Wednesday, December 3

Does this pesky recession mean we have to endure an already-holiday-party-challenged month of December without even the usual haul of reindeer cookies and pecan truffles and mail-order pears from “business associates” popping up on our office giveaway table to medicate mid-afternoon existential ennui? Why get out of bed at all, we ask?! A group of people not yet afflicted with recessionitis (whose symptoms include atoning for accidental net-a-porter.com splurges with permanent bagel fast) celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, among them La Oprah, the honorary chair (who could’ve saved Citigroup herself if she’d felt so inclined!), and American Express’s Kenneth Chenault, a man rich off our $50 credit card late fees! Also there: Manhattan gazillionaires (that sounds so retro!) Jerry Speyer and Joan and Sandy Weill (who escaped the aforementioned Citigroup back when it was still paying seven figures). Later, even Hollywood isn’t impervious to a little self-reflection in darkening times: Kevin Costner, apparently unfulfilled by recent starring roles in Rumor Has It and Message in a Bottle, has gone the Lindsay Lohan route and is exploring his inner Beyoncé. Tonight he appears with his band, Modern West, at the Blender Theater. “For a long time now I have felt the need to connect with people in a more meaningful way than just the autograph,” writes Mr. Costner, touchingly, on his Web site. He goes on to say he’d been craving more than “a quick signature on the run usually followed by a ‘gee, he’s taller than I thought.’ I always thought that music could build a stronger, more personal moment for me.” We feel this way about Klonopin.

[Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 50th Anniversary Gala, New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street, 7 p.m., 212-405-9031; Kevin Costner and Modern West, Blender Theater at the Gramercy, 127 East 23rd Street, 8 p.m., www.ticketmaster.com]

mbryan@observer.com