by: Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

Seeing the Light:  Bianca the Delano

On Thursday night, the highly anticipated Italian restaurant, Bianca opened at the Delano Hotel to the delight of over a thousand guests who made their way across the eternal lobby into the restaurant and braved the limestone along the pool for the indoor/outdoor celebration.

While celebrities and VIPs dined inside the restaurant and on the terrace, partygoers enjoyed bites, libations and musical performances by Chris Botti and Little Louie Vega, (strange bedfellows indeed) out by the pool.  Vega’s dance tunes were abruptly halted by Botti’s intoxicating trumpet, which was accompanied by a gorgeous violinist who played in the pool, yes, IN the pool.  The music was captivating, especially when Botti played the theme from Cinema Paradiso, one of our favorite movies of all time.  The performance brought on a melancholy mood which was quickly interrupted by the site of a group of drunken models traipsing through the pool- there are just certain elements of this iconic hotel that will never change.  After which, Little Louie Vega took over again and was joined by Michelle Rodriguez for his second live set. Read the rest of this entry »