The Crowd: Getting in a SPIN at gala
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Photos for The Crowd for Friday October 16 2015 by BW Cook
(SPIN gala Elizabeth An, Elizabeth Segerstrom and Soogie Kang) SPIN gala co-chair Elizabeth An, honored guest Elizabeth Segerstrom and co-chair Soogie Kang raise $500,000 at 27th annual SPIN gala.
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN Jean Wegener with Candice Glover)SPIN Executive Director Jean Wegener with Candice Glover, American Idol star entertaining at SPIN gala.
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN gala Mark Gavranovic of Piaget and Macy Gray) Presenting sponsor Mark Gavranovic of Piaget with Grammy Award winning singer Macy Gray headlining.
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN gala Don Kang and Melanie Fitch) SPIN donors Don Kang and Melanie Fitch
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN gala Mary Jane and Tom Burnham and Dick and Kim Crawford) Mary Jane and Tom Burnham and Dick and Kim Crawford, major SPIN sponsors
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN gala Heidi and Joe Heffington) Heidi and Joe Heffington, honored SPIN board members
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(SPIN DSC_7761) NBC 4 consumer reporter and emcee of SPIN gala Randy Mac and his wife.
(photo credit Vivien Best)
(Terrence and Miranda Howard) Star of TVs “Empire” Terrence Howard and wife Miranda.
(Photo credit: Davis Lisenbee)
(Daryl Nelson, Elizabeth An, Adrienne Brandes)Three times the glamour at SPIN gala Daryl Nelson, Elizabeth An and Adrienne Brandes (Photo credit Davis Lisenbee)
(Macy Gray) Macy Gray performs for the sold-out crowd at AnQi, South Coast Plaza.
Elizabeth An and Soogie Kang, co-chairs of the 2015 SPIN (Serving People In Need) gala dinner Oct. 3, have taken a local nonprofit and placed it on the national map.
The event, billed as “The Latest Spin 2015,” has appeared in People magazine, Britain’s Daily Mirror and the New York Post, as well as multiple websites. An and Kang called on their Hollywood celebrity connections to ramp up the volume for SPIN, and it paid off.
The big draw was Terrence Howard, co-star of the hit Fox TV series “Empire.” Howard, who has become a close pal of An and husband Gordon Clune, jetted in from the set in Chicago to appear at the SPIN gala, which transformed An’s handsome Asian bistro at South Coast Plaza, known as AnQi, into a most fashionable New York City supper club.
Howard and wife Miranda appeared with plenty of hugs and kisses, charming the 280-some glam guests who packed AnQi. Every seat in the dining room was sold out at prices ranging from $300 to $1,000. By the end of the night, which was actually 3:30 a.m. Sunday, more than $500,000 was raised.
Never mind that Howard has been all over the tabloids in recent weeks over serious troubles with former wives and the law. The crowd went “selfie” mad taking camera phone portraits as Howard teased his audience to bid up one of the SPIN online auction items — a walk-on part with him on “Empire.” A little personal push from the star sent the bidding over the top.
Howard may have been the icing on the Hollywood cake, but An, who has a well-deserved reputation for pulling out all the stops, called on good friends Alan and Tanya Thicke to add their own spice to the affair. Thicke, the former sitcom and talk show star, and his Bolivian wife, Tanya, mastered the microphone, roasting the crowd and garnering plenty of laughs. Randy Mac of NBC 4 served as emcee and kept the party moving along.
A year in the planning, “The Latest Spin” called for cocktails at 7 p.m. Saturday night. Waiters poured flutes of Veuve Clicquot as the guests arrived and got their first glimpse of the setting. Do you recall the latest film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leo DiCaprio?
There is a scene in the movie when Gatsby gets his first glimpse of lost-love Daisy Buchanan, who has been invited for tea at the home of Gatsby’s neighbor. To prepare for her visit, Gatsby has adorned the cottage with more orchids then can be found in the entire South Pacific.
This was the setting in AnQi for SPIN. Tall, clear cylinders of orchids, low glass vases of orchids, bowls of orchids and canoes of white orchids, mixed with floating candles and elegant silver table settings. All were arranged at rectangular tables set at 90-degree angles off an elevated, clear Lucite runway down the center of the dining room — ending at yet another stage erected perpendicular to the catwalk.
Highly sophisticated electronic lighting and sound transformed the space into a theatrical sound stage. Acrobats, dancers and cirque artists attired in elaborate and revealing costumes paraded as the crowd sampled canapes and sipped exotic cocktails. Part of the An and Kang strategy was to broaden the SPIN reach in the O.C. A respected local nonprofit for 27 years, SPIN has assisted the working poor, providing housing and social services to families on the verge of desperation and homelessness.
Led by Executive Director Jean Wegener and Development Director Kim Frazier, the organization has a strong reputation for fiscal responsibility, with more than 90 percent of funds raised going to client services. An and Kang chose to honor the core donors of SPIN, calling them pillars, and invited a diverse cross-section of community activists to become familiar and get involved. It worked.
Joining the SPIN family for “The Latest Spin” were VIPs including Adrienne and R.J. Brandes, Ishani and Micky Dhillon, Heather and Dr. Terry Dubrow, Betty and S.L. Huang, Britt and Bob Meyer, Lilli and Paul Daftarian, Patsy and Tim Marshall, Pamela Selber, Janet and Carl Nolet, Grace and Thomas Chen, and Elizabeth Segerstrom, among others.
Among the many distinguished guests were SPIN pillars were Kim and Dick Crawford, Susan and Al DeGrassi, Melanie and Ed Fitch, Vicki and Bill Booth, Mari and Stan Frome, Peggy and Frank Listi, Karen and Richard Nichol, Mary Lou and Wayne Shattuck, Joan Smart, Florence and Keith Smith, and Heidi and Joe Heffington.
A four-course dining experience was created for guests by AnQi’s five-diamond culinary team, led by master chef Helene An and executive chef at AnQi, Ron Lee, joining fellow executive chef Tony Nguyan from House of An Catering. An impressive waiter service handled the dinner with precision, changing courses with agility, replacing service plates with timed military movement and pouring fine wines, including Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Colgin, and Sassicala.
As the courses moved from Asian appetizers to lobster salad to an entre of fish that was more like pure butter, followed by short rib filet, the show began.
First on stage was “American Idol” star Candice Glover. Her amazing talent captured the crowd, her voice ringing out with control, range and purity. The spotlight moved to the opposite stage, and on the runway appeared Terri Nunn, former lead singer for Berlin. Nunn belted out her hit song from the movie “Top Gun,” “Take My Breath Away.”
For the finale, Grammy Award-winning singer Macy Gray rocked the room as the SPIN crowd danced on the catwalk and in the aisles. Paparazzi cameras flashed and arms were flung in the air as bodies moved to Gray’s beat.
Notable O.C. residents supporting the extravagant evening were Lara and Thomas Giddings, Kim and Thomas Miller, Pat and Tom McDaniel, Lori and John Petry, Mary Lynn Bergman-Rallis and John Rallis, Mary Ellen and John Simon, Toni and Robert Taylor, Cindy Hughes and Paul Schmidhauser, Debra Gunn Downing and Charles Kantor, Lee Healy, Cheryl and Brent Holden, and Soogie Kang’s devoted husband, Donald Kang.
“The Latest Spin 2015” was a night the O.C. social crowd will not soon forget. It was arguably the most exciting charity dinner on the Orange Coast, underwritten by presenting sponsor Piaget, donor of an exquisite “spinning” diamond dinner ring valued at $21,000. It was raffled off at evening’s end. To learn more about SPIN, visit spinoc.org.
