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“Money, beautiful girls, drugs. Big money! You won’t believe what’s going on in Eastern Europe,” says Alexandra (Alex) Stabler, a senior at UC Berkeley, studying film and entertainment history. A Beverly Hills native, Alex, 21, is summer-jobbing in marketing and social action at Participant Media after her Semester Abroad in Eastern Europe. “I was amazed at the lavish spending, especially in Russia, with clubs and so many girls dressed in couture. Most of them beeline for New York to make their mark in the modeling industry.”

In Prague, Alex was taken with the architecture. “Baroque, Renaissance, Gothic buildings with incredible histories. Along with those traditional edifices, modern architecture’s catching up. Club life is hot. Food? So-so, and quite heavy, if you don’t know where to go. But my classmates and I discovered Radost, a vegetarian club that became a favorite, and where Rihanna filmed her video for Don’t Stop the Music.

“Berlin is booming. A great cultural atmosphere keeps visitors busy. Free tours, and all you need to do is tip. In the clubs, Lady Gaga wannabees take turns at the turntables, and the young crowd parties throughout the night. In Moscow, big spenders pop up everywhere. I stayed with my Uncle Alexander Bolker-Hagerty, who was born in the U.S., but moved to Russia to launch a gourmet sandwich business. We took taxis – you negotiate a price. But the big spenders drive around town with chauffeurs in Rolls-Royces. Marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin are easily available – shocking and crazy, I know, but that’s what’s happening in Eastern Europe.”

At Participant, Alex is working with her superiors on Lawrence Bender’s documentary, Countdown to Zero, about the threat of nuclear weapons being used, fostered by terrorism and the theft of nuclear materials. “Gary Oldman’s the narrator,” informs Alex, adding that 84 people have been interviewed – Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert McNamara, Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf among them. Peter Golub wrote the score, with Pearl Jam contributing the song, The Fixer. Participant developed, financed and executive-produced the documentary now being released by Magnolia.

On Participant’s schedule was the Oscar-winning documentary, Oceans, and pre-production begins soon on the best-selling novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett about Mississippi women. Mothers, daughters, caregivers, black maids get together and change the town in an extraordinary way.

About a month ago, we wrote about Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and his wife, Michele B. Chan, when they were honored with the 10th annual Visionary Award by KCET at the Beverly Wilshire. In China, Dr. Patrick’s father practiced alternative medicine, and relocated the family to South Africa, where Dr. Patrick studied medicine, receiving his medical degree at age 23. Arriving in Southern California, he became affiliated with Saint John’s Medical Center, where he and Michele contributed $100 million for the creation of the Chan Soon-Shiong Center for Life Sciences.

As a world-renowned physician, surgeon, inventor, scientist, professor, entrepeneur and philanthropist, Dr. Patrick pioneered the anti-cancer drug Abraxane in 2005. A galvanizing success in treating metastatic breast cancer and diabetes, and now being developed for the treatment of lung, melanoma, pancreatic, prostate, and other hard-to-treat cancers. The Los Angeles Business Journal estimates Dr. Patrick’s worth at more than $7.1 billion.

All this is prelude to our receiving thankful calls about Dr. Patrick’s genius from loyal readers, and soon afterward several well-known figures brought the work of Dr. Daniel Kirages to our attention with his innovative progress for patients with prostate problems. Dr. Daniel is based in Arcadia, and far be it for us, not being medically trained, to explain the details of his success working with the pelvic floor muscle of patients suffering from enlarged prostates, etc. and restoring their quality of life.

He is a distinguished Doctor of Physical Therapy, having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science, followed by a graduate program. He has been working at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, specializing in orthopedic, neurologic and the aformentioned pelvic floor muscle disorders. Also working in the academic community as an Adjunct Professor at USC, and at Mount Saint Mary’s. More information is available at www.bodysolutionspt.com.

She asked dad Bill Clinton to be fifteen pounds lighter when he walks her down the aisle on July 31 (actually, he’s lost more, as the crowd noted when he spoke during the Starkey Hearing Foundation dinner in St. Paul, Minnesota, where more than $7 million was raised). And Mother Hillary Clinton is growing her hair long for the wedding day. Details remain a mystery, most likely to confuse the paparazzi. But they know that a huge white marquee is being erected on the 50-acre estate. Astor Courts, designed in the Beaux-Arts style in 1904 by Stanford White for John Jacob Astor IV, is where Chelsea Clinton, 31, and Marc Mezvinsky, 32, will exchange marital vows. Astor Courts is owned by Kathryn Hammer, a huge donor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Chelsea and Marc met as teenagers, and later attended Stanford University. Both work in the hedge fund industry. Chelsea’s parents are Methodist/Baptists, and Marc is Jewish on his father’s side and his mother is Methodist. Will their be a religious or civil ceremony? Marc’s father, known as “fast talkin Eddie”, served in Congress, as did his mother. Oscar de la Renta is her mother’s favorite designer, but it may be Oscar or Vera Wang who’ll have the plum assignment of creating the gown for a Former First Daughter.

For the four to five hundred guests, this is a power invitation, mingling with the international haute monde of politics. Supermarket tycoon John Catsimatidis, who raised millions of dollars for the Clintons, has not been invited, but is quite cool about being snubbed, according to the New York Times, “I wouldn’t use the phrase hard feelings … let’s say maybe a little disappointed.” Political advisor Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1996, was not invited and tells the Times, “It is dangerous to presume closeness to people in power, and it is very rare when there are real, unbreakable friendships.”

Three caterers have been hired, according to the Hudson Valley reporters, with vendors signing confidentialty contracts. The Washington Post describes the secrecy as cloak and daggerish. “Rather than let guests book their own accomodations, wedding planners took credit card numbers from invitees and offered three price ranges to choose from.” Street banners are welcoming Chelsea and Marc to Rhinebeck, yet locals wish that businesses from the area were hired for the event, which CBS estimates will cost more than $2 million, ABC claims $3 million, others believe more. A rumor has surfaced that George Soros will host the rehearsal dinner and may pick-up the wedding tab.

Hollywood guests are likely to be Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand. The Washington Post mentions that the couple’s gift registry is under fake names. The dress is black tie – “not Bill Clinton’s favorite attire, but anything for his little girl.”