T.I. might have to change his nickname from "The King of the South" to the "Comeback King" after the former convict's return to the stage Monday night.
The rapper, who was released from jail in December after a seven-month sentence for probation violations and federal weapon charges, launched the AXE Music One Night Only Concert Series at Capitale with a secret show at the SoHo nightspot. Keri Hilson, B.o.B, Alicia Keys' new hubby, Swizz Beatz, and Mary J. Blige shared the mic with T.I. on cuts from his upcoming album, "King Uncaged."
Other VIPs who caught the show included Trey Songz and Knick Amar'e Stoudemire, who bonded with T.I. at the premiere of "Takers" in Hollywood two weeks ago.
Perhaps that's why the b-ball player was immediately ushered backstage when he arrived at the club.
Jane Fonda brought her dog to the VIP screening of Bruce Beresford's "Mao's Last Dancer" on Monday, but it was the actress who behaved like a bitch. The screen queen arrived at the Crosby Street Hotel event with her pet pooch, a Coton de Tuléar named, appropriately, Tulea.
Unfortunately, when we asked Fonda who her little friend was, she glared at us. "Uh, it's my dog," she replied sarcastically, leaving us to ferret out the canine's name and breed from someone else at the party.
Perhaps Fonda was in an emotional mood. A source tells us the 72-year-old sobbed during at least one portion of Beresford's movie, which is about a Chinese ballet dancer. Meanwhile, we hear Tulea didn't make a peep through the entire screening.
Collegiate School principal emeritus Bruce Breimer emailed us Tuesday to dispute our item about music producer Mark Ronson's newly acquired British accent.
Breimer, who taught American political history and served as director of college guidance when Ronson attended high school at the private all-boys institution on the upper West Side, writes: "Rest assured that Mark has always had a genuine British inflection to his speech. The way he delivered the King's English was the antithesis of those who speak with a New York City nasal twang, whatever that may be."
Well, we stand by our sources, but we always appreciate feedback.
Basketball fans who watched the U.S. national team battle France at the Garden on Sunday got a little extra frisson,
courtesy of the arena's kiss-cam.
After watching a wide array of average Joes and Janes mash lips and tangle tongues up on the Jumbotron, The News' Phil Cornell tells us, the camera operator finished strong with a big-screen buss between actress Eva Longoria and her husband, San Antonio Spur Tony Parker, as the crowd roared. The Gallic Parker was in the stands, but he has played for France in the past.
All this jawboning about the repeal of the 14th Amendment (as if!) and Newt Gingrich's Molotov mouth reminds us of Democratic National Committee member and TV political analyst Robert Zimmerman's recent remark that "August is a month where political pundits and the media fascinate each other with quotes and debates about issues that are irrelevant to people with real lives."
