Little Richard Boogies Down and Helps Out

Why didn’t we have this when we were growing up? The Tutornet Foundation gives kids all over the world access to Internet-based tutoring (in English and Spanish) in subjects such as math, science and history. The nonprofit organization based in Vienna, Va., held its first fund-raiser Sunday at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. The highlight of the family-friendly event was a performance by Little Richard, who, at 64, can still rock all ages, even if he does need some help getting up on top of his piano to boogie. (In glittery gold boots, holding onto a burly assistant, the Tutti Frutti King gingerly stepped onto the bench, then the keys, then the top.)

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who accepted Tutornet’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to the cause of children’s education, gave her hosts a little plug, urging the enthusiastic crowd: “Instead of buying another pair of $200 sneakers this Christmas, give the gift of this software.” The $29.95 software simulates the classroom, enabling elementary school to college-age students to receive online assistance 24/7.

The Tutornet Foundation is chaired by Khaliah S. Ali, non-pugilist daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

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Veuve Clicquot scared up a costume party for several hundred revelers Sunday at the gorgeous Canfield-Moreno private estate in Silver Lake. The champagne vintner has a Halloween bash in a different American city each year. It was L.A.’s turn this year. The setting, with its 360-degree city-light views, was dreamy--torch songs by local chanteuse Morgan (pronounced Morg-ann), oyster and sushi bars, four acres on which to frolic, and plenty of bubbly, of course. Spotted: Che Guevara, Dr. Evil, Fidel Castro, Mona Lisa, Robert Downey Jr., Payne Stewart, bless his soul, and many a Madame Clicquot (the trailblazing French aristocrat who took over her husband’s champagne house after he died in 1805).

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As we savored a chocolate tartlet in the dessert parlor, we ran into Sed Moses, 39-year-old son of artist Ed Moses, who told us about his new project with downtown renaissance man Tom Gilmore and Mark Smith. (Gilmore is the developer who plans to renovate a block of buildings on 4th Street between Spring and Main. Smith owns the trendy Sunset Boulevard bar North and the new Hollywood club Vinyl.)

Sed Moses, owner of midtown’s C Bar, plans to renovate El Dorado Hotel on 4th and Spring, transforming it into a hip lodging space. Perhaps hoping to turn up some pocket change for the project, Moses was decked out for Sunday’s costume party as a metal-detector-wielding beach scavenger.

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Yes, Virginia, the holiday season is upon us. And would you believe, we will have the nation’s tallest Christmas tree here in Southern California, at--where else?--a shopping mall. A 110-foot grand white fir is to arrive at Fashion Island in Newport Beach today from Mt. Shasta. It is taller than Rockefeller Center’s tree and the National Tree in Washington D.C. A public tree-lighting ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.

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In other holiday news, an estimated 330 people named Jack Frost gathered on the sand at Santa Monica Beach for a snowman-building contest. Jack Frosts from Benton, Ill.; Brewerton, N.Y.; Dexter, Mich.; Yarnhill, Ore., and others competed to see who could build the “coolest” Jack Frost snowman with “real” snow provided by Hollywood’s Ice Man (he manufactures the white stuff for celluloid purposes).

The event was part of a promotion (no kidding!) for the video release of “Jack Frost,” a film as short-lived at the box office as a snowman would be on a SoCal beach.

Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.