel a lot of sisterhood at that particular moment.”

Audience Review: Most commercial-strewn TV concert tapings are satanic aberrations, but this show’s swift flow and all-star line-up got raves. Typical comments were, “The first awards show I didn’t get bored at,” and, “Better than I thought it would be.”

A Prince by Any Other Name: Now that he goes by a glyph, there’s always the question of how does one greet “the artist formerly known as Prince,” as his office refers to him. DeGeneres said she would address him as, “Formerly.” A member of his entourage said, “We call him ‘him.’ ” A photographer called him “the short guy with an attitude.”

Maybe They Just Don’t Like Long Hair: Is there an organized underground of Michael Bolton haters in America? He seemed to be the only honoree who raised guests’ ire. “He underdresses and oversings,” one woman said. “Tell Michael Bolton to put on a shirt,” said another. “He was like an over-the-hill Fabio.”

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