First Comes the Juggling Act, Then the Benefit

How tricky is it to throw a huge benefit show?

"I've done this show for seven years, and I'll tell you something: This show started at 8 o'clock. At 7:15, Rupert Everett said, 'I can do it.' "

Yowza. That tidbit comes from Dana Miller, executive producer of AIDS Project Los Angeles' 11th annual Commitment to Life show, which raised $2.1 million. The high-wire event lured some 4,000 supporters to the Universal Amphitheatre on Thursday to hear a smorgasbord of movie stars, young recording artists and AIDS activists rally around this year's honorees--Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin as well as major donors Janet Jackson and Gucci designer Tom Ford.

With more established performers becoming harder to snag because they're reaching benefit burnout, uber media exec Levin helped save the day by recruiting a new generation of artists on the Warner Bros. recording label--teen screams All 4 One, Edwin McCain and Ziggy Marley.

Joining them were Taylor Dayne and 98 Degrees, as well as host Nathan Lane and award presenters Jeffrey Katzenberg (who introduced himself as "Hollywood's first professional plaintiff"), Brendan Fraser and Warren Beatty. Oh, yes, that's the same Warren Beatty who made a little Warner Bros. movie called "Bulworth."

In accepting his award, Levin blew off the TelePrompTer and used the podium to send some zingers Washington's way: "This is a wonderful evening, and it demonstrates again that this wonderful entertainment industry . . . [cares] about taking care of our society's problems. And in this season of political cheap shots, I think that's terribly important for us to restate. Because I think we should all continue to do what is our job, and I think it's the government's job to provide for our safety and security, and get off the political dime and do something about guns in this country."

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"Buena Vista Social Club" isn't the first time director Wim Wenders and rocker Ry Cooder have made beautiful music together. After Cooder's successful album of the same name, Wenders made the documentary about the great old Cuban musicians Cooder rediscovered. It's the third film they've worked on together, but they've been clicking as friends even longer.

Por que?

"I think of Ry very much as a brother," Wenders said at the May 24 premiere in West Hollywood at the Directors Guild, which benefited Operation USA's Cuba Medical Assistance Program. "We've known each other for 25 years, and we have a lot in common. We're both teddy bears. I mean, I'm trying to get thinner."